Moguls Skier Tess Johnson on Journaling, Vail, and Her Grandfather

Many people think of Vail as a winter holiday destination. What’s it like actually being from there?

People definitely don’t imagine what it’s like to live year round there, but it’s not too different from any other place. I played soccer in the spring and fall, and it’s just a really tight-knit community. It’s got a very local feel to it if you did grow up there and spend some real time there. It can totally be that winter wonderland, magical place. But for me, it’s just home and it has everyone that I love and cherish.

Johnson competes during the women’s moguls finals at the 2025 World Championships.

What does it mean to you not just to represent Team USA, but to represent Colorado, to represent Vail?

It means a lot to me. I feel like Colorado is ingrained in who I am. I love the mountains. I don’t see myself really living anywhere other than where there’s mountains and where there’s endless outdoor activities. That’s what really sets Colorado apart—the beauty and the serenity. There’s always something to do outside, and that’s a big part of who I am and a big part of how I take care of myself, both physically and mentally.

It feels like destiny, in a way. He passed away just a couple years before I skied in the Olympics in 2018, and I know he would’ve loved to see that because it really does feel like a legacy that I’m living up to and fulfilling in a different way. I’m the skier that he would’ve covered back in the day.

Donna Wienbrecht of the USA skis in the women’s freestyle even during the 1992 Winter Olympic Games. She won gold.

French freestyle skier Edgar Grospiron during the moguls competition at the 1992 Winter Olympic Games. He won gold.

He actually did write the first article about the very first moguls event in 1992, Albertville. And so he wrote that article about Donna Weinbrecht and Edgar Grospiron, who won the very first gold medals in mobile skiing. I have that article printed out and framed. So it’s a family affair through and through. And I love that I get to share this journey as fun and chaotic and at times heartbreaking as it can be with my family and my hometown.

What did you learn your first Olympics in Pyeongchang in 2018?

Johnson at the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Games.

A lot of confidence in that I’ve done this before and I know how to do it. And at this point I’m much more experienced and I’ve faced a lot of setbacks since then that I’ve overcome and come back from stronger. I’m just going to embrace it all. Every Olympic cycle is different. There’s different competitors. It’s obviously a different venue being in Italy this year. And yeah, it’s eight years later. But I feel really good and I feel both like I’m enjoying everything more and I’m more of a professional. So I feel like I have what it takes and I’m just excited to leave it all out there.

When you’re packing for the Olympics, how many skis do you bring with you? What comes in your carry-on?

The Olympics only happen every four years, but in the meantime, we compete on the World Cup tour every single year with World Championships every two years. So we have it down. I have a pretty solid packing list that I always refer to before every trip, but it involves two pairs of skis, one that I ski on and one for backup, two pairs of poles, one set of boots, helmet, goggles, my outfit, lots of extra gloves in case it’s really wet. Then some personal items that I can’t travel without. My journal, I’m a big journaler. I need a good book. That’s part of my pre-comp routine—reading before bed. My yoga mat and all of my other physical devices, Theragun, foam roller, all the things to help me feel my best for when the competition happens.

Are you a morning journaler or an evening journaler?

Both. I do a little bit of journaling in the morning to set my day, set my goals for the day and a little bit of gratitude, but then in the evening I let it all out and it’s a little bit like word vomit, but whatever I need to just get out to get a good night of sleep. So I do both.

What is it about journaling that helps your mentality as an athlete?

It’s a two-part thing. We were talking about my grandfather, he was a journalist, and so I do feel like I have that predisposition to loving to write and turning to writing as some type of a training tool to write down what I’m working on in my skiing. And also an emotional tool to just work through whatever anxieties are happening because this is a very intense sport and process that we’re going through. It’s really helpful to get it all out on paper and sift through it just by putting pen to paper. So it does a lot for me. And at the very least, it’s just a way to stay present and get off my phone from time to time.

I feel there’s something so cathartic about actually handwriting versus typing.

I think what it does is sometimes I can’t keep up with my thoughts. I think a mile a minute sometimes. So it helps me sift through the thoughts that are the most important in a way, because those are the ones that I need to get down on the paper. And so it’s this weeding out process of like, “Oh, okay, that thought actually is not that important. That’s just a thought, but this one I really want to get down and I really want to read it.”

