Freeriding is not only a sporting discipline but also a mental one. It is the mind which pushes a rider to challenge his own limits and face up to an extreme descent, or set off to explore an unknown region.
It is this interior aspect which comes out most in Freeriders. Eighteen interviews with skiers and snowboarders, both present and past, who have left their indelible mark on the world of freeriding and powder. Through their words and stories the profound reasons emerge which pushed them to face up to challenges and sometimes even risk their lives to feel free and leave tracks on their dream slopes. For many of them choosing freeriding was not the easiest option. They abandoned a much easier and less dangerous path, in order to express themselves in a way which represented them most, that is, with freedom and being in contact with nature. The lines they have tracked are partly the signature of their soul and their way of being. For this reason, at the end of the interview, each of them has described a line which best describes themselves, a line which to all intents and purposes is a symbol, a signature which has marked the evolution of freeriding.

The protagonists

Ane Enderud Female power
Bruno Compagnet The Jedi master of Freeriding
Anne Flore Marxer Femininity and positive energy
Emilio Previtali The Director
Paolo Tassi The traveller
Glen Plake The most influential skier of the last 35 years
Marco Galliano A high altitude tourist
Markus Eder The future
Karina Hollekim The search for maximum happiness at all costs
Taro Tamai The Zen spirit of Freeriding
Chris Davenport Style
Stefano de Benedetti The master of impossible
John Falkiner Free your heel, free your mind
Luca Pandolfi The mystic rider of steep lines
Giulia Monego Determination and sweetness
Stian Hagen Technique
Tone Valeruz The magician
Xavier de Le Rue The best snowboarder in the world, fullstop

About the Authors

Martino Colonna,  would be an irreproachable university professor of chemistry if it weren’t for the fact that as soon as he sees powder he loses control. Whenever he finds time he sets off to leave his tracks on powder snow all over the world. His cv includes expeditions and first descents in the unexplored areas of Greenland and the Svalbard Islands and he has skied down Muztagh Ata (7546 m) on a solo expedition. He is a consultant for ski equipment and tests in the field for several important ski and ski boot companies and is a member of the Freeride team of Dalbello-Volkl-Marker and Smith Optics; he collaborates with the major Italian freeride magazines.

Francesco Perini,  ex-international snowboard athlete in recent years has devoted himself through his agency to sponsoring consultancies and at present is Sponsoring Manager for Smith Optics, Team Manager for Dalbello Skiboots, Level Gloves and Cober Skipoles, handles some of the best European ski and snowboard athletes and is also an events organiser. He has written several articles for ski and snowboard magazines and is still a passionate freerider. Having always been part of the mountain world and action sports he is constantly in search of untouched powder, the best lines and new experiences.