Park City skier Rell Harwood finds her stride in slopestyle

PARK CITY, Utah — Rell Harwood was one year old when the Olympics came to her backyard in 2002. She doesn’t remember them, but she certainly appreciates that she learned, and is now making a career, on Utah’s world-class hills. “Having that stuff around all the time … that is so cool. I want to go do that,” she said. Harwood grew up in Park City. And as any Utahn knows, you can not throw a stick in this town without hitting someone who would fight you if you even said even a single bad thing about skiing. Actually, for Rell, the sport was not always her jam. “I was always never super excited to go. It was kind of a battle for my parents to get me ready to go skiing,” she said. Then Rell discovered slopestyle, where athletes ski down a specially designed course filled with jumps, rails, boxes, and other terrain park features. “I started going through the park and seeing people hitting the jumps and I was like, that seems really fun,” she said. Fun, and a place where Rell quickly discovered she excelled. She has competed and won in X Games competition. And she’s scheduled to compete again in January at the X Games in Aspen, before the Olympics. “I love going out everyday and hitting everything. Just trying crazy tricks,” she said. It’s a sport that, as a couch potato, it seems like it’s not for the faint of heart. Rell confirmed that. “It’s very scary for me, too,” she said. “I’m a big adrenaline junkie. I love the feeling of finally accomplishing something crazy. Landing a trick I haven’t done on snow before and just like the feeling of it and the rush and everything.” When not on the slopes, Rell loves taking in Utah’s mountains on foot, hiking, though that, too, can come with a shot of adrenaline. “I was just followed by a moose, actually,” she said. After a couple minutes, Rell said the moose lost interest in her and her mom. And when not running from wildlife, you are likely to find Rell picking through the racks at a local thrift shop. “For slope-style skiing a big part of that is style, like what you wear and stuff, same as, like, kind of skateboarding,” she said.

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