ian-mcintosh-2018

IAN MCINTOSH

BIG MT. SKIER

PEMBERTON, BC


Powder magazine once wrote that Ian McIntosh “combines aggressive fall-line skiing with a high-speed air presence, launching 50-foot cliffs and powerfully punching down 60-degree terrain.” The six-foot-two-inch redhead brings an energy and enthusiasm to every film shoot, ski clinic and ski day during his busy season. And while he’s making more calculated decisions at this point in his career, he’ll never stop pushing himself to see what he’s capable of.

Ian has been a fixture in Teton Gravity Research films since his 2006 debut in Anomaly that earned him Powder’s Breakthrough Performance award. He’s twice skied the “Best Line” of the year according to Powder and his peers and his 1,600-foot crash in Alaska in 2015 almost broke the Internet and sent Ian to Good Morning America, Fox Sports 1, and countless other appearances. 

Raised in the Kootenay mountains of interior British Columbia, the former ski racer didn't tell his parents when he ran away New Zealand at age 19 to compete in the 2001 World Heli Challenge—even though his entire family are skiers. His first winter in Whistler, he rented a friend's closet for $200 a month and subsisted on 99-cent loaves of bread and jars of peanut butter. He skied every day and worked night shifts as a ski tech at Summit Ski. He took up carpentry and started filming with a local production crew, Pimpin' Frogz Productions before reaching the big mountain competition circuit. In 2004, he finished runner-up on the Freeskiing World Tour and followed it up with third place overall the following season. The next year, after seeing footage of Ian shredding Whistler, TGR invited him to Jackson Hole. The rookie scored the coveted opening segment in TGR’s film the following season and the rest is history. These days, Ian turns down the heli laps and earns his descents under his own power.

Ian has logged more than 100 BASE jumps, both free and with a wingsuit, from the fjords of Norway to Yosemite's Half Dome. In the summer, Ian can rally a mountain bike with the best of them.

Accomplishments:

  • Film segment in TGR's film Tight Loose, Paradise Waits, and Almost Ablaze
  • Nominated for Best Air, Best Line and Male Skier Of The Year, Powder Awards 2015
  • Two-time winner of Powder Magazines "Best Line" award
  • 2017 Powder Magazine video award for "Best Line"
  • Summited Denali and skied the "Orient" 2017
  • Skied Pequeno Alpamayo in Bolivia 2017
  • First Descent of the east face of the "Devils Thumb" near Petersburg, Alaska