Do you want to have a second career as a writer?

I would love to continue writing in whatever capacity when I’m done competitively skiing. I think it would be so cool to write a book, but who knows? I have so much respect for all the authors and journalists, but I think I’ll be a lifelong writer in some way.

Do you ever reread your old journals? Have you read your 2018 Olympic journals?

I have, yeah. From time to time, I’ll go back and it’s pretty cool. It’s like time travel to go back and see what I was thinking in that moment and also to see how far I’ve come, whether that’s seeing or in my emotional growth, trying to be a better person, teammate, sister, daughter, all of the things. It’s really cool to see the progress I’ve made over the years.

You mentioned also that reading is an important part of your routine. What type of books do you gravitate towards?

I love historical fiction and any female memoir. Those are my two favorites, but I’ve dabbled in a little of everything. Something about though just a historical fiction, I just feel like I can really lose myself in it. That’s nice for me before a competition is just to turn off my phone, turn on my reading light, and just get lost in a story.

What Tess is reading now:

Educated: A Memoir

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The Winners: A Novel

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I Am Malala: How One Girl Stood Up for Education and Changed the World

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The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois

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The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics

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Besides reading, do you have any pre-race rituals or things that you go through before you compete?

The night before I like to journal, whatever in training that day, any other thoughts that I need to get out. Then the morning of, I’ll write down three goals for the day, usually relating to my skiing or a mental performance goal, or just something even maybe not related to skiing, just that I have for the day, and then I’ll write down a couple things that I’m grateful for as well. And then I’ll do a pretty brief but effective physical warmup. Me and my teammates always do that all at the same time. We’re not doing the exact same warmup because each warmup is tailored to the athlete, but we put on our headphones and we’ll warm up on our yoga mats and then get ready to go.

Is it weird competing against the people that you work so closely with? You’re a team, but it’s an individual sport.

It’s totally a juxtaposition. But it’s one that I have really learned to embrace and I’m lucky to have great teammates and people who are amazing to share this experience with. But it can be hard at the same time to compete against those who you’re closest to for your biggest dream. But that’s what makes this journey so special and so unique. It can be heartbreaking and it can be beautiful—oftentimes at the same time. So this particular women’s team, a couple of us have been on the team for almost 10 years, we’ve really been through the block. We’ve been through two Olympic cycles together already, and I have a lot of faith that we’re going to navigate this season in the best way that we possibly can.

Jaelin Kauf (R) of Team USA wins gold and Tess Johnson (L) of Team USA wins silver at women’s dual moguls finals.

With dual moguls coming up in the Olympics for the very first time ever, we’re so excited for that because we have a lot of great results in duals over the years, namely this past spring, we had world championships and me and my teammate took gold and silver. I took the silver and Jaelin Kauf took gold. We’re really excited for that event, especially.

What’s going through your mind when you’re in the starting gate?

Johnson ahead of a run at a 2025 competition.

It’s such an amazing moment, the start gate feeling. We step in the start gate right after the person in front of us pushes out. From that moment until we push out and ski our run is about a minute and a half, I would say. It’s kind of a while and you’re waiting for the person in front of you to finish and you hear their score. There’s just so much adrenaline. I try and keep it as simple as possible. I’ll think about something in my skiing that I’m trying to accomplish. I call it a cue. I’ll think of my cue and then I’ll just do some positive self-talk, say, “You got this. It’s time to crush it and let’s go.”

If you could have one writer come and cover the moguls at the 2026 Olympics, who would you want?

I don’t even know the answer to that question, to be honest. I would just have to say my grandfather. I know whatever happens, everything that has happened so far, I know he’s really proud and I could not have done this without my family, so I just am really grateful for all the support I’ve gotten.

Emily Burack (she/her) is the Senior News Editor for Town & Country, where she covers entertainment, celebrities, the royals, and a wide range of other topics. Before joining T&C, she was the deputy managing editor at Hey Alma, a Jewish culture site. Follow her @emburack on Twitter and Instagram.