Stoke the Fire Athlete Edits: Griffin Post

Unfortunately, Griffin Post’s mustache didn’t get to go on any far-flung international adventures this year, but it did receive the distinct honor of shredding Jackson’s deepest February on record and shredding a few Alaskan spines for a consolation prize. With the difficulties of international travel last winter, Post decided to give it all to his home range, the Tetons, leaving just enough in the tank for some unforgettable heli runs in Alaska. With mountains rising straight from the beach and views that go on forever, the Sierra Nevada, Kastle and The North Face skier told us a little bit more about his time spent shredding Jackson Hole and in the Last Frontier with Elyse Saugstad, Caite Zeliff, and Johnny Collinson for Stoke the Fire. Stoke The Fire is now available for download! Find it here.

What was your favorite aspect about filming for Stoke the Fire?

With all the travel restrictions the past year we turned back to our backyard and areas we could access in the U.S.. Finding all that still uncharted territory that’s right under our noses and doesn’t require any international travel was just really eye opening. Getting to go to Seward and see these zones and ranges upon ranges of mountains that have seen few if any skiers was reassuring that you don’t need to go to the ends of the earth to find something that’s never been skied before.

Blank Canvas. | Eric Parker photo.

You were skiing this season with TGR in Alaska. What was it like working with the crew you were with there?

To be honest we had pretty tough conditions. There was a lot of intense wind and storms that never really delivered, but in the end having a crew that was flexible and dynamic paid off and we were able to make the most of our conditions. It’s really hard to tell in the footage what we were dealing with because it looks pretty good, but there were a lot of days when we came home pretty frustrated.

Cheers to a good season! | Eric Parker photo.

With conditions in mind, was there a most difficult day for you?

We had this one zone in Seward that had this beautiful spine face that we kind of got to ski once in not the best conditions. We came back later in the trip and stood down because of avalanche conditions. Then we came back the next day and there was literally not a cloud in the sky besides one cloud right over this peak we wanted to ski. So we just sat there for hours waiting for this cloud to move and it just never did. But that’s okay, we’ll just come back for it another time. It’s another mountain on the tick list.

What about your favorite line?

The best day we had was actually our very last morning. Talk about coming down to the wire. We saw this one zone the night before that looked like it was holding good snow and up until that point we really hadn’t had a ton of success. We flew out at first light and came around the corner and the zone was in the beautiful alpenglow and the snow looked way better than anything we had seen the entire trip. Finally we were like, “this is what you come to Alaska for.” I think all the lines that day were special because it took so much perseverance to get there.

Griffin Post in his element: high speed ripping in BIG terrain. | Eric Parker photo.

You’re not just a skier you’re also a writer. What inspired you to start your writing career?

It was kind of just out of economic necessity. My friend and I would plan these trips and for the first two we’d have a writer on them with us. It became just another expense and sort of realized “oh maybe I can write!” So I started writing and started working for Powder, ESPN.com, and Freeskier. It’s definitely a grind but you also produce something at the end of the day that you’ll always have and will always be out there. It’s so much different than just a bunch of photos from a trip. There's something special about documenting something by writing about it versus filming or photographing it.

Can you share your biggest takeaway from this year's season?

I think that the power of being flexible is really such a crucial element to this trade and life in general. Without being able to adapt to new situations you really narrow your chances of success. This year just reinforced that ability to be able to adapt to what the circumstances dictate.

Locals only question: What is your favorite JHMR run?

I would say Scorpion Glades probably. The open trees and perfect powder are great and it has never let me down.