After sitting through—and enjoying—a high profile tirade of powder shots, cliff drops and mind boggling tricks at last week’s snowsports film festival, The Meeting in Aspen, Colo., it was very clear who stole the show— at least in my book. Michelle Parker’s performance in Matchstick Productions “Superhereos of Stoke,” marked several things for women’s skiing. Not only did the 5’3″ ripper have one of the best female segments to date, showing her prowess in both the park and atop classic AK lines, but she also proved to women that you can come back from long and complicated injuries, better and stronger than before.
Home Mountain: Squaw Valley, Calif.
Age: 25
Favorite moment filming “Superheroes of Stoke?” Learning from Eric Hjorleifson and James Heim.
Sponsors: Red Bull, Mountain Hardwear, Atomic, Smith, Squaw Valley, Kicker
What drew you to shift from racing to park to backcountry? It felt like a natural progression for me and has kept skiing so new and fresh every year. There are always going to be new mountains to explore and lines to be skied and places to adventure to. I’m sure my skiing will continue to shift every year and it’s exciting to me.
How are these styles of skiing alike or different? Racing gave me a great technical background and taught me how to ski. The park is super fun, but I can’t ski park all the time. I like skiing in the park when the snow isn’t great, but other than that the backcountry is where I want to be most of the time. Combining all of these elements of skiing together is ultimately where I would one day like to take my skiing so I would say that they complement each other nicely. They are all so different, but that’s part of the allure to me.
Superheroes of Stoke Trailer from MSP Films on Vimeo.
What was the hardest part about coming back to skiing after your knee injury? I knew that I would always come back to skiing. There was never a doubt in my mind that I wouldn’t do that. I guess the hardest part for me was gaining the mental confidence. My body was good to go, but I had to work on the mental aspect a bit for the first year. Now I feel completely confident mentally and physically.
How hard is it to take a park trick into the backcountry? It’s difficult for sure. The jumps in the backcountry are all different and variable. In the park they are much more predictable. Sometimes you build a jump in the backcountry and never get to hit it, or you hit it and it just doesn’t line up right. There is a lot more that goes into skiing in the backcountry than in the park.
Do you have a workout or nutrition regime, if so, what is it? I try to eat super healthy and stay as active as possible. Depending on where I am, I typically try to go for a run, bike, hike, yoga, or climb every day on top of doing some sort of circuit training. I’m a huge fan of juicing and smoothies. Health is everything…don’t take it for granted!
What do you say to women looking to diversify their skiing or riding and try something new? A great place to start out is taking an Avalanche course if you want to spend more time in the backcountry. Woodward is an amazing training ground if you want to take some tricks from the trampoline to skis. Always have fun!
To see Michelle in “Superheroes of Stoke” in your area, check out the the tour schedule.