The 9 Greatest Female Freeskiers of All Time

Martin Kuprianowicz |
Professional backcountry skier Tatum Monod
A backflip for the girls from professional backcountry skier Tatum Monod. Image: SnowBrains

These lovely ladies probably shred harder than you.

Professional skier Maude Raymond
Armada Skis athlete Maude Raymond. Image: Pinterest.com

Maude Raymond – A Montreal, Canada native that rides for Armada skis. She spends her winters in Mammoth Lakes, California, doing what she does best.

Profesional Skier Grete Eliassen
Six-time Winter X Games medalist Grete Eliassen getting some air. Image: Women’s Sports Foundation

Grete Eliassen – An American-Norwegian professional skier who lives in Salt Lake City, Utah. She has won six medals at the Winter X Games in slopestyle, including back-to-back gold medals in 2005 and 2006.

Professional Big Mountain Skier Ingrid Backstrom
Ingrid Backstrom helicopter skiing out of Valle Nevado, Chile. Image: SnowBrains

Ingrid Backstrom – Ingrid Backstrom is a skiing icon who has skied first descents in Greenland, Baffin Island, and China. She has starred in more than 20 ski films. Ingrid is a mother of two and co-founder of SAFE AS (Skiers Advocating and Fostering Avalanche and Snow Safety), helping lead women’s avalanche clinics around the West.

Professional skier Michelle Parker
A Squaw Valley local, Michelle Parker, is a professional skier and Red Bull athlete. Image: Squaw Valley Alpine Meadows

Michelle Parker – With her home resort being Palisades Tahoe, California, Michelle Parker is one of the ski industry’s most versatile female skiers. She has appeared in over a dozen ski films and in 2013 won the Best Female Performance at the Powder Video Awards. She has also received an award from the International Freeski Film Festival for her segment in Matchstick Productions’ Superheroes of Stoke.



Professional skier Angel Collinson
Skiing big lines and deep pow is in professional skier Angel Collinson’s blood. Image: SnowBrains

Angel Collinson – A Salt Lake City native who grew up living in the world-famous, Little Cottonwood Canyon, Angel Collinson is one of Teton Gravity Research‘s most distinguished female skiers. She’s a gnarly ripper, to say the least. Her brother, John Collinson, is also a professional skier. Must run in the family.

Professional skier Sarah Jean Burke
A true skiing legend, Sarah Jean Burke changed the game forever. Image: SnowBrains

Sarah Burke – Sarah Jean Burke (1982-2012) was a Canadian freeskier who pioneered the superpipe event at the Winter X Games. She is a five-time Winter X Game gold medalist who won the world championship in the halfpipe in 2005. Burke passed away on January 10th, 2012 from a fatal head injury she sustained during training at Park City Mountain Resort. She is forever a legend. May she ski in peace.

Professional skier Jackie Paaso
Freeride World Tour champion Jackie Paaso sending BIG lines. Image: SnowBrains

Jaclyn Paaso – Jackie is a former mogul skier turned professional freeskier from Lake Tahoe, California. She is the winner of the 2019 Freeride World Tour in Andorra. She even has her own movie, Evolution of Dreams.



Skiing legend Kaya Turksi
Red Bull athlete and 8-time Winter X Games gold medalist, Kaya Turksi, is a skiing legend. Image: SnowBrains

Kaya Turksi – A Canadian freeskier, Turksi is the most dominant skier in women’s slopestyle history. She has eight Winter X Games gold medals — all in slopestyle.

Elyse Saugstad was the Freeskier Magazine "2018 Female Skier of the Year."
Freeskier Magazine’s “2018 Female Skier of the Year,” Elyse Saugstad, lives for pow. Image: SnowBrains 

Elyse Saugstad – Saugstad is an American professional freeskier and the 2008 Freeride World Champion. She is a native Alaskan and was elected Freeskier Magazine’s “2018 Female Skier of the Year.” Her husband, Cody Townsend, is a famous professional skier as well.

Tatum Monod professional big mountain skier
Professional big mountain skier Tatum Monod is one of the best to ever do it. Image: Teton Gravity Research

Tatum Monod – Born in Banff, Alberta, Tatum is a professional big mountain skier who isn’t afraid to stomp massive tricks in the backcountry. She has been awarded the “Best Female Performance” from Powder Magazine and “Female Skier of the Year” from Freeskier Magazine in 2017. She has recently come back from a season-ending ACL injury and is now shredding harder than ever.


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30 thoughts on “The 9 Greatest Female Freeskiers of All Time

  1. Kim Reichem. Wendy Fisher. Who’s idea was this? Do they know what skiing is? Oh… Click bait.

  2. Dusty, that comment is timestamped Jan 2020, a while before they announced the name change. Miles actively partners with Ikon and Palisades, he’s been consistent on calling it Palisades since the change here and on Instagram. Reading is not that hard.

  3. Kirsten Kremer – Valdez Heli-Ski Guides….been at it a long time…Not a movies star. Pure free skier. IMHO.

  4. How could you miss Wendy Fisher? The OG female free rider. She destroyed the female comps back in the day. Go watch old Matchstick movies. She ripped as hard as any woman today.

  5. Kit Deslauries – First to ski the 7 summits.
    Hilaree Nelson – Innumerable first descents.

  6. Miles Clark: “We live in and are based in Squaw Valley. We know it’s actually Olympic Valley. For the sake of keeping things simple, we’re just calling it Squaw here. Thanks again.”

    Guess we see where you stand? What do you call it now?

  7. all time….how about Tamera McKinney. the OG of hard charging women. and based in Squaw…I mean Qlympic valley.

  8. This list is BS. Very few of the pioneering women of the past. Kristen Ulmer ranked top female extreme skier for 11 years. First woman to ski the Grand Teton and probably 20 years before the next female did it. First female back flip off a 100′ cliff. Your research is pretty weak.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kristen_Ulmer

  9. Good list, but I would have liked it more if it included some key women who pioneered the idea of being a freeskier, making a living riding big mountains.

  10. Gimme a break. Uh…. Kim Reichhelm, Wendy Brookbank, Emily Gladstone, Wendy Fisher, to name a few. Geez…

  11. Great list!
    Bad information by snowbrains , how is it that they can’t figure out that squaw valley is the resort not the town ? Olympic valley is the town ,the post office is Olympic valley not squaw valley .
    Squaw valley’s physical address is 1960 squaw valley road , Olympic valley California.
    Saying that an athlete is from squaw valley is misinformation. How hard is it to do a little research
    not misinform the readers.
    Get your facts straight snowbrains.

    1. Dear, I Am Smarter Than You. Thank you very much for this. We live in and are based in Squaw Valley. We know it’s actually Olympic Valley. For the sake of keeping things simple, we’re just calling it Squaw here. Thanks again.

  12. Some of the ones who started it? Wendy Brookbank, Kristen Ulmer, Kim Reichhel, Wendy Fisher….

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