“SKIING HELPS ME TO APPRECIATE WILD PLACES AND WILDLIFE, AND REMINDS ME THAT THIS WORLD IS WORTH PROTECTING AND “It’s cold in Golden, BC. Fuel accordingly.” Photo: Andrew Chad FIGHTING FOR.” —MOLLY ARMANINO AWAY FROM THE TOUR , Armanino still holds down her full-time Exline job. While her employer is flexible about time off during competition, post-FWT this year saw her in Norway, skipping après to take meetings and calls in quiet corners of lodges. She’d often work until midnight local time and be ready to hit the skintrack again at 6 or 7 a.m. In places like the Andes, remote work means rising in the very early mornings to check off tasks, but it doesn’t faze her. Being solely a full-time skier doesn’t appeal to Armanino. She wants to be part of positive change, and really sees that as something that’s intertwined with skiing. “I always knew I wanted to dedicate my time and en-ergy into companies that I believe would help this world, but I never did anything directly,” she says. “My whole life I’ve had anxiety about the environment and I was constantly in despair about the amount of trash, plastic, poaching, climate change and how much so many species are suffering.” Armanino created a movie, amend ., in 2021 with her brother Sam Armanino, combining ski footage with sobering imagery of the destruction of the landscape and impacts to wildlife during the Sierra Nevada’s destructive Caldor wildfire. After the Caldor Fire, she began paying attention to local politics and policies, attending meetings and making comments, while encouraging other residents and voters to take collective action. The community was able to apply enough pressure to force city leaders to sign onto the United Nation’s 24/7 Carbon-Free Energy Com-pact, a renewable energy micro-grid, a move that could shape the region for generations—and set an example for other towns. During the last year, she’s made her environmental passion even more official, leading a new nonprofit focused on climate change advocacy, education and public engage-ment called the Tahoe Climate Change Action Network (TCCAN). During the 2023 Freeride World Tour, her boss gave her time off from both Exline and TCCAN, but for most of the year, her balancing act is full on—professional skier, planner and advocate for Tahoe’s environment and wildlife. Armanino wouldn’t have it any other way. “The skills and bravery Molly has in the mountains and her ability to go full send translates well into activism,” says Gleich, a professional skier who has parlayed her high athletic profile into an environmental advocacy platform. Gleich’s work has directly inspired Armanino. Now that admiration is mutual. “It also takes bravery and gumption to advocate for changes in policy,” Gleich says. “Molly is perfect to lead the next wave of this movement.” For Armanino, her two worlds are inseparable. Although she is pursuing another season on the FWT, she’s also in-creasingly determined to move toward film, chasing down dream lines, and continuing to push women’s skiing, and her own limits forward. At the same time, she’ll use her increasing profile, audience and new film opportunities to keep promoting awareness of our environmental impacts, of personal and institutional responsibility, and to fight for a better future. “Sometimes it’s hard to grapple with the fact that skiing is a selfish endeavor, both as a person and an environmen-talist,” she says. “But skiing helps me to appreciate wild places and wildlife, and reminds me that this world is worth protecting and fighting for.” 082 The Ski Journal
The Ski Journal Volume 17, Issue 1: Page 82
