Michelle Parker, initially a Tahoe jib rat, was one of the first female skiers to really try and send tricks in the backcountry, and still has one of the most confident-looking styles in the good ‘ol BC.  No estranger to the comp scene, Michelle has Dew Tour podiums under her belt as well as enough knee injuries to fund her surgeon’s car payments, mortgage, and private school tuition for the kids.  Michelle is core as it gets, and has injured herself landing on rocks, off jumps, and over-rotating a 360 off a 60 foot cliff way before any other girls would even look over the edge.

After a solid year off the hill Michelle is “hungry,” both to get back to slaying it on her Hellbents and also for the organic roasted corn pudding she has spent the winter perfecting.  Michelle, creator of the healthiest munchies in the snowsports industry, has been skiing lightly since February and took the time to answer some questions from BroBomb.

photo: Joe Carlino

BroBomb: There are a number of female skiers, Ingrid Backstrom, Kaya Turski, Sarah Burke, and yes, Michelle Parker, whose skiing just blows you away, but for a long time, the talent dropped off relatively quickly. It didn’t seem like a lot of new blood was getting infused into the group, but now it seems like we’re seeing more up-and-comers. Why do you think women’s freeskiing took so long to grow?  Were all the good athletes snowboarding or racing?

Michelle: That’s a tough question. I think that the ladies you mentioned have been continuously progressing and there are a lot of hungry young girls out there right now. Being that I was injured for the last year, I got to judge some female competitions and I was really impressed with some of the up and comers throwing down. It seems, to me, that every company has their girl. They’ve got that one girl that represents them. At least that was how it went for a while, not leaving much room for the young talent to move in a make a mark on the industry. Aside from the lack of female competitions (that’s a big one) it’s incredibly difficult for girls to get film parts and not because of lack of talent or commitment. They are out there and when the opportunity presents itself, they throw down!! It’s just a shame there aren’t  as many opportunities (like a U.S. Open).

photo: Collin Wiseman

Biggest female-specific grievance about being a pro skier?

Being that this is a sport dominated by men or boys (in many cases), I tend to flock with them, travel with them, and spend every waking moment with them. That’s all fine and dandy because I appreciate every one of them, but men/boys have this annoying tendency to snore. It’s okay with me when they snore in synch, but when it sounds like my brother trying to learn the French horn; I have to draw the line and request to sleep elsewhere. Usually the team manager takes care of that in advance and I’m okay with a little less sleep on occasion…I can deal. Really though, I mean really…I’m a pro skier and life is good.

Best part of being a pro skier?

My favorite part is that I get to do what I love and call it work. I get to travel to some amazing places (and get stuck in Amsterdam because of Volcanoes), meet amazing people along the way, and bring people into my home based on the common interest of snow. Skiing is my biggest passion aside from my family and friends. It’s what motivates me, it inspires me, and it makes me so unbelievably happy.

Best place to be a pro skier?

Home in Lake Tahoe. For me, Tahoe is just the best place that I can be. I’ve got my family there, epic mountains all over the place, and friends to play in the mountains with.

photo: MichelleParker.com

We’ve dished out a lot of hate on males athletes, filmmakers, and company owners this winter for all kinds of unwarranted reasons.  Are there any women who deserve a shout-out who’ve been under our radar?

Erica Durtschi, she’s been killing it! I saw her through down at the Queens Cup in Park City a couple of weeks ago. She’s dialed. Megan Gunning is also on the radar. She’s got that Tom Walnuts style. Check it.

Any chicks you want to make fun of?

Not so much.

What’s your take on women’s freeski fashion.  Tight pants?  Baggy pants?  I still don’t understand why any girl would wear a tall tee.

Personally, I think tight pants just look so damn uncomfortable. Plus, I think you have to have insane style to pull that shit off. I like my stuff to be baggy, but functional and I don’t rock tall tees, but I don’t like to hate because we’re all just out there having fun. If you have to put on your costume to go skiing and snowboarding…then I think you’re crossing the line. Have you ever been to North Star? You should go and do a fashion one on one with some of those kits.

You’ve been to Alaska before.  What’s it’s like as a girl suffering “the slow roast” with no other effeminate life forms for hundreds of miles?   Do you catch yourself starting to grow a moustache?

Haha!!!! Don’t shave during heli season (I believe that rule does NOT include females). I had plenty of goof balls (I am one as well) running around to entertain me. Lot’s of board games, Kendama, movies, deadliest catch, fishing for crabs, poker night, fireworks, and rock stacking.

Oh yeah, rock stacking.  JP always used to blow up that activity in his segments.  What are we missing out on?

Good times when you’re bored. JP was with us. He was the ringleader inspired by Andy Goldsworthy.

What’s the Tahoe scene like?

The scene, huh…well I’ve live my entire 23 years in Lake Tahoe and I don’t know what the scene is like. I guess I travel too much and when I get home it’s changed. I’m not really one for the scene anyways so count me out of this one.  My scene is shred all day, gym it up, eat right, dinner parties, live it up on spontaneous occasions, and chill out. It’s a mellow scene for me.

Who’s in your rehab crew these days?

