It is a journey that has many twists, turns, a crash and in the end an education.

The day was January 24, the sun was glistening off the silky, white snow and the event was a FIS super-g race at Beaver Creek. With his long brown hair waving in the cool air, graduate student and former DU skier Dominik Schweiger flew down the course at speeds of 70 plus miles per hour.

Just three gates from the finish, Schweiger and his skis lifted off into the air and hooked a gate.

After he hooked the gate Schweiger and his equipment continued to fly in multiple directions until he lay tangled in the orange mesh fence and in astonishing pain.

Two members of the first-aid unit quickly came to Schweiger’s side and spent 10 minutes just getting the Austrian native out of the fence. They tried to relocate Schweiger’s dislocated right shoulder then decided the process would be better suited in a hospital, where they diagnosed him with a greater tuberosity fracture in his right shoulder.

As Schweiger laid in pain and uncertainty about the future of his skiing career he knew one thing, “thank god I have an education. That was the first thought when I knew I was seriously injured, I knew I had something to fall back on.”

An education for which he can thank his dad for getting him on a pair of ski’s at the age of 3 in Reutte, Austria, about an hour south of Munich, Germany. Robert Schweiger was a ski instructor along with having a long history of skiing on his side of the family.

After the younger Schweiger’s first race in kindergarten he joined a local ski club. His Dad then realized that the kid had some talent. Schweiger eventually joined the prestigious Austrian sports school, Schigymnasium Stams, and went on to finish sixth in the slalom at the 2001 Austrian Junior Championships.

“Skiing in Austria is like the equivalent of ball sports here in America. The World Cup and Olympic medalists are legends and are always in the news and it is a childhood dream to be a downhill champion in Austria.”

After graduating from high school, Schweiger took another turn in his journey. He had a very tough decision to make. Go to college in America or accept the unbelievable offer of racing for the Austrian National Team.

Going to college in the states would not only give him the chance to ski at a high level but also give him an education that would lead to numerous options. Skiing in Austria would lead to no education and a very competitive skiing career that would take many years to develop.

If you fall literally or in your skills in Austria, they don’t care about you because there are so many people behind you waiting to take your spot,” he said.

In the end, Schweiger chose to accept a skiing scholarship and attend the University of Denver.

“At the time when I was 18 and made the Austrian team, it was a dream. That is why you work so hard day in and day out, it was really tough to make the decision to attend DU.”

It was a decision that led to more options. “Education was crucial, I always wanted to get a college degree ultimately, I was really fortunate coming to DU and studying business at such a good business school.”

It is a scholarship that led to his DU history. He was named an All-American all four years of skiing and helping the Pioneers to the NCAA Championship in 2002 and 2005. Also a scholarship that led to Schweiger double majoring in finance and accounting as an undergraduate and mastering in finance now as a grad student about to graduate in June.

“The opportunity to be able to attend graduate school was huge, as an athlete you got to have a second option in your life plan and I knew I couldn’t rely on skiing my entire life,” he said.

Skiing is a sport that takes place in some of the most beautiful places in the world, but also in some of the most challenging terrain.

“Just to be outside, to be in the mountains, especially on a beautiful mountain is incredible. The challenge and the variety of the sport are thrilling. Since it is an outside sport things are never the same, every slope is different, every snow condition, you always have to step up to the plate and face a new challenge,” he said.

After the accident at the end of January another turn took place in the journey of Schweiger. It was a turn that helped make the decision to stop skiing competitively easier.

“Now that I have an education, I hope that I don’t have to go out and risk my life everyday on the ski slopes. My future now contains getting a job and make a career out of it and facing some new challenges off of the slopes,” he said.

Challenges that will create more twists and turns on the journey of Dominik Schweiger and lead to a life of certainty and not uncertainty that the career of skiing especially without an education provides.