Seattle, WA – – U.S. Adaptive Alpine Ski Team sit-skier Carl Burnett has announced his retirement after 10 years with the Team. Burnett was a member of the U.S. Adaptive Alpine B Team.n”I will definitely miss all the people I’ve hung out with over the last 12 years, some of my best friends are guys that I’ve competed with and trained with on the Team, and getting to see the world,” said Burnett. “But at the same time there are aspects of the travel that I won’t miss.”

Burnett, paralyzed below the waist in a car accident when he was five, took up adaptive ski racing seven years later at age 12. Evolving into one of the sport’s top juniors, he quickly charged to the podium, sweeping all four 1997 U.S. Junior Championship titles at 15, just three years after his first race.

As a member of the U.S. Adaptive Alpine Team, Burnett’s strength was in his consistency. Fighting his was down every course, he never crossed the finish line outside the top 15 in a World Cup. A decorated athlete, Burnett’s consistency named him to three Paralympic Teams and secured the 2007 NorAm Overall title.

“One of my best international results was fifth in the downhill at the 2006 Paralympics in Torino,” said Burnett. “Just to be there with my teammates who went first and second was an equal experience.”

Burnett is trading in his race skis and hitting the books. Recently moving from Winter Park, Colo., to Seattle, Wash., he plans to attend the University of Washington’s graduate program in the fall, to get his masters in library and information science. After school, Burnett hopes to find a job as an academic librarian.

“My teammates have always known I’ve been kind of a nerd,” admitted Burnett. “But the librarian thing is fairly recent. The last year or two I’ve been thinking about what kind of career would suit me when I’m done with ski racing.”

Although Burnett is making a big change from ski racer to librarian, he will take the memories with the Team wherever he goes.

“Driving around Europe with a rental car this past season with three of my teammates, Ralph Green, Nick Catanzarite and George Sansonetis, making our own race from World Cup to World Cup, driving around the mountains on beautiful days in Europe and listening to music,” described Burnett. “That is the kind of thing I will remember for a long time.”