tanner rosenthal tansnowman

Aseda Athlete Tanner "Tansnowman" Rosenthal

Feeling comfortable jumping from four story cliffs, and skiing backwards through mogul fields, some might consider him a "freestyle big mountain" skier. However, for Tanner "Tansnowman" Rosenthal, the mountain is a temple, skiing is prayer, and he would rather just think of himself as a snow shaman in training.

Creator of Panda Poles bamboo ski poles, Tansnowman blends his interests as an artist, inventor, competitive skier, and healer.

Tanner's big mountain skiing inspired him to design a snag-free powder basket for a ski pole, which is then coupled with bamboo. After three years of design, Tanner released pandapoles.com in January, 2011. The two videos below provide a closer view of the innovative Panda Poles design and some excellent footage of Tanner knee deep in his shamanic powder path.

No Iframes

The Path of a Snow Shaman

Having grown up in southeast Idaho, Tanner has been finding his way up to the ski hill since the age of three. Making his first turns at Grand Targhee, and calling Pebble Creek Ski Area his home mountain for 15 years, he has developed a style of hard, explosive, exciting skiing which made him a crowd favorite on the USSA Intermountain Freestyle Mogul Tour from 2001-2004.

Tanner moved to the mountains of the Wasatch just after graduating high school in 2003, and began competing in slopestyle and big air competitions. In 2004, Tanner made stops at the X-Games Qualifiers, the US Open, and X-96 Games slopestyle competitions, making it to the finals for the X-games qualifier, and placing 3rd in the X-96 games.

In the winter of 2007, after years of competing, trying to become a name in the ski industry, and partially burning out, Tanner spent a season "away from it all" in Hokkaido, Japan. Other than the Australian tourists and endless powder, Tanner renewed his love for skiing as he spent the winter season in the snow fields of Japan's northernmost island.

Returning to Utah the following winter, Tanner spent the last four seasons exploring the intricacies of Snowbird's hallowed flanks, while developing Panda Poles and working in a ski tuning shop at the base of the mountain. In 2009, He started an on-mountain meditation group called Mountain Meditations, which he has been leading with his mentor and ski buddy Oakley White-Allen for the past two seasons.

Having trained under the guidance of Oakley and competing in the Freeskiing World Championships 2008-2010, Tanner has found solace in the crazy world of big mountain freeskiing.

Tanner Profile

Sports: skiing, mountain climbing, biking, surfing
Training Methods: yoga, stretching
Interests: eco sustainability, Burning Man Festival, community, adventure
Core Values: Do unto others better than you would do unto yourself.
Home Base: Snowbird, Utah
Website: PandaPoles.com