Rick Armstrong

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Armstrong

Rick Armstrong, 29, is affectionately known as "Sick" Rick in the premier arena of big mountain and big air skiing. At the age of 16, Rick left his hometown of Anchorage, Alaska, for Colorado. He skied numerous first descents in the San Juan mountains and dreamed then of becoming a professional skier.

Armstrong was one of the pioneers of heli skiing Alaska in the early '90s, and, while he was with Doug Coombs heli-skiing operation, Valdez Heli-Skiing, he soon became one of the most sought after guides in the Chugach Mountains.

Armstrong has appeared in over 30 ski movies, including titles by Teton Gravity Research, Matchstick Productions, Warren Miller, RAP Films, Straight Up Films and Bridger Productions.

Since 1989, Armstrong has called Jackson Hole, Wyoming, home. In the nearby Teton Mountains, he was the first person to both ski and snowboard the Grand Teton (13,770ft), both descents of which were via the Ford Couloir on the south face. Last year, he and partner Eddie Horney did the first descent of the Grand's Visionquest Couloir, a Grade IV ice climb, 3+ Alpine Ice route and 5.8 rock climb. They skied on belay and rappelled down icy sections of this 600-foot long couloir that many thought skiing was impossible.

Of all his adventures in the Tetons over the past 11 years, Armstrong notes the Crooked Thumb on Teewinot as being one of the most memorable. "It was really cool because the couloir had really tall walls. Even though you were going down, you couldn't see down it. All you could see was these walls as you were going down, heading around corners and skiing down it." According to Armstrong, Crooked Thumb is approximately 20-30 feet wide for roughly 2000 vertical feet.

He has also made many first descents in the Alaska, the Himalayas, China and the European Alps. Another of Armstrong's passions is paragliding. He was the first and second tandem paraglide flights over the Grand Teton and currently hopes to break the national and world paragliding distance records. He also raced in the first ever mountain bike World Cup Championship race in Durango, Colorado, in 1990, placing 9th after enduring the turmoil of crashing which was followed by a flat tire.

Armstrong is a certified member of the American Association of Avalanche Professionals. He is also a member of The North Face team, for whom he has designed a line of snowsport clothing.

On this, Rick's first trip to Antarctica, he will be bringing both his skis and his paraglider. "We're going to see what looks good see what has an appealing line on it and go from there. But I'd like to ski and paraglide off a couple peaks."