FINAL || Taylor Lundquist vs. Alais Develay || SLVSH CUP GRANDVALIRA '25
Alais Develay
Profile and significance
Alaïs Develay is a French freeski talent from the Pyrenees whose rapid rise has come through the culture-shaping spaces of street, creative park sessions, and open-format contests. Born in 2002 and influenced by the training and terrain access around Font-Romeu, she broke out in spring 2024 at the Jib League stop hosted by Sugar Bowl Resort, where she was tapped mid-event to move from the open division into the pros. In 2025 she added a historic bracket run at Grandvalira’s night park and finished the year by winning the women’s ski title at Rock A Rail’s Hintertux opener. Riding for the purpose-driven ski brand 1000 Skis and in boots from Phaenom Footwear, Develay has become a reference for how the next wave of women’s freeskiing blends style, creativity, and pressure-proof decision-making.
Competitive arc and key venues
The competitive arc that put Develay on more fans’ radar starts with the Jib League format—open jams that feed into a pro session—where her Sugar Bowl performance in April 2024 set the tone for a busy twelve months. The following winter she appeared in the first-ever women’s SLVSH Cup bracket at Sunset Park Peretol in Andorra, a night-time venue inside Grandvalira that rewards line reading, variety, and trick precision under lights. She also featured at the U.S. stop in Colorado, where Jib League set up at Woodward Copper, adding to her resume of high-visibility sessions. In October 2025 she opened the Rock A Rail Ski & Snowboard Tour with a win at the Hintertux Park Opening—an urban-style rail event staged on the glacier-side plaza and operated by the Rock A Rail crew, with the result posted by the organizers and the event site across their channels. The throughline in all these starts is that they privilege relevance over rank: the ability to adapt, to find original lines on a shared setup, and to land clean when it matters.
How they ski: what to watch for
Develay skis with a “quiet approach, decisive exit” philosophy that transfers from city features to resort parks. Approaches stay flat and composed—bases neutral, hands steady—until she builds a firm platform and pops cleanly. Rotations stay axis-honest, with grabs connected early to stabilize the shape; landings are driven back to the fall line and re-centered immediately so speed survives the trick. On rails, watch for square entries, a clear plan for off-axis exits, and an economy of movement that makes technical choices look simple. She’s equally comfortable switching stance through a line and using butters to set spin without telegraphing, a habit that plays well in formats like SLVSH where variety, control, and inventiveness are scored by peers as much as by any panel.
Resilience, filming, and influence
Creative circuits test patience as much as they showcase flair, and Develay’s progression reflects both. She has bounced back from hard slams, kept traveling with the community that supports her, and used each stop to add one more repeatable habit—quiet run-ins, early grabs, exits that preserve momentum. Brand stories and athlete features have followed, highlighting the same traits that show up in her contest clips: confidence to try the unusual line first, and discipline to do it again with cleaner timing. The influence is especially visible in women’s street and park skiing, where athletes borrow concrete ideas from her runs—speed choices, trick order, and how to turn a busy build into a readable sequence.
Geography that built the toolkit
The Pyrenees shape the base of Develay’s skiing. Everyday laps and club culture around Font-Romeu mean varied snowpacks, changing light, and lots of repetition—conditions that reward balance and pop timing. On tour, California’s Sugar Bowl introduced a high-energy crowd and quick-format open sessions where presence under pressure mattered as much as difficulty. In Colorado, Woodward Copper added longer rails and dialed jump lines that favor grab security and switch control. Andorra’s Sunset Park Peretol, open at night, sharpened visibility management and line creativity in floodlights. Austria’s Rock A Rail stop at the Hintertux Park Opening demanded urban instincts on a purpose-built plaza, a canvas that suits her ability to turn small set-ups into big statements.
Equipment and partners: practical takeaways
Develay’s kit reflects function over flash. She rides 1000 Skis, a skier-owned brand built around predictable flex and stable mounts that make switch approaches and locked-in grabs feel natural. Her boots come from Phaenom Footwear, whose hybrid constructions emphasize progressive flex and rebound—useful when repeated impacts on rails and hard landings tax ankles and knees. For skiers looking to copy the feel (not just the stickers), the practical lessons are simple: choose a twin with enough length to land centered without wheelie; detune tips and tails lightly for rail forgiveness while keeping edges honest underfoot for icy in-runs; and keep wax fresh to avoid speed traps on spring salt. The small rituals—edge touch-ups after rail days, stance checks before first hits, and a repeatable warm-up trick ladder—unlock more progress than chasing another spin.
