In the search for an endless winter, these ladies have traveled all over the globe, looking for that last bit of snow. From slush laps on Mt. Hood to the peaks of Chamonix and the Australian Alps, these babes know no limits. They’re living the dream, usually traveling between hemispheres and working where it’s convenient to ensure they have the ultimate shred season. Give these girls a follow, with all their summer practice they’re sure to be on fire this coming winter.
Brooklyn Poirot
Poirot hails from the last frontier, Girdwood, Alaska. She traded in her snowboard for a pair of twin-tips three years ago, and now spends her winter shredding the parks of Breckenridge, Colorado. Her summers normally consist of commercial fishing back home in Alaska, but she chose another alternative, working at Timberline lodge in Mt. Hood, Oregon and skiing in her free time.
“I just wasn’t ready to take a break from skiing. Thinking about being that far away from snow felt wrong, so I got a job at Timberline. It was a gamble, fishing can be really lucrative, but it was definitely the right choice,” Poirot explains. “I’ve already progressed a lot this summer, I hiked the park all the time. Normally, I have to get all my stock tricks back at the beginning of winter. This fall, everything will still be fresh in my head so I’m really grateful I was able to do this.”
Maddie Jones
Jones is an Australian gal through and through. Born and raised in New South Wales, she’s been skiing at Perisher since she finished school in ’08 and usually heads to Breckenridge, CO and Park City, UT for the northern-hemisphere winters. It’s been a big year for her, signing with Blackstrap, Armada Australia and most recently Full Tilt Australia. Catch this Aussie bombshell laying out naked backflips and greasing rails all over the world.
“We have our whole own industry down here in Australia, it’s totally separate, which is cool. We are such a tight knit group. We have a group chat on Facebook, party together, compete together, have dinners and breakfasts together.” Jones exclaims, “It’s awesome, the freestyle industry is already so small—take that, put it in Australia and it’s so tiny. We are all just friends who shred in the sun together. It’s really fantastic.”
Nat Segal
Segal was born and bred in the Victorian Alps of Australia. She’s been on skis since the age of two and has competed in big mountain competitions for the last five years, on both the Freeride and Freeskiing World Tours. She spends her year split between the two hemispheres to maximize time spent on snow. Instead of her normal pilgrimage home, she decided to spend this summer in Chamonix, France. Segal’s mode of transportation up hill is not a normal lift accessible resort, she’s brushing up on her mountaineering and getting the goods.
“I was ready for a break from school and during my university holidays I found myself in the Chamonix valley staring up at mountains I never knew existed. The rest is kind of history; I became a ski bum, took an avalanche course, started competing in freeride competitions and just kept on trucking along in the direction that made me happy. It generally involves powder skiing and fun terrain, but lately I’ve been getting into a bit of ski mountaineering.” Segal describes, “I love the freedom of big mountain skiing—there’s no one particular way to do it and there is so much variation. One minute you could be slaying powder pillows in the trees, the next, skiing long technical couloirs at the top of a mountain. There is always something to challenge you. But there’s one reason I’ll never be a true mountaineer, I’ll always be trying to take my skis up with me.”
Isabelle Hanssen
Hanssen has her sights set on competing in halfpipe during the 2018 Winter Olympics for her home country of the Netherlands. When she’s home in Holland, which is very little, she skis at one of the indoor ski domes. She spends most of her winters in Breckenridge, Colorado and travels to Cardrona, New Zealand for the summer. She’s currently ranked 14th in the FIS world halfpipe standings and with her dedication we’re sure to see that number head upwards.
“I entered a halfpipe contest as a joke, my friend and I thought it would be fun, but after a few days I actually really started to like it. I kept on doing it and totally fell in love with it,” Hanssen jokes. “It’s really hard to train because there aren’t many good halfpipes out there, especially being from the Netherlands. My favorite halfpipe trick has to be alley oop 540, it just gives me that awesome feeling after landing it. I would love to learn how to do 900s, but I definitely don’t want to put a limit on the possibilities of things I can learn.”
Nadia Gonzales
Gonzales is an on-snow coach at Woodward Copper in Colorado. She lives near Keystone Ski Resort and bounces around resorts in Summit County during the winter. She grew up a ski racer in Angel Fire, New Mexico, but ditched the speed suit for a life of backflips and 82 foot rails—really, she owned that rail (see below). She’s also a three year veteran ski tester of the FREESKIER park ski test.
“The best part of coaching is getting to see campers learn and accomplish their goals. One camper of mine wanted to learn backflips on snow.” Gonzales noted, “He had tried once before; it hadn’t gone well. I spent most of the week with him, making sure he was progressing. On the last day of camp, he did a perfect backflip and was stoked. He claimed it would help him get the ladies, he was 15.”
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