DENVER – As a 10-year-old aspiring skier, Liv Moritz was in the Beaver Creek crowd watching some of the best athletes in the world dazzle on the Colorado snow at the 2015 FIS Alpine Skiing World Championships in her hometown.
 
Ten years later, Mortiz was no longer watching the world's best from the bottom corral. Instead, the University of Denver women's alpine skier and soccer player was among those top international skiers on the snow this past weekend at Copper Mountain Resort, racing in the first FIS Alpine Women's World Cup technical events in Colorado since Aspen 2017.
 
"Very cool," said the DU redshirt sophomore of the weekend. "I grew up idolizing these people, so to just be alongside them, watch how they free ski, watch how they train, watch how they inspect the course was a great learning experience."
 
Colorado has had an annual stop on the World Cup tour in recent years, but primarily for men's speed squads on the Birds of Prey course at Beaver Creek. The women's technical disciplines—slalom and giant slalom, Moritz's specialty—usually holds its United States races in Killington, Vermont, but construction at that ski area forced its move out west this year.
 
Moritz made her fifth career World Cup start on Sunday in the women's slalom at Copper Mountain in what might be one of the few times in her career that she'll get to compete internationally right in her backyard, literally. Her hometown is just over the mountain pass and less than 30 miles away in the Vail Valley.
 
"It was very, very cool," Moritz said of racing on home snow. "I hadn't gotten a chance to race the World Cup with my twin sister. Growing up in such a big ski community, it was very special because these people who have been supporting us for our whole lives got to be there and watch."
 
Wearing bib 40 and with friends and family—including grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins—part of the large Copper Mountain crowd at the bottom watching, Moritz was cruising through the tech venue and posting solid run 1 timing splits until the end when she DNF'd with only a few gates to go.
 
While she was disappointed she wasn't able to finish, the run might serve as an additional jolt of confidence as she gets set for the meat of her competition season.
 
"I do think it went well," Moritz said when reflecting on her race at Copper. "I actually went into the day very nervous, just because it was a home race and I knew everyone was going to be there, but I surprised myself with my skiing. I actually thought I skied very well. Unfortunate ending, but I'm proud of myself."
 
The reigning overall slalom champion on the FIS North American Cup circuit has spent most of the past two months training and racing in Europe.
 
After making her World Cup debut last winter in Italy, Moritz began the international season at the first two women's slalom stops in Levi, Finland, and Gurgl, Austria, earlier in November. She took a redshirt season from the Pioneers' women's soccer program this past fall to focus on her skiing.
 
"It's been great. I actually haven't gotten this much training since high school because of my soccer seasons," Moritz said. "So I entered Levi and Gurgl with more preparation than I've ever had and feel confident."
 
This past weekend was a special and busy one for the entire Moritz family.
 
Liv's sister Kjersti made her World Cup debut on Saturday in giant slalom before both raced in slalom on Sunday, and the identical twins celebrated their 21st birthdays on Friday before the women's events at Copper got underway. Like Liv, Kjersti is also a member of the U.S. Ski Team alpine squad and is an NCAA alpine skier and women's soccer player as well at Middlebury College in Vermont.
 
"It was a little bit similar to my first World Cup races," Liv said of Kjersti's debut. "Those were probably the most nervous I've ever been. So I just tried to coach her through those moments and tell her that it was normal, and it was going to work out. Every race is going to get easier from there."
 
After being in Europe for much of the last two months, Liv is enjoying a few days at home and on Colorado snow before her schedule picks up again with additional World, Europa and North American Cup races set in the coming weeks.
 
DU's collegiate skiing season gets underway in January and culminates with the NCAA Championships in March in Montana.
 
Moritz redshirted the ski season last year in 2025 but will be looking to build off her freshman campaign from 2024 where she recorded two podiums in eight races, including a win in giant slalom at the Utah Invitational. She earned a spot on Denver's nationals squad that year and went on to pick up All-American first-team honors in GS after placing fifth in the final races in Steamboat Springs.
 

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