Sibling rivalries are an age-old phenomena, particularly amongst twins, but not many battles play out on remote mountain tops perched above sheer cliff faces and jagged rocks.
For West Vancouver’s Tom and Liam Peiffer, however, the rivalry doesn’t just travel to the top of the cliff but carries right over the edge and down the mountain at breakneck speed.
Both brothers, 18-year-old identical twins who graduated from Rockridge secondary last year, are right at the top of the rankings of the best junior freeride skiers in Canada.
The twins were born in Utah and their family moved to Switzerland for two years when Tom and Liam were in elementary school. That’s where Liam picked up freeride skiing, a style popularized by snowboarders but since adopted by skiers as well that sees competitors perform runs on natural, un-groomed terrain without a set course, goal or rules.
Tom, however, stuck mostly to racing in Switzerland, only moving on to freeride when the family moved to West Vancouver when the boys were 11. Tom and Liam learned the ropes in Whistler’s Mountain Adventure Program before moving up to the Whistler Freeride Club where they’ve honed their skills for the past five years.
Throughout that time, Liam was always a little bit ahead of Tom. Tom didn’t like that.
“We both were equally good at skiing but he always did a little better in competitions, he was always just a little bit ahead of me,” said Tom. “Coming home from a ski comp, (people would ask) ‘How did Liam do?’ He won. ‘How did you do?’ I got third.”
The gap between the two skiers was particularly noticeable last year when Liam earned a spot on Team Canada for the Freeride Junior World Championships held in Andorra, a tiny mountain principality perched between France and Spain. Tom, meanwhile, missed the cut by one spot and was forced to watch from home as Liam placed 18th at the championships.
“I was the next guy in line. I just missed it,” said Tom, adding that he was still proud of the way his brother performed. “He skied an amazing line, awesome skiing, and then on the last cliff came up a ski-length too short on the landing.”
The tables began to turn soon after, however, as Tom earned his first big win at a competition at Red Mountain Resort in Rossland.
“Last year when I landed my first first-place at Red Mountain, that was kind of when it clicked,” Tom said. “That’s where the playing ground leveled out for us. We both build off each other at the end of the day.”
While Tom took gold, Liam finished out of the medals. Since then the rivalry has only grown.
“Skiing with a sibling, you definitely have that competition, just because you don’t want to be second place in the family,” said Tom with a laugh. “Especially in competitions, I notice it from a competitive standpoint. Sure you want to do as best you can amongst the entire field of skiers, but you also have to worry about your brother. … It’s just kind of one of those things where we both want to win, but there’s only one first place.”
Adding to the intrigue is that when they’re staring down a cliff face, the two brothers often have very different ideas about the best way to get down.
“I’d say I’m more a smooth style, like to use my edges and turn. Kind of a lot more fluid,” said Tom. “Liam definitely will choose that ‘go big or go home, put it all on the line’ ski run. That’s kind of his style. It works really well for him because he pulls it off a lot of the time. He definitely likes to go big. I’m not saying I don’t, but I definitely have the more racer technicality in my skiing. … It’s awesome watching him ski like that because you definitely see some pretty cool stuff happen.”
Though their styles are different, they also take inspiration from each other – neither one wants to be left behind.
“We definitely build off of each other,” said Tom. “He does something, I’ll want to do it. I’ll do something, he’ll try to do it.”
There are, however, limits to how far each of them will go. That’s probably a good thing when sibling rivalry spills out onto a cliff face.
“We both know our limits and boundaries,” said Tom. “Some things look fun for him to hit and I look at them and I’m just like, ‘Dude, don’t do it. This is ridiculous.’ And then he miraculously pulls it off. And then I’ll be on top of a line and he’ll be like, ‘You’re an idiot,’ and then I do it. That’s where there’s a fine line.”
After all these years Tom finally has the upper hand, earning a berth in this year’s Freeride Junior World Championships scheduled for Jan. 26-29 at the exact same Andorra venue that Liam competed at last year. Liam isn’t too broken up about not making the final cut this year though – he’s going along this year as Tom’s chaperone.
That’s going to be a lot of fun, Tom said, while also adding that it could be a big advantage for him when it comes time to compete.
“It’s going to be really nice to have someone who has skied the terrain before, they know the mountain, they know what it’s like,” he said. “Where I’m starting to get nervous is I haven’t done a competition this big, and I don’t know (the terrain). It’ll be nice because he knows it.”
While it’s been neat for each twin to get a crack at the world juniors, both are hoping to carry on in the sport and make a mark in the senior ranks. Tom doesn’t see this rivalry ending any time soon.
“It definitely just gets more competitive and more intense the harder the competitions get and the bigger they get,” he said. “That’s kind of where the fun of it is.”
