Valerie Festavan Talks Highs, Lows, and Her New Ski Movie: "Barbwire Heart"
Either as a joke or a played-out stock phrase, the term “multi-sport athlete” gets thrown around a lot. In Valerie Festavan’s case, though, it’s just accurate.
The 25-year-old action-sports polyglot is known among skiers for her stylish skiing, but she also skateboards, snowboards, mountain bikes, and rides dirt bikes. Sometimes, she does them the same day on the same mountain: at the past two Silver Belt competitions, she entered as a skier and snowboarder.
Festavan’s 2025-26 season offered a similar smorgasbord as she aimed to make headway as a professional skier. It featured an inaugural (to her) appearance at Kings & Queens of Corbet’s, a battle with a strained leg muscle that somehow involved a first-place finish at a freeride competition, and filming for her new movie, Barbwire Heart, which debuts this weekend near Salt Lake City and will be released online sometime in November.
“Last season was so sick and crazy,” she said. “It was just all over the place.”
John Leinz
Festavan made her movie in the margins amid all the action. She filmed in Japan and, at the end of the season, capped off the project with footage from Brighton. She considers the result almost like a “scrapbook.”
“I didn’t have a really big budget or anything like that,” Festavan said. “Just kind of doing it for the love, and then trying to prove myself to the brands and people I’ve been working with.”
As for the name, she admitted that’s a tough question to answer. It’s a title not necessarily meant for the public and has personal meaning for Festavan. Still, she provided a little insight.
“I have a very big heart, and I’m very passionate about the things I love to do,” she said.
But in skiing, she’s found that others don’t always like to show a lot of emotion. Or, at the very least, we’re hidden under our ski masks and goggles.
“Sometimes I feel like I have to hide my passion,” she said. Festavan compared that to wrapping her heart in barbed wire, hence the name.
Watch: Barbwire Heart Trailer
Video credit: David Saurs / Sour Media
The metaphor extended to the winter, which had plenty of ups and downs but started with good news. After bugging the Kings & Queens organizers for years, she finally got an invite on Christmas Day and, understandably, was freaking out. Then, when the comp arrived, she showed up in a big way, nabbing second behind Piper Kunst.
The strained muscle was one of the less fun bits. It happened after a zero spin went awry, and hung over a trip she took to Mt. Baker to film with the 686 team. Festavan found the crew nice and the environment low-pressure, but she still wanted to prove herself. At one point, as she trudged through the snow—her leg hurting the whole way—she imagined a voice in her ear. It was the motivational speaker David Goggins. And, Festavan recounted with a laugh, Goggins had a question:“Who’s gonna carry the boats?!”
Not long after, Festavan planned to attend a freeride comp in Kicking Horse, British Columbia. The leg injury persisted, though, and when she banged up her car in a parking lot, it seemed like everything was pointing towards going home. But Festavan, in her words, said “f— it” and decided to compete anyway. After two years away from the freeride comp circuit, she laced up a techy pillow line and won.
“Everyone was skiing super well,” Festavan said. “Women’s skiing is just in a really sick place right now. I’m really stoked to be a part of it and be in it.”
Now, Festavan’s gearing up to debut Barbwire Heart this Saturday, October 24. The showing doesn’t look like your average showing. Held at a drive-in theater in the desert, it includes the movie, skateboarding, and a party with a DJ till dawn.
Festavan’s thinking was that, typically, ski movie premieres don’t happen at all-night venues, so attendees have to scramble and find somewhere else to hang out afterward. Barbwire Heart will keep everything in one place, though, doubling as the befores and the afters.
“It’s just all for the love and all for the stoke of the game,” Festavan said.
Valerie Festavan is one of 26 skiers featured in POWDER Magazine’s print 26/27 “Faces of the Rebellion” feature. Tap or click below to snag a copy.
The 2026/27 print issue of POWDER Magazine is here. Click here to have a copy shipped to your front door. Copies can also be found on newsstands at major retailers like Barnes & Noble, Target, Walmart, and more.
Leave a Reply