Erika ‘The Viking’ Vikander embodies ‘full send’ mentality

She grew up in Bozeman, Mont., which is home to some of the premiere skiing resorts in the U.S. Vikader credits her time in Big Sky Country with most of her knowledge.

“Because I grew up in Montana, I grew up with a great foundation for free riding, unknowingly,” said Vikander, laughing.

In high school she moved to Utah, where she stuck to slope style. She also trained in Breckenridge, Colo., and began her Olympic training. Vikander recalls how dangerous slope style boarding can be.

“When you’re hitting 80-foot jumps and trying to learn new tricks, you are inevitability going to fall. Really hard,” said Vikander.

She added that most riders are competing at 80% health because of the grueling training regimen and high expectations of coaches. During one of the final qualifying races, she took a hard fall and tore her ACL. Bounced from the Olympics, she decided she’d had enough.

Instead of returning to the same situation where she injured herself, a friend suggested she enter a free ride competition. Vikander showed up in true snowboarder fashion wearing a sweatshirt two sizes too big, snazzy snow pants, clunky boots, no technical gear and still managed a second place finish.

“People were like, who is that girl,” said Vikander.

After spending time in the most coveted snowboarding competitions like the Toyota Grand Prix, Burton U.S. Open and the Dew Tour, she managed to catch the eye of FreeRide World Tour recruiters. The FreeRide World Tour (FWT) has very strict qualification requirements. Only one participant per region is invited to compete. And every year participants must re-qualify, which promotes constant competition. Throughout the circuit, athletes will do three runs and judges will take their two best runs based on line score (which is the route taken down the peak), fluidity, flair, technique and control. Before the participants summit the peak, they stand before the sierra with binoculars and occasionally a map to scope out an approach.

In 2018, Vikander made the cut and was invited to be one of four women snowboarders on the FreeRide World Tour.

Four years later, she has held her position as one of the best free riders in the world. In January, Vikander won first overall in the womens snowboard division for the first stop on the FWT, in Baqueira Beret, Spain. The second stop on the tour was less favorable to Vikander — who finished third at Ordino Arcalis, Andorra. She bounced back with a win this past weekend in the mountians of the Kicking Horse Resort, where she took first place to solidify her top spot in the womens snowboard rankings.

Her experience navigating some of the most intimidating peaks around the globe has opened other opportunities during her time with the FreeRide World Tour.

Vikander started her own snowboard company, Niche Snowboards, which produces the first fully recyclable, zero emission snowboards in the world.

“This is something I have been really passionate about over the past decade,” said Vikander. “And it’s so cool to see other companies jumping on the bandwagon of environmental awareness.”

While directing operations for Niche Snowboards, she is also currently working on a project that is produced entirely by female artists and creators.

“I want to give them a fair opportunity to shine in a very male-dominated industry,” said Vikander.

In October, Viknder and her boyfriend bought a house in Hood River and made the move out of Mt. Hood’s shadow in Welches. While Hood River only sees Vikander and her boyfriend so many months out of the year while she is on tour, she still makes time to board Mt. Hood. Vikander plans to continue competing in the FreeRide World Tour for as long as she can, and has no interest in returning to the Olympics.