Brunson Culver Chases Ski Racing’s Highest Peaks

2026-02-18 - 14:24

The snow is falling hard in Vermont, but for 20-year-old ski racer Bronson Culver, winter is less a season and more a way of life. Born in New York City to a New Yorker mother and a Canadian father, Culver’s path to elite ski racing was almost written into his DNA. His father competed on the Canadian national ski team, and ski racing runs deep through his paternal family line. What began as a childhood sport shared with his sister soon grew into something more serious, something that required sacrifice, relocation, and relentless discipline. Bronson Culver, 20-year-old Ski Racer About a decade ago, the family moved north to Vermont as competitions intensified. Culver followed his sister to Stratton Mountain School, a premier ski academy known for developing elite winter sport athletes. He enrolled full-time in seventh grade, balancing academics with the demands of high-performance training, and graduated in 2024. Now on a post-graduate gap year with Burke Mountain Academy, Culver’s training schedule stretches far beyond Vermont. The program splits time between the United States and Europe, placing him squarely in the international racing circuit. “I usually ski five to six days a week during the winter,” Culver said. “Competitions are every week or every two weeks. It’s a pretty rigorous lifestyle.” And the work doesn’t stop when the snow melts. When there’s no winter in sight, he chases it, training on glaciers in Europe and in South America. Off-snow months are spent in the gym lifting weights, cycling, and building the endurance needed to compete at higher levels. But Culver’s journey carries another layer of meaning. His grandmother is Jamaican, and that heritage has become a powerful motivator. In a sport historically lacking diversity, particularly Caribbean and Black representation, Culver sees an opportunity. “With my mother and grandmother’s background, I thought it would be really cool to represent them in a sport that’s pretty secluded and doesn’t have many Caribbean and Black athletes,” he said. That mission recently gained new momentum. Culver was named to the 2026 team roster of the National Brotherhood of Snowsports (NBS), an organization dedicated to increasing diversity in winter sports. He has worked with NBS since 2021 and credits the organization with providing not just support, but purpose. “It gives me another reason, besides myself and my own goals, to succeed,” he said. “I want to share the mission of NBS on a global stage.” Staying grounded amid the intensity of elite sport isn’t easy. Culver admits the lifestyle can be difficult. But a strong family network keeps him centered. “I’m lucky to have parents and grandparents who help me understand there’s a long-term goal rather than getting beat up by short-term struggles,” he said. “Sometimes it’s just about skiing around the mountain and remembering why I love the sport.” That long-term goal? Nothing small. “The ultimate goal is to be the best in the world,” Culver said without hesitation. “To ski World Cup and be competitive on that circuit.” The path there is steep. He must continue racing on the North American circuit, improve his ranking, and eventually meet the criteria to join the U.S. Ski Team. That would provide additional resources and deeper immersion in Europe’s fiercely competitive racing culture. Culver is already studying the global stage closely. Watching the Winter Olympics, he finds inspiration not just in established champions, but in peers and friends competing for their countries, including his friend Jamaican skier Henry Rivers, and Chile’s Tomás Soldier. Seeing athletes his own age, like world-class skier Laura Colturi, contend for medals fuels his belief that the leap is possible. “It’s motivating to see what the human body can do,” he said. At just 20 years old, Bronson Culver is chasing more than podiums. He is navigating lineage and legacy, ambition and identity, carving a path in a sport where few who look like him have gone before. And as the snow continues to fall in Vermont, he is preparing, quietly, methodically, for the climbs still ahead.