Grab Collective

Swedish female freeski community | Founded in 2023 by skier and creative Ella Lewander | Known for: multi-day park events, rider connection and creative representation | Focus: making progression, visibility and work more accessible for women in freestyle skiing

Ella Lewander turned a personal gap into Grab

Grab Collective is a Sweden-founded female freestyle ski community created in 2023 by Ella Lewander. Its starting point was direct rather than abstract: female riders could be present in a park without necessarily having a crew, a regular training group or a clear route into the wider industry. Grab was built to make that first connection easier. It is best described as a freeski crew and event-led community, not a ski manufacturer or conventional contest organisation. Its work combines riding, coaching, shared travel, creative output and an expanding network of women who want more space in freestyle culture.

Events built around progression instead of isolated sessions

Grab’s core activity is its multi-day events. The format gives riders more than a single park session: people ski together over several days, share accommodation and meals, watch each other progress, and build confidence through repetition. That structure matters in freestyle skiing because progression is rarely only technical. A skier may understand a trick but still need encouragement to drop into a jump line, ask for feedback or return to a rail after a difficult attempt. Grab creates a setting where those moments happen around familiar faces rather than inside a competitive or male-dominated environment.

Park skiing with room for style and individual pace

The group’s freestyle focus is centred on park riding, where rails, boxes, jumps, side hits and transition features give skiers different ways to develop. Grab does not present progression as a fixed ladder toward the biggest rotation or the hardest feature. Its approach leaves room for different goals: cleaner basic tricks, more confidence on rails, filming a line with friends, learning park etiquette or simply becoming comfortable in a social riding environment. That makes the crew relevant to both established female freeskiers and riders who have the motivation to improve but do not yet have a reliable group around them.

A small core team connected to a much wider rider network

Grab’s public team includes founder Ella Lewander, Alps event manager Chiara Joy Caspers, coach Johanna Nilsson, photographers and content contributors Miranda Carlsson and Johanna Sellman, content creator Sofia Jansson, and riders including Fanny Odin, Cassandra Nilsson and Ellen Damsgaard. The named team is not meant to define the whole community. Grab presents it as a group of key people inside a network that extends far beyond its visible roster. That distinction is important. The project is less about building a closed professional team and more about keeping an open pathway for new riders, returning skiers and creative collaborators.

From Swedish roots toward the Alps and international gatherings

Grab began in Sweden, with founder Ella Lewander closely associated with the freeride and park culture around Åre. Its activity has since reached beyond one local scene through events and partnerships in the Alps. Laax is one of the natural settings for this direction: a resort where park laps, coaching, creative sessions and a visible freestyle community all exist in the same place. Grab’s geographic value comes from connecting riders across borders. Instead of treating a trip as a one-off holiday, its events turn travel into a reason for women from different scenes to ride together and keep those connections alive afterward.

Community media that records more than landed tricks

Content is a central part of the Grab identity. Photography, short edits, printed magazine projects and event documentation help preserve the mood around the sessions: the waiting, the conversations, the crashes, the progression and the friendships that make riders return. This is different from a traditional ski film crew whose goal is a major annual release. Grab uses media as a way to make participation visible. A skier can see riders with different styles, levels and backgrounds taking space in the park, which can lower the social barrier for someone considering their first event or their first serious freestyle trip.

Grab Talent turns community access into industry opportunity

The collective has also developed Grab Talent, a representation and casting service for female skiers and snowboarders. The concept connects brands, productions and campaigns with riders from within the community. That extension fits the original mission. Visibility in freestyle skiing is not only about media attention; it can create paid work, campaign opportunities and longer relationships with brands. Grab Talent does not replace athlete management agencies or national teams. It offers a more community-based route, matching projects with riders whose skills, style and experience fit the brief while keeping the connection rooted in the culture that built the network.

Why the crew matters to the next female freeski generation

Grab Collective matters because access to a scene often decides whether a skier stays involved long enough to progress. A good park, expensive equipment and motivation are useful, but they do not automatically provide a crew, coaching feedback or a place where a rider feels comfortable trying again. Grab addresses that practical gap through events, shared culture and creative representation. It is still a young organisation rather than a legacy ski institution, but its impact is already clear in the Scandinavian female freestyle space. By making community part of the infrastructure, Grab helps turn individual riders into a more connected and visible generation.