Tiphanie Perrotin
“During her first year as a professional, she won the Freeride World Champion title. Whether she is drawing lines or jumping cliffs, she always has a smile on her face and fully embodies the spirit of freeride.”
These words are from Lolo Besse, a former pro snowboarder and part of the Oxbow family from the start. Today, he’s the ‘Comissioner & Head Judge’ of the Freeride World Tour.
If you know Tiphanie Perrotin or have had the opportunity to watch her runs, you know that the French rider expresses herself with the most beautiful lines possible with such contagious energy. According to rider Mathieu Crépel, she is “the perfect friend to have by your side when you go riding. She is committed but always with a smile and good fun.”
Tiphanie Perrotin grew up in the small village of La Tour between Chamonix and Geneva. Even though Brasses was the closest resort to her, it was in her garden that ‘Tiph’ first began to glide on snow. She started with skiing, which she practiced assiduously until she was 13, but eventually got bored of fighting to gain tenth of seconds. She had been watching her big sister’s friends having fun snowboarding, riding the sides of the slopes. And so during her teens, snowboarding became a way of embodying fun, freedom, and style. It was the beginning of a passion that would dictate her life choices.
She went on to participate in local amateur freestyle competitions with friends and skipped class “on pow pow days”. She bought magazines, “the ones with the DVD inside,” to inspire herself and feed her passion on days without snow. ‘Vivid’ and ‘Psykopit’ are both films that had a big impact on her love for snowboarding. At 34, she admits to “still being a fan of magazines and all the films that characterize our culture; the snowboard scene.”
"At the age of 20, Tiphanie Perrotin left the mountains to go to Belgium to study physiotherapy. She made a five-year sacrifice, which proved necessary to build a career and ensure income outside of the snowboard lessons she gave in the winter. In the summer, she works as a physiotherapist at the university hospital in Geneva, which is a 2-hour daily drive and a 50-hour workweek. Tiphanie Perrotin is a hard worker. “My job as a physiotherapist in the summer enables me to keep my feet on the ground, take a step back. I realize how lucky I am to be free to snowboard all winter.”
Today, Tiph no longer gives lessons in the winter. She is fully dedicated to reaching her new goals, such as performing again on the Freeride World Tour. In 2022, then a rookie on the Tour, she created the surprise of becoming World Champion. The following year, she didn’t make the cut for the FWT finals. This season, she is determined to make her comeback and qualify again. Her friend, and multiple Freeride World Tour Champion Marion Haerty confirms, “Tiphanie is a rider with a lot of determination and audacity, and she has incredible knowledge of the mountains. Her snowboarding talent increases year after year with devouring and impressive passion.”
Right from the start, competition was mainly an excuse. Of course, competing helps you excel and push your limits, but above all, it’s an opportunity to travel, to discover the most amazing spots, and share moments with people as passionate as herself. When we talk with Tiphanie, we immediately understand that it’s not the final goal that interests her. It’s about the journey getting there. “What I love about traveling is the adventure. Even if the goal is to ride a spot or do a face, in the end, what I like the most is the path I take to get there. The human and cultural adventure.”
Sharing with others is what drives Tiphanie Perrotin. It’s also one of the reasons why she created her own snowboard event for women. FIND YOUR LINE is open to all free riders, professionals, and amateurs alike who want to spend a weekend practicing and sharing freeride know how. The event covers topics such as how to choose your line, access it, find your way around, mentally prepare, manage your nutrition, and most importantly, ensure your safety and that of others. And to do this, Tiphanie surrounds herself with friends, all experts in the field, to advise and share their knowledge of the mountains and passion for freeride snowboarding. “And especially to have a laugh!” The event takes place in Verbier, Switzerland, the ideal spot to express your style.
Even though she rides steep slopes, Tiphanie prefers speed and the search for aesthetics in her lines.
” Verbier is really my favorite place to ride,” she says. Tiphanie, who has had the chance to ride in Canada and Japan, recognizes that Europe and the Alps are truly the most beautiful destination in the world. “The Alps are just incredible. You have peaks over 4,000m, height differences of 2km, slopes of over 45°, magnificent corridors, incredible forests… You have it all. The playground is amazing and unlike other places, it is really accessible.” Nevertheless, Tiphanie admits that the snowboard scene is less developed in Europe than in the rest of the world, such as the USA, Canada, or Japan. “For lots of reasons, and I don’t know them all. “What is certain is that in Europe we must bring small communities together, including the crews of riders in small resorts. Not feeling alone and isolated will make other people want to snowboard.”
Unite local communities to develop the European scene, share your passion with others, and notably to women. Tiphanie Perrotin undoubtedly represents the spirit of the Four Flowers. As a French brand, OXBOW is proud to support the European scene by sponsoring such a talented rider. Welcome to the team, Tiphanie!"
