Stella Selden

Age: 22 | Vitals: 5’2″, 120 lbs | Years skiing: 13 | Current Residence: Alta, UT; Stanley, ID

Background:

I grew up in Northwest Montana, on the edge of Glacier National Park, an area known as “God’s Country.” My backyard was an outdoorsman’s heaven, and I grew to love hiking, backpacking, kayaking, rafting, fly-fishing, and pond hockey. But none of these compared to skiing.

When I was eight years old I started skiing at Big Mountain, which was half an hour from my house. After a few years of lessons, I found myself skiing any chance I got, whether it was on the weekends, missing class on a powder day, or hiking for turns in Glacier in the summer.

Stella Selden, skiing Alta Ski Area.
Stella Selden, Alta Ski Area.

When it came time for college, I strategically picked the College of Idaho, which had both a ski team and a strong biology and pre-med program. I showed up to the first ski team meeting freshman year only to find that ski teams meant racing, something I’d never done. I spent that winter learning how to fly through gates as fast as I could—on my powder skis and in my puffy jacket.

By sophomore year we had a freestyle team, so I spent the season in the park and pipe (unless there was fresh snow). By the end of the season, I ended up pulling off a few 360s and sweet shiftys, hit some rails and boxes, and somehow won second place at Nationals.

I missed the next season while studying abroad in Australia, and have been trying to make up ski days ever since. Last year I took winter term off and spent two months working and skiing on Big Mountain. The late snowpack last year also allowed me to bootpack and ski in Glacier until August.

After applying to medical school last year and not being accepted, I saw an opportunity to travel, have fun, and experience a lifestyle that would have been impossible otherwise. I packed up my car and headed to Alta to spend the winter skiing Utah’s famous snow.

I’m always looking forward to those amazing powder days that we all live for, but any day on the mountain is a treat. While I love ripping down groomers from time to time, I typically prefer to ride off-piste, whether it be bumps on Stonecrusher, the trees off Wildcat, or the chutes in Eagle’s Nest.

Skis I’m stoked on:

I have never owned a surplus of skis, so prefer those that can dominate the entire mountain, rather than having multiple, specialized skis for each condition. I skied on the 162 cm K2 Phat Luv for the past six years and loved them as an all-mountain ski. Since I moved to Utah, my favorites have been the Salomon Rocker 2, Rossignol s110, and Line Pandora.

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