2026 is the 20th anniversary of The Ski Diva. To celebrate the amazing women who make this community what it is, we’re going to be featuring interviews with Ski Diva members on the blog all season long. Check them all out here.
Meimei, who goes by @MarzNC on the forum, has been a member of The Ski Diva community since 2009. She’s a very active poster, and always brings well-researched and thorough insights to any discussion. She travels widely to ski from her home near Raleigh, NC.
How long have you been skiing? What’s kept you hooked?
My ski history over the last six decades has had three phases. I grew up in New York City and no one in my immediate family knew anything about skiing. I always had a ball when it snowed in the city. Had my daughter not loved her first day at ski school at Massanutten – at age four – over twenty years ago, my skiing story would have been quite different.
Initially I learned to ski in 1968-70 on long, straight skis wearing leather lace-up boots. For middle school, I enjoyed two wonderful years attending North Country School (NCS) in Lake Placid in the NY Adirondacks as a boarding student. I was hooked after the first afternoon learning how to do snowplow turns and hiking back up the lake hill after an early November snowstorm. That winter there was enough natural snow for the school’s ski hill on the 200-acre campus to open the trails after Thanksgiving. It did not take long for me to learn enough to pass the test required to ride the rope tow. The academic schedule shifts during the winter so that NCS students can ski at Whiteface regularly midweek in January and February. I had fun in spite of hating stretch ski pants.
After those two winters, I was busy with school and did not ski at all for a decade. During the next three decades, I had fun skiing groomers a bit but not every year. I was not expecting to ski often enough to become an advanced skier skiing black terrain in the Rockies.
My daughter enjoyed being a student at NCS just as much as I did. In 2014 I had a chance to ski the school hill and Whiteface while she was there. It was cool to ski over the bridge that was a little scary as an advanced beginner.
These days I’m in the third phase as a retired senior over 65 who is a solid advanced skier. I spend months having fun planning ski trips for the upcoming season. One of my primary ski buddies is also an NCS graduate. My trips related to skiing usually start in November and continue through April. In recent years, I’ve averaged close to 60 days a season. I hope to keep skiing for another 20+ years.
How did you find The Ski Diva? What motivated you to join and stick around?
I started posting in March 2009 after lurking for a while because I was looking for advice about buying skis. My daughter’s first time skiing at a big mountain was a spring skiing trip to Alta in 2008 when she was a tween and already an intermediate. After that trip, I wanted to learn more about buying gear. The Ski Diva was an obvious place to learn about many aspects of skiing relevant for a mother and daughter who were both “ski nuts” starting to ski more often.
I stayed involved after the first season because the community was small enough to not be that intimidating and large enough to cover assorted topics of interest. As I evolved from a 50-something adventurous intermediate to an advanced skier over 60, I continued to learn more from the discussions. Often what I enjoy learning is not related to skiing.
Can you share a favorite memory or story involving the forum or forum members?
After becoming more active on The Ski Diva, I arranged a Diva meetup in January 2014 at my home mountain. Massanutten is a 4-season resort in northern Virginia. That’s when I first met @Olesya C, who lived in the Washington DC metropolitan area at the time. We’ve been planning ski trips together during the summers since then to big mountains in the Rockies, including several trips for Taos Ski Weeks. We have also skied together at Montage in Pennsylvania and the indoor ski area, Big SNOW, in New Jersey.
During that weekend at Massanutten I arranged for a special group lesson with Julie on Sunday morning. Julie is not only the long-time manager of the Children’s Snowsports program, but a very experienced PSIA Level 3 instructor. Her approach focused on kinesthetics, which was a new concept for me and the other Divas.
Have you ever gone on a trip or adventure that wouldn’t have happened without The Ski Diva?
Many times. Trips that come to mind: 2011 Diva West in north Tahoe (my first Diva gathering), 2012 Diva West at Big Sky, 2019 Taos Ski Week during MLK Week (editor’s note: some of the travel logistics mentioned have changed since 2019, but the linked trip report is still very good), and most recently an Idaho ski safari in March 2025. Trips with Diva friends who are intermediates are as much fun as trips with advanced skiers. Being retired, I’m lucky to be able to enjoy multiple ski trips every season.
Alta is my favorite ski resort out west. I ski there regularly in April with assorted old friends and Divas. However, the lesson with three other advanced Divas during Diva West 2025 is a lifetime highlight. We were treated to an adventure run on Gunsight, an iconic run I didn’t expect to ever ski.
How has The Ski Diva community influenced your skiing?
Not sure how much my skiing technique was directly influenced by Divas because I invested in lessons with very experienced instructors soon after joining. However, what I learned from The Ski Diva about the value of boot fitting and demo’ing skis has helped in the long run.
Diva discussions were a big reason I made the effort to attend a demo day as an intermediate even though I was skiing less than fifteen days a season. My daughter was a young tween at the time, and I invited a friend to join us for a weekend trip for Sugarfest in the North Carolina mountains to babysit as needed. I was happily surprised that I could tell the difference between models. I took advantage of early season sales that long weekend to buy my first 4-buckle boots from a boot fitter. The first day, a few brand reps had laughed at my rear-entry boots that were over ten years old.
How has The Ski Diva community influenced your life outside of skiing?
The non-skiing topics in The Ski Diva forums that have made a significant difference in my lifestyle are related to long term health and fitness. In particular, the discussions about intermittent fasting and bone building. Discussions during the off-season provide incentive for ski conditioning well before the snow flies in December for an upcoming season.
I enjoy staying involved with the community all year long, not just during ski season. Meetups for hiking, brunch, lunch, or dinner that don’t involve snow are just as much fun as skiing. My husband of 30+ years is not a skier or hiker for assorted reasons so I appreciate the opportunity to make new friends interested not only in skiing, but also getting together for other adventures.
What advice would you give to a new skier just starting out – especially women entering the sport?
For a woman interested in exploring skiing, I think it’s best to start with a lesson or two, ideally when a friend who skis is available for a day on snow too. If possible, start with a lesson midweek when the slopes are less crowded. Late season is better than before mid-January, meaning any time after President’s Day week.
Look for a beginner package that includes lift ticket, rental gear, and a lesson. There’s no need for people who live within driving distance of a ski hill to start out at a large destination resort. The new Indy Pass Learn-to-Turn 3-pack is worth checking out for the 2025-26 season. It covers the lift tickets for three days, plus gear rental, and a group lesson each day.
Gear rental should include a helmet. Learn how a ski boot should feel beforehand. Often a beginner is offered boots that are two sizes too big.
Keep the 80-20 rule in mind. When learning a skill, the goal is to learn enough to do it right 80% of the time after some practice. There is no need for perfection. The ultimate goal is to have fun and stay safe.
What do you hope The Ski Diva looks like 20 years from now?
I hope The Ski Diva continues to be a vibrant community of women from all over the world who share a passion for snowsports. While many members may never meet another Diva in person, The Ski Diva is a great catalyst for women interested in finding a new friend willing to meet up to ski together locally or plan trips farther away from home.
If you had to describe skiing in three words, what would they be?
Snow. Mountains. Magic!
