The original interview with Ethan was conducted by Matt Sklar, but life happens and I stepped in to do the final piece.

Cover Photo: Matt Sklar Media

Born and raised in Colorado Springs, Ethan Swadburg moved to Summit County when he was just 14. Pro or not, he knew from a young age that skiing was in his future, “I remember telling my fifth-grade teacher I was going to be a ski bum when I grow up. Pretty much the same thing anyways.” While still relatively new to the game, Ethan shows promise as the future of skiing.

After moving to the mountains, Swadburg went from a weekend warrior to skiing six times a week, and the progression followed quickly. “It’s amazing how fast I progressed in my first winter living in Summit County,” he said, “Not only was I skiing more, I was fully immersed into the ski scene here, so I was surrounded by some very good people.” Skiing Breckenridge every day gave Ethan a strong group of skiers to look up to- Adam Delorme, Pat Goodnough, and Clay Bryant- to name a few.

Photo: Matt Sklar Media

In 2015, Swadburg won a finalist spot in Level 1’s SuperUnknown XII at Carinthia Parks, “Superunkown was an amazing experience, one the best weeks of my entire life.” Since then, he filmed for Pleasure, and has been on additional trips with L1 this season- “Afterwards, I have to thank my sponsors for keeping me involved with Level 1. RMU and Phunkshun really made sure I kept filming with them the next year and this year as well.”

Getting bigger into the competition scene this year, Ethan took home first at the Aspen Open, in addition to some comps in Europe. As both a comp and film skier for now, he’s not forcing himself to choose just yet. “I would like to film an entire segment of Pow and Urban, but I also want to continue competing since I’ve been doing well in all the comps the past two seasons. Who knows, maybe I’ll be able to do both, that’s the dream!” he tells us.

Photo: Matt Sklar Media

While he jokes that doing a triple or quad will be when he knows that he has ‘made it’, it’s clear that he’s not all spin-to-win. Notable for his very clean style, he’s had smooth skiing since his earliest edits, “Style has always been important to me. It isn’t what you do, it’s how you do it. That’s my view of skiing.”

Look out for him both Good Company & Level 1’s fall films, and most importantly, as one of the leading faces in the future of our sport.