For decades, women in freeskiing have had to fight, quietly and loudly, for room to exist. Not just to compete, but to be taken seriously. From the late Sarah Burke breaking barriers and forcing the door open for women at the X Games, to today’s generation who no longer ask for permission, the shift has been seismic.
Dropping into the second instalment of the women’s freeride day.
Aurelie Morrison Gonin
Stories
For women, by women
Peak Performance: Mountain House Live
Now, we’re watching Peak Performance rider Justine Dufour-Lapointe take the top spot at the 2025 Freeride World Tour, currently holding the hot seat heading into 2026. We’ve seen Anni Karava redefine female style across competition formats and beyond the contest tape, inspire a new wave of women who are eyeing street spots not as obstacles, but as playgrounds, spaces to bend, reinterpret, and express skiing on their own terms.
So when Peak Performance decided it was time to put the spotlight firmly back on the women shaping the culture, it felt less like a marketing moment and more like a statement.
Created by women, for women.
Hai Yenn
Their first-ever women’s edition of Mountain House Live brought together some of the most influential leaders in women’s ski communities from the UK, Europe, and North America, uniting riders, creatives, and changemakers for a week rooted in shared experience, collaboration, and conversations that actually mattered.
The Mountain House concept itself isn’t new. Founded in Åre in 1986, Peak Performance has long used it as a space for connection within mountain culture. But this year’s edition hit different. Hosted in Val Thorens, this instalment of Mountain House Live was produced entirely by women, for women, every detail shaped through a female lens, from the energy in the room to the stories being told.
So what did that actually look like? Dropping into the second instalment of the women’s freeride day. The first edition ran in Val Thorens in 2025, drawing fifty women over two days. This year, the appetite was louder. Sixty women. One day. No easing into it.
Kicking off the day with a riders’ briefing that buzzed with a familiar, unmistakable energy. Nervous laughter, sharp focus, boots tapping on wooden floors. Working closely with their partners at Maison Sport, the Peak Performance team carefully curated a roster of highly experienced female guides. Including Val Thorens local Amélie Simond, former Freeride World Tour competitor and X-Games skiercross athlete, someone whose calm presence instantly dialled down any lingering nerves.
Val Thorens served up what might already rank as one of the standout powder days of the 25/26 winter. With careful consideration of snowpack, wind loading, group dynamics, nothing was left to chance. There was never any question that the girls were in safe hands.
Amelie read the terrain, just as a surfer reads waves. Each face, each line, carrying its own character, its own risks, its own rewards. It wasn’t just guiding; it was education, passed on in real time, in real terrain. Unlocking some of the most forgiving overhead powder turns we could have asked for.
Val Thorens served up one of the best days of the season for the guided freeride session—fresh light snow and blue skies.
Hai Yenn
Refuelled on an unapologetically indulgent mountain lunch, croziflette, followed by blueberry tart. Skis and ski boots were traded for metaphorical notebooks and a dose of curiosity.
The afternoon opened with an educational session from Recco, breaking down how their technology functions in real-world search-and-rescue scenarios. No fluff, no scare tactics, just clear, practical insight into how the system works when things go wrong, and why it matters when seconds count.
That theory was quickly put into practice with a hands-on avalanche safety session that felt refreshingly grounded. Step by step, we worked through what to do in an avalanche emergency, from initial response to the correct use of transceivers, probes, and shovels. It wasn’t about turning everyone into a certified guide overnight. And it didn’t try to be.
Learning how to stay safe from the experts. The whole week was built around the sharing of knowledge and experience, whether practically on snow or back at the mountain house where conversations turned into ideas, and ideas into stronger, more connected communities.
Hai Yenn
Instilling enough knowledge to start asking the right questions. Enough familiarity to react instead of freeze. Enough awareness to look out for the people you ski with, whether that’s in the slackcountry or well within resort boundaries. Because taking up space in the mountains also means taking responsibility for how you do that.
Retreating to the chalet as the light faded, bodies spent and minds buzzing. The kind of tiredness that only comes from a full day of riding. Sinking into sofas, stories were swapped, replaying lines, laughing at wipeouts, a true post powder day debrief.
The chalet became a space to connect beyond skiing. To talk about where everyone came from, what pulled them into snowsports in the first place, and the wildly different routes that somehow led them all to the same room, at the same time, under the Peak Performance banner.
It also became a place where harder conversations could exist comfortably. Discussions moved easily between race, LGBTQ+ inclusion, fashion and style, mountain safety, and the pathways into the snowsports industry as an athlete. Ideas were shared freely, community programs, creative solutions, ways to do better, without hierarchy, without judgment. Just women listening, responding, and building something together.
Day two shifted the focus to the park with a progression session led by Peak Performance athlete Annabell Santerre. The weather, however, had other ideas, leaving us holed up in the park shapers’ hut, debating whether this was the moment to call it. It wasn’t.
Fuelled by a BBQ and sheer stubborn optimism, the afternoon unfolded anyway—and it delivered. Few things are better than watching women slide their first box, commit to their first rail, and come away buzzing, proof that progression doesn’t need perfect conditions, just the right people.
Hai Yenn
The park day was coached by rail technicians Annabelle Santerre and Sissy Herant.
Hai Yenn
The verdict was unanimous. Not a single face without a grin. Exhausted. Elated. The week wrapped with a farewell and many new connections and promises to collaborate. For a little more insight into the week, check out St22t Podcast hosted by Annabelle Santerre, discussing filmmaking, FWT and the future of freeride with Alicia Cenci, hosted in the Mountain House lounge.
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