Montana X-Games Gold Winner Back In The Spotlight
The 2023 Winter X-Games are coming up in Aspen Colorado January 27th-29th,and Montana's very own Quinn Wolferman will be competing again this year in the men's "Knuckle Huck" ski competition. He is the is the defending gold medal winner in the event.
He Learned To Ski When He Started Walk
Quinn and his three siblings all learned to ski at about the time they learned to walk and spent most of their time at Missoula's Snowbowl. His parents are both avid skiers. His mom, Korey Wolferman has been an instructor with the Missoula Freestyle Team for decades, and has helped hundreds of kids learn the art of "Freestyle Skiing".
On The Mend From Surgery
Quinn underwent his first major surgery last summer. I spoke with him about his recovery, he had this to say,
I did have surgery this summer and it was my first, like major surgery. So it was kind of interesting to work through that. As far as mindset goes, and now it's just kind of interesting working through that with getting my mind and body to kind of work as one... Right now really, everything's starting to kind of fall back into place, which is super nice. And everything's kind of working in unison again. So it's really nice to start to feel strong and comfortable.
Getting Ready For The X-Games
While he has been getting back up to competition form he made a plan to stick around his home base, which is currently Park City, Utah. I asked him about the "Knuckle Huck" competition being more of a "free form" competition, he said,
Definitely. As far as like bigger and slopestyle, judges definitely have, a bit more of a criteria where they want to see you spin both ways. There's kind of like boxes that you have to check in those events, whereas this event is, like a multiple choice, you can kind of do whatever. There are multiple answers to get a win as well. So it's kind of like a chess game, however decide to go against the current competition is totally up to you, and definitely way more free flow which is pretty cool. And that definitely pertains to my style of skiing as well. So that makes it fun.
Life After The Competitions
The Aspen X-Games will be Quinn's only competition this year. That doesn't mean he is done skiing. Over the last year he and his friends spent time in Montana, Canada and Europe filming their latest release called "Chameleon" by Deviate Films. (Warning: below, is some epic skiing and some adult language, these stunts are performed by professionals).
Advice For Younger Skiers In Montana
I asked Quinn if he had any advice for younger skiers who are growing up in Montana. Becoming a professional skier takes years of hard work and commitment, this is what he said,
You know, it's amazing that I've made it this far and I think really anyone else from Missoula, there's so many talented athletes, I think anybody's really capable of doing it. You just have to know that. Even in the years because, they're years that you may not feel as motivated or excited to go do it or whatever. But if you are dedicated and diligent you'll you'll see the results. But you got to be willing to put in your 10,000 hours and then some. I'm not trying to make it sound daunting, but it really is a life commitment... if you're as excited about skiing as I was, just really go for it, like you're gonna do it, you know, put your focus into that, and everything else will kind of fall into place.
We Will Be Rooting For Another Gold
The men's "Knuckle Huck" competition will be on Friday January 27th at 6 pm, Mountain Time. Full disclosure, my family will be tuning in to cheer Quinn on, not only because he is an amazing athlete from Montana, but he also happens to be my nephew.
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