When we caught up with 34-year-old聽Ian McIntosh, or聽Mac for short, he was drinking coffee in his Vancouver kitchen, getting ready to head to .
The big mountain skier will be stationed there through February for his day job: carving impossible, throat-clenching lines for the followup to last year鈥檚 award winning ski film . McIntosh, who weights聽185 pounds and is 6鈥�2鈥�,聽uses his strength to commit to routes that are beautiful鈥攁nd scary鈥攖o watch. But it鈥檚 this recklessness that has recently booked him in commercials for Alfa Romeo and and earned him work as the .
Asked about his personal ski style, he shrugs. 鈥淭urning is something I do when I need to.鈥�
Favorite Destination: Whistler, British Columbia
鈥� has two of the biggest resorts in North America put together, a ton of snow, and girls. I have to say that so few ski towns have a lot of girls in them, and let me explain: University towns are packed with women. Ski towns not so much. Ski towns are usually full of the type of guys who are a little less responsible, more willing to fly by the seat of their pants. Hey, my first season, I skied all day, slept in a closet for $200 per month, and ate 99-cent loaves of bread with peanut butter. But Whistler鈥檚 basically a university town with world-class skiing. It skews the ratio a little more favorably. 鈥�
Favorite Gear: Marker Kingpin
鈥淚鈥檓 progressing with my skiing, climbing more and more lines rather than getting dropped off by helicopter. As far as my gear, the newest toy that allows me to do that is the . Marker鈥檚 merged a traditional alpine touring binding with a lightweight pintech binding. You still have the performance of that traditional binding but save a bunch of weight. It鈥檚 crucial for the way I ski, and makes a huge difference to save even a couple hundred grams when walking that much in the mountains.鈥