With the canyon gap measuring 19,4 metres (63,6 feet), Emil Granbom knew he’d need a lot of speed to make it over. That’s because near the landing, inside the gap, were big rocks—with enormous consequences.
It was a stunning feature just above the tree line, deep in the backcountry on Mount Åreskutan in Sweden’s Jämtland county. After weeks of heavy snowfall, the entire mountain was blanketed, so even though it was only early November, features that would typically be bare were suddenly skiable. On the other side of the vast, cone-shaped mountain near the Norwegian border was Åre, Sweden’s most popular resort.
Granbom buckled his ski boots one last time and adjusted his goggles. Filmer Marcus Ahlström and photographer Jens Nilsson were ready to capture the action, and after several test jumps, Granbom was now planning to throw some tricks over the gap. But there was no room for failure: if he came up short, he’d hit the rocks inside the gap, fly too far, and he’d land dead flat.
To call Granbom a progressive skier would be an understatement. At 26, the humble Swede is known as one of the most innovative and technical skiers globally. After six years on the Swedish national freestyle team, competing in World Cup events, inventing new tricks, and skiing year-round to keep up with the sport’s ultra-fast progression, Granbom retired from the big air and slopestyle competition circuit a few years ago.
Like many of his peers, Granbom had become bored of the comp scene and was inspired to explore the mountains. He also wanted to give his body a break. “Freestyle skiing, on the level I skied, is extremely tough on the body. I was lucky and didn’t get hurt much, but many friends from that era weren’t as lucky. Skiing in powder is more forgiving, and the landings are much softer,” he says.
The strict environment also started to wear on him. Though he’d had a good run on the team, being unable to make his own decisions had left him feeling incomplete and wanting to experience something new.
“I’m glad I decided to give it a go,” says Granbom of his subsequent move from terrain parks into the mountains, where he could combine freestyle skills with powder skiing in natural terrain. “I aim to become a more overall skier, reading the whole mountain and challenging myself to ski lines and do tricks off natural features.”
Granbom grew up in Falun, a small town a few hours northwest of the Swedish capital, Stockholm, and got into skiing at a young age. With one T-bar, a few 30-second runs, and a hundred metres or so of vertical drop, Källviksbacken is a typical Swedish city ski area—a perfect stomping ground for the young Swede.
Emil Granbom
Granbom proved talented and did well in competitions he entered as a kid. Leading into high school, Granbom was accepted into the Malung Freeski Academy, one of Sweden’s premiere ski academies, just a few hours from his home. He packed his bags and entered a four-year program focused on competition and progression. It was a game-changer for the 15-year-old.
“It was an important time and essential for my progression as a skier,” he notes. “But I also had to take responsibility for cooking food, washing my clothes, and dealing with all kinds of things you must do when your safety net of parents isn’t within arm’s reach.”
After years of hard work at the academy and many competitions in Scandinavia and Europe, Granbom became a staple on the national freestyle team, competing worldwide in big air and slopestyle, including at the 2016 Youth Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway, the World Cup, and the European Cup. “Being on the national team, it was natural to aim for the Olympics, and I was getting very close, but when I got rejected before the 2018 Games, it felt like I was swimming upstream,” says Granbom.
Though he continued, even after winning the European Cup overall in 2021, he felt he’d reached a standstill. “I needed something different to be inspired,” he says. “The national team was so much about individual achievement, but I was tired of that mindset and wanted to work with a crew to accomplish more with my skiing. Growing up watching ski films, I naturally aimed towards that part of the industry.”
Granbom connected with the guys in The Bunch, an eclectic Swedish film collective, and they hit it off. Soon, he was skiing, travelling and filming with Magnus Granér, Pär Hägglund, Alex Hackel, and many more. Since then, he has been featured in several of their films, including the award-winning Sensus that dropped in the winter of 2023/2024. “It’s an absolute dream crew. The Bunch is like a unit creating a positive environment for everybody. Nobody is selfish; it’s welcoming, inspiring, and we all gas each other up,” says Granbom.
As a result, the past few seasons have seen Granbom focus on filming as much as possible. In addition to projects with The Bunch, he has spent much time with extraordinary filmmaker Jeff Thomas, who produces full-length ski films for Granbom’s ski sponsor, HEAD. This has taken him to dreamy locations like Japan, Canada, the Alps, northern Norway, and Turkey. “I feel so privileged to have the opportunity to explore my skiing in these places with amazing mentors,” says Granbom. “It’s precisely what I want to do to keep challenging myself.”
An even more significant step into the big mountains happened when Swedish skier and filmmaker Jacob Wester, who’d transitioned from park skiing to mountains years ago, invited him to join a film project in northern Norway last spring. “Joining Jacob and his crew was special. He was so generous and welcoming into his world. I have just got my feet wet regarding the big mountain lines, but it was an excellent learning opportunity,” he says.
It was Stellar Equipment’s athlete manager, David Kantermo, who’d come across the canyon gap while ski-touring on the backside of Mount Åreskutan. Typically, the spot was either too rocky or snowed in, but this season, it presented a perfect natural feature with the potential for a big jump. “It was way too big for me, but I realized it would be perfect for Emil. He got incredibly excited when I told him about it,” recalls Kantermo.
After a scouting mission, Granbom hit the gap a few days later. On the initial try, he barely made it over. Two days later, after the crew increased the size of the jump, Granbom had no problem making it over the gap—even if there were still issues to resolve.
“I needed so much speed to make it over that it was challenging to do technical tricks. And scary, too.” After a few more attempts, Granbom tried out some tricks. The flat landing made it difficult, but he gradually figured it out. First was a beautiful flat-spin Japan grab, followed by a huge front flip. Granbom was stoked… and relieved.
As a decade-long coach for the Norwegian national freestyle team and a former shaper at the legendary Jon Olsson Super Sessions, Kantermo has witnessed athletes perform many incredible stunts and tricks. Still, the gap he instigated here felt special.
David Kantermo
