Emil Granbom is something of an anomaly in the modern-day ski scene. He's not very interested in the spotlight and he's certainly never wanted to be 'the best'. Yet, I don't think I've ever seen anyone land as many insane new tricks first try, or escape so many situations that looked like a hospital trip only to end up riding out clean with a smile on his face. He's one of the biggest talents of his generation, a prodigy. And yet he left the comp scene, and to some degree, the freeski scene in general, behind to pursue a quiet life living in a small town and skiing big, remote mountain ranges. I wanted to find out why.

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Hey Emil, what’s up? I know you dropped a big project earlier in the season, so talk to me about Childsplay. What does that movie mean to you? How did it come about?

It’s been a while since I’ve made a proper season edit, so I really wanted to collect footage from the past season and put a personal touch on it. I've been called ‘Child’ since my early skiing days.

And the idea of being ‘Child’ has formed me as a skier as well. I tried to get inspired by that. I wanted to portray the idea that if you listen to your inner child and let that guide you rather than planning and structuring everything, you can do anything. When it comes to creativity, to let that form your way of skiing, you need to let the child speak. So that’s why I wanted it to call it Childsplay.

It’s also about unlearning some of the things society imposes on us. It’s about having an open mindset on things. Kids aren’t afraid to try new stuff and see where it goes. That’s what I was doing a lot the past season, putting myself in new places and situations where I had to adapt.

I did the editing myself. That was super fun, it had been a long time since I edited something myself. I got a lot of help from the Stellar [Equipment] office, and Marcus Ahlstrom also helped me put the final touches on the Movie, and my good friend Hugo Burvall helped me with the sound design. Those guys really helped me elevate the whole thing with some final touches that made it so much more special. I’m super grateful to all my sponsors for helping me put this together as well.

https://www.newschoolers.com/videos/watch/1107724/--YouTube

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Why has it taken so long since the last time you put something like this together, or, I guess I mean, why now?

I’ve never felt like I’ve had this much good footage from a season, so I felt like it was the right time to bring it all together. And I guess I felt like too much of it was too good not to use it, and it doesn’t all make the movies.

I mean, a lot of the footage has been used, but I wanted to put everything together myself and for Childsplay to represent me the way I want to express myself. And maybe it can inspire other people too, not just skiers necessarily. But the idea of reintroducing child’s play is something that you can use in your daily life. Just let the child within all of us lead the way from time to time.

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You mentioned the support of your sponsors being a big factor, so who is supporting your skiing these days?

First of all, Head. I’ve been riding for them for so many years now, and I’m super grateful to them. It's been a journey from the very beginning on skinny twin tips to now moving into the big mountains. They’ve had my back, and I feel like they always listened to my opinion when it comes to developing skis. That relationship has just been growing. It’s a big thing for me to work with people I know and respect. They’ve taken me to some amazing places and have amazing people on board. It’s been so cool to work with Jeff Thomas, showing us his spots in Canada and making these amazing movies.

And then Ruroc has been huge. They are kind of a new brand in the freeski space, but they have been so good at listening to us when it comes to the freeski culture side of things. We got to develop a whole new helmet for freeskiing (The Lite), and they were so on point when it came to listening to athlete feedback. Obviously, being on the same team as Tanner Hall is super inspiring. He’s taught me so much with his experience in the backcountry and his long career. It’s a sick team with a really good group of people, and we’re going on a bunch of sick trips.

Stellar Equipment hook up my outerwear, and the stuff is insane. I never really knew how good clothes could make a difference before linking up with them. And the special thing with Stellar is that my team manager, David, rips, so we can go shredding together. I just signed with Deuter, a German backpack and outdoor brand. They developed a new avalanche backpack for us, which was super sick, and they have super nice outdoor stuff, like warm sleeping bags and tents, which are amazing for all the adventures I’m doing now. Oh, and Nocco! The Swedish energy drink. It definitely gets me boosted, and it’s way better for you than the normal energy drinks, with a bunch of amino acids and stuff to help recovery.

