After graduating from Carrabassett Valley Academy in June 2009, Matt Duhamel was one of 30,428 students who sent an application to Stanford University. And as one of only 2,300 candidates offered admission into the class of 2013 at the prestigious university, Duhamel was probably the only one who chose to defer his acceptance while pursuing a career as a professional skier.
Duhamel began skiing competitively on the slopes of Squaw Valley at the age of five. After watching Jonny Moseley compete at the Winter X Games on TV, he decided to follow in his idol’s footsteps. He attended Branson School in California – incidentally, the same school Moseley attended – and focused on freeskiing and moguls for most of his high school career.
However, Duhamel opted to make the switch to superpipe at age 16 and moved cross-country to attend CVA and perfect his skills in the pipe. He took third at the 2008 North American Open and seventh the following year at the US Freeskiing Open. He continued to improve with time and made the finals at the first two stops of the 2009-10 Winter Dew Tour and earned his first invite to the X Games, where he finished in 16th.
Not only does Duhamel have Stanford to fall back on when skiing is over (not a bad back-up plan at all), but he’s also an accomplished jazz pianist who attended Berklee College of Music in Boston after graduating from high school.
