All Images: Sophie Danison | Skier: Hadley Hammer

Hadley Hammer has been a professional skier for 13 years. She’s been a mainstay in films from Teton Gravity Research, proudly carried the torch for LINE Skis, The North Face and Smith Optics, competed on the Freeride World Tour and set an example for skiers everywhere for what it means to ride with your own compass. Her path has taken her from her home in Jackson, Wyoming to the summits of Europe, to the pow fields of Japan and far beyond.

Throughout her career she’s endured triumphs and tribulations, even losing her partner, David Lama, to an avalanche in 2019. But through it all, Hammer has continued to define big mountain skiing for a generation of passionate riders, each seeking to emulate her untouchable style.

To move through the mountains with style means many things to different people. There are those who define style by the kit you’re wearing or perhaps by a clean turn or a cork seven. And while none of those are objectively wrong, the essence of style goes far beyond these trivial details. Style, as demonstrated by Hammer throughout her career, is never about what you are doing, it’s about the way in which you do it. Style is making the impossible look impossibly easy, and doing so with a calm confidence that cares only for the action and not for the outcome.

Hammer recently announced that she would be stepping away from her career in performance skiing, now using her trusted planks, “to become tools for storytelling instead of performance.” We get one final taste of Hammer’s iconic perfectionism in her latest film, a collaboration with Sophie Danison fittingly titled, “Fortune.” The project is a brief ode to skiing, and to the fortune brought by the mountains. With an incredible blend of surrealism, poetry and stunning camera work, the duo have created a top tier piece of cinema that speaks volumes without saying too much.

While Hammer’s path is changing course, her new fortune remains to be seen. But no matter where she lands, we’re sure it will be done with the same indelible style, and we can’t wait to watch it all unfold.

Catch Hadley Hammer as a commentator this year on the Freeride World Tour

From YouTube:

In order to see your fortune, sometimes you just need to look closer.

A reflection of 13 years of professional skiing, as I now look to my skis to become tools for storytelling instead of performance.

Filmed and Edited by Sophie Danison.

Written and skied by Hadley Hammer.