Growing up in Minnesota most kids spend their summers on a lake or in a ice rink. However, 13 year old Willie Borm isn’t your normal Minnesotan. Willie spent his summer at Mt. Hood shredding Windell’s far from any lakes or ice rinks.

Three weeks into his summer Willie witnessed Sammy Carlson throw his first triple. Inspired by one of his idols, Willie also stepped it up that week and proceeded to land his first double. “I stomped it my first attempt and was so pumped! I ended up landing two doubles in a row that day and then five in a row my second day.” Willie said. As summer went on Willie continued to learn new tricks and hone his skills for the upcoming season.

Between jumping on the tramp and having air soft gun wars Willie took some time to chat with Freeskier and catch us up on his summer, plans for next season and how it felt to win the first TGR Grom Contest.

Not many 13 yr olds are throwing doubles like this!
photo: Rocky Maloney

How has your summer been going? Any crazy stories? 

It has been an epic summer.  It started at Mt. Hood where I got to ride in the SCI.  I was there when Sammy threw the triple.  He was so focused that day and it was the sickest thing I’ve ever seen.  I was so stoked about his triple that it got me fired up to try a double cork 10. Inspired by Sammy I got my dub cork 10 on my first attempt and it felt great! 

Now I’m just back in Minnesota hanging with my friends.

What are your interest/ hobbies outside of skiing?

I like to tramp, swim and have air soft wars with my friends. Sometimes we even have air soft wars on the tramp and in the pool. 

You should try it. It’s sick.


photo: Rob Borm

I’ll have to try that for sure. Sounds fun. Being from MN, the “Land of 10,000 Lakes” and hockey, how did you get into skiing?

Hockey is huge in my state. My two best friends, Shane and Cade are super good at hockey, they will be pro players for sure. I started skiing though when I was 2. I used to take off my skis and use them as shovels to move snow in order to build small jumps on the bunny hill. The ski patrols didn’t like that. (laughs) Back then I was playing hockey and skiing at the same time but that didn’t work. 

Then one day a guy named Martin Sundquist skied up to me and asked if I wanted to be on Nybora, his freestyle ski team. That’s how I got started. I’m still on the Nybora freestyle ski team today and it’s way sick. The Midwest is where it’s at. 


photo: Rob Borm

What is the best part about living in MN?

Rope tows

What skiers do you look up to? 

I look up to Sammy the most, because he works so hard, has fun and has the best style. I also look up to TJ Schiller, Dane Tudor, Tanner Hall, Simon Dumont, Nick Martini, Jossi Wells and Tommy Ellingson.

Those are some good guys to look up to. Do you have any plans yet for next winter?

I can’t wait for this next season. I like competitions the most, so I plan to do the Aspen Open, Dew Tour qualifiers, some Gatorade again and then The Dumont Cup again just for the experience. I also plan to film urban around Minnesota. Plus I can’t wait to film with TGR since i won the Grom Search.


photo: Hickey Photography

Thats right. How stoked were you to win the TGR Grom Search?

I was super stoked about winning the TGR search. There were so many good videos and so many great riders.  They were all sick. I can’t wait to film with TGR. 

Being sponsored by Rockstar, what is your favorite flavor?

Rockstar Cola by far. It’s better than coke.  It’s hard to pick one because they are all good flavors.

If you could ski with anyone who would it be?

Sammy of course. I would also like to ski backcountry with Seth Morrison and Tanner Hall one day. 

Any shout outs?

I definitely want to shout out to all the new friends that I met at Mt. Hood this summer and to everyone who helps me do what I love to do. Ski.

For More on Willie check out www.willieborm.com

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