Zoe Zimmermann began skiing at age two at Gunstock Mountain in her home town of Gilford, N.H. Dressed in a pink one-piece suit and under three feet tall, she would turn heads as she barreled straight down the mountain in her snowplow with her father close by yelling at her to “look ahead”! Zimmermann comes from skiing heritage—her grandfather, Egon Zimmermann was on the Austrian National Ski Team in the late 1950’s and competed in the 1960 Olympics in Squaw Valley.  Her grandmother, Penny Pitou, was on the U.S. Ski Team during that time and won two silver medals at the Squaw Valley Olympics.    

She raced for the Gunstock Ski Club from five to nine years old before moving on to Waterville Valley Academy and the WVBBTS Ski Club as a first-year U12. It was there that Zimmermann began to show her promise as a top tier ski racer winning many Eastern Region races. She just loved to ski, especially with her friends, often calling her dad on a beautiful weekday morning of training to say, “DAD! what can be better than this?!”. Zimmermann showed her creative side as well—acting in plays at her local theatre and making up “ski” songs and dances with her friends that they would perform up at the start of the races.

Zimmermann is currently a senior at Burke Mountain Academy (BMA) in Vermont where she entered as a freshman. This past season was her first year as a FIS athlete and her first year on the U.S. Ski Team. With the support of BMA and the USST, she continued to refine her skills and improve. She fought her way to the finish with high bib numbers in the early season races learning quickly that “making the flip” was the first run goal. Zimmermann eventually made her way up the ranks of the NorAm circuit placing 11th and 15th in slalom at Jackson Hole, Wyo. and finishing with an overall NorAm slalom ranking of 23rd and an age world slalom rank of fifth. She reached the podium five times in the 2018/2019 season including third place in slalom at the U.S. Alpine Junior Championships held at Waterville Valley, N.H. in March. She also placed 11th in the U.S. Alpine Championships slalom. Her results earned her a second year on the U.S. Alpine Development Team.

Off the snow you'll find Zoe mountain biking on the Kingdom trails in East Burke Vt., working out with her long-time trainer in N.H., and just hangin’ with her friends. She recently learned to kite surf and is hoping her dad will now buy her one (hint, hint). Oh, and she loves to shop for clothes and shoes!