Ingrid Backstrom, arguably the most famous female freeskier of all time, has been a fixture at Squaw Valley, CA since moving there in the year 2000. This year, the romance is over. Ingrid is cutting ties with Squaw Valley and and moving back to the mountain she grew up with: Crystal Mountain, WA.
In reality, Ingrid hasn’t been at Squaw for a while. Recently she been living in Pemberton (Whistler) B.C. during winter and she’s been spending more and more time up in Washington and British Columbia.
Now, she’s made it official. Ingrid will be a freeskiing coach for ages 9-17 and she’ll be the official ‘chief of stoke’ at Crystal Mountain, WA. She’ll be living in Leavenworth Washington just east of Crystal Mountain ski resort and Steven’s Pass ski resort.
“It’s a pretty sweet deal for me. I get to help coach the freeride team, basically. And I get to work with them to develop the program. They already had a sweet program going, but they just reached out to me because I’m nearby this winter, to see if I wanted to help out and bring whatever experience I have into that. I’ll probably work there for six weekends throughout the beginning of the season—so December and January, and do some early season camps and some training with the coaches, and then at least three weekends during the regular eight-week freeride program season.
We’ll do all sorts of things: a lot of safety. I think that’s a really cool thing, obviously. Everyone wants to get better, and get rad and stuff, but we’ll work on decision-making and safety and tactics for competing, as well as just having a good time and being safe in the mountains.” – Ingrid Backstrom told MtnAdvisor.com
It’s sad to think that Ingrid is leaving us but we’re stoked for her new opportunities. She did say that she isn’t planning on filming this year. That kinda freaks us out.
“Are you still doing any filming stuff, Sherpas or Matchstick Productions?
I don’t have any plans to. Obviously if the opportunity arose I’d love to.” – Ingrid Backstrom told MtnAdvisor.com
We certainly hope something comes up. Doesn’t seem right that Ingrid isn’t planning on filming this year. She’s still top of the pack if you ask us.
Good luck and have fun Ingrid.
Leavenworth is a long way from Crystal. More like way north than just east.
Welcome back to the PNW Ingrid! Home sweet home!
She obviously wanted to move someplace where it still snows. Ugh.