Skiing News

Home

Quizzes

Newsletter

Broken Ribs, NST Ski, and Having Nothing To Prove With Sammy Carlson

Originally posted on Powder | By Ian Greenwood | Last updated May 28, 2025 7:07 AM ET

If skiing has a trustworthy hitmaker, it’s Sammy Carlson.

For several seasons running, the park skiing phenom turned big mountain rider has dropped one of his tightly paced signature short films, which feature ten-or-so minutes of some of the best freeride skiing on the planet, bombarding the viewer with pure, unadulterated stoke.

Carlson is one of the most consistent and high-profile freeskiers of a generation. Despite dramatic changes in freeskiing over the past decade—and the rest of the world, for that matter—there’s Sammy, still quietly honing his craft as he prepares to blow our collective minds for the umpteenth time.

Lucky for us, plenty more footage of Carlson is on the way. This past winter, he teamed up with heliskiing outfit Black Ops Valdez for the fourth season, ticking off lines amongst Alaska’s imposing spires and spines.

Simultaneously, Carlson stacked his schedule further and joined the Natural Selection Tour (NST) advisory committee, providing input ahead of the competition circuit's eagerly awaited inaugural ski offering. If that sounds busy, it was, which is just how he likes it.

I caught up with him earlier this month as he recovered from a few broken ribs. We chatted about everything from his absence on the NST roster, upcoming film projects, his summer plans, and more.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Broken Ribs, Armada Film, Alaska With Travis Rice

I came in chest first and a foot under the snow there were some rocks. It was off a natural feature. We didn't have a lot of time to scout, and we didn't notice there was some texture on the snow. I ended up coming up short on the dub flip and uncovering the rocks, and I broke two ribs. Overall, though, I'm pretty grateful that it wasn't worse because I was definitely really shy on the rotation, and I was close to coming in head-first. The recovery has been smooth. I’ve just been on a good, healthy program and healing up.

This winter, I was out working with Armada on their team film. Spent some time working on that, and then I was also working on another solo project we shot. We went back up to Alaska, and that was a highlight for my solo project, which was a trip to Valdez with Black Ops. That was our fourth season up there. It was really good to be back, and we had lots of good synergies amongst the crew and working with the same pilot that I've been working with the last three seasons, so that was really cool to be back with him and allowed us to get into some new terrain and just movin’ really smooth as a crew out there. Really fun trip.

After that trip, I ended up linking up with the Quiksilver team. Worked on a team video consisting of myself, Travis Rice, Miles Fallon, and Werni Stock. That's going to drop this fall. And that was definitely a highlight of the year. It was super rad to be out shredding with the boarders in Alaska, and to see such high-level snowboarding in that terrain was really special and super cool to be a part of and just all-around good vibes, quickie style. So that was, yeah, my season. Really stoked. Had an awesome year.

Spicy Valdez, The Trippy Tickler, New Films

The whole trip when we were up in Valdez with Black Ops—there were a lot of special moments from that trip. When we started out, it was a little bit spicy up there. We were there earlier than in past years, so we had to do quite a bit of homework, just kind of evaluating the snowpack and checking out the different zones to see what was filled in. There's definitely a bit of avalanche concern out there, so we were trying to mitigate that at the start of the trip. And then, once we kind of locked into our zones, we were blessed with some really good snow and good stable conditions, and I got to drop into some of my most special lines yet. Just tried to pick up right where we left off last year.

I got to open up a couple walls in Valdez that haven't been shredded before, just super playful kind of jibby spine lines that I'm calling the Trippy Tickler because it was so steep I was just tickling the snow the whole time. Just like barely touching the surface, which has been something that I've been working on the last few years—just getting more comfortable in steeper terrain and amongst the flutes and the gnar.

I was definitely feeling the most in sync and in harmony with the mountains. So it was really special and rewarding. Every line was enjoyable, but from that trip, the Trippy Tickler was definitely a standout, and then had a couple really fun long spine lines with some freestyle moments amongst it that were really fun. That type of riding is so committing. Everything's happening so fast, and you really got to be on it and just manage the sluff. I really enjoy being in that environment. It's one of the most rewarding feelings.

I'll be dropping a new short film this fall. It's gonna be in conjunction with Quiksilver, Armada skis, and Monster Energy drinks—also Black Ops heli. This is my 20-year anniversary from my first-ever film part with Poor Boyz. I'm trying to drop something special for that, another little short, and then you can expect to see me in the new Armada film and also see me in this new Quiksilver team video.

Black Ops, Staying Humble, Freeriding Is Life

Working with Black Ops has been really cool the past few years; I got to give them a huge shout-out and thanks for all the support and opportunity they provided to us and the film crew. With everything from the hospitality they provide and sponsoring the films, and giving us adequate time to be out there and work on capturing footage, and just doing it in a safe way.

