Jackson Hole's Beloved Hadley Hammer Announces Her Retirement

Hadley Hammer on Retiring From Performance-Based Skiing

Was the film created with the intention to announce your retirement? Did you know that was a decision you were going to make while filming it in 2023?

No—the intention of making the film came from a desire of both Sophie and I to create a series of shorts around the emotions felt when skiing. Knowing Sophie’s love of story, poetry, and art, she was the perfect person to partner with. The series never found funding but we went to Japan determined to make a pilot episode.

Ironically the emotion we were trying to capture was weightlessness; however, we missed the snowfall for almost all of our three week trip. Plus my father had just passed away so I wasn’t feeling particularly light. But in the absence of snow we ended up discovering a different emotion— one of gratitude and a realization of our fortunes.

We saw, mostly thanks to our friend and tour guide Mark, so many beautiful things that we would have missed if our goggles were covered with snow.
The film lay dormant for two winters, and when I decided to make the pivot from performance skier to storyteller, it seemed fitting to weave the film into my declaration.

Because for one, I feel very fortunate to have had the career I had. Secondly, it gives an idea of projects I hope to be apart of in the future. (Perhaps even continuing to produce our dream series if anyone out there is looking!) Sophie went on to make Blue Hour with Amie [Engerbretson] and it really shows her strength in creating visual poetry. She’s a tremendous filmmaker.

Can you talk about your greater motivation to retire from performance based skiing and what the decision making process looked like for you?

The decision has been building for many years and had a variety of factors involved.
I’m very much drawn to the idea of expansion and exploration. I like the idea of experiencing a variety of emotions and situations and learnings. After 13 or 14 years of being a professional skier, I was starting to feel like the role was putting limitations on my interests and creativity. The experiences I was having were too repetitive.
My job as an athlete was to perform the best skiing I could. I really enjoyed that progression for a long time.

And then I started caring more about community. About art. And I really care about words-how they shape worlds. But those things don’t necessarily fit into being the best skier. Creating The Discourse and TOGS newsletters, wanting to write boldly about risk, and dreaming of making ski films about 6 year olds skiing trees and 86 year olds skiing groomers don’t fulfill traditional contract obligations. I probably grew a little bitter about what I thought about what it means to be a professional athlete, but then I realized I just needed to change titles. By releasing myself from the obligation of performance, I could be the skier and storyteller I want to be.

It took a lot of conversations. A lot of time talking with mentors who graciously shepherded me through those decisions-Matt Sharkey, Florian Klingler, and Maegan Carney were hugely helpful. And a good amount of time was spent fighting against my ego and telling it to back down ha. But what I feel now is excitement for the future. I feel free to create in a variety of formats. And that freedom sure feels good.

You've talked about returning to skiing as 'play.' What does that look like for you?

I don’t know about you (reader), but I feel like so much of my day to day is tied to work and progression. Business and optimization and success seem to rule the sense of a life’s worth.

Play, for me is essential to my spirit. Doing activities that are detached completely from measurement. Skiing is ridiculous, and I like embracing the frivolousness of it as a counter to the seriousness of life.

As an athlete I was either going skiing to train for an objective or going skiing to achieve an objective. Now I can just go ski to wiggle and shake with no destination or progress in mind.

If there was one thing you're looking forward to most in the next chapter, whether a specific endeavor or not, what would it be? What about one thing that scares you about this new chapter?

I’m excited to search, find, write, film and create stories around beauty. Around kindness and community. About a different kind of bravery. Stories about joy and laughter. About wisdom and the human spirit.

And I’m personally excited to restore my relationship to the mountains and nature. To move through those spaces at a different pace. Less of a transaction and more of an exploration of awe. Nature is so dang precious and wild and beautiful and I’m excited for it to not be “an office”.

There’s nothing about the future I’m scared about (beside maybe not living long enough to make it through all the books I want to read ha!)

Is there a message you're hoping other skiers/female skiers/young athletes take away from the film as far as their own careers and skiing?

I have so many thoughts around this, but mostly I hope that everyone can separate their performance and success from their self worth. No matter your follower count, what dollar amount a team manager assigns to your contract, what lines you’ve skied or not skied, your worth as a person and your right to enjoy your life and be yourself exists because you’re here.