Introducing Powder7’s first sponsored athlete: Owen Leeper.
Pro big-mountain skier Owen Leeper’s name and subsequent Instagram handle—@o_leeps—are almost too perfect. The 32-year-old Colorado native, now a Jackson, Wyoming local, has built an identity in the ski world on huge cliff drops and majestic flips. He’s also started a company, Bold Poles, and spent the last half-decade filming and editing his own media. He’s a consummate skier—summer just means a new chapter in his ski season.
Needless to say, we’re excited to have him. Stay tuned for insights, tips, and more jaw-dropping media from Owen over the course of the next year.
Leeper caught up with Powder7 before flying off to Alaska to talk Jackson, big airs, and being a self-made pro.
So you live in Jackson but learned to ski in Aspen?
Yeah, I grew up in Colorado and lived in Aspen until 3rd grade, so that’s where I learned to ski. After that we moved down to Ouray, so I skied Telluride for eight years. Then I moved back to Aspen for my senior year of high school.
What brought you to Jackson?
I went to school in Boulder for a couple years and then moved back to Aspen for a few. I was kind of just getting bored there and took a 3-month road trip and travelled all over through Utah, Wyoming, Montana, Oregon, Washington, Canada. The whole trip, the best time I had was in Jackson, so the next year I ended up getting a pass to Jackson and spent 6 weeks off and on just sleeping on my brother’s floor. He was living up here at the same time.
I had so much fun I decided to make the move permanent.
Was this a skiing-focused road trip? Were you by yourself or with buddies?
I was with a couple different buddies. I had just started Bold Poles, a custom ski pole company, so we were travelling around promoting that and then also seeing where I might want to live.
When did you transition into the pro skiing scene?
Growing up in Colorado, I was always doing some park and pipe and I did some competing, like slopestyle and halfpipe. But then as the spring would come around, we started skiing bigger lines. I started doing a lot more big mountain and backcountry. That was one of the big reasons I moved up to Wyoming. It gets more snow, and it’s a bit safer snowpack-wise. So I moved up here. Jackson doesn’t really have a terrain park, so that’s when it transferred to full-time big mountain skiing.
Turning the whole mountain into your terrain park…
Yep, pretty much.
What dictates how you spend your time? Do you get to pick where and what you ski, or are you filling needs for your audience and sponsors?
One of the great things about how I do it—I basically take my own photos and shoot my own video—is that I can decide when and where I want to go depending on the snow conditions. Most of the time I spend just out here in Jackson, skiing off the resort. It has some of the best in-bounds terrain along with awesome side-country.
That’s sort of a new approach for a pro skier, leveraging all your own media rather than having someone else do it.
Yeah, I mean when I first moved up here, I just enjoyed making videos and would take out my GoPro, and that’s kind of how the whole thing started. Then sponsors started noticing how many views my videos were getting and the kind of content I could put out. That kick-started my career, that first winter up here in Jackson.
So you edit your own videos?
I do all my own editing and most of it is shot on GoPro, so it’s easy to film myself.
Are you looking to keep it that way for a while? What are you working toward in your media and your skiing?
A lot of the media now is trip-related, with a shorter time frame. When (I shoot with a sponsor like Icelantic), there’s a whole film crew, so I get to just show up and ski. That’s definitely the preferable route, because then I don’t have to do any of the work. I just get to have the fun part. In order to keep it going all year, I still enjoy just going out on my own with friends and filming it myself.
Did you go to Jackson with a crew, or did you start solo and meet people?
That first winter, I mostly just skied by myself, hitting all the cliffs and terrain that’s all lift-accessed. It wasn’t until midway through the winter that I started making more friends and having them show me new spots to go and explore in new areas.
How do you see your role as a pro skier? Do you feel any responsibility?
I think since I do a lot of my own content, my role is all about inspiration. Throwing a GoPro on and just skiing Jackson Hole, you have all these new kids who are up and coming, getting better, and wanting to try new things. I think it’s about having a good relationship between me and my sponsors and inspiring the younger crowd to get into the big mountain skiing.
Do you see yourself staying in Jackson for a while?
I can’t think of somewhere else I’d rather live right now. Maybe Europe or Canada at some point, but I think I’ll probably have a place in Jackson for a long time.
What’s your favorite terrain and style of skiing?
I like going fast. Big airs is my favorite if I have to pick.
What’s your favorite ski movie?
That’s a tough one. I’d have to say all the way back to (Matchstick Productions’ 2004 film) Yearbook. That was one of the first ones I owned and watched on my own.
What do you do when you’re not skiing?
Um. It hasn’t come up yet.
What are you lining up for the summer?
I usually ski up here until mid-July. Last year we skied until August 17. Pretty much after the lifts close here, we just start hiking and skiing up in the park and then a lot of road trips around to find more couloirs and big peaks to ski. In the summer, we also go hike and climb around in the Tetons and mountain bike a little bit too.
Have you skied the southern hemisphere?
Yeah, I’ve been down to Chile for two years and then I’ve been down to Argentina. And that’s the plan for this summer, to go to Las Lenas again in September.
Favorite run at Jackson?
Casper Bowl is probably my favorite in-bounds area.
What’s your favorite drop or feature?
Definitely the S&S Wallride. It’s basically this 40-ft rock wall that drops into this couloir in-bounds next to Corbet’s Couloir. It only gets enough snow to stick on the wall a couple times a year. It’s a hard one to catch. You start at the top and ski down the wall into the couloir.
And the ultimate question: What’s your favorite retro trick?
Probably the daffy. It’s hard to beat that one.
Check out another Powder7 Interview with a Badass: Lynsey Dyer.