Why fans and progressing skiers care
Fans care about Alaïs Develay because her skiing is both readable and original. She doesn’t overwhelm a course with volume; she edits. One or two distinctive choices on rails, one jump trick that fits the speed and the build, and a finish that keeps momentum alive. That approach is why she resonated at Sugar Bowl, why her bracket runs at Sunset Park Peretol replay so well, and why her Rock A Rail win at the Hintertux Park Opening mattered for women’s street skiing. For progressing riders, the takeaways are concrete: set a deliberate speed floor, build a clean platform, connect the grab early, and land back to the fall line. Do those things and style follows. Develay’s trajectory—from Pyrenean laps to international sessions—shows how that discipline scales from local parks to the culture’s most-watched stages.
Taylor Lundquist
Profile and significance
Taylor Lundquist is an American freeskier from Utah whose imprint sits squarely in urban and street skiing while reaching into slopestyle, streetstyle, and the new women’s knuckle-huck era. Raised around Park City and lapping the parks at Brighton Resort, she became the first woman ever invited to X Games Real Ski, a milestone that widened the lane for female street skiers and cemented her cultural relevance beyond rankings. She has appeared at X Games Aspen in women’s Ski Knuckle Huck and Street Style, reached the podium at Dew Tour Streetstyle, and collected “Skier of the Year” accolades within the core scene—all while keeping her main focus on filming. For fans and progressing riders, Lundquist matters because she made style-driven, camera-literate street skiing legible to a broader audience and proved that a film-first career can still shape the contest conversation.
Her visibility is amplified by distinctive brand work and a growing body of video parts and short films. Between edits with independent crews and collaborations with major outdoor labels, she occupies a space where aesthetic judgment—spot choice, trick selection, line composition—carries as much weight as degrees of spin. That balance of influence and output places her among the notable modern figures in women’s freeskiing, particularly on steel.
Competitive arc and key venues
Lundquist’s competitive footprint has been selective but impactful. After early years in the Park City pipeline and regional starts, she pivoted toward streetstyle formats and high-visibility showcases. Dew Tour Streetstyle gave her a podium stage in a rail-first environment that mirrors her film identity. X Games invited her to the Real Ski video contest as the event’s first female competitor, a landmark for representation in a format historically dominated by men. In 2024 and 2025 she slid into X Games Aspen’s women’s Ski Knuckle Huck and Street Style fields, bringing her urban timing to an arena setting under lights at Buttermilk Mountain. While these appearances did not yield hardware, they confirmed her position as a standard-bearer for style-forward skiing in competitive spaces.
Geographically, familiarity breeds execution. Home mileage at Park City Mountain and Brighton Resort built the repetition and speed-read instincts that transfer cleanly to rail jams and knuckle formats. Filming blocks in rail-dense towns and travel for street projects transformed those instincts into segments with replay value, the true currency of the street skier.
How they ski: what to watch for
Lundquist skis with a relaxed upper body, tall approach, and a calm, late commitment to axis that makes tricks read clearly on camera. On rails she favors linkable lines over one-off hammers, pairing spin-on/pretzel-off variations with subtle body language that keeps edges quiet and shoulders level. Look for long, honest grab holds on medium-degree spins, controlled body position through blind landings, and the restraint to leave room for speed into the next feature. Her knuckle-huck entries showcase that same timing: feathered edge sets, low-impact takeoffs, and tweaks that reshape silhouette without forcing amplitude she doesn’t need.
Run and segment construction are deliberate. Instead of stacking difficulty indiscriminately, she sequences tricks so each shot or hit sets up the next—an opening that establishes style and rhythm, a mid-line feature that adds technical density, and a closer that rewards viewers paying attention to nuance. The result is skiing that looks inevitable when it works: nothing rushed, nothing wasted, every frame readable.
Resilience, filming, and influence
Street skiing requires a different resilience than contest circuits. It means night sessions, imperfect run-ins, hand-shoveling, and walking away when a spot isn’t safe. Lundquist’s filmography displays that patience and persistence. A notable part of her influence is simply showing up in spaces where women were underrepresented—then letting the footage carry the argument. Being the first woman tapped for Real Ski was more than a personal credential; it reframed expectations about who belongs in the heaviest urban contest of the year. Subsequent showings at Aspen and her continued output with core crews and brands kept that door open for the next wave.
