The Aspen-born and raised skier and Volkl athlete and newly minted Obermeyer athlete appeared in his first TGR film over ten years ago and has become a mainstay for the annual films. Colter’s a good follow on the gram. Whether it’s June E-bike accessed Independence Pass corn laps, or techy above town pillow popping, Colter knows how to stretch a season out. He’s a wizard at actually making POV skiing interesting to watch and has a tried and true bag of tricks that’s pretty easy on the eyes. Colter’s a skier’s skier and his infectious enthusiasm for skiing and life has yet to wear off.
TGR caught up with Colter amid his seven-hour drive from Aspen to Utah to catch up on his Euro travels, a new sponsor and the season thus far.
So have you been back in the States for a bit now?
Yeah for a few weeks, and I’m just doing a quick hit out to Utah for a few days and then I’ll be back in Aspen.
And you've gone through a sponsor transition. How does it feel to rep a local Aspen brand?
I’m really excited to work with the local brand Obermeyer on some new products that are geared towards the Freeride backcountry skiing that I love. It’s so cool to work with a company right in my hometown where I can bike into their HQ and talk R&D with the designers. I am so stoked to bring an old brand into a new space and it’s just the beginning. The Aspen brand has been around since 1947 with roots in the Alps and I feel like it's a perfect fit for me. I was rocking Obermreyer as a four-year-old back in the 90's, and I'm psyched to be back with the OG local brand. We have some really exciting things coming down the pipeline!
Repping his Aspen roots, Colter's stoked to be kitted in Obermeyer. Photo: Felix Pirker
You were out in Europe for most of the first half of this season, right?
Yeah so originally I headed out there for a Volkl thing. We were testing some skis in Austria and got to connect with the Dalbello crew for some boots R&D, so it was nice to be out in the Alps where the brands I ride for are based out of. Then Christmas came around when I was supposed to head back home, but I decided to stay. Living that bachelor life. TGR said they were maybe going to come over and film and I was figuring out good places to go and all that. And our window to film was approaching, but they kept pushing it back for logistical reasons. And I was kinda like well I’ve been here in Austria for a while and kinda wanted to get out, and had some time so I figured I’d check out Georgia. I’d been there a while ago but wanted to check it out in the middle of the winter.
Packed bags and European hospitality made for a solid early season for Colter. Photo: Max Ampferer
How long were you over there?
Just about a week, took some time to get the lay of the land and sniff out some cool ski terrain.
So what was Georgia like?
Georgia was dope. They’ve got a lot of big mountains with some pretty sick terrain, but actually pretty hard to access without having a helicopter, or you just need to go on some really long walks.
Is that where you were out on those long tours with the local dog?
Yeah so I’d gone out on a few medium-sized missions with this new friend from Austria and those were about as much as she could handle, but I wanted to do this bigger mission so I headed out solo, which is not something I do often, but the snow seemed stable, and it wasn’t a super hairy line. So I headed out pretty far and this dog followed me all the way out for what turned out to be a huge day. Apparently, it's not abnormal in these Georgian mountain villages for these sort of stray town dogs to follow people up into the mountains just hoping for a snack.
And then you ended up linking up with some TGR filmers, McNutt and Tom Ritsch right?
So part of the whole reason I ended up staying over in Austria for so long is that Tom is a really good buddy of mine, and I was staying with Tom and his mom and girlfriend originally and got to ski and film some sick shit around his local zone in Austria, Kitzsteinhorn. But then we mostly ended up spending time skiing St. Anton Arlberg, which is over on the western edge of Austria, and ended up getting some real good stormy days over there.
Colter capping the blunt in Austria. Photo: Felix Pirker
So by chance did your extended stay have anything to do with the dry start to the winter back in North America?
Yeah absolutely. I had a ticket to leave on Dec. 17th, and on the 15th I was looking at the forecast in Austria seeing more snow coming, and was like man I don’t wanna leave. I was skiing sick lines and sick pow, and was looking at what was going on back home, so it was a no-brainer to stay here."Warum Nicht became my mantra, which means “why not!” in German, so warum nicht! Why not, might as well stay."
And then had you been in touch with TGR to get them out for a film trip?
Yeah I had been in touch a little bit with JK, and they always want to film in Europe, and they picked a good winter to do so. And having Tom in the mix now as an athlete provides a more solid connection to Austria so there was already kind of a thought there. And I was already over there getting more familiar with zones to film in, so it just kind of made sense and worked out.
So then McNutt came and met you guys?
Yeah, McNutt came and flew out with a camera crew, and he’s friends with Tom and I, and of course he likes skiing sick shit.
That's a pretty solid crew with you Tom and McNutt, did you guys feel like you had a good team dynamic and a similar eye for terrain and level of risk assessment?
Yeah, I think the three of us have a pretty similar skill set, where we can kind of ski anything, but with a little bit more of a freestyle look at it. As far as risk assessment we were pretty much on the same page. I may have been a little more cavalier, and can tend to be a little bit more like “I think we can pull it off,” and sure we kicked off a few slides, but nothing major, no harm no foul.
And it looked like you got a solid jump session in?
Yeah, one of our last days in Arlberg everyone came together and built a nice proper jump. We came back the next day and had a really fun session on it. Tom got a super sick dub 10 on it, and it was super fun to see him really focus and put that thing down bolts.
The crew came together to build a classic Austrian cheese wedge. Photo: Stefan Mahlknecht
Saw you got a nice cork seven blunt?
Yeah, I got a nice seven. It was big. It was my first booter of the year. First seven of the year, and it was all on the first hit, which was sweet to put that down and get the confidence going.
About The Author
stash member Toby Koekkoek
Jackson transplant via the Boston area. A traveler, and a skiing, skateboarding, and racquet sports enthusiast