I feel super lucky to get all the support I get and to have such close relationships with those brands. It really feels like they are partnerships that support me wherever the journey takes me!

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Rewind a bit. You were/are crazy good at some of the biggest stunts on skis and one of the most intuitive skiers I’ve ever seen ski in person. I remember watching you just learning a shitload of new tricks at Kimbo SLVSH games with Hugo, landing so many new tricks first try... Why did you bail on the park/comp scene?

There's a lot of factors in that, but the biggest one is that after years of the comp circuit, the longing for something else was way bigger than rather than trying to keep up with the comp guys. It was really difficult even staying on the Swedish national team because everyone was so freaking good. So there was a lot of, like, competition within the group. And I'd rather be spending time freeriding with people who are uplifting and want the best for every individual in the group. I find that so much more inspiring and uplifting rather than having to force myself to add that extra rotation to keep up.

I'm not also just not that type of repetitive person when it comes to training. When I do a trick for the first time, that's the experience itself for me. So I'm not the guy who wants to do it over and over again because it loses the excitement. Ultimately, because of all of those factors, I was not the best comp skier. I did fine, but I didn’t have the drive, and I felt like the reward of becoming a better all-around skier was just bigger. It helped that I had the support of all my sponsors and the homies I ski with to take that step. And it has taken me to some of the most amazing spots in the world, places I never thought I would see.

Looking back on it now, given what motivates me, it was such an obvious step. I want to be part of a group where everyone feeds off each other, a group where I feel comfortable exploring creativity and not forcing anything. And now I get to look at the mountains with different perspectives and fresh eyes, and it's been really healthy for me in that way. After years on the World Cup scene, it can get kind of boring to travel from one spot to another just having two runs, and all the pressure is on that run. If you don't nail those runs, you go away feeling like a disappointment. And skiing is so much more than that, so it honestly feels like a relief.

Don’t get me wrong, either; I loved competing, but in the end, it felt stagnant. I need to feel like I have progression within me, as a skier, and there's so much more to learn in the mountains when it comes to reading terrain safely, etc.

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As you said, it’s also that skiing is more about the experience and the feeling more than the results on paper…

Yeah, and now when I do ski park, it's so nice to go out and do the same thing I was doing but not have someone there to judge or put a score on you. I feel like that's very… it's been very healthy to return to that, to only judge yourself. Not having to fit into a box and to tick off certain tricks to fit a model that gets a result. So even in the park, it brought some of the freedom back.

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Yeah, you seem to be a lot happier with the new status quo! So what about day-to-day life… Do you still live with Skimanguy?

I live in a place called Duved, near Åre. It's a little bit of a smaller town, and it’s nice to have a little bit of distance… for the quiet life. I'm actually not living with Skiman anymore, at least not in the same apartment *laughs*. We both met our girlfriends, and in that tiny apartment, it just became a bit much!

Magnus found a new spot a couple of minutes away, so we still spend a ton of time together when we’re back home. We try to go out on missions and explore new terrain and catch a sauna together. We go climbing a lot together too, so it's nice to have that good friend really close by and we hang out all the time.

We don’t get to ski so much at the moment, sadly, with the injury he has had, but he's on a good path, and I think he's gonna come back stronger after he gets that sorted, so watch out for the comeback!

We have a good thing in that we thrive on each other and like and inspire each other. He’s been a huge inspiration for me getting into the backcountry and freeskiing the proper way *laughs*. He's super experienced, yeah, and he has such a good vision that he wants to share with me, and I'm all about listening to his advice. Shout out Skimanguy, who will always be my brother.

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So, what does a normal day of skiing look like for you?

I guess it starts with knowing if it's gonna be a clear morning. If there is, I always try to go out on the first gondola and start up top to see how the snow is. If I can get some good lines, then that’s always the first priority.

