EP 6 / Ian McIntosh // Professional Skier + Environmentalist
Episode 6 brings us to Pemberton, British Columbia into the house of one Ian McIntosh.
Ian is a Tall Gingerly Man. Most known for his fearless domination of BIG MOUNTAIN LINES and charging.
I’ve had the great honour and privilege of being friends with him from the very beginnings of his professional ski career and watched him garner a lot of success on skis and seen him shift into the man of integrity that he is today.
When I google his name things come up like…
At 6’2” and an athletic 185 pounds, Ian McIntosh towers over most other skiers… with a blend of brute force, style and raw talent McIntosh unleashes his signature speed and aggression on some of the steepest faces around the world… He has won the POWDER BEST LINE award a few times and has been dominated for Best Air, Best Line and Male skier of the year… he has bagged first descents in Alaska and he could also be described as the man who survived a 1600 foot fall in 2011. And I think he would hate that I bring this up.
But then I scoured the internet and I found this quote of his…
“In the darkest hours, you learn who you really are, but you have to dig deep, get healthy, and get back out there. And then he faced himself and he did the work and he used injury to grow.
And I think a year after his big shift… the two of us had our first deep conversation at 8,000 feet looking at a full moon, both of us freshly divorced and talking about the pain and the transformation and I remember him imparting on me how you have to let go and then everything will be fine. And I think it took me a long time to really realize that he was talking about my ego. It might actually be this exact moment that I realize the true depth of his message.
So, listen to Ian McIntosh the pride of Invermere British Columbia and one of my two favourite Gingers.
We get into talks of Ego, books, unplugging, life before and after social media, Climate Change and he leaves us with a little bit of knowledge we should all take to heart.