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Sierra Quitiquit Gallery

From skiing powder in Utah to photo shoots in Bali. Gallery

You may not know Sierra Quitiquit by name. But you may recognize her face. The Park City, Utah, native and sponsored big-mountain skier recently signed with a modeling agency and has been pursuing a full-fledged modeling career.

The former Freeskiing World Tour competitor has walked runways or shot campaigns for companies like Nike, Adidas, Fred Meyer, and several designers, and she filmed for an episode of the TV show "Portlandia." After her mom dragged her to an audition for the reality show "America's Next Top Model," she was flown to Los Angeles but, "It became obvious early on that this was not for me," she says.

"I'm fully, completely in love with skiing," Quitiquit says. "But I'm hoping to be able to model full time, too. It's kind of a strange thing to go after. But I figure, why not? I don't want to have any regrets in life. I'm going to go after both skiing and modeling and see where it leads me."

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Courtesy photosParker White in Tomahawk's street style, technical Warbag down jacket.

Throughout his storied career as a sponsored freeskier, snowboarder, Olympic athlete and ski marketing manager for Electric Visual and Skullcandy, Jimbo Morgan harbored a dream to create a clothing brand. In 2006, Tomahawk International was launched in concept and the first pieces of clothing will hit stores this fall.

"I always wanted my own clothing brand and it had to be named Tomahawk," says Morgan.

With a quiet advertising launch in the 2010 final issue of Freeskier Magazine featuring marquee athlete and Tomahawk part-owner Parker White, Tomahawk became official. The line, which includes outerwear and streetwear, was shown for the first time at the 2012 SIA trade show in Denver.

"I'm hyped to be a part of Tomahawk," says Parker White, a Level One Productions athlete who in 2011, took home Rookie of the Year awards from IF3, Powder Magazine and Freeskier Magazine. "I have full faith in the company and Jimbo. I'm pretty much an ACL away from being a janitor so having Jimbo give me part-ownership and helping Tomahawk grow is amazing for me. Our clothing is created by skiers and snowboarders for skiers and snowboarders. We haven't made anything I don't want to wear."

Over 8 million kids attend summer camp each year across America. While most camp experiences are highlighted by mosquito bites, macramé and smoky campfire sing-alongs, some kids get away with a more exciting alternative: ski camp. Ski camp is the perfect way to break up the summer doldrums, hone your tricks and unlock a few new ones under the tutelage of the best in the business.

We at ESPN have laid out a travel guide to the finest ski camps around complete with expert advice from Tom Wallisch and others in the know. All you have to do is figure out who you are and what you want from your summer camp experience.

You: The preteen looking to fine-tune your 540, or 1080.
The camp for you: Windell's in Mount Hood, Ore.
What you'll get out of it: Ski, skate, trampoline, bed, repeat. Staying at campus nestled in the trees just outside of Welches, Ore. (population 1,700), Windell's campers have little else to do but freestyle on everything imaginable from dawn to dusk.
Windell's highlights: The weather. Coach Tom Wallisch says, "I've had summers at Mt. Hood where it stayed sunny and warm every single day for months." On the hill, Windell's boasts the largest, most comprehensive terrain park open to skiers on Mt. Hood. Lane features include everything from small stuff for kids who are just learning to jib to big jumps that more experienced campers can session alongside pros such as Wallisch, Mike Hornbeck, Ashley Battersby and Dania Assaly. The lane also has two airbags, one with a kicker takeoff and one with a halfpipe takeoff. Off-hill, acres of wooden and concrete skate features blanket the Windell's compound along with a dry slope facility that was installed last year for those who just can't put the skis away.

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Griffin PostDeep thoughts from a deck chair aboard the Alaska Marine Highway Ferry.

[Teton Gravity Research recently wrapped up filming in Alaska for their new movie. This is the final part in a series called AK Chronicles that went behind the making of the movie. This story was written by TGR athlete Griffin Post.]

The Alaska Marine Highway Ferry, which took us from Haines, Alaska, to Bellingham, Wash., might have been the perfect place to ponder three months in Valdez, Alaska. The ups and downs, the strikes and gutters -- there was no shortage of poignant moments. The ferry chugs along, and until it arrives in Bellingham, there's nowhere to be, nothing to do, nobody to appease. Which is pretty nice after a season spent either coming up with a plan or trying to execute on a plan. Let's recap on some of the moments from this winter of filming with Teton Gravity Research, many of which will likely hit the cutting room floor when TGR goes to put the finishing touches on their new film, "The Dream Factory," which will debut in the fall. Names have been omitted to protect the guilty.

February 9: Crew held at Canada border for five hours in the middle of the night. Several claim first bivy in customs parking lot.

February 14: First day on sleds in Valdez. We get stuck more than we ski.

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Freeskier Angeli VanLaanen, 26, is working on a documentary film, called "LymeLight," that follows her professional ski career and her battle with Lyme disease. The film is currently in the fundraising stage and has no debut date yet.

