‘Everyone’s gold:’ Aspen skier with Vail ties has a shot at Olympic gold, but will need to crowdsource the funds required
As a halfpipe skier, Alex Ferreira has won nearly every competition there is.
But the key word there is nearly because while Ferreira has earned the sport’s most difficult achievement, a crystal globe, there has been one feat that has eluded him — Olympic gold.
He’s won silver and bronze at the Olympics, and the Dew Tour, and last year he invented a new achievement — the clean sweep, winning every World Cup event on the season to earn the crystal globe for overall success.
The U.S. ߣÏÈÉú Team “the most dominant season in men’s halfpipe history … a feat that has never been achieved.”
The secret to his success, Ferreira said, was the people around him. He credits his coaches, sponsors, ski technicians, boot fitters, physical therapists, filmers, family and friends with his wins. But it’s been a relatively small circle, and to win gold, he says he’ll need to expand that circle to include all of the people who have supported him in the smaller ways, including the fans who follow his journey, show up to his events, comment on his posts and cheer him on when he wins.
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And Ferreira also needs things the U.S. ߣÏÈÉú Team, despite all its help, simply can’t provide.
He wants to hire who has guided him throughout his career, as his personal coach, to help him beyond the U.S. team’s scope. He wants to hire EagleVail resident Taylor Seaton, a former ski halfpipe competitor known for his attention to detail, as his ski technician. He wants to hire to document his journey, so his fans have a piece of media to enjoy when it’s all over. And he wants those fans to have some buy-in, literally, to feel more connected to his success.
But perhaps “wants” is the wrong word.
Ferreira says when looking back on his historic season last year — in which he became winning five of five World Cups — having coach Chase, Seaton and Matt Hobbs from Vital Films with him was the difference maker.
“I’m realizing I’m going to need these people with me through this next Olympic cycle,” he said. “And this is going to cost me a lot of money, money that I don’t have.”
It’s going to cost an estimated $150,000 per year — $85,000 in salaries, $30,000 in flights, $15,000 in lodging, $10,000 in expenses, $10,000 in training camp fees.
But while he doesn’t have the money, he does have some time in front of him, so he’s using it to try to raise funds.
“This is going to be my last shot, no question,” he said.
He’s in peak physical condition at the moment, but he’s 30 years old, and the life cycle of a halfpipe skier doesn’t go much farther than that.
Ferreira was born and raised in Aspen, but followed Chase to Vail during her tenure as a coach for ߣÏÈÉú & Snowboard Club Vail. It was there, in the early 2010s, that he began to see success in the sport and started to dream big. ߣÏÈÉú halfpipe was on track to become an Olympic sport in 2014 and Ferreira had a shot at making the team.
But he was left off the team that year, a setback that still stings him today.
“But in a way, it helped me,” he said. “It gave me the fire to work harder.”
At the gym where Ferreira works out, a poster of Lionel Messi hangs on the wall. It seems like an ordinary decoration for a gym, but to Ferreira, it’s packed with meaning.
Ferreira himself is the son of an Argentine soccer player, and like Messi, he’s looking to reach the highest level of his sport at the end of his career. Before winning the World Cup, Messi had achieved almost everything the sport had to offer — numerous Ballon d’Or awards, numerous FIFA “world’s best player” achievements, numerous league titles, the Copa Américas title, the list goes on. But he didn’t have a World Cup win.
During the early mornings and late nights at that gym, it isn’t the picture of Messi that gives Ferreira inspiration, it’s the quote underneath.
“I start early, and I stay late. Day after day — year after year,” says Messi, in the quote. “It took me 17 years and 144 days to become an overnight success.”
While that quote helps him to train harder, it’s another quote attributed to Messi — one that’s not on the wall — from which Ferreira now draws as the biggest parallels in his journey.
“I prefer to win titles with the team ahead of individual awards,” he said.
While halfpipe skiing is an individual pursuit, if Ferreira can achieve his sport’s highest honor at the Olympics, he says his biggest source of joy will come from sharing it with those who helped along the way.
“I’m not looking at this as mine,” he said. “It will be everyone’s gold.”
To donate to Ferreira’s gold medal journey, visit .