Short film explores Samuels’ identity as a charging, big mountain snowboarder raised on the rocky steeps of Big Sky’s Headwaters Ridge
By Mario Carr EBS CONTRIBUTOR
One of Big Sky’s finest mountain athletes is in the spotlight, in a new film set to premiere on Friday, Dec. 19.
The Pangea Collective Youtube channel will release four short documentaries, each showcasing the unique story of one skier or snowboarder on the 2025 Freeride World Tour: Ross Tester, Taylor Dobyns, Jonathan Penfield and Big Sky’s own Holden Samuels. A professional freeride snowboarder, Samuels finished sixth overall last season and qualified for the 2026 FWT. The title of the Samuels-focused film, “Outlier,” is a description of his unique, aggressive style forged on the steep slopes of Lone Mountain, as the only snowboarder on his freeride team.
“There’s just not a lot of snowboarders in Big Sky or Montana in general. Most people ski and I think that has a lot to do with the fact that the terrain is a little bit more difficult to snowboard in… it doesn’t lend itself to snowboarding really well like some other places,” Samuels explained in an interview with EBS about the film.
The documentary features intimate time with Samuels’ family, along with some time following him around his home mountain on the terrain that turned him into the competitor he is today.
“I’m really thankful to grow up in Big Sky. I love the community, I love the town, I love the mountain and it’s pushed me a long way… I’ve been all around the world—Big Sky’s still my favorite place to ride,” Samuels said.
Pangea Collective Creative Director Ethan Herman says that he’s wanted to cover Samuels’ story for a long time, and thinks the best is yet to come for his career.
“We want to tell stories about the athletes that we work with… Holden really stood out to us because he’s really just like such an underrated rider. I think he absolutely has the talent to win the tour,” Herman said.
Herman believes that Samuels—who is now 25 years old—has the years under his belt and the strength in his legs to piece together a championship run. With hopes that Freeride will be part of the 2030 Winter Olympics, Samuels aims to compete for gold on that new world stage.
Go big or go home
As Big Sky’s first competitive FWT contestant to tackle the slopes on one edge, Samuels has made it to the highest level of competition and hopes he’s helped inspire others to follow in his bootsteps.
A theme of the film is Samuels’ stubbornness as a rider, and how that has shaped his creative and aggressive style. He said it can be harder for snowboarders to control speed on certain freeride venues.
“Growing up around skiers I just wanted to do the same things they were doing. I didn’t understand why I couldn’t do that, so that was always my goal throughout competing,” Samuels said. He fought to keep up with his older brother, Chase, on skis as he led the way down gnarly terrain during Holden’s development as an athlete. Chase also competed in freeride in the skiing category.
“I just tried to do everything he was doing and I think that helped me a lot. I think it’s hurt me in some competitions—but overall it’s made me a much better rider,” Holden said.
As a kid, Holden believed snowboarders were simply less exciting to watch than the skiers in competition, and it was his goal to change that. “That definitely got me into some trouble because I have hit a lot of things in competition that maybe I shouldn’t have,” he said.
Samuels’ career as a freeride competitor has been known for big sends and big spills, but he’s never let his failures discourage him. Last season he fought to make the cut after falling at his first two events, and hopes this year he can combine his skills and his wisdom for a cleaner journey to the championship.
Balancing risk and reward in competition has been Samuels’ greatest challenge, but he explained that he believes he has what it takes to continue to make the podium in a sport that puts a lot of weight into top results—middle-of-the-pack finishes don’t pay off as much as victories, even if the podium chase leads to a crash here and there.
“So a lot of competitors do have an incentive to kinda go big or go home, in a way,” he said.
When it comes to balancing his love for freeride with the reality of the competition and the need to outperform others, Samuels has never complicated the issue.
“I have pretty high expectations for myself… I would definitely say that I’m just trying to ride my best and compete against myself more than anything during every competition and usually if I do that, those are the same criteria that would land me on the podium.”
