Draft:Cody Townsend

Cody Townsend is an American professional skier and outdoor adventurer recognized for his contributions to the field of freeskiing and backcountry skiing. Townsend has gained attention for his descents on challenging and unconventional mountain terrain, earning him prominence within the extreme skiing community.

Townsend's appearances in various ski films and documentaries have provided a platform to showcase his skiing skills and fearless approach to tackling demanding slopes. Townsend is known for his willingness to push the boundaries of the sport, often taking difficult routes and exploring lesser-known mountain regions, attracting the interest of his peers and audiences.

Biography
Townsend was born on March 14, 1983, in Santa Cruz, California. During winters, Cody enjoyed skiing near Lake Tahoe. His family owned a cabin close to Squaw Valley, where they often skied on weekends. He joined Squaw Valley's Mighty Mites youth program, where he developed a passion for downhill skiing. This led him to secure a spot on the resort's top youth racing team.

Even though he did well in racing, Townsend became more interested in freeskiing. He looked up to Squaw Valley legends like Shane McConkey. He started skipping race practice to follow McConkey, JT Holmes, and other freeskiers around the mountain, trying to do the same tricks and moves as them.

In 2011, he married fellow professional skier Elyse Saugstad.

Cody's remarkable descent in Alaska's Tordrillo Mountains gained widespread recognition in the skiing community and was featured in the popular skiing film "Days of My Youth".

The FIFTY project
In early 2019, Townsend initiated an extensive project in collaboration with Summit Lunch Productions and filmmaker Bjarne Salén. This undertaking involved extensive travel throughout North America, with the objective of ascending and skiing the fifty most renowned mountain descents cataloged in the pivotal ski publication authored by Chris Davenport, Penn Newhard, and Art Burrows, titled "Fifty Classic Descents of North America."

While these fifty paths have been used by experienced skiers many times before, Townsend is the first to ski all of them. What sets his feat apart is that he is achieving it without relying on helicopters or snowmobiles. Townsend is documenting his entire Fifty Project on his YouTube channel.

This is what Cody said about the project: "The Fifty is an adventure story unfolding in real time. A story of an attempt to climb and ski all the lines in the book, “The Fifty Classic Ski Descents of North America.” It’s a journey, a struggle, an obsession and most of all, an excuse to have a hell of a good time in the mountains."

Competition results

 * 1st place – Freeride World Qualifier Mammoth 2008
 * 2nd place – Swatch Big Mountain Pro Invitational 2008
 * 3rd place – Freeride World Tour Verbier Extreme 2008
 * 1st place – Swatch Big Mountain Pro Invitational 2010
 * 1st place – Swatch Skier's Cup 2012 (Team Captain)
 * 1st place – Swatch Skier's Cup 2014

Industry Awards

 * Best Male Performance – Freeskier Magazine 2008
 * Best Ski Segment – NYC Snow Film Festival 2010
 * Best Single Shot – IF3 Movie Awards 2014
 * Best Male Freeride Segment – IF3 Film Festival 2014
 * Full Throttle – Powder Video Awards 2014
 * Best Line – Powder Video Awards 2014
 * Best Male Performance – Powder Video Awards 2014
 * Powder Poll No. 1 – Powder Video Awards 2020