Danny Walton

McKenna Peterson

 McKenna is the quintessential ‘ski bum’. A former Freeskiing World Tour competitor, McKenna spends most of her winter backcountry skiing and chasing snow. She captains her family’s 58’ commercial fishing boat in Alaska during the summer months, catching salmon. McKenna has almost two decades of backcountry skiing experience with extensive trips around the world. She has worked with world renowned mountain photographers and has been a part of multiple film projects including Warren Miller, Matchstick Productions and adventure film documentaries. McKenna skied first descents in Iceland and Greenland while on an all female expedition, aiming to bring awareness to the effects of climate change on the Greenlandic ice sheet. She is a passionate ambassador for The Climate Reality Project. Somewhere between traveling the world and commercial fishing, McKenna has found time to complete a bachelor’s degree in Exercise Physiology from the University of Utah and is a certified Wilderness First Responder. She enjoys documenting her adventures and has had writing published in SKI Magazine, BigLife Magazine, National Geographic Adventure, Forecast magazine, among others. 

Ted Keyes

Ted Keyes began teaching kayaking professionally while an undergrad at Colorado State University. I’ve been whitewater paddling ever since. over 30 years of Whitewater experience in North and South America with a few First descents here and there. Busy as ever as an outdoor industry sales rep agency, but always can find time to share the joy of paddling.

Casi Rynkowski

Casi has been working in the outdoor industry for the past eight years, managing athletes, social media, and marking projects for top brands like BIC Sport, Tahe Outdoors, and SIC Maui.  She got her start as a paddleboard athlete herself when she opened her outdoor adventure business. Here she learned from the ground up how to leverage social media, attract sponsors, take advantage of cross-marketing opportunities, and grow an authentic image.  After several years of working with different sponsors, BIC Sport like what they saw and brought Casi in to manage their athlete team and grow their social media footprint.

Casi is currently the SIC Maui Athlete team manager and social media coordinator.  She manages over 48 global athletes and is responsible for both brand and athlete social media content and special marketing project. Her experience working for a brand and as an ambassador/athlete gives her a unique perspective on leveraging opportunities and growing a personal brand.

Gabe Schroder

Ever since scoring an internship to Powder Magazine 20 years ago, Gabe has been front and center for the evolution of the ski industry. After a brief stint managing regional marketing programs for Rossignol, Gabe was hired to oversee the global ski and bike programs for Smith Optics. During his 10 year stint at Smith, Gabe managed the ski, snowboard, bike, and outdoor athletes and marketing programs, gaining valuable insight into action sports marketing, sponsorships, and what companies are looking for from their sponsored ambassadors. Currently running the MTB program for Dakine, Gabe continues to work with professional athletes, creating dynamic marketing programs and content to further promote Dakine and its riders.

Ray J. Gadd

Born and raised Idahoan. Slightly bias but still an equal opportunity explorer. Ketchum, Idaho has been basecamp for the last 6 years and what a trip it’s been. 

My folks took a chance on the little known potato state some 30 plus years ago. They bought a van, stuffed me in a front pack and set out to see what this place was all about. I took it for granted at the time, but somehow can’t shake the idea that those early experiences must have left an exploratory ember smoldering deep down inside. 

Fast forward to the post collegiate days where deep breaths, good friends and parental influences fanned the flames and the urge to wander combusted. From multi-week, overseas sagas fostered by the folks to solo road trips throughout the western states brought about a yearning to drink it all in. Re-discovered tools such as the mountain bike, skis, fly rod and camera opened new doors for exploration all while further enhancing each experience.

Capturing the adventures, moments, places and faces quickly brought photography to the forefront of my world. The ability to share and re-live these moments brought about instant and long standing feelings of gratification that kept me coming back for more. With ample amounts of trial and error, this hobby graciously opened the doors to a more full-fledged career. 

While photography is my passion, I’ve always struggled to let go of that marketing degree earned in my college days. Today I find myself lucky enough to enjoy the best of both worlds. The vast majority of my days are spent working as the content marketing manager for Visit Sun Valley and moonlighting a myriad of photography projects ranging from editorial magazine shoots to clothing catalog work.  

