alexandra jane saunders was born in denver, colorado in 1986. she was raised on the ski slopes by her mother, an instructor. her father is a hotel manager in that part of the world. alex is the middle child of three, with a sister, charlotte, who’s older and a brother, henry, who is two years younger. neither of her siblings enjoyed skiing as much as alex did, and both of them gave it up when they went away for college, but she remained in denver until she was 22, studying journalism at the city’s university.

alex skied in the superpipe at the winter x games in 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010, finishing with medals in all four years. her most recent skiing events were the new zealand winter games in 2011, where she skied in the halfpipe and big air events, and the freestyle world ski championships that same year. she had plans to continue her career after that due to her successes, but was injured in a fall on the slopes in early 2012. she damaged her hip, to the point where she was on crutches for a time and eventually had surgery. after that, and a long time taken up by physiotherapy, she was advised not to ski competitively again in case of further incident which could end up with her damaging the same hip irreparably. she’s allowed to ski for leisure, and does, even though she was told she should avoid it where possible. she figures as long as she’s careful, it’s okay, and so far, so good.

instead, at the age of 25, she finally went back to college, studying for her master’s at uc berkeley. the plan was to study for three years and return to colorado, but instead, after graduating in early 2016, she decided to stay in california for the time being. she’s currently living in palo alto with a roommate and teaches a journalism elective at a local high school, as well as covering the subject at a community college. some of her students are older than her, but she doesn’t mind that as long as they don’t.