Watching someone drop into a halfpipe and perform three somersaults 20 feet above a sheet of ice is enough to make anyone believe freestyle skiers are devoid of fear.
Zoe Atkin is ready to dispel that myth.
The Beijing 2022 Olympian is gearing up for a new season on the freestyle skiing circuit after storming to X Games silver last year, adding to her gold from 2023 and two World Championship medals.
But after suffering from burnout at the end of 2024, Atkin is keen to remind people that not every extreme sport athlete is a raging adrenaline junkie.
Even with the calm she feels before dropping in for a run, the 21-year-old is aware there will always be an innate fear of her tricks due to the nature of the sport.
"I feel the rush so much every time," she said. "There's such a misconception about our sport and extreme sport athletes that we're just crazy adrenaline junkies.
"I don't really think that's true. I'm definitely not that way. I'm very calculated and meticulous about how I'm pushing myself.
"Of course it's scary. I'm flipping around in the air above ice so the fear is there.
"No matter how many times I've done a trick, I'm still a little bit scared to do it so I have to trust in my training and control what I can control. But let's face it, it's fun.
"When I go down for a run, that's one of the few times I feel super present, locked in and ready."
Atkin will also never pass up the opportunity to feel the rush of excitement away from competition. Enter cold dips and bungee jumping in New Zealand.
"I get to travel so much so I love to hike and have a cold plunge in any body of water when I'm off skiing," she said.
"When we were in New Zealand this summer, we went bungee jumping off this massive ravine thing and that was such a highlight for me."
There is a lot at stake in a 2024/25 campaign which will see the World Championships, X Games and World Cup take centre stage as athletes work hard to qualify for the Milano-Cortina 2026 Olympics.
Atkin, however, is keeping the process as simple as possible, hoping that her overarching ambitions of trying something new to upscale her run will be her key to Olympic qualification.
"I've been working on new things for this year," she said.
"The last few seasons, I've been sticking with my same run and just building but this year I want to incorporate some new tricks into my run as well. I'm really excited to do that and see where it puts me.
"I have specific goals in terms of my runs and so I know that if I compete at the level I want to compete at, hopefully the Olympic qualification criteria will take care of itself."
Atkin made her Olympic debut at 19-years-old, finishing ninth in the women's freeski halfpipe final.
It came four years after her older sister Izzy claimed Team GB’s first-ever Olympic medal on skis at PyeongChang 2018.
Izzy had to bow out of Beijing due to a pelvis injury but her younger sister flew the flag for the family in style, even if her own experience of the event was tainted by internal pressure.
"I was really excited to be going into the Olympics for the first time but there was a lot of internal pressure on myself, being so young and seeing my sisters success at the previous Olympics," she said.
"That season was suddenly no longer as fun because I was so stressed about it.
"I felt like I was putting a lot of expectations on myself on what I was supposed to do and accomplish there.
"While it was an amazing experience, I didn't ski to the level I wanted to and it was really disappointing for me."
Now a couple of years older and with more international experience under her belt, Atkin is taking a more relaxed approach into Milano-Cortina in a bid to fully enjoy her second Olympic experience.
"Now, I'm trying to come into it with a different perspective," she added.
"I've proven myself in the sport a little bit more now and am more established as a top competitor. That's something which can build my confidence going into the next Olympics and I really want to enjoy this experience."
Sportsbeat 2024