Two New Jersey hygienists find they share more than a profession — a love of alpine skiing!
by Judith E. Sulik, RDH
Although Cheryl Westphal and Gail Reinauer Bolte are both hygienists from New Jersey, they might never have met if it wasn't for their love of alpine skiing.
Both women are enthusiastic, dedicated alpine skiers, who spend every available minute on the slopes. They both enjoy recreational skiing, but they save the majority of their energy and excitement for a special kind of skiing. They are competitive ski racers.
Cheryl Westphal, left and Gail Bolte, right, pose with their medals from the American Ski Racing Alliance Finals in March 2000.
Their lives intersected when Bolte, who knew Westphal's boyfriend, saw her with him at a ski club race. She recognized Westphal, but she didn't realize where she knew her from until she remembered speaking with her at a local dental hygiene meeting. Both women found love, as well as a life-long avocation, on the slopes.
If Cheryl Westphal's name sounds familiar, it may be because she was president of the American Dental Hygienists' Association, 1984-1985. That responsibility put her on the road traveling at least 270 days, so she could attend national and state district meetings and serve as a liaison with dentists. Professionally, she was a director at the Fairleigh Dickinson Dental School dental hygiene program until it closed in 1990.
From there, she went to New York University, where she started NYU's dental hygiene program. Currently, she is assistant dean for allied health programs and director of dental hygiene. Until a few years ago, she worked one and a half days a week in private practice, but eventually she found it too difficult to balance her administrative responsibilities with the practice's hours. She remains an enthusiastic booster of ADHA saying, "I always encourage students and faculty to join."
From there, she went to New York University, where she started NYU's dental hygiene program. Currently, she is assistant dean for allied health programs and director of dental hygiene. Until a few years ago, she worked one and a half days a week in private practice, but eventually she found it too difficult to balance her administrative responsibilities with the practice's hours. She remains an enthusiastic booster of ADHA saying, "I always encourage students and faculty to join."
Bolte, who has a master's degree in public health, works as a public health hygienist out of Bergen County, New Jersey. She provides services for students in prekindergarten through high school and teaches parents in the Women, Infants, and Children's (WIC) program on how to care for their children's teeth. She also works eight hours a week in private practice and is a health educator for the Sparta Health Department. At Sparta, her responsibilities include teaching nutrition, breast cancer detection and prevention, bloodborne pathogen training, drug and alcohol prevention programs, and other health topics, including dental health. She also is on a committee to establish a dental clinic for the working poor, indigent, and Medicaid patients in rural Sussex County, New Jersey.
Photo:V.C.L./Nick Clements @ Getty Images
Bolte, 45, has been skiing since she was 10, but didn't begin racing until she was 21. A graduate of the University of Bridgeport Fones School of Dental Hygiene, she remembers going midnight skiing at one of the state's ski slopes. Soon after graduation, she joined the High Life Club and began to race for fun. She went on many ski trips, including a 14-day sojourn to Switzerland. While there, a friend introduced her to a fellow club member and racer, Bill Bolte, who eventually became her husband. He works as a part-time, certified regional alpine coach at Mountain Creek Ski Area in New Jersey. Bolte's husband did USSA Master's racing and he helped her learn to ski at a higher level. Since then, skiing has become a family activity, with their two children now following in the parents' tradition.
To describe ski racing as fast would be an understatement. "You have to be totally focused when you're racing," Bolte explains. "All of your worries are gone for those 60 seconds you're flying down the slope. I enjoy competing, but I'm really going for the fun and because I want to improve my own ability. Racing has improved my free skiing and I enjoy the camaraderie of the sport." She notes that club members' ages range from 21 to the upper 70s.
Ski racers are faced with two different types of courses. Bolte and Westphal compete in the giant slalom (GS), a longer and wider course, and the slalom, a shorter, but tighter, course. To have some understanding of the speed at which the racers are going, it's important to realize that it only takes 40 seconds to run a 1/4 mile slalom course and about 60 seconds to run a 3/4 mile GS course.
