Skiing
How I became pro: Paddy Graham
The Legs of Steel freeskier on his journey from the dry slope in Sheffield to the biggest freestyle jumps in the world.
The setting is Livigno in the Central Eastern Alps, Italy. The year 2017. Britain’s top freeskier Paddy Graham, co-founder of the heavy-metal loving ski collective Legs of Steel, is standing at the drop-in to the biggest freestyle ski jump ever built.
In fact, this jump is so big that some locals living beneath it had called the police in the days previous, concerned that if it slid, the jump could crush the village. This was 100,000 cubic metres of snow, after all. Paddy speeds towards the jump – first doodled on a napkin the year before – at 72.7mph, hangs in the air for 3.8 seconds, and skis away.
From the dry slope to the mountains
Most pro skiers are born with snow on their doorstep, and first clip in around three years old. Paddy learned how to ski at his local dry slope in Sheffield at the age of 11.
Paddy began skiing aged 11 at Sheffield ski village
© Paddy Graham
Paddy on his first day at Sheffield ski village
© Paddy Graham
“I wanted to start skiing because I’d seen pictures of my dad skiing when he was younger,” Paddy says, “but he hadn’t been skiing since he had me and my brother. I ended up going to a three-day course at the Sheffield ski village and just loved it. My parents saw that I had a passion for it. Before long I was going every week.”
By 13, Paddy was already a sponsored athlete, an accomplishment made all the more impressive by the fact that, at that point, he still hadn’t skied on snow for more than a couple of weeks. “I was all about the dry slope,” says Paddy. “They had a half-pipe, a quarter-pipe, a jump and rails. I would go on a Thursday night after school until whenever they would close. I used to play rugby for the school, but then I quit so I could go skiing on Saturday mornings, too. My coach said ‘skiing is never going to get you anywhere’, so I was like ‘alright, I need to prove that guy wrong.’ I’m still trying!”
After finishing his GCSEs at the age of 16, Paddy had a big decision to make. He wanted to move to the Alps and do his first ski season. His parents weren’t so sure.
My coach said ‘skiing is never going to get you anywhere’. I was like ‘I need to prove that guy wrong.’ I’m still trying!
“They made me go and talk to the Head of Sport and Head of Sixth Form before I decided what to do,” says Paddy. “They were pretty intimidating guys and I had no idea what they were going to say, but both of them said to go for it. Chase your dreams and you can always come back to school if it doesn’t work out. I never went back!”
Paddy credits mentors Ben Hawker and Noddy Gowans for his success
© Pally Learmond
Moving to the mountains
Paddy headed out for his first season in Serre Chevalier in France, and appeared on Snow Patrol, a TV show on the Discovery Channel, the same year. He also found his skiing quickly improved. “Any time I had spent on snow before then had been in two-week stints,” he says. “My learning curve was huge, and I took it fairly seriously, because I knew that if I messed it up I wouldn’t be able to go out and do it again.
“I had some good mentors, like Ben Hawker and Noddy Gowans. We travelled around to different places, different events, and I learned about the different facets of skiing beyond the park – big mountain and powder skiing and how much fun it all was. They’d been competing on the Freeride World Tour and they were big pros. I got taken under their wing. It was eye-opening. It showed you how big the scene was beyond the UK.”
Paddy’s season was funded partly through sponsors, and partly through cash he saved up working on the checkouts at ASDA and collecting trolleys when he came back to the UK in the summers. When he was 18, he got a sponsorship from German ski brand Völkl, and he never looked back. In 2009, Paddy moved to the city of Innsbruck to live with fellow pro skiers Bene Mayr, Thomas Hlawitschka and Tobi Reindl, and that same year the four friends would co-found the now-iconic skiing collective Legs of Steel.
Paddy, Bene, Thomas and Tobi co-founded the collective Legs of Steel
© Pally Learmond
Legs of Steel
The ethos of Legs of Steel was big tricks, bigger jumps and creativity in abundance – all set to a heavy metal soundtrack. “We wanted the music we liked, and to be in control of our films,” says Paddy. “We didn’t want to just have someone edit a film about us. Freeski films had a lot of reggae music back then. We were listening to rock music, so we wanted it in these movies, and it meant it stood out.”
The crew released their first movie – The Pilot – in 2010 and took things to the next level with 2011’s Nothing Else Matters. Named after a Metallica song, the film features one of freestyle skiing's great movie segments – capturing a continuous train of skiers hitting a huge three-pronged jump in Kaunertal, narrowly passing behind or in front of each other mid-air. The cinematography was mesmerising. The guitars were loud.
Paddy Graham during the production of Passenger
© Pally Learmond / Red Bull Content Pool
“Not much has changed since then, to be honest,” says Paddy. “We’ve got better at skiing, but we’ve still got such a good relationship that it’s all so much fun.”
Legs of Steel gained a cult following. Their following releases mixed big mountain lines with creative urban riding in dingy city locations, enormous road gap kickers, fire, night shoots and more. Part skiing collective, part rock band, the group’s rise culminated in their award-winning 2015 film Passenger, an international ski film full of Alaskan spines, Japanese powder, and those signature big kickers, fun lines and laughter.
The team created a jump big enough to allow Paddy four seconds of air-time
© Pally Learmond
The jump
It was for Legs of Steel’s 2017 film Same Difference that Paddy conceived and created that gargantuan ski jump in Livigno. The aim was to create a jump big enough to allow for four seconds of air-time. It ended up needing to be twice the size Paddy thought, and was sculpted by diggers and snowcats working non-stop for four weeks.
“Eventually we found the right shape, and found people willing to build it,” says Paddy. “Then all of a sudden we had to jump it.”
Paddy’s first run was a success. “It was a crazy experience,” he says. “You just switch off and let everything you’ve learned from 15 years of skiing take over. It’s natural instinct.” After one attempt though, bad weather delayed the shoot for days.
“Finally we went back to hit it again,” says Paddy. “The weather wasn’t perfect, I went too fast, and that was the end of that.” After 4.5 seconds in the air, Paddy crashed, rupturing his ACL and meniscus, and breaking an ankle. “I’ve had a fair few injuries,” he says. “I’ve blown my ACL twice, I’ve had shoulders popping out and had surgeries on those, and broken my teeth and my back. For me, the biggest thing about injury and the rehabilitation period is just the motivation to go skiing again.”
Trying out new tricks keeps things fresh and challenging for Paddy
© Pally Learmond
At 33, Paddy says he's found his stride and loves skiing more than ever
© Pally Learmond
Now 33, Paddy is enjoying his skiing more than ever. “As you get older, a lot of people tell you there’s an expiry date on an athlete,” he says. “When I hear people say that, I want to prove them wrong. In the last three years, I’ve been really enjoying skiing and stepping up tricks or doing stuff in the backcountry which I’ve not done before.”
Filming for the new Legs of Steel film has been underway in lockdown, too. “It’s been difficult with restrictions,” Paddy says, “We’ve been skiing local, skiing with friends and putting extra time into finding spots and building jumps. There’s a new creative angle. The film is all in real time, and all the athletes wore microphones throughout, so it’s a bit of an inside look into ski movie-making, and into rider’s personalities too.”
Knowing Legs of Steel, that won’t be at the expense of the big jumps – or the heavy metal.