Extreme skiing is performed on long, steep slopes in mountainous terrain. The French coined the term 'Le Ski Extreme' in the 1970s. The first practitioners include Swiss skier Sylvain Saudan, who invented the "windshield wiper" turn in the mid-1960s, and in 1967 made the first descents of slopes in the Swiss, French and Italian Alps that were previously considered impossible. Saudan's 'first descent' in America was at Mt. Hood March 3, 1971. Early American practitioners include Bill Briggs, who descended Grand Teton on June 15, 1971. The Frenchmen Patrick Vallençant, Jean-Marc Boivin and Anselme Baud and the Italians Stefano De Benedetti and Toni Valeruz were among those who further developed the art and brought notoriety to the sport in the 1970s and 1980s.
Richard Overton is an American screenwriter, actor and comedian. His writing credits include Dennis Miller Live (1994–2002), and his acting credits include Willow (1988), The Rocketeer (1991), Eight Legged Freaks (2002) and Northfork (2003).
Alberto Tomba is a former World Cup alpine ski racer from Italy. He was the dominant technical skier in the late 1980s and 1990s. At 182 cm and 90 kg, his powerful build was a contrast to the lighter, more traditional technical skiers who prioritised agility over muscle. Tomba was able to take advantage of the introduction of spring-loaded ski gates which replaced the older, solid gates in the early 1980s by using his power to maintain a faster, more direct line through courses. Tomba won three Olympic gold medals, two World Championships, and nine World Cup season titles: four in slalom, four in giant slalom, and one overall title. He was popularly called Tomba la Bomba.
Terje Håkonsen is a Norwegian professional snowboarder. He is considered one of the most influential snowboarders in the history of the sport. In the book The way of the snowboarder, Rob Reed wrote that "Haakonsen took the young sport of snowboarding and revolutionized nearly every aspect of it".
Jonathan William Moseley is an American freestyle skier and television presenter. He is the first person born in Puerto Rico to become a member of the U.S. Ski Team. He is also known for hosting three seasons of MTV's The Challenge, which was formerly known as Real World/Road Rules Challenge. He has also hosted four reunion specials for Battle of the Sexes, the sequel of Battle of the Seasons, Rivals II and Free Agents.
Glen Plake is a US National Ski Hall of Fame skier. He grew up in Lake Tahoe, skiing Heavenly Valley. He is known for his appearances in ski films such as Greg Stump's The Blizzard of Aahhhs. Plake has been named a pioneer of extreme skiing in America by ESPN. Glen has been the host of the RSN program Reel Thrills.
Warren A. Miller was an American ski and snowboarding filmmaker. He was the founder of Warren Miller Entertainment and produced, directed and narrated films until 1988. His published works include over 750 sports films, several books and hundreds of non-fiction articles. Miller was inducted into the U.S. Ski Hall of Fame (1978), the Colorado Ski Hall of Fame (1995), and was awarded Lifetime Achievement Awards from the International Skiing History Association (2004) and the California Ski Industry Association (2008).
Doug Coombs was an American alpine skier and mountaineer who helped to pioneer the sport of extreme skiing, both in North America and worldwide.
Seth Morrison is a professional skier. He has won many competitions and has appeared in a number of ski movies. He is best known for jumping off cliffs from extreme heights.
Steven Lee is an Australian alpine skier. He competed in the 1984, 1988 and 1992 Winter Olympics, and had a competitive career lasting just on 25 years. He is the second of only 3 Australian skiers ever to claim victory on the Alpine World Cup circuit. He has also done sports commentating for channels 7, 9 and 10, co-owns Chill Factor magazine, and is a national selector and president of Falls Creek Race Club. He has worked in movies with Roger Moore and Jackie Chan.
Edward "Ed" Charles Podivinsky is a Canadian alpine skier who competed in the 1994 Winter Olympics, 1998 Winter Olympics, and 2002 Winter Olympics. He was member of the 1992 Canadian Olympic (Albertville) team. He was injured in his last training run for the men's downhill event.
William Besse is a Swiss former alpine skier. He took four wins and 13 podiums in the FIS Alpine Ski World Cup, all of them in the downhill discipline, including winning the Lauberhorn downhill in Wengen in 1994. He retired from competition in 1999, in part because he struggled to adapt to the introduction of carving skis in the mid-1990s. After retiring from competition, he became a ski instructor in Verbier, and also worked as an analyst for Télévision Suisse Romande and Radio Télévision Suisse's coverage of alpine skiing, until he was let go after the 2014-15 season.
Greg Stump is an American champion skier, ski and snowboarding filmmaker, and music video director.
Eric Pehota is a Canadian alpine skier, best known for his more than 40 first descents of mountains on skis, and his appearances in a number of ski films, including ski documentary Steep (2007), and a number of Warren Miller films.
The following works deal with the cultural, political, economic, military, biographical and geologic history of pre-territorial Montana, Montana Territory and the State of Montana.
Chris Davenport is considered one of the world's most accomplished big-mountain skiers and mountaineers. A native of Aspen, Colorado, he has been called "one of North America's top 25 skiers by Skiing Magazine and is a "two-time extreme skiing world champion".
Jeremy M. Nobis was an American alpine skier who competed in the 1994 Winter Olympics.
"Sick" Rick Armstrong is a professional skier, freeskiing pioneer, mountaineer, paraglider, businessman and serial entrepreneur based in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. He was a pioneering guide in the early years of Alaska Heli-skiing while working as a lead guide for Valdez Heli-skiing and Doug Coombs as chronicled in the 2007 feature film Steep. He was a member of the ultra-elite group of skiers called the Jackson Hole Airforce who transformed skiing in the 1990s and 2000s. He is known for having skied unskied lines such as his first and unrepeated massive drop into the left side of the notorious Corbet's Couloir at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort. He was the first person to have both skied and snowboarded the Grand Teton in Teton National Park. He has many first ski descents in China, Alaska, Europe, Antarctica, South America, and South Georgia Island. He was an athlete in the 1998 and 1999 Winter X-Games in Crested Butte. He was Awarded sponsorships by The North Face and Salomon. He also became an athlete talent scout for The North Face building a world-class ski team by discovering soon to be ski stars such as Sage-Cattabriga-Alosa, Ingrid Backstrom, Kitt Deslauries, Griffen Post, and Hillary Nelson. Armstrong was also a co-founder of the Teton Gravity Research film production company. He served on the board of directors for Intrawest from 2012 to 2017.
Ski Bum: The Warren Miller Story is a 2019 documentary film directed by Patrick Creadon. The film chronicles the life of skier and filmmaker Warren Miller. Ski Bum features Miller's final interview before his death in 2018.
