Angel Collinson: making it big in big mountain skiing

January 20, 2016 7:36 PM

Angel Collinson Annihilates Alaska and makes big mountain skiing look easy, but when seen from the first person perspective, it's a different view.

She comes from a serious skiing family, and currently tours and goofs with her little brother, aka the blonde wonder twins (who aren't twins) (her little brother was the youngest person to climb the seven summits, at 17).

Bonus video: Angel Collinson's Full Segment from Teton Gravity Research's Almost Ablaze

posted by filthy light thief (26 comments total)

Totally read that as "Angel collision annihilates Alaska" and was like "OK, End Times. Here we go."

Gonna go watch the video now...
posted by gwint at 7:46 PM on January 20, 2016 [15 favorites]

OK, watched the video. Not the End Times, but I did find myself yelling out to the Deity more than once. Holy cow...
posted by gwint at 7:51 PM on January 20, 2016

Honestly, it didn't look easy in third person.
posted by cromagnon at 7:56 PM on January 20, 2016 [3 favorites]

OK, not really easy, but fairly effortless, and it made me crave skiing like crazy. Except then I saw the first person view and thought "holy shit holy shit holy shit ..."
posted by filthy light thief at 7:58 PM on January 20, 2016

I knew I didn't like skiing. OTOH, this is awesome.
posted by tspae at 8:01 PM on January 20, 2016 [1 favorite]

I went skiing once. I wound up in the gutter with people on the lifts above hurling abuse at me. I can't even wrap my head around this.
posted by Valued Customer at 8:02 PM on January 20, 2016 [1 favorite]

Totally read that as "Angel collision annihilates Alaska" and was like "OK, End Times. Here we go."

Funny, I read it the same way as well. That was some pretty amazing stuff. Breathtaking.
posted by Benway at 8:06 PM on January 20, 2016 [1 favorite]

The first big mountain POV video I ever saw was seven years ago on Dana Flahr's youtube account. The soundtrack was not totally my thing, but seeing that first person perspective blew my mind.
posted by anthill at 8:13 PM on January 20, 2016 [1 favorite]

Those are some awesome links. Thanks so much for posting.
posted by Aizkolari at 8:18 PM on January 20, 2016

My double black days are long past, but I do distinctly remember at my most fearless/stupid reaching a point where it wasn't complete insanity for my to consider skiing the crazier stuff at Squaw or Mammoth. Still resort skiing, so the signs in view of the lift on the way up saying "if you fall here, you'll probably die" likely contributed - but I also remember looking down at such terrain, pausing a moment, then finally thinking "NOPE. I'm good, thanks."

These POV videos? Awesome, but yeah - all the NOPEs.
posted by NoRelationToLea at 8:51 PM on January 20, 2016

As a skier, I totally get the desire to ski big lines, but watching the first line, it just looks like such awful snow at the top. Doesn't seem like much fun to me.
posted by ssg at 9:10 PM on January 20, 2016 [1 favorite]

I saw this segment on the Banff Mountain Film Fest tour this year (I think?). She seems pretty cool and skis really hard. To my eyes it looks even more impressive when shot from the third party perspective. The first person view looks doable, just not with that style and speed.

Thanks for sharing the other links.
posted by sauril at 9:12 PM on January 20, 2016 [1 favorite]

This is some people's job.
posted by gottabefunky at 9:19 PM on January 20, 2016

Holy mac
posted by gt2 at 9:24 PM on January 20, 2016

That is fucking crazy. And awesome.
posted by rtha at 9:33 PM on January 20, 2016

This is some people's job.

Her interview with Back Country Skiing Canada drove that home for me - trying to stay upbeat when you're on a three week video shoot and the conditions suck.
posted by filthy light thief at 9:33 PM on January 20, 2016

A little piece of Banks' Culture.

It kills me, the fossil fuel cost chasing the last snow.
posted by clew at 9:50 PM on January 20, 2016 [6 favorites]

Listening to the other skiers talk about her was like listening to surfers, all "dude" and "gnarly". I found it oddly relaxing.
posted by Mogur at 4:04 AM on January 21, 2016 [1 favorite]

It kills me, the fossil fuel cost chasing the last snow.


Filming Big mountain heli skiing is i) awesome (in the literal sense of the word) and ii) wasteful and we can sit with both of those ideas. I hope that much lighter-weight drone cameras replace the helo crew with their large lenses soon.

Also: this woman rocks!

PS You can't talk about women who are big-mountain skiers without mentioning Ingrid Backstrom
(pretty great name for a snow valkyrie!)
posted by lalochezia at 5:25 AM on January 21, 2016 [1 favorite]

I'm a serious skier and these are awesome in the true sense of the world. Also terrifying in so many ways.

Also, she's also the first women to ever win 'line of the year', which is pretty damn rad.
posted by larthegreat at 5:37 AM on January 21, 2016

From the description of the second video link:

Angel Collinson is making huge waves in the traditionally male dominated sport of big mountain skiing.
Statement acknowledged.

This year she became the first female to open a TGR ski film.
The first... human female?

Get into the female psyche of Angel...
Say, what sort of movie is this gonna be, anyhow?

Witness as she learns from [...] her experienced male counterparts."
O_o
posted by Rat Spatula at 7:40 AM on January 21, 2016 [2 favorites]

Rat Spatula: "Witness as she learns from [...] her experienced male counterparts."

What I witnessed was her male counterparts mostly agog.
posted by chavenet at 7:55 AM on January 21, 2016

Right, that's also what I saw. So, who's writing Teton Gravity Research's video descriptions, Al Goldstein?
posted by Rat Spatula at 8:48 AM on January 21, 2016

What she's doing is much more like controlled falling. Terrifying and amazing.
posted by kinnakeet at 1:36 PM on January 21, 2016

This young woman is now one of my few heroes. What guts, talent, and skill she possesses!
posted by InsertNiftyNameHere at 7:17 PM on January 21, 2016

Space-folding
posted by Rat Spatula at 10:03 PM on January 21, 2016