And then after that, if it’s not so good or it gets tracked, working my way down, maybe go to the park, see if I can squeeze out the last bit of energy there, cause I feel still I feel super comfortable in the park and I love to get some laps in.

I guess there's no real, normal day; it’s always different, right? But yeah, normally I come home after I’m out of gas, eat a late lunch, and work a bit. And then if there's energy, go to the climbing gym and then have a sauna. Have dinner and go to bed. Repeat.

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You're in the backcountry a lot now, especially filming Head/Tyrolia stuff. Is that where you see your skiing headed? Are you gonna go full Jacob Wester on us?

Yeah, when I made a decision to step out of the scene, I didn't necessarily see myself going “Full Wester” laughs. But after spending more time in the mountains, I do feel like longing for bigger mountains and bigger lines is stronger than focusing on athletic tricks in the park. I love everything that skiing has to offer me, and I try not to put myself in a box. I consider myself an all-around type of skier, and I want to learn every aspect that skiing has to offer.

Having Jacob as a friend and a role model, I do look up to him a lot when it comes to skiing bigger lines. I would love to learn as much as I can and do what he has been able to do.

When you really push it outside in the deep backcountry, there’s just more and more you have to learn. There’s so much more to think of in terms of planning. Are you confident? Do you trust the people you're surrounded with? How far do I feel like I can push this?

I want to be able to express myself the way I want in untouched terrain because then everything gives you that thrill of ‘the new’. And everything requires a group behind you; skiing kind of becomes a team sport. But a more real ‘team’ where you have to work together.

And now, for sure, I see myself skiing bigger lines. I actually have two first descents already, and that's a special feeling knowing that no one else has skied there before you.

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Oh sick, where was that?

One was a mountain up in northern Norway, and then one in Kosovo. But yeah, I definitely I do consider myself becoming a more freeride skier, but I don't want to put myself in a box. The park will always be there, somewhere deep inside.

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Sounds insane, but you never were one to take it slow. So what other trips have you been on lately?

I kicked the season off in Ruka with the Ruroc team. I don't necessarily need to ski the craziest terrain, the first day of skiing for the season, so it was super nice being there with the squad. just clocking a crazy amount of laps and getting the feel back for skiing again. We had a shoot for their new products that we’d been working on, and everything worked so well with them, so that was sick. They are really motivated to make the best stuff for us, so that was really cool.

I got to share a room with Tanner, too. Hearing his history and how he's been skiing professionally pretty much his whole life… I would really like to ski my whole life, so it was cool to learn how he has made it happen. Obviously he’s going to keep going too, but you know what I mean.

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Dope, and then you’ve been shredding at home? Do you have more trips lined up?

Yeah, I forgot to mention that I went skiing in Kosovo in January. Well, I mentioned the descent but not the trip. Going up to undiscovered mountains and feeling that “super small person, big terrain” feeling was crazy. And they don't have this huge culture for skiing, so it's nice to feel that you can contribute and come to the table with something new.

The snow wasn't great, but we managed to ski some cool stuff. It’s always kind of fun to figure that out. And I learned a lot about the history there, with the wars and so on. And then the rest of the season, well, next I'm going to Turkey actually. Another big trip where I know it's pretty undiscovered terrain. It's nice to go to new places because most of the skiing we see in the Alps and Rockies is mostly the same, you know. All the people are so alike, but if you step outside of Europe, suddenly you meet people who are different and super interested in what you do.

You can form a bond with the people there, and they're not fed up with ski tourists *laughs*. They're really interested in what you're doing and you get to learn new cultural things, about different types of people. That's extremely special.

I also have plans to go to Canada to film as much as I can with the Head team and stack some shots with Jeff Thomas for a new Head project. And then Norway, because it’s close to home and there are so many huge mountains and so much to learn. And who knows, maybe there'll be a Childsplay part two after all of that! I’m definitely following where the inner voice takes me, at least.