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Outside Magazine, November 2005

The Hot List: 2006 Ski & Snowboard Report
Rising Star
Dana Flahr: Freeskier

By Grayson Schaffer


Intro | Andrew Newell: Nordic Skier | Aspen Highlands' Newest Rush | Kristi Leskinen: Freestyle Skier | Dana Flahr: Freeskier | New Ski Condos | Historic Lodges | Carrie Jo Chernoff: Sexiest Sponsorship | Moonlight Basin, MT: The Sweetest Steeps | The Latest Skis | The Latest Snowboards | The Best Ski-Town Gigs | Stoweflake Mountain Resort and Spa | Echo Mountain, CO: The Newest Trickster Terrain | The Best Slopeside Coffee | Cool Statistics | Après-Ski Bars

Dana Flahr
Name: Dana Flahr
Home: Whistler, British Columbia
Gig: Freeskier
Height: 5'10"
Weight: 160
Age: 23
(photograph by Andrew Southam)

Flahr is the new stud in Teton Gravity Research's talent pen. In January 2005, the film company invited him down to HQ in Teton Village, Wyoming, for an informal tryout. Flahr didn't disappoint: He capped off a bold line down a rocky backcountry face by launching a misty 720 (two front, off-axis flips) off a 50-foot cliff. "We'd never seen anything like it," says TGR producer Josh Nielsen.

Seen Next: Hogging the spotlight in TGR's The Tangerine Dream as the film completes a 150-city tour across the U.S., Canada, Europe, and Japan through December. (For a preview go to www.outsideonline.com/tangerine.)

Out of the Igloo: Reared on the inland slopes of rural Kamloops, B.C., Flahr made a beeline for Whistler after graduating from high school in 1999, but he eschewed the town's legendary international party scene—his early-bird room-service job had him in bed by 10 p.m.—in favor of powder-day dawn patrols and extra hours in the terrain park. That discipline paid off: In 2003, he was crowned North America's overall freeskiing champion.

Fashion Flahr-Up: Last January, Flahr and his buddy Ryan Oakden, 26, the 2001 world freeskiing champ, crashed a Jackson Hole terrain-park event by running the course dressed head to toe in denim, with smoke bombs taped to their boots.

Deep Impact: In 2003, Flahr launched off a 40-foot cliff at Whistler and landed in the fresh snow like a human bunker buster, burying himself in his own crater. "I was held under for five minutes with just a small air pocket," he says. His friends dug him out shaken but unharmed.

Second Opinion: "A lot of up-and-comers only know how to hit jumps and do tricks," says Oakden. "And a lot of big-mountain guys can ski well but don't have any style. Dana can do it all."



Next Page: New Ski Condos

Intro | Andrew Newell: Nordic Skier | Aspen Highlands' Newest Rush | Kristi Leskinen: Freestyle Skier | Dana Flahr: Freeskier | New Ski Condos | Historic Lodges | Carrie Jo Chernoff: Sexiest Sponsorship | Moonlight Basin, MT: The Sweetest Steeps | The Latest Skis | The Latest Snowboards | The Best Ski-Town Gigs | Stoweflake Mountain Resort and Spa | Echo Mountain, CO: The Newest Trickster Terrain | The Best Slopeside Coffee | Cool Statistics | Après-Ski Bars

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