September 29, 2006

October: Sebastian Garhammer, Professional Skier

First of all. We’re entrepreneurs. We do what we love the most. We wouldn’t want to be doing anything else. We do not envy people. Having said that we’d like to present our second man of the month, professional free skier Sebastian Garhammer. And remember, we do NOT envy him.

He’s just an ordinary guy making a living from doing what he loves the most: travelling the world skiing in places you’d think only existed in your imagination. Nothing more, nothing less. Well yes, he models a quite a bit too.

“But that’s nothing I’m particularly proud of, it’s just good money on the side”, he says laughing timidly.

We completely agree with you Sebastian. Who’d want to look cool in Armani suits over ten pages in Sweden’s top men’s fashion magazine if it wasn’t for the money? And who’d want to place sixth on fashion magazine Elle’s list over the sexiest men in Sweden. Come on, only sixth …

But that’s okay, we’re not jealous, we love our jobs too, even if we don’t get to have perfect sun tans all year around. To hell with it anyway, direct sun light isn’t good for your skin. Not flash light either if you believe some people in this industry. Skincare is a vampire business.

We travel too, and we do get to see some interesting places. Maybe not millions of acres of Canadian wasteland through the windows of a small helicopter taking you to whatever mountain top you choose. But still, we get to travel a lot. Have you for instance ever seen an Italian hairdresser “performing live on stage”? Or one hundred Korean guys’ fine tuning a tube filling machine in front of two tremendously bored German chemists?

No, we didn’t think so. That’s because you haven’t visited an international beauty fair. Sebastian Garhammer hasn’t either. He just wastes his time skiing powder in places like the Alps, Alaska and Canada, making ski movies, doing photo shoots or skiing with his friends just for the hell of it.

A Professional free skier and a model … it may sound like the typical success cliché of the MTV generation. But still, Sebastian is not your average handsome-skibum-with-potential-to-be-in-a-reality-show-on-tv-type of guy. In fact he wouldn’t find the time to be in a reality show even if he wanted to.

At the age of 26, his one of the most respected names on the Scandinavian free skiing scene. And he’s not only starring in ski movies, he’s producing them too. So far he’s done three movies of his own. During the busy winters he also manages to squeeze in a few competitions and a lot of photo shoots. Most of them are skiing related ones for magazines and for his sponsors, among others Swedish sports apparel manufacturer Peak Performance and Völkl skies.

And being a member of the prestigious Elite model agency, he also does some regular modelling for fashion magazines and catalogues. However, modelling is something that he unwillingly admits he’s doing. Apparently being a fashion model isn’t considered to be particularly cool on the free skiing scene.

Sounds like Sebastian’s life is hectic? Well, there’s more to it. The young Stockholm native is also a father of two. He and girlfriend Kristin are proud parents of four year old Lovis and seven months old Neil.

“It’s tough to be away from my family so much during the winters. Kristin does a wonderful job with the kids and manages to have a full time job at the same time. Sometimes I feel bad for her. On the other hand I do not work nine to five all year around, so I get to spend most of the summers and autumns at home with my kids. Not many people get to do that. So we’re lucky in that way.”

But this summer, he admits, he also spent a great deal of time building on a new house for himself and his family. It sits nicely at the foot of the mountain in Swedish ski resort Åre. He expects it to be ready sometime during the winter. But by then Sebastian probably will be gone on yet another journey. The plan for the winter is to participate in two Swedish ski movies and hopefully one American film project. Most likely he’s going to do a few free skiing contests too, but he’s not quite sure which ones. One thing, however, he is sure of: that he’s going to ski a lot, like always. After all that’s his work. But we’re not jealous … okay, maybe we’re a little jealous.

Recipe for men’s man of the month in October

Name: Sebastian Garhammer.

Age: 26.

Occupation: Professional skier.

Family: Girlfriend Kristin and children Lovis, 4, and Neil, 7 months.

Vanity level: Medium - Admits he chooses his clothes carefully. Likes being in front of the camera with his skies on, but says he does not enjoy the lime light skiless.

Clothes: Everything, but mostly second hand.

On his spare time: Enjoys movie editing and working with graphics.

The world’s most beautiful man according to Sebastian: Johnny Depp.

Sponsors: Völkl Skis, Peak Performance, Scott, Hestra.

***All pictures are copyright of Peak Performance and published with the kind permission of Peak Performance.***