Her filmmaking voice extends beyond tricks. She’s directed and produced her own projects, leaning into narratives that foreground feeling, music, and scene—proof that the modern freeskier can be both athlete and author. That agency over how skiing is presented is a key part of her legacy so far.
Geography that built the toolkit
Utah’s Wasatch front shaped Lundquist’s toolkit. Lapping the parks at Brighton Resort and the larger network at Park City Mountain enabled high-volume rail practice and jump repetition across variable winter light and snow. Those conditions forged habits that read in her street segments: speed checks that don’t kill momentum, conservative takeoff marks on sketchy in-runs, and a preference for features that allow clean exits into natural lines. When she travels for spots, that base shows up as calm decisions and tidy landings on first-and-second-hit attempts.
Occasional stints at spring glaciers and early-season rope-tow parks keep the muscle memory fresh and add the surface variety that keeps edges honest—another reason her skiing translates cleanly between film and comp formats.
Equipment and partners: practical takeaways
Lundquist rides for Line Skis, including a park-tuned pro model that prioritizes pop, durability, and a flex window friendly to both rails and smaller jumps. Optics come via Smith Optics, useful when low-contrast street nights or flat-light park laps make detail recognition a performance variable. Outerwear and project collaborations with The North Face have supported her film-first calendar. For skiers translating this to their own setups, the takeaways are straightforward: choose a twin-tip with durable edges and a mount near center if rails and switch landings are your daily bread; keep bindings and boots tuned for cross-loaded landings; and treat lens choice as equipment, not accessory, when visibility is marginal.
Equally practical is her workflow: scout spots for run-in quality and safe exit, budget time for build and de-ice, and prioritize clips that preserve form over single-frame shock value. The best edit is the one you can still ski after.
Why fans and progressing skiers care
Taylor Lundquist offers a blueprint for a film-centric freeski career that still moves the wider culture. Fans get segments and live appearances that privilege style and coherence over noise—clean blind 2s, controlled presses, held grabs, and lines that link. Progressing riders get permission and a plan: build fundamentals on repeatable features, learn to read speed and surface, keep grab standards high, and design shots and runs that make sense to the eye. In a sport that increasingly values both contest moments and durable media, Lundquist remains a reference for how street, park, and storytelling can add up to real impact.
Monster Energy
Brand overview and significance
Monster Energy is a global beverage brand that became a fixture in freeski culture by backing athletes, contests, and film projects across park, pipe, street, and big-mountain skiing. Launched in the early 2000s by the company now known as Monster Beverage Corporation, the “claw” logo migrated from motocross and skate into winter sports and quickly showed up on helmets, sled decks, and banners at major venues. In skiing, Monster’s value is less about hardware and more about platform: funding rider-driven media, supporting athlete travel, and amplifying edits so lines and tricks reach audiences far beyond a single premiere. For Skipowd readers, our curated hub for Monster Energy pulls those stories together in one place.
At competition level, Monster’s presence is visible on the world’s most-watched stages. The brand is a named partner at X Games events, including Aspen’s winter edition, with title integrations on Big Air and SuperPipe segments that keep freeskiing front-and-center for a mainstream audience. Combined with a deep roster of athletes and a grassroots pipeline, Monster has helped bankroll a generation of clips and projects that shaped modern freeski style.
Product lines and key technologies
Monster’s “products” for skiers are twofold: beverages and media infrastructure. On the beverage side, the lineup spans the classic Monster Energy range, sugar-free options like Ultra, coffee blends under Java, and hydration-oriented Rehab—formats riders choose for long travel days, dawn call times, or late-night rail sessions. On the media side, the brand runs dedicated snow news and athlete pages, plus the Monster Army development program (Monster Army) that gives emerging skiers a route to small stipends, exposure, and eventual pro support.
The real “tech” is distribution and continuity. Monster’s content operation turns contest weeks and filming windows into year-round storytelling: pre-event previews, daily recaps, and athlete features that keep freeskiers in the broader sports conversation. That consistency has helped edits from core hubs break out of niche channels and reach new viewers who might never attend a premiere or follow a film tour.
Ride feel: who it’s for (terrains & use-cases)
Translate “ride feel” to culture: Monster shows up wherever skiers want volume and visibility. Park and slopestyle crews benefit from athlete travel and media support that keep jump lines and rail gardens in view all winter. Big-mountain and backcountry riders leverage the same amplifiers for spine shoots, wind-lip sessions, and sled-accessed zones. For grassroots skiers, Monster Army functions as an on-ramp—local edits and regional podiums can become invitations, product flow, and small travel budgets that make the next step possible.
Practically, skiers tap Monster’s platforms around the cadence of a season: early-preseason park laps, mid-winter contest blocks, spring build weeks, and Southern Hemisphere or glacier sessions. The through-line is repetition and reach—support that helps riders stack attempts, refine style, and put the best version of a trick or line in front of the world.
Team presence, competitions, and reputation
Monster’s freeski roster blends icons, contest winners, and film specialists—most visibly at X Games, where the brand’s partnership and athlete presence span SuperPipe, Slopestyle, Big Air, and newer formats like Knuckle Huck. Recent seasons in Aspen saw Monster-backed skiers and snowboarders rack up headline results across the program, validated by the brand’s own event recaps and athlete features. Beyond podiums, Monster’s support of style leaders and legacy projects—think multi-year film arcs with Scandinavian and Québec crews, or rider-led street projects—gives skiers room to pursue the parts that influence technique and aesthetics for years.
The pipeline matters as much as the top end. Monster Army highlights junior and up-and-coming riders, publishes results, and showcases standout edits, creating a credible path from local scenes to international rosters. That continuity—grassroots to global—underpins the brand’s reputation inside the sport.
Geography and hubs (heritage, testing, venues)
On-snow, Monster’s winter footprint tracks freeski infrastructure. In North America, Aspen hosts X Games on Buttermilk’s courses under the Aspen Snowmass umbrella (Buttermilk), stacking high-mileage training and broadcast-grade venues in one valley. West Coast film crews cycle through Mammoth Mountain and coastal British Columbia, while the Alps and Scandinavia add spring and late-season looks that show up in team edits. In Québec, hometown hills and night parks feed the scene; you’ll even see Monster projects roll through compact venues like Vallée du Parc when storylines call for local roots.
Between tours, Monster uses city-based touchpoints and festivals to premiere or promote projects, then folds those stories back into athlete pages and season recaps so they remain discoverable long after a live event.
Construction, durability, and sustainability
For a beverage brand embedded in outdoor sport, responsibility shows up in packaging and operations. Monster’s corporate reporting outlines steps such as recyclable aluminum as the primary package, efficiency improvements in manufacturing, and sustainability targets published in annual updates (Sustainability Reports). On the events side, large activations coordinate with venue partners to manage sampling, waste, and energy use—pragmatic measures that matter at scale when contests and festivals bring thousands of fans to alpine towns.
From an athlete’s viewpoint, durability is cultural: consistent budgets, long-term relationships, and support for serviceable projects (from street trips to heli windows) keep skiers productive through full seasons, not just headline weeks.
How to choose within the lineup
If you’re picking a Monster can for ski days, think context. Sugar-free Ultra variants suit riders who want flavor without added sugar; classic Monster Energy is a familiar choice for long travel days or early starts; coffee blends (Java) make sense for base-area mornings. Hydration-forward options (Rehab) are useful for spring sessions when temps rise. As with any caffeinated drink, match intake to your tolerance and hydrate—especially at altitude and during high-output days.
If you’re an aspiring rider looking for support, study Monster’s athlete pages and the Monster Army program: publish clean edits, compete regionally, and keep results and clips organized so you can be found. For coaches and filmers, align output with the season’s storytelling windows—contest weeks, park build cycles, and spring features—so your work lands when the audience is paying most attention.
Why riders care
Skis and boots define how you turn; brands like Monster help define whether the wider world sees what you did. By underwriting athletes, events, and films—particularly around anchor venues like Aspen—the company has amplified freeski progression from rope-tow nights to global broadcast. Add a visible presence at X Games, a credible grassroots pipeline in Monster Army, and year-round content that keeps freeskiing in front of non-core audiences, and you get a sponsor that materially supports the sport’s culture—not just with logos, but with the resources that let skiers stack laps, film lines, and share them widely.
SLVSH
Brand overview and significance
SLVSH (pronounced “slash”) is a ski-culture brand and media outlet founded around a simple but powerful idea: bring the playground game of “HORSE” into the park and freeski scene by matching tricks between rivals and letting the video tell the story. The brand was co-founded by notable freeskiers Matt Walker and Joss Christensen as a way to inject creative freedom and fun into a culture increasingly dominated by judged contests. SLVSH has grown into an internationally recognized format and community hub, with apparel, video series, and global event tie-ins. For skiers who care about park laps, jib battles, street features and rider-vs-rider formats, SLVSH offers a unique, peer-driven alternative to traditional competition.
Product lines and key technologies
SLVSH is not a ski manufacturer; its core “product” is content and community. Under the SLVSH banner you’ll find the game format (head-to-head trick matching), video episodes, event series (such as SLVSH Cups) held at terrain parks and resorts, and a streetwear line including hoodies, hats and accessories. The apparel is often co-branded and available globally (e.g., via abstractmall storefronts). On the media-side, the brand uses filming and editing techniques suited to the park environment—tight follow-cams, rapid cuts, and multi-angle battles—to emphasise trick detail, reaction, and rhythm. The key “technology” is the format itself: no judges, just call a trick, the opponent lands (or doesn’t), someone gets a letter, first to spell SLVSH loses. This simplicity underpins the brand’s appeal.
Ride feel: who it’s for (terrains & use-cases)
SLVSH speaks directly to park, urban, and freestyle-oriented skiers who ride rails, boxes, jumps and street features and who value creativity, fun, and peer challenges. If you’re in the terrain park, enjoying jib setups, chasing friends on the rail line, or filming match-ups with your crew, SLVSH fits. The ride feel is loose, expressive and informal—less about maximal speed or big-mountain consequences, more about style, line choice, trick creativity and session banter. It’s ideal for skiers who view park laps as culture rather than contest rounds, and who like a format they can play with friends, record, and share.
Team presence, competitions, and reputation
SLVSH has cultivated credibility via its athlete-led foundation and the adoption of its format by parks and resorts worldwide. Games and match-ups featuring high-profile skiers such as Joss Christensen, as well as grassroots entries, have helped the brand stay relevant. Its video series on YouTube show head-to-head match-offs at terrain parks from North America to Europe (e.g., SLVSH Cup Grandvalira). The reputation is of a brand that keeps skiing fun, accessible and peer-to-peer oriented—contrasting with high-stakes judged contests. While it may not carry the prestige of an Olympic or World Cup circuit, for the park scene it holds a meaningful place.
Geography and hubs (heritage, testing, venues)
SLVSH has roots in the modern park and freestyle community rather than a single geographic resort heritage. Its match-format videos and events have taken place at venues such as Penken Park (Austria) and the SLVSH Cup at Grandvalira (Andorra). The global reach includes U.S. park locations (such as Park City, Utah). Because the format is portable and doesn’t require infrastructure beyond a terrain park, the brand’s geography spans many popular freestyle hubs. It channels the spirit of open-session, game-driven skiing across continents.
Construction, durability, and sustainability
In the media and culture context, SLVSH’s durability is shown in its staying power—over a decade of match-games, videos, community visits and product drops. The game format remains relevant to emerging skiers and seasoned stylers alike. Sustainability-wise, the brand emphasises participation and simplicity. Because the barrier to entry is low (rent features, film a game), the format scales without large production overheads. On the apparel side, there is limited public data on material sustainability; the focus remains cultural rather than manufacturing. For the skier-viewer, the lasting value is the format and community more than a tangible gear asset.
How to choose within the lineup
If you’re a skier wanting to get involved: start by watching SLVSH videos to see how the format plays out in parks you know. Then arrange games with your crew—pick a feature, call tricks, record. Aim to replicate the style and pace you’ve seen so that your own edits look crisp and fun. If you’re a park or resort looking to partner: host an official SLVSH Cup or branded match session, film for social, invite riders of varying levels. For apparel: drop a hoodie or shirt from the SLVSH line if you’re into ski-street style and want a brand that signals park credibility.
Why riders care
Because skiing should be fun, peer-driven and expressive. SLVSH removes the intimidation of judged contests and replaces it with a format nearly any skier can join. It brings friends, features and filming together in a way that emphasises trick creativity, risk-taking and fun—whether you’re a 270 board-slide novice or a back-flip rail veteran. Its brand cues—bold graphics, playful identity, video match-ups—resonate with skiers who spend equal time filming, lapping features and pushing style. For the park crew, the hill is the playground and SLVSH gives you the rules, the format and the vibe.
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