Former Rockfordian, Olympic hopeful taking injury in stride

Jay Taft, Rockford Register Star
·3 min read
Cam Smith skis in the Alps during his 2022-23 ski mountaneering season. Smith recently tore his ACL and recently had surgery to repair it.
Cam Smith skis in the Alps during his 2022-23 ski mountaneering season. Smith recently tore his ACL and recently had surgery to repair it.

Toughness has never been a question when it comes to 27-year-old former Rockford resident Cam Smith.

He was a powerful long distance runner at Guilford and has grown into one of the country's best and brightest ski mountaineers.

That toughness will be put to the test in the coming years.

Ski mountaineering, also called skimo, will be added to the 2026 Winter Olympics in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, and Smith, who now resides just outside Crested Butte, Colorado, has been on the U.S. National Team for the past seven seasons.

But a torn ACL in February, followed by surgery and rehab, is threatening Smith's Olympic dreams and forcing him to fight his way back to the top of the sport.

"This will be a challenge like I've never really had before," Smith said. "But it's just part of the sport. ... I'm tough. I can handle it."

More: Cam Smith Olympic dreams: Rockford native makes history in unique sport of ski mountaineering

From champion runner to champion skier

Rockford native Cam Smith, the first North American man to finish in the top three of a World Cup ski mountaineering race, poses at the top of a mountain.
Rockford native Cam Smith, the first North American man to finish in the top three of a World Cup ski mountaineering race, poses at the top of a mountain.

Smith won the NIC-10 title in the 1,600-meter run his senior year. The mile run is considered one of the most grueling events in all of track and field.

"Yeah, I guess I liked the hard ones," he said. "But that's what got me here."

Smith described himself as a "decent skier" growing up, hitting the slopes at Chestnut Mountain near Galena and Cascade Mountain and Devils Head Mountain in Wisconsin. He didn't get good, he said, and didn't see a future in it, until he moved to the Rocky Mountains after high school.

Smith attended Western Colorado University and quickly fell in love with not just skiing, but back-country skiing. Also known as off-trail skiing, it is often perceived as the hardest kind and takes a different kind of person to enjoy.

Smith quickly excelled at it.

"I guess I took to it," he said.

On Jan. 14, 2022, after eight seasons in the European World Cup ski mountaneering circuit, Smith became the first North American man to ever make the podium in a World Cup event in ski mountaineering, taking third in the vertical race at Andorra.

A regular guy for a while

Former Rockford resident Cam Smith powers through part of the course during one of his ski mountaineering races in Europe. Smith tore the ACL in his knee and ended his 2022-23 season in February.
Former Rockford resident Cam Smith powers through part of the course during one of his ski mountaineering races in Europe. Smith tore the ACL in his knee and ended his 2022-23 season in February.

After making the podium, Smith's confidence went up and so did his average finish.

He was consistently placing 10th to 15th and getting ready for an Olympic push.

He traveled to and from Colorado and Europe for the next six years to compete.

Just this year he got a visa and was planning to winter in Europe when he crashed on a steep decent at a World Cup stop in Morgins, Switzerland.

"I felt something in my knee, but I didn't want to believe it, no matter how much it hurt," he said. "I had a lot of races still to come, and I was really skiing well."

After a successful surgery followed by eight weeks of crutches, physical training and rehab have really picked up, Smith said. He hopes to be back in skis by next winter, but doesn't expect to be his old self until winter of 2024-25.

"I'll just be a regular guy for a while. I can do that," said Smith, who also works in the summer as an instructor at Adaptive Sports Center in Crested Butte.

Smith also qualified for the U.S. Mountain Running Team last summer, and he raced in the world mountain and trail running championships in Thailand. And while he won't be running any races any time soon, he wouldn't rule out getting back into that sport, as well.

No matter what, Smith said he's confident he'll be stronger in the end.

"Right after I got hurt, I was so down and really sad. That's been my whole identity; my whole purpose," he said. "I couldn't see myself ever getting back to where I was.

"But now I do. ... I'll be back. That wasn't the end of it for me. I'll be back, and it could be better than ever."

Rockford Guilford graduate Cam Smith plows up hill during a ski mountaineering race this past winter in Europe.
Rockford Guilford graduate Cam Smith plows up hill during a ski mountaineering race this past winter in Europe.

Jay Taft is a Rockford Register Star sports reporter. Email him at jtaft@rrstar.com and follow him on Twitter at @JayTaft. Sign up for the Rockford High School newsletter at rrstar.com. Jay has covered a wide variety of sports, from the Chicago Bears to youth sports, since the turn of the century at the Register Star, and for over 30 years all together.

This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: Former Rockfordian, Winter Olympic hopeful taking injury in stride