Larger Than Life
Keri Herman has been standing on podiums and snowparks since the early 2000s. Her professional ski career has taken her around the world from the Sochi 2014 Olympics to World Cups in almost every continent. Winning numerous X-Games Medals and World Cup podiums, Keri developed a reputation as a household name in womens slopestyle, helping progress the sport in a time is was dominated by men. Following her success, she transitioned to ski design and becoming a core member of RMU and is the current lead sales representative.
Pow Turn At Monarch Mountain. Photograph By Kenny Martinez
Keri grew up in Minnesota playing ice hockey, as one does living in Minnesota. The skillset may not have been a hard transition for her. Swapping high speed skates for longer, and more stable, skis, while swapping the hard hitting bodychecks to the hard landings of rails and halfpipes. While she grew up in the cold and ice, it wasn't until her time at the University that she transitioned to skiing.
Keri found her true calling in skiing at the age of 21 while attending the University of Denver. Living at the foothills of the rockies, Keri learnt all the tricks of trade in the local ski parks. After a few years in Denver and graduating in 2005 at the age of 23 with a Finance and Marketing degree, she moved to Breckenridge Colorado, to reignite her competitiveness from the days in ice skates. Without much delay, Keri quickly became a household name.
Keri Skijoring
In 2007, Keri won the Aspen Open Slopestyle, the only major slopestyle competition for women at the time. This was a large transitional step as the event helped make the decision to put her next university degree on hold and commit to the lifestyle of a professional skier.
Keri took up a spotlight in the ski world, accumulating multiple sponsors over the years; ROCKSTAR Energy, Scott USA, Breckenridge Resort, HEAD SKIS, US Freeskiing, Buff, Jiberish, and Discrete. Keri competed globally and continued her success from the Aspen Open on the world stage.
Keri earn over 15 medals in her career, with 5 silver medals at Winter X-Games, multiple podiums and a gold medal at Dew Tour, along with multiple medals at Gran Prix's, World Cups, FIS World Championships & Big Air competitions. Keri was the first World Champion awarded the Crystal Globe in Slopestyle. She was also named to the US Freeskiing Slopestyle team in 2011 and represented the USA at the Sochi Olympics in 2014.
Her accomplishes stand alone, but furthermore, they helped path a way for numerous more women in the sport of slopestyle and freestyle skiing today.
In 2016 Keri joined RMU as an athlete, representing us, a local Breckenridge ski company. It was in 2017 Keri unfortunately sustained a serious leg injury. Her situation required a partial femur transplant which subsequently ended her slopestyle career. While it closed the end of one career, Keri's larger than life personality took everything head on, as would an ice hockey player.
The new doors that opened for Keri were in ski and outerwear development. Since 2017, Keri pivoted her position in RMU from just an athlete, to a skier designer and our lead sales representative.
Keri and RMU COO Chris reviewing new Valhalla production files
In 2018, Keri stepped in with our production team to redesign the " Valhalla ". The redesign by Keri and our team created the current models Valhalla 97 & Valhalla 107. Both redesigns received high praise from the ski community, appealing to everybody whose just looking for some good old fashion fun.
"I wanted to develop a ski for everyone that preforms awesomely in every situation: cruising fresh groomers, bombing the steeps, hitting jumps and rails, buttering rollers, stable while going super fast, and ripping tight trees. You guys, WE DID IT! This ski is the most best ever!!! I’m not even kidding. The 97 is PERFECT in every condition as an all mountain and every day ski. If you’re looking for something a little wider, we have the 107 that destroys powder and also rips the mountain on any day of the year making big graceful turns."
- Keri Herman
This 2nd rendition of the Valhalla in 2018 won numerous awards, including Powder Magazines "Skier's Choice" in 2021. It continues to be one of our best selling skis year after year.
You'll still find Keri living large in Breckenridge, taking her Valhalla 97's to the Breckenridge ski park on a daily basis and spending time in our Breckenridge HQ. Her charisma stands on its on podium as someone who representing ski culture through thick and thin. We're stoked to have Keri as a part of our community and team, representing the lifestyle we love and pursue year after year.
Check out this upcoming season's Valhalla 97 Breckenridge Limited Edition. With artwork based on the famous Peak 8 chairlift
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