Chris Colgan

Profile and significance

Chris Colgan is a Bend, Oregon–based freeski athlete who has spent more than a decade turning Mt. Bachelor laps, Copper Mountain park days and Northwest storm cycles into a steady stream of edits and full-length film parts. Growing up in the Pacific Northwest, he came through the MBSEF freestyle program and started posting park edits as a teenager, quickly earning a reputation for smooth style and a creative eye for terrain. Today he rides for Surface Skis, calls Mt. Bachelor home and appears in some of the most talked-about independent movies of the 2025 season.

Colgan’s significance in modern freeski culture sits firmly in the film space. His early personal projects, including “Chris Colgan: CJGRC’S Composition,” the short film “Outside the Box” and the Mt. Bachelor edit “NOODLE HEAD,” built a base of core fans who followed his progression from regional park skier to fully formed film rider. That trajectory has now carried him into marquee roles in OS Crew’s tenth annual movie “VORTEX” and the Variance street and backcountry project “til guan,” both highlighted in major trailer guides and festival lineups. Combined with his involvement in Zero G Films, which presents him as a skier blending freeride and freestyle on Bachelor’s natural features and the surrounding backcountry, Colgan stands out as one of the key style-driven riders tying together the Bend scene and the broader crew-film world.

Competitive arc and key venues

Colgan’s competitive arc is rooted in youth freestyle and then quickly branches into film. As a young athlete with the MBSEF Full Time Competition Freestyle Ski Team, he spent winters bouncing between Mt. Bachelor’s parks and contest venues like Copper Mountain in Colorado, appearing in “Copper Cruisn’,” an early edit credited to MBSEF that showcases him and teammates lapping Copper’s jumps and rails. Around the same time he entered Saga Outerwear’s “Outside the Box” video contest, submitting a dedicated edit that sharpened both his skiing and his understanding of how to structure a part that will stand out to judges and viewers online.

That early contest exposure soon gave way to a more film-first path. On Newschoolers and YouTube, Colgan dropped a series of personal clips and mini-edits—among them a hand-drag cork 540 at Mt. Bachelor and age-14 park and airbag footage—that documented his move from promising grom to fully capable park skier. The 2015 season edit “CJGRC’S Composition” pulled those threads together, with three minutes of Bend-focused skiing that mixed Bachelor park shots with contributions from a who’s-who of local filmers and riders. Fast-forward to the present and his name appears in the rider lists for OS Crew’s “VORTEX” and Variance’s “til guan,” two of the headline independent releases in recent trailer roundups. Those films carry him from Bend and Copper out to street spots, storm days and spring builds across the American West, with premieres in venues ranging from small theaters to dedicated ski film nights in Salt Lake City.

How they ski: what to watch for

Colgan’s skiing is defined by feel more than by trick lists. Edits like “NOODLE HEAD” and his Mt. Bachelor clips show a rider who prioritizes clean takeoffs, well-held grabs and controlled landings, even when the tricks themselves sit in the three to seven rotation range. On jumps, he tends to initiate his spin early and smoothly, letting the skis follow rather than forcing the rotation with his shoulders. His hand-drag cork 540 at Bachelor is a good example: the drag is an accent, not a crutch, and he recovers to his feet with enough time to ride away in balance instead of scrambling.

On rails and natural features, Colgan’s background as a park skier in the Northwest is obvious. He approaches rails with a relaxed but precise stance, locking in early and staying stacked over his feet so small imperfections in the metal or snow do not knock him off line. In “CJGRC’S Composition” and other park edits, many of his most memorable moments come from how he uses side hits, knuckles and odd bits of transition between features, slipping in nose butters, late 180s and quick pivots that keep the run alive. In more recent work with Variance and OS Crew, that same instinct shows up on larger canvases: urban down rails that kink into the street, backcountry wind lips shaped into takeoffs and spring kickers that let him combine freestyle tricks with freeride landings. When you watch his skiing closely, the through-line is flow—he rarely looks rushed, even when the feature is high consequence.

Resilience, filming, and influence

A long timeline of edits and film credits speaks to Colgan’s resilience. His first online clips date back to early high school, when he was stacking airbag laps and small-park shots at Mt. Bachelor and posting them under his own name. From there he moved through MBSEF edits, contest submissions and self-produced projects before landing in the casts of larger crew films like “VORTEX” and “til guan.” That progression is less about one breakthrough moment and more about showing up winter after winter—learning new tricks, refining his style and saying yes to filming missions that demand early mornings, long approaches and plenty of shoveling.