The career life tends to get in the way wanderlust life these days but I make every effort to embrace the weekend warrior spirit and schedule in those much-needed sabbaticals. Scouting for trout, getting lost on singletrack trails, testing my wits on the backcountry ski routes and trying my luck at surfing are just a few of the current things that keep stoking the flames.   

 

Wyatt Caldwell

Family camping trips as a youngster fueled Wyatt’s passion for discovery, love for the outdoors, and curiosity to peak over the next ridge in search of a rewarding view.

After 20 years of traveling the globe as a professional snowboard athlete Wyatt has developed a keen eye for unique stories and experiences. Competing from 1999-2012 in professional level events, Wyatt proved himself as a contender on any playing field. From X games slope finals, Grand Prix national half pipe championship wins, to 1st place at “king of the hill” big mountain comp in Valdez, Alaska, Wyatt has seen the natural progression of snowboarding first hand. Riding for companies such as Burton snowboards, Smith optics, and Eddie Bauer, Wyatt has experience working with sponsors and brands to find mutually beneficial ways to promote each other. Wyatt possesses the insight and experience needed to navigate the rugged landscape of the snow sports industry.

Now at 36 years old Wyatt specializes in difficult and remote location camera operation. He has the ability, knowledge, and attitude to get the shot no matter what the environmental challenges are. Certified in Wilderness First Aid, Avalanche 2, and over 20 years of backcountry experience, Wyatt is a level 2-backcountry guide and a jack-of-all-trades in any given happenstance.

Based out of Sun Valley, ID the resort’s and backcountry playgrounds are right in the backyard, time to ride!

Griffin Post

Born in Austria, raised in Idaho, Griffin Post has spent the better part of the last
decade traveling the world in search of mountains to ski. Appearing in the past
seven films by Teton Gravity Research, Post has made significant descents from the
Tetons to the Arctic Circle, earning accolades from ESPN and Powder
magazine along the way. Transgressing the boundary between athlete and writer,
the two-time US Extreme Freeskiing champion has also written about his
adventures — from Alaska’s Brooks Range to the Chilean Andes — in the pages of
Powder, Freeskier, and Skiing magazines.

Karl Fostvedt

Karl Fostvedt starting gaining momentum in the world of ski films in 2012 with a segment in Poor Boyz Productions film, We: A Collection of Individuals. The International Freeski Film Festival awarded Fostvedt’s segment from the film with The Rookie of The Year award. Since his breakthrough year in 2012, Fostvedt has filmed segments with pretty much every well-known production company, including: Teton Gravity Research, Matchstick Productions, Sweetgrass Productions, Warren Miller Entertainment, Good Company, and 4bi9 Media. Fostvedt has also proved himself in the competition arena with podium finishes at VARS Tournament, Total Fight, and War of Rails. Fostvedt’s greatest competition achievement was being crowned “King” at the inaugural Kings and Queens of Corbet’s Couloir contest in Jackson Hole. He returned the following year and was awarded runner-up to Travis Rice in a closely contested event. Fostvedt’s skill set spans a wide genre from Big Mountain skiing to Street Skiing and everything in between. No matter what type of terrain you put in front of him, Fostvedt finds a way to excel. Fostvedt’s most recent accolade was Powder Magazine’s 2019 prestigious award for “Line of the Year” which cemented Fostvedt’s status as a hard-charging big mountain skier. Fostvedt also received his first magazine cover with a Nic Alegre photo that landed on Powder magazine’s final 2020 issue before the magazine went out of print. Looking forward, Fostvedt has started his own production Company, Native Productions, and plans to produce local films that highlight the abundance of amazing terrain in his Idaho backyard and the amazing community that has helped him achieve success in skiing.

Slater Trout

Growing up Slater Trout’s life was based around the water. At the age of 11, Slater chose to forge his own path through the young and fresh sport of Stand Up Paddling. By doing so he found himself competing and succeeding against athletes mostly double his age. While traveling for SUP Races / Surf competitions around the world, he developed his passion for photography. As his photography portfolio is growing, he hopes that each of his photos will inspire and invite you to experience the world through his eyes. Whether Slater is competing for a Stand Up Paddling World Title or documenting his life through photography, he is always excited for the next journey.

