Snowboarding
How to go pro (when you’re Queralt Castellet)
Big airs in a small package: how Spain’s leading halfpipe export made it to the top.
Queralt Castellet
© Jason Horton
Queralt may be petite and cute, but don’t be fooled: she’s a halfpipe hellcat who attacks the lip with ferocity and velocity.
Don’t be fooled by her fresh face either: at 25, Queralt’s a veteran of three winter games campaigns, and with a second-place finish at the 2014 US Open, she’s getting better every year.
So, we wanted to know, what was it that pushed this Spanish flyer to the top of her game?
Mom and Dad My parents are the first reason I started snowboarding. Even though we lived in the city, we spent every weekend in the mountains: my parents love to go camping, and each winter they would set up camp in our caravan close to the ski field. When I was only two years old, they discovered snowboarding and loved it, so much so that four years later, they took my brother and I, as soon as we had the strength to stand on a board.
Classic Method air from Spain’s top rider
© Jason Horton
A clean break When I was 16, I broke my wrist snowboarding and had to stop gymnastics. I was really gutted, but because of that I decided to move to the Pyrenees, where I could snowboard every day! While living in the Pyrenees, I had the opportunity to take part in a program combining school studies with snowboarding. There I got to meet some of my best friends, and also started travelling to contests.
South for the summer I went to New Zealand in 2008, and I soon found out it was the place where I could ride better than anywhere else. I learned so quickly; I guess it was a mix of the atmosphere, the people and the place itself. I loved it, and met a few people who really helped and guided me to make the most of the southern hemisphere season. Being able to ride and learn before the northern hemisphere competition season started gave me a big advantage, and I started entering bigger events.
Big backside air at the 2014 US Open
© Jason Horton
Close friends Good friends make all the difference. They give me the confidence and support I need to take my life in the right direction. They always believe in me, and even though my travels take me far away from them, I feel my friends are always really close and I know they are there if I need them.
Life is a lottery: you never know where it will take you. I will always be grateful for the consequences that created the path to where I am now, and to where I am going!
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