Jackie Paaso and Eva Walkner are good friends. More than that, however, they are top class athletes chasing similar dreams. Having both grown up skiing in different disciplines—Paaso has a freestyle background, while Walkner started in the alpine scene—these women are currently chasing new objectives in the mountains.
Walkner and local mountain guide, Marion Poitevin, make their way up a near-vertical slope in Chamonix. PHOTO: Yannick BoissenotFrom regulated ski courses to big mountain skiing, both Paaso and Walkner have discovered a newfound feeling of freedom in ski mountaineering and the unique challenges it raises. In this two year film project, entitled “Evolution of Dreams—The Beginning,” we are given unique insight into the careers of these athletes and how their focus in skiing has shifted over time.
Skiing in Chamonix puts everything in perspective. PHOTO: Yannick Boissenot“The path we followed to freeride was very similar and that included all the bumps in the road, not just the successes,” said Paaso of her and Walkner’s careers. “We soon came to realize that this was the story we wanted to tell [in our film]: How we started, the path we followed, dreams we chased and how our dreams have evolved over the years. Skiing has remained the focus, but how we ski and what we ski has changed.”
Jackie Paaso airs it out in the European Alps. PHOTO: Christoph Oberschneider“Evolution of Dreams—The Beginning” is a seven-minute short film and will be touring around to many of the major winter film festivals this fall, including iF3 and Freeride Film Festival, so be on the lookout for a movie showing in your local community. Stay tuned for a feature-length release from the skiing duo to be released sometime in 2018.
