The Mindset Trick That Helps Freeride Athletes Ski Confidently in Life-or-Death Runs
High-level athletes love to talk about how they got to where they are. And yes, a lot of it comes down to an absurd amount of hard work. Kevin Durant has famously talked about his mother, Wanda Pratt, waking him up in the middle of summer nights to run hills and knock out pushups just to build discipline and edge. Top ultramarathoners regularly train through the night, intentionally putting themselves in the darkest, most uncomfortable hours to see how they respond when everything feels stacked against them. Pushing the body and mind to uncomfortable places is nothing new for athletes who make it to the top.
But work ethic alone doesn't explain it. Genetics plays a role, sure, but much of it comes down to mindset. The ability to learn from people who came before you, to refine technique, to make mistakes without letting them derail you, and to show up again with confidence intact. That way of thinking is familiar territory for elite athletes, and it’s something freeride skier Ross Tester has learned firsthand.
Tester is one of the most recognizable American freeriders on the planet, known for blending technical precision with creativity on some of the most dangerous terrain in the world. In 2024, he made the unexpected decision to step away from competition entirely, which he documents in his short film COMEBACK. Not because of an injury or a lack of opportunity, but a conscious decision to reset both mentally and physically.
"I took the 2024 season off, and I was kind of facing some burnout at the time," he says. "So, taking that time off to kind of reevaluate and reassess and make sure my head was in the right space was really important. If I'm not on the top of my game, things can go really wrong. And just being on top of that at all times keeps me from even just micro muscle tears and stuff like that. Just to stay on track towards my goals as a skier and, of course, prevent those bigger accidents."
Related: Chasing the Top: How Surfing Pro Yago Dora Turns Every Season Into a Stepping Stone
That reset paid off. Tester returned in 2025 as a Freeride World Tour Wildcard and immediately reminded the field why he belongs at the top. He took first place at the Baqueira Beret Pro, followed it up with a second-place finish at the legendary Xtreme Verbier, and closed the season sixth overall in the world. The results were impressive, but they were also a byproduct of something less visible than line choice or trick selection.
"The mental side is absolutely just as important as [the] physical," he says. "As I've grown in the sport, it's definitely become more apparent to me. In the day-to-day, it's really important to trust myself in these situations where really critical decision-making is a big deal."
That trust matters when your office is a steep alpine face, and your workday involves standing thousands of feet above the valley, staring down terrain where hesitation can have serious consequences. Freeride skiing doesn't leave room for second-guessing. You rely on years of preparation, pattern recognition, and a calm-in-the-chaos mindset to make decisions at speed, under pressure, and often alone. You can't drop in, questioning whether you belong there. For Tester, confidence is not something he hopes shows up on competition day. It's something he builds deliberately.
"A big part of the mental side is visualizing who I want to be as an athlete and what my skiing would look like down to the smallest details," he says. "So that means watching skiing a lot and staying inspired so that I know what I'm working towards and making it so I can build out my routines to see through those visualizations."
Advancing at the highest level is as much about the pauses as the effort. Knowing when to pull back and reset keeps athletes like Tester from burning out while staying at the top of their game.
Related: I Asked UTMB Athletes How They Prepare for the World’s Toughest Races—Here’s Their Advice