One of the key components working with them is just allowing me the time to get out there and really explore and take time to progress in a way that's not reckless. It's so easy when you're flying around to trick yourself. You see a wall that you think you're psyched on, and if you don't take the proper time, if you don't have a good crew that allows you to just slow things down and really analyze the terrain and make sure it's the right line that you want to step to—it's super easy to get ahead of yourself and find yourself in situations you do not want to be in.

I think the most important thing is to stay humble. Stay humble and respect the mountain. Just learn how to be one with it. You know, it's not like not trying to conquer the mountain, but just being one with it and learning how to fit in with it. So, I think respect and humility are the most important out there.

That’s my goal, is to always show up and be confident in my preparation so I know if the conditions line up and it's on, I'll be ready. But you got to be humble and listen to the signs, really, really pay attention to what the mountains are saying. And respect that. You can do everything right, and if you make one wrong decision, things can change really fast. So I think all this time in the backcountry has just taught me, you know, respect and humility and just listening. Like being sure to keep your head on and always stay in tune out there and don't let your guard down. The mountains are so beautiful, but we've seen again and again how quickly that can change and how fast it can be over.

During this time I spent out there, I just realized that freeriding is life. There are so many different lines you can take; just like in life, there are so many paths you can walk—choose wisely. That's freeriding, right there.

Endless Alaska, Nothing To Prove, Best Version Of Himself

It’s the ultimate playground, especially in Alaska. Your imagination is the only limit. You can definitely choose any adventures you want, you know, but there's no limit out there. There's always a bigger, gnarlier line, a crazier spine to find. So, yeah, I just love that it's endless. It just depends on how much work you want to put in, like in life. What you put in, you get out of it. So it's the total freedom. And I love it—you watch one person ride a line and another person ride a line. Everyone has their own interpretation and style.

I'm really grateful for all the different experiences throughout my career. And I gotta say, this chapter has been the most rewarding; being up in Alaska and having the freedom, flying around the mountains, and moving in the mountains with such purpose and focus has been so rewarding. It’s so humbling. It's so powerful up there; there's nothing like it, and you just feel in harmony up on the ridge.

I'm super grateful and really proud of all we've accomplished in Valdez the last few seasons, with this year being the highlight of the four for me. I don't feel like I have anything to prove. I'm just trying to focus on lines and the type of riding that brings me joy and ultimately inspires others, like my fans and the ski industry, to keep skiing fun and try to inspire people to follow their passions in the mountains and get out there.

My goal is just to promote good skiing and try to represent all the skiers, and just spread positive energy through the videos and inspire others to live a life with passion and not get caught up in the rat race, and just make sure to find time for themselves and what they love.

I just want to continue making quality films and, moving forward, trying to do a bit more storytelling and communicate a bit more what the real inspiration behind the riding is. But for me, skiing and being in the mountains, that's when I definitely feel like the best version of myself and the most inspired. So I want to keep doing that.

Turning Down NST Invitation, Injury Recovery, Summer Plans

It was really exciting when Travis initially reached out to me about the NST event, which was about four years ago. I started talking with him about this, and then to see it all come together, go down in Alaska for the first event, and see the riding that took place there. I think it's a really cool and exciting thing for freeride skiing.

It was good to have another platform to showcase skiing in a good light. And yeah, really rad to be a part of it and get to learn and see everything that goes into it on the back end of things with Travis and his team; definitely a bunch of really great people behind it, and to be a part of the advisory committee was fun. I just tried to do my best to influence the event, to showcase skiing the way that I like to see it and try to help the right riders get a spot in the event, which I think, in the end, the rider list is pretty stacked, and it was a good showing.

I turned down my invitation. For me, competition hasn’t been a motivating factor in my skiing for many years, and I'm really stoked that I stepped away from contests when I did. It allowed me the chance to just focus more on my style, having creative freedom with all the video projects and putting time into my riding to present a style of skiing that I'm hyped on.

Skiing, to me, it’s just not about competing at all. It's more about just the feeling and being out there and the challenges that the mountains present, kind of working, learning to become one with nature. Being in that [competitive] environment, I'm not sure it brings out the best in me. So, I just enjoy having the chance to work on the films and keep doing my thing. I'm going to keep focusing on that. But you never know in the future; you could potentially see me in an NST event one day.

I'm going to spend a bit more time recovering, and we're just diving into the editing process on the films where I'll be involved with helping with the Armada film, working on my part of it, also working on this solo project, and then also helping out with the Quiksilver team video, that’ll definitely keep me busy. And then I’m hoping to get a few surf trips in.

I'm also looking forward to going down to Hood. Go back home and see my family, and get some days up at Windells, and just hone in on a little bit of park skiing. Yeah, dialing some tricks, and then we're going to head down to South America, end the summer, and do some riding down in both Argentina and Chile. I'm really looking forward to that.

This article first appeared on Powder and was syndicated with permission.

More must-reads: