Mammoth feat ABM Vink$ Noah

Profile and significance

Alex Beaulieu-Marchand—universally known as ABM—is one of the defining Canadian freeskiers of his era, bridging elite contests and high-level filming with rare consistency. Born in Quebec City in 1994, he delivered a landmark result for Canada when he earned Olympic bronze in men’s ski slopestyle at PyeongChang 2018. That medal, combined with a haul of five X Games medals across slopestyle, big air, and Real Ski, and a 2019 FIS World Championships big air bronze in Park City, places him among the most decorated all-around freeskiers of the past decade. Just as importantly for fans, ABM is a rare athlete whose style reads as clearly on a slopestyle course as it does in an urban segment, making him essential viewing whether you follow competitions, street skiing, or both.

ABM’s reputation rests on substance more than hype. He first appeared at the Olympics as a finalist at Sochi 2014, overcame major injuries in the seasons that followed, and then returned to the very top of the sport by the end of the decade. His ski IQ—especially on rails—turned into a calling card: clean lock-ins, directional changes with purpose, and landings that keep speed alive for the next feature. That polish helps explain how he could step from podium moments at Aspen into the all-street format of Real Ski and still earn a medal there too. Few riders thread that needle as convincingly.

Competitive arc and key venues

ABM’s competitive arc traces the modern freeski pathway: early World Cups and Dew Tour appearances, a breakout X Games podium, and then a sustained period of podium-level runs at the sport’s headline events. He won slopestyle bronze at X Games Aspen in 2017, followed by the signature moment of his career—the Olympic bronze at PyeongChang 2018. In 2019 he produced one of the strongest single-year résumés of anyone in freeskiing: silver in big air and silver in slopestyle at Aspen Snowmass, bronze in Real Ski, and another big air bronze at the X Games stop in Norway. That same winter he added a World Championships bronze in big air at Park City, cementing his versatility.

Venues matter in how his skiing matured. Aspen has long been the proving ground for ABM’s jump and rail balance, while Breckenridge nurtured his early Dew Tour success and gave him the repetitions needed to scale tricks to XL features. Closer to home, the park culture around Quebec City—including Le Relais and Stoneham—fed his rail precision and urban instincts. It’s a circuit that spans manicured, high-speed courses and gritty winter cityscapes, and ABM has shown he can translate between the two without losing his identity.

How they ski: what to watch for

ABM’s skiing is built around clarity of intent. On rails, he emphasizes early edge commitment and solid center-of-mass control, which allows him to execute technical switch-ups and directional changes without scrambling. His exits are deliberate—he protects speed into the next panel of features, an asset in modern slopestyle scoring where momentum and link-up difficulty matter. On jumps, he’s known for precise takeoff timing and full-value grabs that stabilize rotations. You’ll often see him set rotations early and stay stacked in the air, enabling crisp axis control on doubles and triples and giving him options to alter grab sequences mid-spin.

What to watch in a run: ABM’s ability to vary spin direction and stance while keeping a consistent line speed. He can open rails with a high-difficulty lock-in, carry that speed to a left-spinning jump with a deep grab, then change direction for a switch takeoff on the next hit. The effect is a run that looks smooth to casual viewers but reveals dense technical content to experienced eyes. It’s the same economy you see in his street work—precise approaches, stable body position on impact, and clean outruns that don’t need dramatic recoveries to hold your attention.

Resilience, filming, and influence

ABM’s career includes significant injuries—collarbone, knee—that could have derailed momentum. Instead, those setbacks became inflection points. The comeback culminated in his Olympic bronze and the medal-laden 2019 campaign, but the long-term impact is broader: he demonstrated that a rail-forward technician could thrive in the biggest-air era by leaning into fundamentals and incremental difficulty gains rather than one-off risk. That template has influenced younger riders who prioritize repeatability and line design.

Filming has always been part of ABM’s identity. His Real Ski bronze established his credentials in the all-urban format. Later projects, including the short film “Mirage,” showcase a mature approach to concept and terrain selection, shifting seamlessly from park to natural features while keeping the same commitment to control and trick shape. For brands and fans alike, this duality—contest readiness paired with art-forward filming—makes ABM one of the sport’s most watchable athletes year-round.

Geography that built the toolkit

Quebec City winters shaped ABM’s toolset. Long, cold seasons and consistent snowfall give urban spots staying power, and the local lifts serve up the repetitions that turn rail ideas into habits. Laps at Le Relais and sessions at Stoneham honed timing on smaller, quicker features where approach and exit angles are unforgiving. That background helps explain his composure on World Cup-scale rails and why his street segments feel both ambitious and controlled.

On the contest circuit, Aspen Snowmass offered the clearest mirror for his best form, while Breckenridge remains synonymous with progression blocks where he added jump variety without sacrificing landing shape. The World Championship stage at Park City validated his big-air credentials in a setting known for meticulous jumps and high elevation, a combination that spotlights takeoff discipline and mid-air stability—two of ABM’s strengths.

Equipment and partners: practical takeaways

ABM rides Völkl skis with Marker bindings and wears Orage outerwear and Auclair gloves. The through-line across that kit is dependable platform feel and durability for both park laps and urban impacts. For progressing skiers using ABM as a model, the practical notes are straightforward: choose a park-capable ski with a balanced flex that allows proper presses on rails but won’t fold on large takeoffs; pair it with bindings that deliver elastic travel and predictable release; and invest in outerwear and gloves that keep mobility high across sub-zero sessions common to Quebec winters and late-night street shoots.

ABM’s gear choices support his style rather than define it. Even in the era of triple-cork arms races, his runs stand out because grabs are held, spin directions alternate, and landings are purposefully centered. Equipment is there to enable those habits; the technique makes them count.

Why fans and progressing skiers care

ABM matters because he shows what modern freeski completeness looks like: an Olympic medalist who can still film an urban segment worth replaying; a five-time X Games medalist whose best traits are accessible to learn from; a technician who treats rails as the backbone of a run and jumps as the canvas for clean, directionally varied tricks. If you’re watching slopestyle and big air to spot runs that age well on rewatch, ABM’s are a safe bet. If you’re a skier refining your own park game, study his line speed, his early grab timing, and how he exits rails with the next feature already in mind. That is the blueprint that took him from Quebec parks and streets to podiums at Aspen, Park City, and PyeongChang, and it’s why his skiing continues to resonate well beyond the scoreboard.

Profile and significance

Noah Albaladejo is an Andorran freeski original whose style-first approach helped define what modern park and urban skiing looks like. He broke out in the mid-2010s with a blend of rail confidence and buttery jump control that translated as clearly in rider-judged jams as it did in polished film parts. In 2015 he won the B&E Invitational at Les Arcs and was voted European Skier of the Year by Downdays readers, a one-two that confirmed his influence beyond any single contest. Since then he has remained a reference for park flow and street precision while representing athlete-driven brands and destinations including Armada Skis, Monster Energy, Look Bindings, Harlaut Apparel, and his home resort, Grandvalira. Albaladejo’s significance lies in the way his skiing reads on camera and under lights: patient approaches, grabs that lock early, presses that hold long enough to be unmistakable, and exits that keep speed for whatever comes next.

Competitive arc and key venues

Albaladejo’s path favors rider-curated formats and film over traditional ranking sheets. His win at the B&E Invitational in 2015—taking both “Overall” and “Best Trick” on the skate-inspired setup at Les Arcs—cemented him as a peers’ pick. In 2020 he was invited to X Games Real Ski, the all-urban video contest that showcases street craft and spot choice on global broadcast. More recently, he headlined SLVSH Cup Andorra at Grandvalira, advancing to the 2024 final in front of a local crowd that knows his skiing best. Between those touchpoints he has kept a steady presence at culture-defining sessions like Kimbosessions, where the emphasis is on how well you read a park and invent lines in the moment.

The venues tied to his name explain his skiing as well as any result column. Sunset Park Peretol by Henrik Harlaut is the evening laboratory where he and friends link feature-dense laps under floodlights. The El Tarter Snowpark adds long, rhythmic lines that reward speed control and endurance. When events or shoots call, he exports the same movement vocabulary to bigger or different builds—from the sculpted parks of the Alps to the urban textures of Andorra and beyond.

How they ski: what to watch for

Albaladejo skis with economy and definition. On rails he favors locked positions—backslides and presses held just long enough to read—then exits with square shoulders so momentum carries cleanly into the next hit. Change-ups are quiet and centered, with minimal arm swing; the base stays flat through kinks because edge pressure is set early, not rescued late. On jumps and side hits, the trademark is patience into the lip and grabs established before 180 degrees, which lets tweaks breathe without throwing the body off axis. Even when the trick is complex, the approach looks calm and neutral—tall posture, hips over feet, ankles soft on impact—so the landing reads inevitable rather than survived.

Resilience, filming, and influence

Film seasons have always been part of Albaladejo’s story. He stacked memorable parts with crews and close collaborators, including projects with Henrik Harlaut—work that traveled widely and influenced how riders think about line choice, feature prep, and the value of style that ages well. The Real Ski invite in 2020 recognized that film pedigree on a broadcast stage; his SLVSH Cup runs showed the same precision translated to a live, call-and-respond format where peers set the tricks. Through it all he has remained a constant in Andorra’s scene, helping turn Grandvalira’s after-dark parks into a meeting point for European freeskiing and a proving ground for riders who want their skiing to stand up to slow-motion replays.

Geography that built the toolkit

Andorra’s terrain, weather windows, and night-skiing culture shaped Albaladejo’s habits. Peretol’s Sunset Park delivers laps on demand when the lights switch on—perfect for repetition, quick resets, and filming without the daytime rush. The long lines at El Tarter Snowpark enforce rhythm and speed control; a small mistake at the top can ripple through an entire run, which is why his clips look so composed. When travel calls, he brings that toolkit to places like Les Arcs, where the B&E park’s creative modules rewarded skiers who could hold presses and invent new approaches mid-line. Each location left a fingerprint: Andorra for evening repetition and rail craft; El Tarter for flow at speed; alpine builds for timing and wind reads.

Equipment and partners: practical takeaways

Albaladejo’s gear choices reflect his priorities. With Armada he favors playful, press-friendly park platforms that still feel predictable at takeoff; with Look Bindings he pairs a confidence-inspiring release feel to long rail sessions; Harlaut Apparel signals the rider-run aesthetic that surrounds his projects; and Monster Energy has backed his film-first calendar for years. For skiers who want to borrow his feel, the setup lessons are straightforward: detune contact points to reduce rail bite, choose a mount close enough to center to keep landings neutral, and aim for a medium flex you can bend without folding. Equally important is the training loop his venues enable—film laps, review shoulder alignment and hip-to-ankle stack, then repeat under consistent lighting until the movements become automatic.

Why fans and progressing skiers care

Fans care about Noah Albaladejo because his skiing is both distinctive and teachable. The clips are replayable for the same reason coaches love showing them: tall, calm approaches; early grab definition; square-shoulder exits; and a flow that turns a park into a single, connected sentence. For developing riders, his blueprint proves you don’t need the biggest jumps to progress—you need deliberate reps, a clear plan for each feature, and the patience to let technique do the work. Whether the backdrop is a nighttime lap at Peretol, a long line through El Tarter, or a film trip to a classic alpine park, the read is the same: precise, stylish freeskiing that rewards attention to detail.

Profile and significance

Vincent Gagnier—known across freeskiing as “Vinny Cash”—is a Canadian style authority and trick innovator from Victoriaville, Québec. A Big Air Olympic cycle never defined him; X Games and rider-driven projects did. His signature moment came at Aspen in January 2015, when he won Ski Big Air under the lights at Buttermilk/Aspen Snowmass, outscoring Bobby Brown and Elias Ambühl with spin-and-grab combinations that favored originality over brute rotation. The gold followed his 2014 X Games silver in the same event and set up a streak of marquee wins, including the men’s ski title at the Polartec Big Air at Fenway Park in 2016—an FIS World Cup stop staged on a 140–150-foot scaffold jump in downtown Boston. Beyond medals, Gagnier is the rare rider whose movement language (creative off-axis spins, late bringbacks, and unusual grab families like venom/genie variations) reshaped what park and big-air style could look like on camera and in person.

His significance extends from podiums to culture. He helped bridge the Quebec street/park sensibility with broadcast-stage events, and he carried that same grammar to peer-judged formats like SLVSH and to rider-led gatherings such as the B&E Invitational at Les Arcs. In an era that often rewards sheer spin count, Gagnier made a career of showing that novel axes, perfectly timed grabs, and controlled landings can win big while aging gracefully in slow motion.

Competitive arc and key venues

Gagnier’s arc reads like a case study in resilience and taste. In April 2014 he shattered a thoracic vertebra while filming—a T5 injury that required surgery—then returned eight months later to win X Games Big Air at Aspen. The next season he doubled down on scaffolding venues and stadium shows, taking the Polartec Big Air at Fenway Park in February 2016 and adding top results at invitational big-air stops including Frostgun in Val d’Isère. Along the way he kept entering rider-curated formats: SLVSH games at Sierra-at-Tahoe (2020) and under the lights at Grandvalira’s Sunset Park Peretol (2019 and 2023) showcased his technical imagination without a start gate.

Place matters to how his skiing reads. Aspen’s broadcast-tight schedules and perfectly shaped booter at Buttermilk reward tricks that breathe on camera. Fenway’s one-hit World Cup ramp magnified decision-making: honest speed, precise pop, and mid-air organization visible from center field. Les Arcs’ skate-park-inspired B&E courses prized flow and transition literacy over single-feature heroics. Back home, laps at Mont-Sainte-Anne and night sessions around the Laurentians kept his rail timing and jump cadence sharp between tours. Thread those venues together and the through-line is obvious—clarity that survives environment changes.

How they ski: what to watch for

Gagnier skis with economy and definition—the two traits that make high-level freeskiing readable. Into a takeoff he stays tall and neutral, sets rotation late, then establishes the grab before 180 degrees so the axis is honest. When he layers complex grab combinations—think venom/“genie” families or seatbelt-style crosses—he does it without sacrificing flight path or landing stack. Bringbacks (arresting rotation to “come back” on a previous axis) work because edge pressure and body alignment are organized early; the skis release cleanly, then re-engage on command instead of via a save. Landings look inevitable—hips over feet, ankles soft—so the clip reads like one sentence instead of a string of recoveries.

On rails and transition features, the signatures are square, unhurried entries; presses held long enough to be unmistakable; minimal arm swing on swaps; and exits with the shoulders aligned so momentum carries to the next hit. The common checkpoints—calm entry, patient pop, early grab definition, stacked landing—make his footage unusually instructive for coaches and progressing riders.

Resilience, filming, and influence

Film seasons and rider-run projects kept Gagnier’s influence compounding long after the medal run. He contributed to SLVSH’s movie cuts and game weeks, where peers judge every detail, and he appeared in community-facing premieres from Montréal to the Alps that put creative mechanics in front of young park skiers. After his 2014 back injury and later knee setbacks, the comeback chapters emphasized method over magnitude—proof that timing and organization beat gymnastic force over a full career. That ethos carried into brand projects as well: recent seasons have seen him release short-form edits and collaborate on limited skis that foreground his movement ideas rather than just his résumé.

In Québec, he also shows up as a culture carrier—podcasts, festival juries, and shop/community shoots—translating style concepts (why a grab is defined early, why a landing stance matters) into language skiers can apply on weeknight laps. The result is influence you can measure: riders copy the checkpoints and find their clips improving, even on modest features.

Geography that built the toolkit

Gagnier’s toolkit is geographic. Early and ongoing laps at Mont-Sainte-Anne supply repetition and night-park cadence—perfect for drilling patient pop and clean exits. The X Games stage at Aspen Snowmass tests the same habits at broadcast pace on a world-class booter. Stadium scaffolds like Fenway Park punish any mid-air indecision and reward tricks that present clearly from a single hit. In Europe, Val d’Isère big-air scaffolds and the creative lines at Les Arcs forced transition reads and line-building that go beyond a straight jump. And in Andorra, Sunset Park Peretol adds floodlit pressure and fast resets, exposing sloppy organization immediately. Those places created the fingerprints visible in every part and podium: honest speed, early definition, and landings that set up the next move.

Equipment and partners: practical takeaways

In recent seasons Gagnier has been supported by J Skis, Blenders Eyewear, and Québec’s Axis Boutique; earlier in his career he rode with brands like Salomon and O’Neill. For skiers trying to borrow the feel, the hardware lesson is principle-based. Choose a true park twin with a balanced, medium flex you can press without folding and that remains predictable on larger lips. Detune contact points just enough to reduce rail bite while preserving trustworthy grip for takeoffs. Keep the mount close to center so switch landings feel neutral and presses sit level, and avoid binding ramp angles that tip you into the backseat. More important than any product spec is the process visible in his edits: film your laps, check shoulder alignment and hip-to-ankle stack, and repeat until patient pop, early grab definition, and square-shoulder exits are automatic.

Why fans and progressing skiers care

Fans care about Vincent Gagnier because he proved, on the sport’s biggest stages, that creativity and clarity can beat raw spin count—then he spent the next decade turning those choices into a teachable language. Progressing riders care because the same decisions scale to realistic parks and scaffolds alike: stay tall into the lip, set late, define the grab early, and land stacked so speed survives into the next feature. Whether the backdrop is a World Cup jump inside Fenway Park, X Games night at Buttermilk, a creative line at Les Arcs, or laps at Mont-Sainte-Anne, his blueprint shows how freeskiing can be both progressive and legible—clips that hold up at half speed today and still look right in ten years.