What's Next for Maggie Voisin?

A little over a week ago, Whitefish, Montana based professional freestyle skier Maggie Voisin announced she was "saying goodbye to the bib, not the sport."

In 2014, Voisin won the silver medal in X Games Slopestyle, and made history as the youngest skier to win a medal in Winter X Games history at just 15 years old. In total, she has won two gold, two silver, and three bronze medals at X Games.

Now, she is chasing things besides a spot on the podium. We caught up with her to hear what her future holds.

Maggie Voisin 'Retirement' Q&A

How long have you known that you were going to retire, and what influenced the decision?

"Ultimately, the biggest thing for me is my heart. My heart just was not in it the way it used to be. Over the last couple years, especially since my last Olympics in 2022, I knew that the tides were changing and that my heart was going a totally different direction.

As an athlete, it's really hard to make that call. So it definitely took me some time to find that peace and get there. Ultimately what really helped push me in that direction of being like 'I'm ready' was fully stepping into my potential in the backcountry and realizing that this is what I wanna be doing, this is what I wanna be pursuing. It made that decision really easy.

It hasn't been a hard decision whatsoever, and I feel like I'm on this new and exciting path of loving skiing more than I ever have."

I was surprised to see your post, but I know that path is shared with other skiers, like Bobby Brown, who had a similar affinity for the backcountry.

"You're right. He totally did. For a lot of athletes and skiers and snowboarders, it's just the natural progression.

For me, I grew up skiing the entire mountain from Montana. Like yes, I fell in love with park skiing at a young age, but I always just genuinely loved skiing. Even when I was 15 and I was just starting my professional competitive career, I knew one day I wanted to be a backcountry skier.

For me it was innately this natural progression that I knew I eventually wanted to happen. When you look at a bunch of other athletes too, and I don't wanna speak for anybody else, but competing kind of feels like it puts you in this box, you know? I was just ready to ski for myself and I just didn't wanna be judged anymore.

I'm not afraid to admit that I've had a lot of injuries and I just didn't wanna put my body through that again. The progression of the sport is absolutely unbelievable and I just did not have it in me to push myself to stay at the top. I'm okay with that.

For the past couple years, being able to film with TGR and get out into the back country, it's been so fun to pick my own lines and ski something for me and not have to worry or think about like the judges or a score or where am I gonna be placed in a podium.

It's this whole new world that feels so freeing and it just really right now feels like it's for me. I feel like a rookie all over again. There's that beginner's excitement."

I had no idea that you wanted to get into backcountry skiing even while you were competing.

"It's not something I talked about very much. Whenever I would watch ski movies as a kid, I loved the Level 1 films, of course. I was always so drawn to skiing the mountain.

Any chance that I got, like we had a pow day, I wasn't gonna go train or take the day off, I'm gonna go ski powder. I have always loved skiing the mountain no matter what it is. That's always been my reset when I would feel drained or burned out from training or competing.

It's not something I've really spoke vocally about, and throughout my competitive career that, 'oh, I'm gonna be a backcountry skier one day,' but I've always known in my heart that I really wanted to diversify.

I put out Swiftcurrent (embedded below) in 2020, and that was because I feel that a lot of boys, especially in the comp scene, they do the park or they do the contest, and they also film, and they ski backcountry."

"I wanted to prove to myself that females can do this too, in this space. For me, that was also the beginning of my love and passion for the backcountry even more. Knowing that was my solidifying moment in 2020 where I was like, 'alright, when I'm done competing, this is exactly what I wanna be doing.'"

Yeah, that's so rad. I can't think of the same number of female athletes who do multiple genres compared to male skiers.

"I know, right? You don't hear of it as much.

By no means am I the pioneer of that. Sarah Burke did it all. I think Grete Eliassen... There are so many females that made that transition into the backcountry, like Michelle Parker, Anna Segal...

I know I'm not naming everybody, but, like I said, you don't hear of it very often. That was something for me, in the midst of my career, that I wanted to prove to myself more than anything."

Are you planning to make backcountry films or are you just pursuing skiing truly for the love of it now?

"Both: for the love of it, that's always what it's been and that's the most important thing for me. If it feels like I'm like torturing myself and I have to drag myself out in the mountains, I'm like, okay, I need to sit down with myself and have a real heart to heart and figure out what it is.

But, the filming part of it is what really makes it exciting. There's still a goal there and getting shots and the whole thing. So there's that piece which I really love about filming."

Do you have any projects that are already in the works or anything that's on the immediate horizon?

"For next season I'm still kind of figuring out what that's gonna look like. I mean, I know I'll be filming and doing something, but it's still a little bit up in the air.

Last year I filmed with TGR again. It will be in their newest movie this fall, which I'm really, really excited about. It definitely was an interesting year as everybody knows, but I feel like I took advantage of every opportunity and storm that I could."

That's all super exciting. I talked to Parkin Costain for a piece recently and he echoed some of your thoughts on how skiing is a job. He has so many other things that fill his free time.

"He's my best friend. Talk about a person who's got a million different hobbies, right? I don't know how that boy does it ."

Related: Parkin Costain Imagines Life Without Skiing

Is there anything else that you think people should know about you or your life moving forward?

"The biggest thing is that just because I am stepping away from contest skiing, by no means am I just turning my back and like leaving that that side of me behind.

I freaking love the sport more than anything. I still religiously follow it and I always will. Some of my best friends are still on the circuit. I am so passionate about the future of the sport and advocating for it.

I had the opportunity to commentate at X Games this past January and help be the voice for all the female ski events.

That was really special to get to still be a part of the X Games but keep me in the industry as a whole and be this voice. I was unbelievably nervous because it reflects on myself, but most importantly I just wanted to represent the ladies in the best light that I possibly could. And I loved it."

It'll be really cool to see what you end up doing. It sounds like you have a bunch of different paths within the general ski realm.

"Skiing's my life. It always has been and it always will be. If I didn't have skiing, I wouldn't be me."

Related: Teton Pass is Closed- How Does it Affect the 'Wydaho' Community?

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