Valérie Grenier has again found her skis, her mountain, her smile and the hope of starting to train again this season.

The young Canadian Alpine Ski Team skier clicked on her skies during the Holiday Season in Mont-Tremblant for the first time since she suffered a quadruple fracture of her right leg in a fall during the World Championships in Åre (Sweden) in February 2019.

“It’s an incredible feeling to be back on skis,” she says with a big smile. “I missed just sliding on the snow, linking the turns. I’m really happy to be finally at this stage.”

Valérie racked up many hours of free skiing in January.

She intends to cross the Atlantic in February to ski in Europe and possibly start training in gates. While she’s delighted to be able to count on the staunch support of her sponsors – Quebec’s federation of egg producers and its Ontario counterpart, as well as the Chicken Farmers of Canada – she will not return to competition this season.

“I’m going to see if I can put on a racing boot and then we’ll see what’s next,” she says, wisely, during an interview with Tremblant Express.

As proof that even super athletes can be mortal, the 23-year-old skier started skiing again on store skis and in boots that are much more flexible than the ones she’s used to wearing. “We’re going to give my leg a little rest,” she mentions as a licensed boot fitter in the Daniel Lachance Ski Service shop adjusts her boot.

Crossing the desert

Valérie is starting from way back. Operated on right after her accident, in Sweden, she hoped to start land training in the spring and be back on skis over the summer or fall, to be back in the starting gates of the speed racing World Cup in Lake Louise (Alberta) that December.

But her leg didn’t heal according to schedule and the Mont-Tremblant skier had to undergo a second operation in June because her tibia wasn’t fusing properly.

“I thought it would take six months and that my injury was fairly straightforward,” she says. “When the surgeon told me I’d need another operation, I didn’t believe it. I really didn’t expect that.”

This second blow was not the only one, as knee sensitivity during rehab became intense pain after that second operation. “Some exercises really hurt, but I learned to move differently and the pain is tolerable,” she notes.

Valérie had anticipated a completely different journey at the start of the 2018-2019 season. Finally free of a pain caused by an injury called compartment syndrome, she pulled off a terrific eleventh place in the giant slalom at Sölden (Austria) in October 2018; a fifth place in the Super G at Lake Louise a few weeks later; and a fourth place in the Super G at Cortina d’Ampezzo (Italy) in January 2019.

“For the first time in a long time, I didn’t hurt anywhere; I had really good results at the start of the season; I was very optimistic about the Worlds in Åre and I thought I could finally train all-out during summer 2019 to be at my best for the 2020 season. I don’t know how long it will take to get back to that level,” she murmurs wistfully.

As far back as she can remember, Valérie had never spent as much time without skiing…prior to her recent return to the sport; the time has allowed her to put things in perspective and measure her love for her sport. “I’ve watched all the World Cup races since the season started and it’s hard not to be there. I miss competition a lot,” the young skier concludes.