Next Level Skiing The joy and ineffable awesomeness of skiing with Amie Engerbretson
Welcome back to the Next Level Skiing podcast, brought to you by Wagner Skis. Amie Engerbretson grew up ripping Palisades Tahoe, the daughter of a pro skier and filmmaker. She has starred in dozens of ski movies, highlighting a grace and flow honed from years of training as a dancer. Now she’s making her own movies, advocating for climate action, and helping women hone confidence on and off snow. Tune in and hear Amie about how dancing influences her skiing, how films can reveal the emotional challenges and rewards of skiing, and how to foster confidence for improving our time on snow.
Topics:
1:20: Pro skiing is the family business.
6:10: Grace, rhythm, and flow.
7:20: Years of competitive dance influencing skiing.
10:00: Dance, skiing, and filmmaking as performance art
11:00: “Hypocrite” and “Blue Hour” ski films revealing “the full gamut of emotions in the human experience.”
12:20: The changing business of ski films as storytelling.
13:10: Advocacy work with Protect Our Winters.
14:20: “Knowing it’s OK to be scared and do something anyway because it’s important.”
17:00: Life happens in the in-between; savoring the moment of transition between turns.
19:40: How skiing changes as we grow.
21:30: Being mindful of the choices you make as an individual.
23:00: The wisdom of Roy Kent in “Ted Lasso.”
26:10: The power of the ski community.
29:30: The importance of recovery days in training regimens.
30:00: Ski camps for women at Palisades Tahoe
31:00: Growing confidence through mind-body connections
Quotes:
“I was super into dance and ballet also when I was younger and both ski racing and ballet became quite serious and intensive to the point where they kind of have to become your only thing at some point.” - Amie Engerbretson
“What I'm doing is telling stories, trying to somehow communicate the joy and the ineffable awesomeness of skiing to people through a screen or through a photo or something like that. That's my job is, in a way, it is like a performance, like a ski performance, like a film strip is performing, I think.” - Amie Engerbretson
“What I do as an individual absolutely matters, but the most important thing I can do as an individual is be part of a collective. To change the system so that then all of us as individuals can make better choices in that system.” - Amie Engerbretson
“What I've learned as an athlete is to understand my fear, understand when it's rational, irrational, all those things, but also know that it's okay to be scared and do something way because it's important and you want it.” - Amie Engerbretson
Resources: