Madison Rose Ostergren goes 110% on most things. Often, it means skiing downhill at mach speeds or linking together big lines in Grand Teton National Park, WY. But most recently, it meant recording an entire album, “Good Enough For the Guys I Date,” a Folk Americana-style album filled with songs that the 28-year-old wrote over the last six years.
Ostergren is known for her contagious energy on skis, but music has always been a big part of her life. In middle school, she picked up a ukulele to accompany her while she sang. “All I really wanted to do back then was sing,” she says. “I’ve always loved music.” After ski racing through college, Ostergren, moved up to Jackson for the mountains, and she also surrounded herself with friends who either participated in, or supported, her creative side. Last fall, while recovering from a stubborn foot injury, she recorded “Good Enough For The Guys I Date.”
“I had been writing songs for so long, and after I got injured enough friends convinced me I should actually go record them,” she says. “There are lots of songs about love. There’s heartbreak, and strength within yourself. It’s vulnerable but it’s also playful.”
Music has been a creative outlet for professional skier Madison Rose Ostergren since she was a competitive ski racer as a kid. She released her first album this summer, “Good Enough For The Guys I Date.” Photo: Taylor Fasolo
Local friends Mark Engel and Hannah Habermann are two people Ostergren credits to fostering her creativity, recording alongside her at the studio in Jackson last year. “I think it’s really important to have a balance of things that bring you joy,” she says. “Especially when you can have those things taken away from you so quickly, like injury for athletes. If we don’t have other outlets or ways to challenge our brains it becomes so much harder.”
Ski goals, like skiing the Grand, Middle and South Teton in one day—which her and Jim Ryan did two winters ago—are more concrete than music. But that’s part of the fun.
“Doing stuff that’s fun and creative and doesn’t have to be skiing or climbing the hardest mountain,” she says. “Maybe it’s writing a song. And sometimes, life is just about having fun with it—that’s what this is.”
“Good Enough For The Guys I Date” is available to for listening now on all music streaming platforms.
Fueled by creativity, both on skis and off. Madison Rose Ostergren finds her happy place in the Tetons. Photo: Stephen Shelesky