CHARLEMONT — After finishing eighth in the Olympic women’s slalom, Paula Moltzan is energized and excited to return to the competition in four years — maybe to even win a medal.
But with the snow quickly melting and the World Cup circuit finished, Moltzan recently returned to her adopted home in the Berkshires to cheers and autograph signings from skiers at Berkshire East.
“It is a cool experience knowing she was in the Olympics,” said Elise Pinkham, 14, of Ashfield. “I think seeing one of the bigger races supporting our local shows you can get anywhere.”
Moltzan, who grew up in Minnesota and trained at Buck Hill — the same spot from which three-time Olympic medalist and downhill skiing phenom Lindsey Vonn hails. But Moltzan has spent the last four or five summers in Charlemont working different jobs, including as a whitewater rafting guide for Crab Apple Whitewater, which is owned by the family of her fiance, Ryan Mooney.
On its last weekend in late March, Berkshire East held a celebration of Moltzan’s successful season on the FIS World Cup circuit and her eighth Olympic finish in the slalom — which was the highest-ranked of any of the U.S. women competing in the alpine races. As part of the event, she took a run and kicked off an amateur race at the Franklin County mountain.
“The Olympics was an incredible experience. I’m really happy with how I competed. I’m looking forward to hopefully going for another one in four years,” she said.
Upon her return home, Moltzan said she was excited to meet many of the skiers at Berkshire East, especially the members of the girls’ and boys’ race team from the mountain. “I’m here to hang out with the kids to show that most Olympians are regular people.”
“Berkshire East has always been a big supporter of mine and I’m here to meet all the kids and say hi and hopefully inspire the next generation,” she said.
In between signing youth’s helmets and posters they handed her, J.B. Flynn, of Northampton, offered her a slot on the boys’ Berkshire East racing team. “Want to ski with us? We could use the points,” he joked.
“I think it is awesome that she is here,” he said. “It is cool to see that kind of talent at the mountain.”
His teammate Weston Denouden, of Rowe, echoed that, saying Moltzan has a lot of fans on the mountain.
During the past three years, Moltzan has been competing with the U.S. Women’s Ski and Snowboarding team in Europe between November and April. Before that she was a student at the University of Vermont, competing at the collegiate level as well as participating in some of the World Cup races.
While overshadowed by Mikaela Shiffrin — a three-time Olympian with 74 World Cup wins who also has close ties to the Berkshires — Moltzan has been developing her own fan base here.
“I only spend the summers here, I don’t really do any skiing at Berkshire East,” she said. “I show up at this time of the year and I’ll do some skin laps (where a skier climbs up a mountain on skis) but that’s about it.”
The World Cup runs between October and mid-March, so Moltzan is mostly traveling throughout Europe competing and training during the winter months while Berkshire East is open.
The ski racing world isn’t huge, and Jon Schaefer, who owns Berkshire East with his family, said he got to know Moltzan when she started spending time in Charlemont. He and his wife hired her to serve as their daughter’s nanny several years ago.
The community was pretty excited to see Moltzan’s skiing take off with her placing in the top 10 positions, especially in slalom, in the past two years. Her top finishes in competitions include a second-place win in parallel skiing in Lech, Austria, in a 2020 World Cup race and fourth place in parallel skiing in the World Championships in Cortina, Italy, in 2021.
“We did a watch party at Berkshire East for the Olympics when she competed. It was a lot of fun,” Schaefer said.
This summer she plans to spend some time relaxing and regrouping after six months of ski racing and working out to build up for next season. Moltzan said she will probably guide a few whitewater tours.
“Next year I’m hoping to continuously build off last season’s result and to try to keep on getting better and having fun is the most important thing,” she said.
She said she will also spend time with her fiance and the friends she has made over the past few years living in Charlemont.
“I’m close with the community at Berkshire East,” she said. “I’m really in love with the community.”
Related content: