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Laura Wotton is working four jobs in a bid to make it to the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.
A slopestyle skier from a humble background is forced to work four jobs to make ends meet as she chases her Olympic dream.
Laura Wotton, 20, fell in love with the mountain when she was just 2 years old.
Born and raised in Auckland's Glen Innes, Wotton and her younger brother were both introduced to snow sports by their parents.
They never had new gear, always secondhand, but Wotton's passion for the mountain and skill on the snow was evident from her first ride.
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Slopestyle athletes, such as Wotton, split their training between the mountain, the gym and the trampoline.
In 2007, her parents made the "life altering" decision to use what little money they had to buy Wotton a life pass for Mt Ruapehu – at a cost of about $5000.
"That moment changed my life forever and made me even more determined to chase my ultimate Olympic goal even harder," she said.
The gamble has already paid off in the way of achievements, with Wotton most recently crowned the Snow Sports NZ national slopestyle series winner in the open women's category.
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Laura Wotton does not have the same level of financial backing some of her competitors enjoy.
The tournament consisted of six stops across the country, with Wotton finishing with the most points overall.
At her current trajectory, by 2022, Wotton should be certain to secure a place on the New Zealand Olympic team.
But the financial realities of life on the slopes have made for some tough treading for the 20-year-old, who works four jobs just to keep her Olympic dream alive.
"It's extremely tough," she said.
"I'm a bit unique to this industry in the sense that I'm just a girl on my own from a normal family in Glenn Innes.
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Wotton was born and raised in Glen Innes, in Auckland.
"I love the people I ski with, but a lot of them are doing it on mum and dad's money and that's just not a luxury afforded to me – so I have to work."
Few jobs work with Wotton's rigorous training schedule so while in Wanaka, her second home in the winter, she works at Domino's Pizza.
"I train six hours a day four days a week and then I get off the mountain and go straight to work and start flipping pizzas."
Due to her work commitments, Wotton misses plenty of additional training her fellow skiers are getting in during the evenings.
She has little time for trampoline work, which is essential for gaining better air awareness, and can only sneak in strength and conditioning gym work in the early hours of the morning.
Despite that, the part-time pizza maker still manages to compete at the highest level, including internationally.
She recently returned from a trip to Finland, funded by Givealittle donation pages started by a family member, where she finished first in another women's slopestyle event against skiers with plenty of sponsorship dollars behind them.
"I'm living proof of having a dream, believing in myself and working as hard as I can to get there," she said.
"Yes I don't have the same level of financial backing, but I have amazing love and support from my friends, family and sponsors and with enough dedication I got myself to where I am today."
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Wotton calls Mt Ruapehu her spiritual home.
The next goal is the 2022 Winter Olympics in Bejing, but Wotton has bigger dreams than simply competing.
"It's an unbelievable chance to showcase our beautiful heritage to the world. In Māori culture the mountain, the maunga, is one of the most sacred things and I think we as skiers need to pay more respect to the environment – and the Olympics is obviously the biggest stage to showcase that."
Wotton will head back to Wanaka for the winter to resume training – and making pizzas.
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