Did You Meet Your Sweetie Through PSIA-AASI?

For many instructors, PSIA-AASI’s vision of “creating lifelong adventures through education” can extend to their love life as well. Here, just in time for Valentine’s Day, instructors share how teaching helped them find their sweetie.

My wife, Andrea, and I met 15 years ago at Mt. Bachelor in Bend, Oregon. I was a ski instructor trainer and she’d applied for a job as a ski instructor. We started dating later that season and two weeks later moved in together. Twelve years later we were married on the mountain where we met – with my PSIA Nordic Team Coach David Lawrence officiating. – PSIA Telemark Team Coach Gregory Dixon

George Sweeney is my partner and we met teaching ski school in Breckenridge. He taught adults and I taught kids. We met and became friends in ’93 and married in ‘97. We still love skiing together and have had so many great ski adventures. – Anita Moose

In December 2013, I attended Mammoth Mountain’s Ski and Snowboard School rookie ski instructor training. Everyone in the group learned a lot that week, and I made a new friend, Carrie.

We both went through our certification training at the same time. Our favorite trainer was Wes. He led our rookie training week and saw us both through our Level III certification.

Carrie and I were good friends over the years, but that was all. It wasn’t until we returned for the 2017-18 season that we found we could be more than friends. It didn’t take long for the sparks to fly. We got married in 2020 and just to keep things standard, we had Wes, our favorite and first trainer, officiate our wedding. We now have a beautiful little boy and both and live in Reno, Nevada, working and skiing at Palisades Tahoe in California. – Dave Harvey

Dalton Williams and I met as ski instructors at Snowshoe Mountain in the Monongahela National Forest of West Virginia. During training week Dalton, who is from Alabama, broke his leg learning to ski. After a couple of months working in the rental shop, he was able to try ski instructing again.

Boom, that’s when we finally crossed paths as locker neighbors. He immediately caught my eye, and I was the first person in the locker room to officially introduce myself. We hit it off quickly.

Now, we are living our fourth and third year at Snowshoe. We’ve skied in Colorado together and we plan on doing it again. We both aspire to backcountry ski, walk up 14,000-foot mountains together, and ski instruct in Japan. So wish us luck. I feel so grateful to have met my partner in recreation. I love the perspective we bring to the ski hill. – Aspen Handy

I met my now husband, Chaz Ott, when he picked me up hitch-hiking at Mt. Baker Ski Area. After discovering we both worked for the ski school, we started carpooling in to work together. From the first turn of life events, we knew we were in deep. Years later, we married in a blissful snowstorm on the that same mountain. – Arielle Ott