SE5:EP2 - Alex Schlopy: Rollercoaster Ride of X Games Champion

Thinking back on it today, X Games champion Alex Schlopy still shakes his head. A homegrown product of Park City, Utah, in a month-long span in 2011 he won an X Games title in Aspen, became a world champion on his home hill at Park City Mountain and soared to Dew Tour gold in Snowbasin. In a roller coaster decade that saw the highest of highs and lowest of lows, today Schlopy is the happiest he’s ever been – an athlete ambassador for Ski Utah and looking forward to his first runs off Jupiter in the season ahead.

Schlopy was born to athletic parents. His mother, Holly Flanders, was a U.S. Ski Team downhill star. His father, Todd Schlopy, played in the National Football League. His uncle, Erik Schlopy, was a Hall of Fame U.S. Alpine Ski Team star.

In the mid to late ‘00s, Utah was the epicenter of the burgeoning new sport of freeskiing. Schlopy caught the buzz from his buddy Joss Christensen. They idolized stars like Tanner Hall and Simon Dumont. At just 17, Schlopy went to the Dumont Cup in Maine, outlasting over 100 amateurs just like him who wanted a shot into the event. He got it, launching a switch right double cork 1440, and soon found himself on the podium with his buddy Joss and future legend Tom Wallisch.

The next season he cranked out win after win and found himself on top of the world in a new sport that was to make its Olympic debut in 2014. Then it all came crashing down.

This interview is deep and emotional, coming full circle to the joy of skiing. Here’s a teaser:

You're still having fun skiing?

Oh, yeah. More fun than ever.

Going back to your youth, what role did gymnastics play in your skiing success?

Gymnastics has helped me throughout my whole entire life. And I think for any kid out there, having a baseline in gymnastics is huge. Just knowing how to use your body, learning how to flip and do all those things safely.

What triggered your interest in freeskiing?

When I transitioned into middle school, I met Joss Christensen and we started hanging out just as friends. He started showing me all these freeski movies with, you know, Tanner Hall, Jon Olsson, Simon Dumont. And I was like, what is this? I saw ski racing. I've seen moguls and aerials and I loved all that stuff, but this was the one that really clicked. It was artistic expression on skis. And I thought that was really cool.

What role does Park City, Utah play in winter sport?

I mean, this is the Mecca for that in my eyes. There's just so many kids out here learning how to do whatever winter sport they want and then having the facilities and the programs to push it as far as they want. And it's just a beautiful community.

After the stunning 2011 season, what path did your career take?

After winning those three events, X Games, World Championships, Dew Tour and then kind of stepping into that pro realm, big contracts started to come up and I kind of lost my drive to win. And I think that was my biggest problem. I hadn't really built the best work ethic. I had used a lot of natural talent my whole life, you know, and having overcome some of those injuries that really helped out. I didn't have to work as hard to get back, but it came to bite me after I did win, because I started to coast and I started partaking more in the party side of the sport. I was still doing okay. You know, I was able to stay top five, top ten, but I wasn't winning. And what it took for me to refocus was the announcement that the sport that we were getting into the Olympics for Sochi and I had a lot of ground to make up.

In 2014, you missed that last spot on the Olympic team to your buddy Joss Christensen, who went on to win gold. 

It was a really beautiful yet bittersweet experience because Joss is one of the best people I've ever met in my life. He's incredible. I thought he was the best skier. He just couldn't put it down when it counted until that point. And he went and did it. So it was really cool. But behind the scenes, I was starting to struggle after that and watching him in the Olympics and my friends – it was like all that work I had just put in and I'd really changed my life quite a bit to make that happen and get that close. It shut off pretty quick and I started falling.

You’re a few years past rehab and drug court. How did it help you get your life back?

It's life changing.They always say, you know, addiction is like a broken brain and that means a broken person. So, how do you rebuild that? I mean, it's like your best chance because you can't rebuild everything in a short period of time. So there's something really beautiful about the recovery process.

What's the sickest ski run that you've ever taken in Utah? 

Tiger Tail at Snowbird – lapping that last winter. It was endless smiles and joy.

There’s plenty more from Ski Utah athlete ambassador Alex Schlopy! Buckle up for this episode of Last Chair as he takes us through the highs and lows of his career, finding sobriety and the sheer joy he feels today when he’s up on the mountain all for himself. <link>