Where to Ski And Snowboard - Fireman lands dream ski job in Alaska

Fireman lands dream ski job in Alaska

8th March 2016, by Abi Butcher

Spanish firefighter and ski instructor Iñigo Ruiz de Gauna Merino is going to Alaska

Pro skier Matilda Rapaport and clothing brand Peak Performance have filled the “radical job” post they advertised in January.

Clothing brand and sponsors of the World Freeride Tour, Peak Performance, ran a competition earlier this year to find someone suitable to help professional skier Matilda Rapaport carry her skis during the Alaska leg of the tour.

With more than 1,000 entries, making a decision wasn’t easy, but in the end it was 30-year-old Iñigo Ruiz de Gauna Merino from Bilbao in Spain who caught the judges’ eyes with his amusing Instagram video. Iñigo is a firefighter and ski instructor, and over the moon about his new position — even though it is for one week only.

Matilda called Iñigo in person on her way to Canada and the message made him speechless. He later said: “YIHAAAAAAAA! I’m really excited…Now that I have been confirmed as the choice for the Radical job I must confess that I’ve hardly slept during the past days since I knew I was one of the five remaining applicants. I still can’t believe I have gotten the job and that I´ll be in Alaska with a friend skiing with Matilda next month. So shocked…Thank you!!”

Iñigo Ruiz de Gauna Merino will be travelling to Alaska from 15 to 23 March, with a friend, to carry Matilda’s skis and hopefully enjoy a few turns of his own.

The Peak Performance jury said: “Looking at the application from Iñigo Ruiz de Gauna Merino still makes us laugh even though we have seen it around a hundred times. He has put a lot of work into the details, something Matilda will appreciate in a critical situation. In life skiing is Iñigos biggest passion and he has been on snow since he was three. His profession today is as a firefighter, but he also works as a ski instructor for the Winter Sports Federation of Biscay. All in all we are very confident that Iñigo will do a great job!”

Matilda Rapaport added: “This has been really fun. I am so impressed by the many great applications that have been uploaded. From the bottom of my heart I like to express THANK YOU to everyone out there that have engaged themselves in this project, and to all of you that did not yet check it out - Take a look at #radicaljob at Instagram!”

Watch the video on Instagram here