TNF Athlete Griff Post, Driven by Passion and Purpose

Griff Post is always on a mission. Photo: Jeremy Allen

Passion-drives-purpose for professional big mountain skier, explorer, and entrepreneur Griff Post. The Austrian-born Jackson Hole local has been on the big screen with TGR for over a decade, showcasing his incredible skill in some of the gnarliest places on earth. Beyond that, he has explored remote stretches of the Yukon, famously recovering a cache of once-lost photographs. Even more, he’s used his journey to the upper echelon of big mountain skiing to develop a business that makes a game-changing backcountry solar array. Watch Griff’s athlete segment from Legend Has It and check out our Q&A with the legend below.

Driven to go skiing, Griff carves his own line. Photo: Jeremy Allen

Take us back to the origins of your journey to becoming a professional skier.

Yeah, so I started skiing when I was around three years old at a local hill in Wisconsin, grew up racing when I moved to Idaho and by 10th grade, I knew exactly what I wanted to do for my career: go skiing. After racing for a lot of my childhood, I grew away from that all-encompassing competitive atmosphere and found a new source of inspiration in big mountain contests. It was the environment and camaraderie and laid-back atmosphere that really drew me in. I started off at the Crested Butte Extreme Freeskiing Contest and actually won it, funny enough, and from then on I was able to build self confidence in my path towards becoming a professional skier. The path definitely wasn’t easy; it took me 4-5 years to start gaining any traction. And on top of that, I was going to business school simultaneously. Even though I got my MBA, that never changed my path. I’d wanted this life for a really long time and knew that I could make it if I was driven by my passion for it.

A natural leader and explorer, Griff in planning mode with Taylor Godber, Jim Ryan and Sam Smoothy. Photo: Jeremy Allen

Passion driving purpose is a common theme amongst your fellow skiers. At that time in your life, was there anyone’s skiing who you drew inspiration from?

I had people that I looked up to, definitely, but I’ve always felt that I couldn’t look up to people in my own sport. I just felt like in order to push my skiing, I needed to draw inspiration from other sources and then weave what I admired with my own creativity. I looked up to a lot of snowboarders; Travis Rice obviously. Laird Hamilton is another one.

Griff in the Alaskan backcountry. Photo: Jeremy Allen

Creating your own legend from the beginning. When did you start filming with TGR?

Somewhere in that 4-5 year period when I was grinding out a foothold for myself as a pro, I moved to Jackson. Eventually I got connected with Steve Jones and Legend Has It was my 12th film with TGR. Feel super fortunate to have such a long relationship with these guys.

Another day in the office for Griff. Photo: Jeremy Allen

Speaking of Legend Has It, your segment is flush with deep powder at our favorite mountain, Jackson Hole. Was your entire season as dreamy as those days in Jackson?

Yeah, those days with Alex Armstrong were super fun, it was absurdly deep. Love Jackson Hole! As far as the rest of my season, I wish I could say it was, but I’ll just say I learned a lot and it’s just one of those seasons where the stars didn’t align on some things. But, it keeps me hungry for this winter!

Griff in the white room. Photo: TGR

Your film parts over the last couple of years have been filled with deep powder and jaw-dropping expeditions into faraway places. When did your career interests shift from filming a skiing-only segment into this more expedition-centric approach to skiing?

It just goes back to creativity. For a while, I was skiing in places that’ve been skied and not really carving my own lane and that brought upon me a sense of guilt. Like, I could be doing more, so let me see what I can come up with. Once I embarked on some smaller trips, it motivated me to keep pushing into the unknown and I realized I was hooked. Some trips can feel like a huge puzzle and I love that, love risking more time, energy, all of it. The logistical challenges some might view as barriers, I see them as integral to the journey. Because when all these pieces align, what you achieve is so much more gratifying.

Digging out for countless days in the Alaskan backcountry. Photo: Jeremy Allen

And you took this mentality to a whole new level in 2022 with the Washburn project, plus starting a business, both being expeditions in their own right.

With the Washburn Project, I wanted to take on a project that was going to make more of an impact than just filming a segment. Growing up, I read a ton of mountaineering books and drew inspiration from those. I decided to plan this expedition to try and locate the cache that Bradford Washburn left behind in the Yukon because I couldn’t get over the feeling that if it’s there and I don’t go find it, the risk of missing that opportunity was too great. Any time I can create a deep, meaningful story, it appeals to a broad audience and really becomes special. And yeah, I also started a solar company–Cruxley Field Goods–after going on many of these trips and feeling like there had to be a better solution for the bulky, heavy solar panels we were using to charge all of our camera gear. Because, once you’re out there, you’re relying 100% on these things to give you power to complete your mission’s objective. I’m hoping that my solar panels–that are ¼ the size of typical maximum-output portable panels and generate 4x the watts–will change how people power any outdoor pursuit.

Photo: Leslie Hittmeier

Incredible. You’re advancing the sport in a very exciting, meaningful direction. Do you have any advice for the next generation of aspiring professional skiers?

Ah, yeah–it’s really difficult to become a professional skier, but it’s totally worth it if you love skiing. It takes a long time to carve out a foothold for yourself, so you need to be totally committed and patient. I see so many up-and-comers get some traction, then they hit some adversity and give up. I never understand that, because if you love something you should pursue it to the fullest extent. Every pro skier works really hard to get to that place, so if you love it, have faith that’ll eventually happen for you and pair that with hard work. And ask yourself what you’re willing to sacrifice for what you love. Coming to terms with that sacrifice is crucial.

Griff at home, at one of his favorite places to ski.

Words worth their weight in gold. Final question: where’s your favorite place to ski?

Jackson Hole is definitely very high on my list, but I’ve been doing this a long time now and I feel that where I’m skiing means very little, who I’m skiing with is 99% of the experience. I just love skiing and love to ski with anyone that makes it fun!

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stash member Nate Berenson