Freeskier Angel Collinson
Most freeskiers choose their calling, but Angel Collinson was pretty much groomed for the job. The 21-year-old big-mountain star grew up in employee housing at Utah’s Snowbird resort. Her father, Jimmy, now head of snow safety, has been a ski patroller there since 1981.
In 2009, after Collinson narrowly missed the cut as an alpine racer on the U.S. Ski Team, she started entering freeskiing competitions.
Her first year as a pro, she won the 2010 Subaru Freeskiing World Tour.
Then, during a 2011 event at Kirkwood, near Lake Tahoe, California, disaster struck: fellow competitor Ryan Hawks, Collinson’s boyfriend, landed hard after soaring off a 50-foot cliff and soon died from internal bleeding. The next day, Collinson clinched her second title skiing the same slope.
To learn more about Angel Collinson, read Madison Kahn's February 2012 Outside interview with her.
