Ski and Snowboard Club Vail coach becomes first female Argentinian skier to qualify for Freeride World Tour
Casey Day/FWT
One day after sliding down most of the East Wall, Agostina Vietti stood at the top of A-Basin, staring down her final chance to make the Freeride World Tour. The 27-year-old’s crash on April 15 meant her hopes of qualifying for the big mountain’s biggest stage hinged completely on this last FWT Challenger run.
“Everyone got scared when I fell the first day,” said Vietti, who planned to take the same line on April 16. “I knew I had the skills to do it. I could do it.”
She was right. Vietta stomped her way to silver and secured second place in the overall standings, becoming the first Argentinian woman to qualify for the FWT.
“I’m very proud of everything I did,” she said. “All the people who support me and are proud of me — it makes me very happy.”
It’s been a bit of a journey. Even though Vietta’s joyful, coolheaded and competitive nature oozes forth naturally now, the confident pre-run self-talk wasn’t always automatic. Vietta grew up in San Martin de los Andes, Argentina to parents who came to skiing later in life.
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“Since we grew up in a ski town, they wanted me and brothers to ski,” she said.
Vietta started Alpine racing but drifted to freeride when she was 16. In 2016, she moved to Aspen, where her brother lives. Working at the ski school with 3 and 6-year-olds was fine, but Vietta “wanted to ski more for sure.” Occasionally, she tuned into the FWT.
“When I’d see the ladies ski, I was like, ‘I can ski like that,'” Vietta said.
In 2022, she started competing in freeride. That year, she also met her current boyfriend and coach, Matias Doherty. The couple moved to Vail three years ago and work as middle school freeride coaches at Ski and Snowboard Club Vail.
“We keep it fun!” Doherty said of the couples’ coach-athlete relationship. “It’s really fun working on her confidence with big stuff, showing her progressions and sometimes having her follow me. And we think alike when finding fun ways down the mountain.”
Lacking the requisite points to enter many of the stateside competitions, Vietta entered FWT Qualifier events in South America. Her performances in 2023 qualified her for the FWT Challenger series for the following winter. At the first stop in Crested Butte on March 15, she questioned her preconceived sense of belonging as one opponent after the other launched — and effortlessly landed — huge tricks.
“The first girl was Lydia Nelson and she did a huge backflip off a cliff. Another girl tried a front flip and the girls were crushing,” Vietti recalled. “I was like, ‘what am I doing here?’ do I belong here?’ I was so afraid and scared.”
Despite the nerves, Vietti stomped her run and picked up the bronze medal. At stop No. 2 in Silverton, she placed fifth. But an eighth-place result at the final event in Kirkwood bumped her down to sixth in the overall rankings — one spot from automatically prequalifying for the 2025 Challenger season. Keeping the dream alive meant returning to the Qualifier tour.
In August, Vietta won the El Colorado event in Chile. Later that fall, she picked up silvers at both the Las Lenas and Chapelco events in Argentina. At her first challenger event of the 2025 season, she placed fourth in Kirkwood, a good position going into the A-Basin events. As a skier, Vietta said she doesn’t rely on aerial maneuvers.
“I like to ski fast,” she said. Doherty believes her Alpine racing beginnings are to blame.
“She definitely isn’t afraid of speed,” he said. “She has adapted her technique to big mountain and charges.”
Even though she fell on the first day at A-Basin, Vietta was keen on taking the same route.
“I just wanted to be down very fast and get over it,” she said. “I took the first feature a little more to the left. Luckily, I cleared the rocks underneath.”
Doherty said he was impressed by Vietta’s turn after the first cliff and into the second hit.
“She crushed it where others were really slowing down due to the steepness of the venue,” he added.
On her visit to the East Wall, Vietta left with the silver. Wynter McBride claimed the win while Nelsen — the athlete Vietti was intimidated by a year prior — came in third. Vietti joins Joey Leonardo as locals who’ve qualified for the 2026 tour. She’ll head to Argentina in July for on-snow training but plans to return to Vail in the fall before she leaves for Europe this winter. Unfortunately, her own career step means hitting pause on youth coaching next year.
These days, Vietta said her “very wild and very talented” kids often test — and inspire — her confidence as much as any competitor.
“At the beginning of the season, they were hitting features and rocks that I did not want to do. I was like, ‘man I have to do it if they are doing it,'” she said. “They push me to go after it and believe in myself a lot.”