Oh, the list is long and impressive. First off, I have to mention Scott Gaffney.  Scott’s been there since the beginning for me. He had a very similar injury and was a couple months ahead of me. It was amazing to have him in there for support and just to goof off…this isn’t your average rehab. Tom Burt likes to stop in every once in a while and share some of his wisdom, that’s when I take my ear plugs out and am all ears to Tom. Darron Rahlves was in there…that’s a man on a mission. He worked his ass off (can I say ASS?) after dislocating his hip at X Games and then came back like he had some miracle undetectable drugs pumped into his hip and competed in the Olympics. That was a breath of fresh air. He was in and out pretty quick. Goes to show that being in shape (I bet I weigh less than one of his legs) really does pay off. Then there’s J.T. Holmes who hobbles in after taking the gnarliest falls I have ever seen. The power couple Cody Townsend and Elyse Saugstead (who was probably born with a six pack) are in every once in a while. Oh and I can’t forget Mike Wilson, good ol Mikey Wilson…he’s mostly there for pure entertainment. Tanner likes to stop by and work with Ladd the magical healer. So we’ve got a pretty good crew in there.

Damn that’s a serious list.  The Gaffney brothers are serious Tahoe OGs.  Can Scott still do misty flips?

I wouldn’t put it past him.

What’s Mike Wilson like now?  Always interesting to go from the dude guinea pigging 150 foot jumps to TM.  Is he still sending it?

I don’t think he’ll ever stop. He’s still the same little kid with an older body. Last year he built one of the craziest rope swings I’ve ever seen into the Truckee River. It was a huge drop, maybe 70 feet into a small landing zone. Of course, he was the only one to hit it.

Worst song that’s come up on your iPod while skiing?

I try to keep that on lock. I don’t like bad songs while I’m skiing…it get’s in the way of rhythm. I keep the shuffle updated regularly with only songs that I like, but honestly…I don’t really ride with music. Only in the park.

Up and coming female shreds from Tahoe we should harass next?

From Tahoe….well I know this is all ski related, but my room mate Nicki Slechta totally kicks ass. She’s my favorite female snowboarder by far and has no love from sponsors. I just helped her put together a resume, but she is the next up and coming female shred from Tahoe for sure.

You’re sponsored by PowerBar.  Do you eat many of those anymore?

They save me in the gym when I’m crashing hard and the recovery drink picks me up when I’m down.

Should we be giving Steve Winter shit for pulling shots of you he shouldn’t have in Seven Sunny Days?

That’s between you guys.

You’ve gotten beat up pretty bad with your knees.  Do you use that to your advantage to call out others for not sending it hard enough?

I just call out people who think ACL surgery is bad. That is a walk in the park. And what I’m going through right now is a walk in the park for many others. I just try to stay positive about it, but mostly, in an optimistic way, I just try to show these little ACL blowers that it’s a piece of cake and they will actually come out stronger than before if they get off the couch and do what there physical therapist tells them to do. It’s hard work, but it’s so worth it in the end!

Ski industry parties seem to revolve around a lot of PBR and Red Bull and vodka.  Where are the martinis at?

I would love to see you order a martini at a ski party. I’ve done it and I thought it tasted like shit. I try to stay away from ski industry parties, but occasionally get pulled into them. I’m not much for small talk and I’m not much for shirts getting ripped off and beers being poured all over me. I was thinking of making my jacket next year champagne and beer resistant for the podiums and parties…haha, that’s a huge joke, but maybe Kaya could pull it off.

I can’t ignore how much you seem to be into food.  With most young jib ninjas supplementing their on-hill training with a solid gut-pounding at T-Bell, what is the meal du jour of the female freeski circuit these days?

Juice, I love to juice. That’s super healthy, straight from the farmers market (someday my garden), into the juicer, and into my belly. I just love to cook and I love healthy, in season, fresh food. I love dinner parties with good friends, amazing home cooked meals, and a glass or two of a good wine. I try to eat locally and in Tahoe it’s getting easier and easier to do. We have an amazing community in the sense of food. Slow food has caught on, people in Tahoe care about what they put into their bellies. It’s a good thing. I scare my friends by making them watch Food Inc. and other documentaries….I think it’s starting to have an impact in a good way.

If Michael Pollan wanted to crash at your house, how long would you let him sleep on your coach before you kicked him out?

If Michael Pollan wanted to sleep at my house, I would give him my room, the master, and in turn he could stay there until I had an amazing garden that we could eat from. I don’t think I would ever kick him out, but I would maybe build him a gazebo in my yard and have him stay for as long as he wants.

Without selling something too hard on this supposedly impartial outlet, what are your plans for the summer?  And best story involving someone from the SASS crew.

Since I haven’t been able to ski hard for over a year, my plans are to ski as much as possible. Those plans include going to South America to coach for South America Snow Sessions all season long. I’ll be traveling down there with miss Natalie Gogh (she’s single and ready to mingle) and just crushing it all summer long. Last time I was there (two summers ago) Nat and I would go on hikes after riding all day. We must have gone on the same hike half a dozen times, but one day Nat decides to just take off. So Denmark and I just walked down the normal path, which is clearly marked assuming that Nat would be at the bottom. When she wasn’t at the bottom, we went back up and started calling her name. There were about twelve little boys and girls running around and we sent them on a search and rescue for Natalie. They found her in a jiffy. She must have thought that she had super powers and could just rip through thousands of thorns because she was literally in the middle of the craziest thorn jungle, down on her stomach trying to navigate her way out. I’d say we followed all regulations in sending the search and rescue team of twelve year olds and we pretty much saved her life. That made for a good laugh back at camp.

We’ve had Garrett Russell on BroBomb quite a bit this winter and he’s been a ski coach for a long time at SASS.  What’s your take on the Garrett Russell experience?

It is truly an experience. Just being in Garrett’s presence is an experience. He’s an amazing human being and looks at the mountain with different eyes. It’s actually unexplainable until you experience the Garrett Russell experience for yourself.