VanLaanen and Breckenridge, Colo.-based Neu Productions completed filming for LymeLight this spring and are raising funds to edit and produce the film.

In October 2009, VanLaanen, a Bellingham, Wash., native, was diagnosed with Lyme disease, a tick-born bacterial infection. She was at the height of her career: She'd competed in Ski SuperPipe at the Winter X Games for three years and she was filming for Oakley and Atomic team movies. "I was living my dream," she says.

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Peter MorningTop ski and snowboard athletes are already preparing for next contest season. Launch gallery »

The U.S. Freeskiing and Snowboarding teams have been at Mammoth Mountain, Calif., this week for a spring training camp at one of the few ski areas still left open for the winter season. Both halfpipe and slopestyle skiers and snowboarders have been sessioning Mammoth's park, pipe and airbag with coaches to get a jumpstart on tricks for next winter's contest season. The first events of the 2012-13 season start this summer in New Zealand, where FIS World Cup ski and snowboard events at New Zealand's Cardrona Alpine Resort in August will serve as some of the first qualifying events for the 2014 Winter Olympics Games in Sochi, Russia.

"After a long season of competition it's so nice to be out here in Mammoth just hitting perfect jumps," says skier Tom Wallisch. "This season couldn't have gone any better for me and I am stoked to have some chill training time just riding spring conditions and working on tricks."

Adds snowboarder Kelly Clark, "There is a three hit pipe with the end cut off where we can drag the airbag from the front side wall to the backside wall every other day. There is a lot of progression going down, and we are going to see great things come out of this camp.

Courtesy of OakleyThe Tanner Hall pro model of Oakley's new Canopy goggles.

In case you haven't noticed, goggles -- much like skis and outerwear -- are getting bigger. The trend of oversized goggles has grown the last few years, with most major eyewear companies introducing some sort of goggle with jumbo-size lenses.

At the SIA tradeshow last January, Oakley debuted the new Canopy, the company's first real oversized goggle. Due to hit shelves this fall, the Canopy fits people with medium to large faces and offers expanded peripheral vision.

Oakley athlete Tanner Hall will get his own Rasta-themed pro model, shown above.

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Torin Yater-Wallace, 16, burst onto the scene last year when the Aspen, Colo., native landed on the podium in Ski Halfpipe at Winter X Games Aspen. This year, he came back to earn a silver medal in Aspen and then a gold at Winter X Tignes. "I can't believe I just won," Yater-Wallace said after winning in Tignes, France. "It's been my goal for my entire life." In this video edit, Yater-Wallace and his sponsor Target did a helicopter film shoot in the Winter X Games pipe at Buttermilk.

Jordan JunckThe World Ski and Snowboard Festival draws thousands of people to Whistler each spring.

Last week, promoters of the Telus World Ski and Snowboard Festival (WSSF) announced that the Canadian telecommunications company is ending its 13-year title sponsorship of the event, which has a 17-year history in Whistler, British Columbia. The massive end-of-season bash features the Association of Freeskiing Professionals' World Skiing Invitational and the Monster Energy Shred Show, a 5Star TTR World Snowboard Tour event.

The news has raised questions about the future of the festival in an economic landscape where sponsorship changes have led to cancellations and scaled-back versions of some recent events, but Sue Eckerlsey, president of WSSF promoter Watermark Communications, Inc., says such concerns are unfounded and that planning for next year's festival is already well under way.

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Adam ClarkThis could be you. Ingrid Backstrom in Chile.

Every summer since 2004, pro skier Ingrid Backstrom has flown to the southern hemisphere, a place where cold and snow is just a day's travel away. With her winters spent filming with Matchstick Productions and Sherpas Cinema, her summers have consisted of coaching at Chris Davenport's Ski With the Superstars camp and exploring the Andes. But this year, for the first time Backstrom is branching out into her own camp, hosting a women's specific camp in La Parva, Chile, this August. With resorts in the Andes receiving their first dusting of snow, I chatted with Backstrom about her new camp, the difference between men and women's learning styles, and the slow-paced life in Chile.

You've been going to South America for the last several seasons. What keeps you going back?
I keep returning to South America above all for the skiing, but also for the culture, the people, and the overall experience. The Andes are incredible -- huge mountains with great snow, long steep runs, and condors soaring above a high alpine environment. Further south you have volcanoes, which are pretty spectacular in a different, prehistoric way. It feels like a dinosaur might cruise by at any time.

This is the first year you'll be hosting your own camp in Chile. How did that come about?
I had met David Owen from PowderQuest (in Chile) several times and he always has a great thing going. He lives down there with his family and really knows Chile well and has a ton of respect for the culture and skiing, and wants people to enjoy it as much as he does. When he wanted to partner up on a women's camp, it was a really easy decision, especially because it would be at La Parva. I have gone there the last three years and it is just awesome -- a perfect set-up for a camp where people can enjoy South America while improving their skiing and getting into the sidecountry. La Parva is ideal for working your way up slowly, which is great for the camp format. There's everything from five-minute to hour-long hikes, small chutes to big chutes, and cool natural features.

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