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Colorado native, and LHI featured athlete, Colter Hinchliffe, is no stranger to big hits and high consequence lines. From the lift line days to blower backcountry missions, Colter finds a sense of freedom in the mountains that most of us can relate to. What started as a surprise heli ride with the TGR crew in AK a few years back, turned into an epic season of sledding and sending for Legend Has It. Throughout the season, we caught up with Colter to discuss all things stoke, motivation, and time spent in the backcountry. Watch Colter's Legends In The Making video.
Meet Aspen, Colorado native Colter Hinchliffe | Photo: Nic Alegre
Who are you and where did you grow up skiing?
My name is Colter Hinchliffe. I was born and raised in Aspen, Colorado, in a little town called Basalt. It’s close enough to where I could hop on the school bus on the weekends and they'd deliver us to Aspen Mountain where we'd just go skiing with our friends. The Aspen Mountains are a great place to grow up.
I grew up skiing every weekend with my friends and I just fell in love with the sport real quickly and realized it was my place where I could do whatever I wanted and no one would really tell me I was going too fast or couldn't hit that, you know, it's like you can actually do whatever you want out here - and I think that's part of the reason I love it so much.
What’ve you been up to lately?
I've been skiing a lot more in the backcountry this year. I ruptured my Achilles last year and skiing hard pack inbounds bumpy stuff just beats me up and beyond. Just my whole body, it kind of just beats me up. So it's so nice to be in the backcountry.
What got you psyched to explore more in the backcountry?
I mean, I grew up on the western slope of Colorado and it just doesn't take too long to start getting curious about what's over the ridge. So I've just been exploring even more so in the last five or ten years. I've just really been enjoying being out on my sled and going over that next ridge and seeing what's there.
How was your season this year overall?
This season was really good. It was one of my best seasons ever in a lot of ways. It started snowing back home in December, so we got so many parodies on the chairlifts. Good for the soul. Dark, cold powder days. Super good. In January, I ended up getting over to Japan, which is sort of its own legendary classic movie. Nowadays everyone's over there, which is a really cool part about it. I made my way home and started finding some stuff around Colorado and started to call the crew at TGR and try to get them down there. They pulled the trigger and we had a really great session.
Colter Hinchliffe in the Wyoming Backcountry | Photo: Nic Alegre
Who’s your crew in CO and what have you guys been getting into?
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I got McRae [Williams] and Simon [Hillis] down here right now and we're vibing out in the backcountry for sure. It was kind of heinous for them to get here. And now that they've made that harrowing journey, I just really hope that we can show them the goods. We're all kind of seeing a lot of this terrain for the first time. I've seen some of it, and that's why I invited them out here. But we're still exploring and finding this new terrain together. Skiing with these guys, it's making me step my game up, go a little bit bigger, have a little more confidence. And it's just really cool to see the creativity that comes out of each skier while they're picking lines.
What did your time in Wyoming look like?
In Wyoming, we hung out a bunch with Howie, who's known as the “Lodge Father”. He's a rad dude. He's just been exploring these mountains for a long time. He lives in a really cool log cabin lodge thing that’s super comfortable. We all loved hanging out and basing out of there. From his spot, you’ve got a multitude of trailheads you can access. It's really cool to see these different nooks and crannies of the Tetons because there's a lot to offer. Many people think of the Tetons and just think of the Grand Teton. But there's a lot of awesome lower mountains that aren't as impressive for a postcard.
Colter Hinchliffe in the Wyoming Backcountry | Photo: Nic Alegre
Favorite part about being in the mountains?
Being in the backcountry and skiing soft snow and just having to be creative and figure out where to go. I really love that aspect of it - with some exploring, you can really sniff out the right aspect. And so I just love being in the mountains for that, and just being with the boys and having to be smart. You got to be on your game all day, too. You can't be just like hopping on chairlifts, not thinking. You're like thinking hard all day, making sure you're making good decisions. And I love that aspect of it.
Where do you want to take your skiing from here?
As I get older, I think I want to take my skiing more and more into a really calculated space. You know, I can't be hitting too big of cliffs to too flat, but I think I can continue to do tricks off cliffs for another five or ten years if I'm smart, like, you know, some of the it's cool that some of these pro skiers are holding on for so long. You think of like Mike Douglas, he's got to be getting close to 50 years old and he's still doing the deep spin that he's known for just because he's smart and knows when to do it and where to do it. And so I love to hold on as long as I can. I would love to get more into ski mountaineering as well. I've typically done a lot of ski mountaineering, but it's something I would love to continue to push.