Mike Hattrup

Mike Hattrup spent over 20 years working for K2 as the Global Backside Director and is now the US Product Marketing Manager and Content Director for Fischer Skis. One of the first Americans to become a certified AMGA Ski Mountaineering Guide, Hattrup has guided trips in Sun Valley, Norway, the European Alps, Canada and Washington Cascades.

Prior to his industry career, Hattrup was a mogul specialist for the 1988 US Freestyle Ski Team, and starred in over a dozen ski films including the classic, Blizzard of Aahhh’s. His travels in search of fresh tracks have taken him to all of the alpine countries of Central Europe, as well as Turkey, Norway, Bolivia, Chile, New Zealand, Australia, Japan, Greenland, Canada and Russia.

Giving back has always been part of Hattrup’s mindset. After his team won the Ford Sport Trac Challenge adventure race, he donated his $25,000 winnings to the American Mountain Guiding Association to create an endowment that provides ongoing tuition for guide education. He’s also donated his time to help raise money for the Special Olympics, Outdoors for All and Sun Valley Center for the Arts.

He’s called Ketchum home for over twenty years and, lives with his wife Claudia, 17- year-old son, Axel, and 15-year-old daughter, Isabella.

Industry Recognition:
2008 Backcountry magazine’s Hall of Fame
2006 Powder magazine’s “48 Most Influential Skiers of Our Time”
1998 Powder magazine’s “50 Best Skiers in North America”

 

Ingrid Backstrom

Ingrid Backstrom is an icon in the sport who has skied first descents in Greenland, Baffin Island and China and has starred in more than 20 ski films, including her own short film that documented traveling to the top 25 lift-accessed ski runs in North America with her husband and then 10-month-old daughter in a minivan. Even now as a mother of two girls (Betty and Clover), Ingrid has one foot firmly planted in the ski industry—she helped bring MSP’s 2018 release, ALL IN, to life. As a co-founder of SAFE AS (Skiers Advocating and Fostering Avalanche and Snow Safety), Ingrid helps lead women’s avalanche clinics around the West.

In Matchstick Productions’ 2004 film, Yearbook, a breakout star named Ingrid Backstrom upped the ante for female skiing in one four-turn Bella Coola, B.C. descent. For a decade, Ingrid reigned as the most influential woman on skis, topping Powder Magazine’s Reader Poll from 2005-2015, winning big mountain competitions (she finished on the podium in 12 of 14 career contests) and wowing ski film audiences with an aggressive, hard-charging style that came off as graceful and effortless on screen. She’s proved her prowess on skis by shredding high consequence, steep faces on peaks like Denali and China’s 20,000-foot Reddomaine and also by throwing backflips off cliffs at Squaw Valley, but you’ll never hear about any of it from Ingrid—she’s been called “modest to a fault”. Backstrom grew up in Seattle, Washington, spending her weekends skiing at Crystal Mountain in a rusty-brown 1954 GMC bookmobile that her family converted into a makeshift RV. Following college and a move to Tahoe, Matchstick Productions wanted to film Ingrid for their next movie, so they helped her find her first sponsor: The North Face.

These days, Ingrid shares a riverside farmhouse in Leavenworth, Washington with her husband, Jim, her daughters Betty and Clover, and her miniature Australian Shepherd, Buddy. The North Cascades tower above the valley, nearby mountain trails busy the mountain biker and trail runner when the snow melts and the backyard garden and orchard trees fill Ingrid’s kitchen with ingredients she uses to cook and bake most every day she’s home.

Accomplishments:

More than 20 ski film appearances, including Matchstick Productions, Warren Miller, Sherpas Cinema
Reader Poll favorite, Powder Awards 2010-2015
Fan Favorite, ESPN X Games Real Women 2013
50 Most Influential People in Action Sports 2013
Best Female Performance & Reader Poll favorite, Powder Awards 2005-2009
Breakthrough Performance, Powder Awards 2005
1st, Canadian Freeskiing Championships 2004