"I feel exhilarated and challenged when I'm racing," Westphal notes. It's quite an exciting activity. Every skier has a different reason for racing. My goal is to meet and beat my own personal standards, while enjoying the pleasure I get from racing." The races are timed in seconds and fractions of seconds.
Bolte's children have caught their parents' love of the sport. Her 19-year-old daughter, Tamsen, races for Colby Sawyer College in New Hampshire and her son, Brad, 15, races as a Junior USSA racer for his high school ski team. It's probably no accident that they live 20 minutes from Mountain Creek and 25 minutes from Hidden Valley where, every Tuesday evening for the last 10 years, Bolte has been a volunteer member of the National Ski Patrol giving first aid and transporting stranded skiers down on the toboggan. She says, "Quite often I'm with the first responder team administering first aid to both skiers and racers. We are trained in all aspects of first aid, including performing CPR while the sled is being taken down the hill."
Westphal, 50, has been skiing since she was 17. There is nothing about skiing that she doesn't enjoy. She and Bolte both belong to the High Life Ski Club of New Jersey and race for that club in the New Jersey Ski Council and for the ASRA (American Ski Racing Alliance). Every skier has a standing within the individual club and their race scores count toward the state standing. "I can have one rating on the team," Westphal explains, "and then come in first and second in the state. I have my own personal rating as far as how well I did. Our club is one of the top performing clubs in the ASRA league."
Skiing is just one aspect of the year-round club activities. During nonsnow seasons, the members bike, hike, and take trips to the shore. Initially, Westphal said she joined the club as a "newly single person who loves skiing" and she rarely misses an opportunity to hit the slopes. "On week nights, I ski race locally at Mountain Creek in Vernon, N. J., which is in northern Sussex County; on the weekends, I ski in races held by the ASRA, sometimes on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, if possible, but at least one weekend day. Those races might be in the Poconos, Catskills, or Killington in Vermont.
"A state race in Killington might have three different teams, depending on the number competing. The racers are divided according to ability and sex. Depending on performance, you could be on different teams for different races. The goal is to compete against people with similar abilities. Usually, there will be at least 50, sometimes as many as 60 women, competing in the various races."
According to Westphal, some people prefer the giant slalom to the slalom, but she'll race in either depending on the schedule.
While Bolte mostly skis in Killington, Vt., she also has skied in both the Rockies and Sierra Nevadas. She has skied in Europe a few times, where she says, besides the skiing, she loves the chalets and having lunch on the slopes of the Alps. She and her husband plan to return to Switzerland when they celebrate their upcoming 25th wedding anniversary. "We met at the base of the Matterhorn, where we enjoyed 10 days of sunshine and powder," she recalls.
Westphal's sons, James, 19, and Erik, 14, ski, but they prefer snow-boarding. But Bolte's children seemingly had no choice but to join their parents early. As Bolte explains it, "We were known as the skiing family. The kids were raised at races. When she was an infant, I touted Tamsen in a carrier at races. Colby started skiing at age three and Tamsen was two. They both really enjoyed it and, by starting young, skiing never looked scary or dangerous to them."
In March 2000 at the ASRA Finals in Killington, Bolte came in first in Women's Class A and Westphal came in third in Women's Class C. This past March, Bolte moved up to the Women's Elite Class, which provided stronger competition. She came in ninth overall for the women. She also placed second overall in the New Jersey Ski Council Race League and first in the N.J. USSA Women Masters.
And the races go on.
Judith E. Sulik, RDH, MBA, is president of Finely Finished Press of Bridgeport, Conn. and is the publisher of No Sinks? No Counters? No Problem! 50 One Pot Meals To Get You Through Kitchen Remodeling and the coming Losing Weight Without Losing Your Mind! ... A Pocket Guide to a Smaller You. She can be reached by e-mail at [email protected].
