Grey skies and variable conditions didn’t stop 25-year-old Janelle Yip from having a kick-ass time while filming down in Patagonia. After a season-ending injury last winter, Yip came along for the ride with a fresh mindset and a whole lot of stoke. We caught up with Janelle mid-trip to talk alpine lines, first descents, and life mottos. Watch Janelle's episode of Legends In The Making.
Where are you from and what was childhood like for you?
I'm from Calgary, Alberta, Canada, and I grew up skiing in Fernie, B.C. and also at the Canada Olympic Park in Calgary. My parents have a little condo in Fernie and it’s right on the ski hill, so we were super lucky as kids. We got to go there on weekends and over Christmas break. We’d even ski back home to our back door if we got the chair in time. I just remember if I didn't make that chairlift back, it was painful walking up that hill.
Growing up, my brother and I would ski together a bunch. We had a super fun childhood driving out to Fernie on the weekends to go ski. My parents never actually put us in ski racing because we would always ski just as fast as the ski racing kids anyways. So we just had fun with it. It was an awesome set up that we had and I’m super grateful.
Janelle sliding in Middle Earth. Photo Eric Parker
Did you always know you wanted to be a professional skier?
I always just wanted to do something that I loved. And because the world's going to shit in like 50 years, I figure I might as well just do exactly what I love and chase a good time because who knows, right? I sure hope everybody's been having a good time. So that's kind of been my goal with skiing, just chasing the good times and avoiding a boring office job.
I did a lot of teen sports as a kid. We would always go skiing on weekends with the family, but I definitely fell in love with skiing a little bit later. When I was a teenager, I remember I got this ski magazine for Christmas and I was looking through it and there was an advertisement for a Windells summer ski camp and it just looked like the most fun, awesome thing ever. So I begged my mom to let me go and the rest was history.
I got really stoked on the whole idea of it there. Then I started park skiing in Calgary at the Canada Olympic Park, where I spent pretty much all my evenings as a teenager. Hanging with my friends, skiing, not doing any homework and just riding park at night.
After that, I joined the freestyle team at COP and did competitions for the next five years. I kind of fell out of the competitions after I graduated high school, and then I moved out to Revelstoke and started getting into the backcountry and having a ton of fun.
What’s your experience level with backcountry / alpine skiing?
I actually don't have a ton of experience skiing solely exposed alpine. Growing up skiing in B.C. I’ve been skiing mostly trees and pillows, so I’m just now starting to get into some more alpine in the last couple of years. Skiing these big, exposed air lines is definitely something new that's really, really fun.
Janelle paints a blank canvas in Patagonia. Photo Eric Parker
What was it like filming with TGR?
Getting to film with TGR is pretty amazing. As a kid I used to get so excited for all the TGR premiers and would watch all of the annual films. So now seeing myself in these films is pretty surreal.
Challenges you faced this season / in your career?
I was out all last winter with an injury. Last January I cased a road gap while i was filming in Blue River. I took a knee to the face and broke my orbital bone on my right side. So the recovery for that was the rest of my winter. The swelling had to go down, the bone had to go down, and then I also was dealing with the concussion for the rest of the time. I thought I could maybe get back in the spring, but I just wasn't there. It was really hard not being able to ski for the rest of the season. It was definitely pretty devastating. I had a lot of great plans coming up, which was a bummer. So coming on this trip and getting a segment done in October definitely feels good.
Getting injured just kind of made me realize a lot. It was super hard and it definitely put my life into perspective. I started asking myself: what am I doing? What's the point of all this?
But it was also pretty illuminating learning to balance the other things in my life that are super important, like friends and family and maybe not putting those on the back burner as much. Before, skiing was the only thing, but at the end of the day, you have to really hone in those other aspects of your life, and I feel like these injuries really, really taught me that. Coming back, I'm a lot more balanced overall as an individual. So it’s definitely been a key growth period in my life.
Janelle enroute to Patagonia, Chile and Eleven's Rio Palena Lodge. Photo Eric Parker
Where are you filming right now?
We are at the Rio Palena Lodge in Palena, Chile, South America. It's like a paradise here in Patagonia. It's amazing. We're on the side of this beautiful, wide river and this remote landscape that I've never seen before. It reminds me so much of Jurassic Park.
It feels just far out.. and I've definitely been to places that are pretty remote. Sometimes it feels a little bit strange, like you're not supposed to be there, but that's not the vibe at all here. It feels like everything's kind of open-armed, really safe, and comfortable.
Three planes, a ferry and a new friend. Photo Eric Parker
How did you get here?
It took three flights, a tiny bush plane, and a ferry to get here. It was a long journey but so worth it. The flight here was the most incredible thing I’ve ever seen. We’re really tucked away here. It feels so far away from everything. It’s all dirt roads, and the closest town is Chai Ten but that’s about 3 or 4 hours away by car. We’re way out here in Patagonia.
What are the mountains like here? What’s the skiing been like?
