STORIES – VERONICA PAULSEN'S JOURNEY TO KINGS AND QUEENS OF CORBET'S COULOIR

VERONICA PAULSEN - THE QUEEN

Veronica Paulsen is the crowned queen of the ski community in Jackson. The humble big mountain skier who wrote history at Kings and Queens of Corbet’s Couloir: the first female to ever land a backflip. Who is Veronica and what is going on in her head when she decides to go for a double backflip in Corbet’s? A couloir scary enough that most of us would hardly even consider dropping into it, much less throw something gnarly off the lip.

The night before Kings and Queens of Corbet’s, I found Veronica Paulsen sitting on her living room floor in sweatpants and slippers, her hair in a towel, taking a Theragun to her leg muscles as her boyfriend, Randy, cooked them dinner. It could have been any other Monday night in Jackson. But with a window of sunlight in the morning and 10 inches of fresh snow having just fallen, the call to have the competition had been made a few days earlier than anyone expected. Although the next day weighed on my mind, Veronica seemed completely her normal, warm, funny self.

Paulsen is one of the most incredibly humble people I’ve ever met. Her love for skiing is easily recognizable just by how excited she is to get out into the mountains on any given day. Watching her excitement about a new trick or feature, or even just a good set of moguls is infectious to anyone who has the opportunity to witness it. “The first year, I was practically begging them to let me in,” she told me as we began to chat about the competition.

The event started six years ago with a crew of mostly local skiers and snowboarders. But since then, Kings and Queens has not only become an event for professional skiers and snowboarders to test their nerves at the top of Jackson Hole’s most famous run, but for up and comers to prove themselves.

After Paulsen became the first woman to ever land a backflip into Corbet’s Couloir and was crowned the 2020 Queen of Corbet’s, everything changed for her. She quickly gained sponsors and was offered film parts with Teton Gravity Research. The competition rocket launched her career as much as she’d launched herself into the couloir.