Industry News
Many athletes have been injured throughout their careers. Being a professional athlete means playing through the pain and hurt, often even if you are injured. These athletes will seek the best care and medical treatment they can receive to get back on the “field” as soon as possible. Some injuries may be a torn ligament or broken bone, and some are far worse than that. We all as fans hope for the best for our favorite athletes in any sport, to make a comeback and hopefully be the player they used to be. However, when you have a part of your body amputated, things change extremely.
That is what happened to the 21-year-old Bernt Marius Rørstad when in a speed riding accident in 2018, he lost his right foot. Speed riding is a recreational and competitive adventure sport similar to paragliding but has smaller wings, higher flying speeds, and flightpaths descending close to a mountain slope. Rørstad has been a Salomon Norway ambassador for 5 years and is now moving to the Salomon International team. After an extreme and tragic event like this, expectations change. The goals change. However, the now 27-year-old Rørstad from Sunnmøre, Norway, has found a way to return after losing his foot and still performing at a high level in ski touring.
None of us want it, but we hope that if that situation ever confronts us, we will face it head on, be positive, and move forward. That is something that Rørstad has done after his tragic accident. Following a life-changing extreme sports accident and right foot amputation, Bernt Marius has kept on pushing to be able to do the sports he loves. Through it all, Rørstad stays focused and down to earth, chasing bigger challenges and mountains.
Sports medicine and physical therapy have helped and improved so much throughout the years and Rørstad is proving doubters wrong. Accomplishing this goal is a testament to Rørstad’s heart, dedication, and resolve to return and achieve his goals. After his accident, Rørstad began developing a custom prototype for his amputated foot to achieve his skiing goals. He teamed up with Salomon to work on a ski touring prosthetic prototype. He worked with Salomon and engineers at Salomon’s Annecy Design Center to develop the new prosthetic. “I went skiing and touring with it and I tried it for a couple of days and then I wrote the report of what I think can be done better,” Rørstad said. It’s still in development, but his feedback on making the best prosthetic for touring and skiing is invaluable. This is groundbreaking, because, at the moment, there are no touring prothetics on the market, only alpine prothetics and alpine bindings.
In some ways, Rørstad is just like any other skier or boarder. He is still searching for new mountains to ski. He is not looking for the best places to go resort skiing, but lines you could only find in the backcountry. “There are some lines and mountains here in Norway that I really want to ski. So I’m focusing on those lines,” Rørstad said. Having the proper prosthetic for this is crucial for hitting the backcountry. “We still have a lot of work to do before finalizing our prototype, but we’re more motivated than ever to transform the future of ski touring prosthetics together with Bernt Marius!” Salomon wrote in an Instagram post.
Rørstad has also made a film project in his home country of Norway. It started as a small YouTube project of Rørstad skiing the lines in Norway he wanted to hit. At first, it wasn’t intended to be anything big in Rørstad’s mind. It was planned to be a small YouTube series but became much bigger. The idea was inspired by former U.S. Alpine racer and now legendary film producer Cody Townsend.
The project had its setbacks, especially once COVID hit and shut down almost everything. But, the project continued, and Rørstad joined up with a team who worked on the documentaries, Supervention, which greatly boosted the project. Supervention was a documentary on modern free-skiing and snowboarding in exotic destinations in Norway. That team took on the financial responsibilities and economic risk of producing the project. What started out as a small YouTube project, eventually turned into a full documentary called Momentum: The story of Bernt Marius Rorstad.
The small YouTube series became something more than what Rørstad first planned. Initially, it was focused on skiing. However, it turned into something more than that. It was more about life and its struggles, not so much about skiing. The documentary was released in 2024, and its story can resonate with anyone. “The goal is for the viewer to make it their own story, “Rørstad added, “To make them think about their own stories and how they can improve their lives. A human story.”
Rørstad continues to pursue his dream with the help of other companies, such as Ortopro AB. That company has worked in orthodontics since 1984 and is today one of Sweden’s leading suppliers of orthodontic materials and related products for aligners. He has also teamed up with Norway’s oldest orthopedic workshop, Drevelin Ortopedi AS. Established in 1859, it is a total supplier of orthopaedic aids, comprising specialists in various orthopaedic fields, including orthopaedic engineers, technicians, and occupational therapists.
Even after losing his foot, Rørstad still remembers his childhood dream coming true by becoming a professional skier. He told SnowBrains that he is even better in some aspects than before losing his foot. “My skiing is better and my climbing is better and obviously running and things like that have gotten more difficult, but that just means I need to train more,” Rørstad said. Facing obstacles and challenges is part of life. Overcoming and adapting to those are one of the biggest challenges for people to achieve. Rørstad inspires anyone facing those, continues to improve daily, and reminds us to never give up. “Yeah, so now I do all the things I used to do before the accident and in many sports, and I’m at a higher level now than I was before,” Rørstad said.