Being here this time of year, it definitely feels like spring in the valley. But then you fly over into the mountains and it’s full-on winter…it's pretty mind-blowing.
This time of year, there’s not a ton of snow on the ground since it's entering spring. So if you’re not up in a heli, you might not even know there’s any snow here.
We're doing beacon checks in this green, grass field beside a river with no snow in sight. We’re in full ski boots, full ski gear, and you're kind of sweating a little bit because it's pretty warm down here. Then you lift and go over the ridge and it's such a stark contrast - there’s so much snow on some of the most insane mountains I’ve ever seen. You wouldn't really see too much of them unless you get higher and see what's over the other ridge.
It's a really wild, rugged landscape. There's no tree skiing here - something that I am very used to. But it's amazing because there's no way out of the mountains besides by helicopter. Every single line and every single run ends in a bowl in the alpine, and if it doesn't end there, then it cliffs out to a sheer 400-foot cliff or to just a wall of thick jungle that's impossible to get down. So that aspect feels very remote, too.
You have an insane jungle mission down. Tons of amazing rock features and really spired, rocky mountains with really long, beautiful couloirs in the middle. It’s a very alpine environment.
Janelle finds her line in Chile. Photo Eric Parker
Tell us about the first descent potential in the area.
Everything is so vastly unexplored here, so I’m feeling very privileged to be able to ski some of these new lines. Most of the stuff we’re skiing has likely never been skied before, so it’s really special to be here exploring these mountains with guides that are equally as psyched.
This operation here is very new, so even they haven't put tracks down a lot of the mountains. A lot of these lines are not your typical first descents. They're pretty mellow, but they've still never been skiing by anybody. A lot of the mountains in B.C. have had first descents, but they’re these gnarly, exposed faces like that no one's been crazy enough to ski before. That’s usually what I imagine a first descent being. But around here, there's just a beautiful couloir that's never been skied. It’s really amazing.
Got your eyes on anything specific out here?
We got a really good look at the terrain the first couple days we arrived. We scouted some pretty wild looking couloirs beside these massive granite walls over a ton of exposure. That’s kind of the style of the lines out here. It seemed like the South Tenere had a lot of options for everybody. Then the North was a lot of these single funnel lines over big rock ledges and massive granite spires - more one-liners for one athlete type of lines.
There’s three couloirs in the north that we all have our eyes on skiing. Just single funnel lines over big rock ledges. But I've really got my eye on this one mountain that’s got these big, granite spires that look like devil horns. It's called Tres Monjas, which means three monks. I'd be stoked if all three of us could ski it together. It's just a beautiful couloir that goes all the way down and it looks just so incredible to be up there.
Some challenges of the trip?
The weather's been pretty tricky skiing-wise, but luckily there’s so many other amazing things to do in the area. The snow conditions on the first day were definitely spring conditions and variable.
We’ve been getting a little bit of rising temps as well which made the snow a little harder to ski and then a lot of gray sky and a big storm system moving in on top of that. But, there's no way out of there once you’re in, so you have to be pretty conservative about our choices if we're lifting and going out. We kind of need those clear skies to explore the vast Alpine area here.
There's really no escape plan for us if the heli can't fly or if a storm comes in, so we're just waiting on some blue skies. It’s for sure been a little bit challenging for filming though.
A day in the life of Janelle Yip. Photo Eric Parker
Any goals/expectations for the trip?
I set out with no expectations just because you never really know what's going to happen with the weather, so you don't want to get yourself set on anything. So I didn't have any expectations or goals for myself this trip..
I just wanted to come along on this crazy adventure and before I left, it didn't even feel real at all. So I’m really just along for the ride and going with the flow of everything. It's just been fun to get back on snow. I’ve had no expectations for the snow quality and skiing and it’s been a great approach. I'm just excited for every turn - crusty, a little bit sticky, soft or wind buffed - it really doesn't matter to me. It's just exciting to ski again.
Tell us about who you’re out there skiing with.
I'm here with Nick McNutt and Tim Durtschi. McNutt is awesome. I've known him a little bit from Squamish and he was the one that called me to come on this trip. He’s super dialed and a really confident skier so he’s a great partner to have in the mountains. It’s amazing to watch him because you never really know what he's going to do. You think he’s just going to make some nice turns and he ends up popping a massive stallion, 360 out of nowhere.
Tim and I have been getting along pretty well because we're both pretty set on never growing up. Tim's just kind of like a big kid and I love that. He's kind of a menace. He's always in your face, blocking your photos or throwing stuff at you. It’s pretty awesome.
The guides are also really amazing. Barney's really dialed and stoked to get us into some new terrain. Because this operation is kind of new, a lot of the runs around here have never been skied so he’s really excited to get some experienced skiers out here to push some of that terrain. He's also very safety conscious. I really like that about him because it makes us all feel really safe. He’s super stoked to get us out on some good terrain, but also very conservative about his choices.
Any mottos or general outlooks on life?
You’re never old until you say you are.
