Ingrid Backstrom

I grew up in Seattle, skiing at Crystal Mountain on the weekends with my family, where my parents were on the volunteer ski patrol. I started racing at age 12, but wasn't very good at it. The good thing was that it helped me choose Whitman College and there I got to ski 5 days a week, improved, and got more into freeskiing. I moved to Squaw after college, started competing, and eventually got a lucky phone call from Steve Winter to see if I wanted to film with MSP. That started an amazing journey of skiing all over the world and getting to meet some of the coolest people ever!

Nickname:
Ingie, Inga Bagovanananana
Height
5'4"
Date of Birth:
August 21
Nationality:
US
Twitter name:
@ingridbackstrom
Facebook Fanpage
www.facebook.com/ingrid.backstrom
Website:
ingridbackstrom.com

Hometown:
Seattle, WA, and Squaw Valley, CA
Most important contest results or achievements in your ski career:
climbing and skiing Mount Rainier with my whole family
Hobbies:
being outside, running, biking, cooking, blueberry picking
Life motto:
Be here now.
Sponsors:
VOLKL, The North Face, Giro, Tecnica, Subaru, Squaw Valley, Crystal Mountain, Goal Zero
Home mountain
Squaw Valley, CA and Crystal Mountain, WA
What is your favorite ski in 2011/2012 Collection?
Katana
Ehy you like this ski?
versatility and full bomber-ness
What conditions do you use this ski for?
Almost everything—except for if it's all deep pow, I love the Shiro.
What other skis in the 2011/2012 collection do you ride?
I love the Shiro, it's so epic in deep pow and soft snow; the Kiku is really fun for me for touring and spring skiing or early season resort days; and I loved the Nunataq for touring-only trips this past spring.
What about bindings? What bindings do you use? And where do you mount them?
I generally use the Jesters on all my skis, and the Tour bindings for backcountry. I almost always mount them 2 cm forward.
What DIN do you have your bindings on?
Sometimes 12 but mostly 9.
Favorite skier:
My family
Ski hero growing up:
My family…and Shand McConkey
Ideal day in the mountains:
storm day doing laps until the bell with friends and family
How would you describe your style:
I just like to have fun!
Your biggest breakthrough in your skiing career.
When I got on my first pair of Volkl Explosivs that I bought used, the first year I moved to Squaw. They changed my life!
Favorite place to ride:
Anywhere on the West Coast of North America
Best snow trip:
Our Meager Hot Springs trip with Matchstick Productions this past year for “Attack of La Nina" was pretty sweet...!
What age did you start to ski:
age 4
What cant you live without:
coffee, fruit, snow, my family
Favorite phone App.
My new faves are PhotoSynth and Instagram, but Echofon (for Twitter) is always a classic...
Goals and plans:
stay healthy and keep skiing pow!