Gosia Śniegórska

Gosia Śniegórska comes from a small town in Poland where she grew up playing field hockey, not sliding down snow-covered mountains. When her sister introduced her to snowboarding, this lit a fire in her, and in 2017, she left her hometown to go look for something new in life.

Her search landed her in Zermatt, where she had intended to stay for three months. Now, over half a decade later, she still hasn’t left, and the small mountain town in the Mattertal has become her home.

A couple of years ago, Gosia tried her wings on the Freeride World Qualifier tour and caught the competitive bug. However, she still feels the most at home when she’s discovering and experiencing the mountains in places like Japan and northern Norway.

Most memorable snowboarding experience? “In the winter of 2024, I had one of the most beautiful descents from an active volcano in Japan, just as the sun was setting. It was breathtaking, and it will live on in my head for a long, long time.”

What drives you as a snowboarder? “I’m drawn to the way it connects you with nature, the sense of community, and the physical and mental challenges. Snowboarding is my ultimate form of creative expression and adventure, and it defines my lifestyle and identity in a way that nothing else can. Competing and freeriding complement each other, particularly when you encounter stressful situations. Standing in the start gate and having to master my own emotions is good training for regulating my behaviour and composure during high altitude actions and all the other unpredictable situations that occur in freeriding.”

Do you have any exciting plans for the future? “I have several projects in mind for snowboarding steep faces around the world. So, my focus right now is on developing my high-altitude riding skills. Also, one of the experiences I simply can’t miss out on in this lifetime is getting to snowboard the beautiful Alaskan spines and pillow lines in British Columbia in Canada.”