Ingrid Backstrom grew up in Seattle, Washington, where she spent her winters skiing down the nearby mountains and her summers hiking back up them on backpacking trips with her parents and two younger brothers. After graduating from Whitman College, the call of the mountains drew her to Squaw Valley, California, to put in what she thought would be a year-long stint as a ski bum. However, it only took a few freeskiing contests for Backstrom to realize that she had found her niche. Without doubt, she would be calling the mountains home for a long, long time. Since then, she placed top three in 13 of 16 freeskiing contests entered and has been awarded Breakthrough Performance in 2005, 5-time Best Female Performance, and 8-time Reader Poll winner for her roles in 9 Matchstick Productions films at the annual Powder Magazine Video Awards, in addition to appearing in the 2007 documentary Steep and 2011’s All.I.Can by Sherpas Cinema. Her travels with The North Face have allowed her to make first descents in Baffin Island, Greenland, and 20,000ft Reddomaine Peak in China, as well as a ski descent of Denali. She was named one of 50 most influential action sports athletes in 2013 by ESPN. Backstrom is a member of the Protect Our Winters Alliance and is a passionate environmental advocate. She resides in Leavenworth, Washington with her husband and two daughters.
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