“It’s amazing to look up at a big mountain and think: I walked up that and then skied down. It’s so simple, so euphoric. After all the hard work and injuries, now I just try to live a life where I chase joy, where joy is the biggest part of everything, just being in nature, just being.” This is Malou Peterson, skier from age two, big mountain pro, Magna athlete, and epic content creator. “I grew up in a little town in Northern Sweden, in the woods. Everyone in my family skied—it’s always been a part of me.” By 18, Malou was racing ski-cross competitively. “Ski-cross is fun, icy downhills and jumps, but people get injured a lot. One day I lost my edge and slammed my head, got a bad concussion. At that time, within the teams, it was like you’re a product, you just have to keep going. So I went back too early, crashed again, got another concussion. It was really bad.” She got horrible headaches, couldn’t concentrate or be around big groups of people, struggled with depression, all while trying to finish school. “It’s not like you broke your leg and you can feel it healing. Other people can’t see you’re injured, so I got really in my head about it. And I couldn’t ski at all. I was going crazy.” The goal was to get back to ski-cross, but after recovery Malou discovered her mindset had changed. She didn’t have the same passion for racing, but she found a new passion for simple things: friends, and nature. One day a childhood friend took her ski-touring for the first time. “It was a perfect bluebird day. Being out there with her, alone in the infinite mountains, incredible conditions, just adrenaline and wildness—it felt like I was discovering something.” She took to the big mountains immediately, made a bunch of new friends and they started filming each other. “It was so fun, learning to visualize the best lines, to make turns as smooth as possible. And slowing down was a game changer. Coming from a racing background I had to learn about relaxation, enjoyment. Now, for me, the people are the most important part. If you follow what you love, then you meet those people, and you support each other to find joy, just doing what you love.” #playthelonggame