From landing her first sponsorship at age 8, the trajectory of snowboarder Elena Hight’s career has been a steady upward curve – taking her to the US Snowboard team from the precocious age of 14 into the maelstrom of professional half-pipe competition for the next 16 years. Her talent took her all around the world, to two Olympics games, and the top spot of the X Games and the US Open. Through it, she developed self-care practices including meditation and breathwork, that helped her find moments of peace in a hectic schedule where very little is in your control. These practices, as well as the attributes that made Hight such a progressive athlete, flavoured her post-competition emergence as a big mountain rider, a journey she documented in the 2020 Teton Gravity Research film Blank Canvas. Hight believes that curiosity, not competition, is the driving force that fuels the world of winter sports, and that it’s important always to seek ways to open space – space to grow personally, and space to grow the sport and opportunities for others, especially women. Her willingness to try something new, even if that meant publicly exposing herself as a rookie for the first time since childhood – resulted in the start of an apprenticeship as a big mountain rider, as well as Blank Canvas, which she shared with the hope it will “inspire people to get out of their comfort zone and pursue the dreams that often are quite scary and that mean leaving behind what you know.” Hight’s lifelong connection with the natural world, planted during her infancy in Kauai and childhood in Lake Tahoe, has deepened into a profound sense of gratitude and a fierce desire to protect the Earth.

Achievements

• Co-producer and star of film Blank Canvas
• Two-time Olympian for snowboard halfpipe in 2006 and 2010
• X Games Gold Medalist
• Seven-time X Games Medalist
• Burton US Open Champion
• First female to land a frontside 900 in competition at 13 years old
• First snowboarder to land a double backside alley-oop rodeo in a halfpipe contest at the 2013 Winter X Games
• Featured in the 2013 ESPN Magazine Body Issue
• Oxygen Magazine’s February 2014 Cover Girl
• Included in the all womens feature film Full Moon
• First Women to pursue a wholly human powered project with snowboarding Icon Jeremy Jones
• Experience Magazine’s November 2018 Cover Girl
• Explored alongside Jeremy Jones for feature film Ode To Muir
• First female to ride the infamous Tahoe Grizzly Spine