Profile: Keri Herman

Profile: Keri Herman

Keri Herman burst onto the scene last year with some noticeable finishes around the country. This year, she turned even more heads by taking five first-place finishes and expanded her range to include podiums in the southern hemisphere. An incredibly friendly, down-to-earth chick who is as happy hanging out in Breck with her friends as she is cruising the comp scene, Keri Herman is never far from a good time.

Hey Keri, what do you like to do?

Hi, my name is Keri Herman, and I like to party.

So do I. I’m pretty sure that’s why Mike Douglas calls us the cougar twins. How does that make you feel, being called a cougar?

When we’re together, it makes me feel great ‘cause it’s funny and it’s fun. But when I’m by myself, I’m not that pumped. It’s not that fun. When I was in Idaho with Poor Boyz and Anna Segal was there, they were calling me the cougar and her my cub. I was like, God damn it!

You’re a bit older than some of the girls in the industry. Does that have its advantages?

It does kind of. Well, I don’t know, it could go both ways.

But you were able to finish school before you concentrated on skiing.

Yeah, that was very important.

Why did you choose to do that?

Well, I didn’t really. I kind of got into skiing while I was at school.

I assumed coming from Minnesota you would have grown up skiing a ton.

No, not really. I mean, I skied a little bit, but I focused on playing hockey in Minnesota. But when I came out to Colorado for school, I needed something to do so I skied almost every weekend. It became an obsession
when I moved to Colorado.

Compared to all the kids who grew up at academies like CVA, do you think growing up and going to school before concentrating on skiing was a benefit?

I think they’re both really beneficial. I didn’t even know about CVA or any of that stuff and I see kids in those programs and they have a really big advantage over other kids. But I don’t think they really realize the importance of a classical education. I mean, they do to a certain extent, but it’s not really emphasized as much. Where as, in my background, education is the most important thing. Which is good because once I was done with school, I was able to ski and have fun and joke around and not be serious about anything. But when I need to buckle down, I have my education to fall back on.

So what advice would you give to kids trying to make that decision, either go to college or ski full time?

I think the kids that are doing the summer school thing in Boulder have it pretty figured out. They’re getting everything done; they’re going to school and skiing at the same time. And I think that’s so important. There are so many kids that are like, ‘I’m just going to ski. I don’t care about school.’ I think that’s stupid. There are ways to do both.

So what are your plans for the summer?

That’s a good question… I want to go to New Zealand again. I haven’t figured everything out but it will be my fourth year going down there. Just like I come back to Breckenridge every year, it’s just easy. I’ll be down there for like two and a half months. I like being down there the whole time or I get into trouble around here.

Speaking of Breck, how was living there this year and being able to ski with a bunch of girls?

It was awesome. So much fun. It was so fun being pushed by people on the same level. I had the best time. Finally having girls to associate with, travel with… it was a consistent group of friends that all went to the same places. We were the Breck posse!