An extreme experience for two local skiers

SQUAW VALLEY, Calif. — You wouldn't guess Ingrid Backstrom is an extreme skier. She's a petite 5 feet 4, speaks softly and likes to cook Asian turkey-ball stew, her boyfriend's favorite. But when the snow flurried in Utah and Alaska during her debut in the newest Warren Miller film, she slapped on a pair of big-mountain Völkl Gotama skis and hit waist-deep powder as one of "Warren's Angels." Her mission: to save the mountain from the threat of untracked powder.

"It was a dream to go to so many cool places and ski with a lot of cool people," she said. "I couldn't believe it was me."

Warren Miller has once again made news with his newest flick, "Impact" — his 55th career movie — pulling together today's hottest freeriders. They included Backstrom, 26, a rising star in big-mountain skiing, and Hilaree Nelson O'Neill, 31, the matriarch of mountaineering, both of whom were schooled in skiing at Washington's ski areas. Backstrom grew up in Highline and skied at Crystal Mountain, where her parents patrolled for 20 years; O'Neill learned to ski at Stevens Pass.

O'Neill and Backstrom were given two different missions by Miller in two different parts of the world. While Backstrom hit some of the hottest skiing in America, O'Neill took to the slopes in Europe.

Miller's assignment for O'Neill, Miller's go-to mountaineer, was to ski on location in France, where she lived after graduating from Colorado College. A three-month vacation turned into a five-year stay in Chamonix. During that time, she became the European freeskiing champion, and before long was a sought-after ski-expedition guide throughout the world.

Now living in Telluride, Colo., O'Neill has championed women's backcountry curiosity by guiding various all-women expeditions to the Himalayas, Tibet, China, Mongolia and Canada.

"I definitely remember thinking when I was 13 that there were not enough women in Warren Miller movies," she said.

But now women like O'Neill and Backstrom, snowboarding gold medalist Kelly Clark, snowboarder Natasza Zurek, big-mountain skiers Jessica Sobolowski and Wendy Fisher and freestyle Olympian Hannah Hardaway have put their stamp on Miller's collection of ski history. And it's a big stamp.

In the film, O'Neill skis a 60-degree pitch in Chamonix, where she slowly eases off the rugged edge and into Col des Cristaux, a run that can slice and dice anything or anyone that falls off course.

"The only thing that goes through my head is one step at time," O'Neill said. "I was on huge 188s and was thinking, 'I hope I can turn these things.' "

Back in the U.S., Backstrom was preparing for her first Miller movie. O'Neill has been in three.

The No. 2-ranked female extreme skier in the world, Backstrom now calls Squaw Valley her home, leaving Washington after four years at Whitman College, where she was a three-time All-American racer. She chose to bag racing after college and give extreme skiing a go.

She was hooked after entering her first extreme competition.

"Racing is kind of a weird thing; if you choose to race in college, you kind of miss the boat," Backstrom said. "You have to choose college or ski racing — it's sort of a rigid sport. I like the freedom of freeskiing, but racing's awesome, too, and it gave me a good foundation for skiing."

She lives in a cozy, old A-frame nestled in the Squaw Valley woods, where the wood creaks and the cold air sneaks through the cracks. There is no pretension here. In fact, there are only a couple of signs that skiers live inside — a Powder magazine on the coffee table (Backstrom is a correspondent) and her gear stashed in the loft. Her Völkl skis, North Face jackets and Tecnica boots line the corner of her bedroom wall, almost hidden from sight.

She has joined the likes of many of the world's best freeriders, like Shane McConkey and Jenn Berg, in America's freeskiing capital — Squaw Valley USA — where the warm Pacific storm fronts dump more than 400 inches of snow per season. She joined Berg and Völkl freeride team member Charlotte Moats, a native of Vermont, as Warren's Angels.

They beat up mountain after mountain, kissing the snow with big, flowing turns, while pounding the powder with drops from steep rock faces.

The day before the Angels arrived in Utah, 3 feet of fresh flakes landed in Little Cottonwood Canyon outside of Salt Lake City.

"It was crazy," Backstrom said. "It was just one of those days, from the time the sun comes up to the time the lifts close, you don't think about anything. You're just hiking and skiing and going for it. ... It was the best day ever."

Miller's crew shot the Angels for four days in Utah. Then they were whisked off to Alaska, where they rode the picturesque fluted faces of the Chugach Mountains with the help of Chugach Powder Guides.

"You pretty much couldn't ask for more (after Utah)," Backstrom said, "and then we got to go to Alaska."

Backstrom and O'Neill grew up watching Miller's movies and have due respect for the man who has showed the world why he has spent his life filming skiing's best athletes.

"It's awesome," Backstrom said. "I never thought skiing in one of his movies would happen for me. I remember watching when I was little and being in awe of all the skiers. Not only is he such a huge force in the skiing community, but he's one of the founders of action sports films in general."

Go ahead and ask Backstrom what it's like to drop off a 20-foot cliff. She'll be in Seattle for both showings of the film Friday among ski, snowboard and telemark enthusiasts who can only dream of laying down tracks around the world like she and O'Neill have done.

Vanessa Pierce is a former Seattle Times NEXT writer and currently an arts and entertainment editor at the Aspen Daily News.