By Grant Davis, Outside

Weeks before the start of the World Cup ski racing season, Julia Mancuso decided to go surfing. That’s not so unusual — Mancuso has long surfed from her off-season base in Maui.

This time, however, the Squaw Valley ski racer chose to try the thunderous wave Cloudbreak in Fiji, using a tow-in assist from a jet ski to notch four rides on the double-head-high swell.

The photos of her session show her charging down the face of a beastly wave with all the poise of the veteran ski racer she is.

We caught up with the four-time Olympic medalist to ask how surfing big waves helps her ski — and if she sees any future in the water.

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