Within crews, his influence extends beyond his own turns. Projects like “CJGRC’S Composition,” which thanks a long list of Bend homies behind the camera, reveal a skier who sees film as a group effort rather than a solo showcase. The same dynamic carries into his more recent work with Zero G Films, where he is positioned as both subject and collaborator in a small, narrative-driven crew exploring Bachelor’s volcanic terrain and nearby backcountry. For younger riders around Bend, seeing Colgan move from MBSEF athlete edits to full-fledged roles in high-profile independent films makes him a tangible example of how a local park skier can gradually step into the wider freeski spotlight without losing their community focus.

Geography that built the toolkit

The places Colgan skis explain a lot about his toolkit. Growing up in the Northwest meant learning to ride storms and variable conditions, with Bachelor’s wind lips, lava outcrops and forested gullies doubling as terrain park extensions. On a typical day there, he might move from groomed jump lines to natural side hits on the mountain’s flanks, then out to the backside for soft-snow laps where the line is dictated more by terrain than by fences and flags. Those experiences formed the base of his freeride–freestyle blend: he knows how to use natural features for airtime, but his landings still carry the precision of a dedicated park skier.

Seasonal trips expanded that geography. Edits from Copper Mountain in Colorado, where he filmed with MBSEF teammates, show him adapting his style to longer, more structured park lanes and different snowpacks. Later, his involvement with crews like Variance and OS Crew has taken him to classic street and backcountry zones across the West, as well as to destination resorts such as Mammoth Mountain and Jackson Hole Mountain Resort, where jump lines, sidecountry and steep natural features add new dimensions to his skiing. That multi-region experience is why he looks at home whether the camera angle shows rails in town, a slushy volcano park day or deep snow framed by trees.

Equipment and partners: practical takeaways

Colgan’s current equipment setup is anchored by his relationship with Surface Skis, which lists him on its team roster out of Bend with Mt. Bachelor as his home mountain. Surface’s line of playful, durable twin-tips fits what you see in his edits: skis that can press and butter on rails, hold up to repeated impacts in the park and still feel trustworthy when he takes them into natural terrain or backcountry features. His social media presence links him to park-focused pole brand Joystick as well, reinforcing the image of a skier whose tools are built for jibbing, jump lines and creative snow usage rather than for pure race speed.

The crews he films with add further context. OS Crew projects like “VORTEX” are supported by brands such as J Skis, Dakine, Roxa Boots and Daymaker Touring, while Variance draws on its own mix of backcountry- and street-ready gear. Even when those logos represent crew-level partnerships rather than individual sponsorships, they create an ecosystem around Colgan where mid-fat twintips, reliable boots, technical outerwear and touring or winch setups are standard. For progressing skiers looking to take practical lessons from his approach, the key idea is coherence: choose a ski that feels playful but strong enough for rails and natural takeoffs, boots that stay supportive through long days and outerwear that works in storm cycles and sunny spring parks alike. The goal is a setup that lets you forget about gear and focus on the line, exactly as Colgan does in his edits and film segments.

Why fans and progressing skiers care

Fans care about Chris Colgan because he represents a full arc that many park skiers dream of: from early MBSEF athlete edits and homemade Bachelor clips to validated roles in the year’s most anticipated independent films. His skiing is recognisable for its smoothness and creativity rather than for chasing the biggest possible numbers, and his presence in projects like “VORTEX” and “til guan” shows that crews value him as a consistent, style-heavy contributor who can deliver in street spots, backcountry zones and resort parks alike.

For progressing skiers, his story offers a realistic template. Start by stacking laps at your home hill, filming with local friends and entering small contests or video challenges. Focus on building complete lines—using every part of the park and the natural terrain—rather than just isolated tricks. Over time, those habits can open doors to bigger collaborations, just as they did for Colgan as he moved from Bend edits to multi-crew films backed by established brands. Watching his footage with a critical eye, you can learn how early edge sets, calm upper-body movement and thoughtful feature selection combine into runs that look effortless on camera. In a freeski landscape where crews and films shape culture as much as contests do, Chris Colgan stands as a clear example of how to turn a passion for Mt. Bachelor laps and creative terrain into a role that resonates far beyond Central Oregon.