Three-year-old Fernie local Adia Leidums is internet famous, even if she doesn’t know it.
Adia’s parents, Erich Leidums and Courtney Haeusler decided to mic-up little Adia as she honed her skiing talents into being a future Olympian on the slopes at Fernie Alpine Resort, and after being featured on CNN, her pep-talks are now world famous.
“I got the idea a couple of years back from a hockey dad that mic’d up his son at a practice to catch his narration and self-monologue,” said Erich, who said Adia’s self-talk was well worth capturing.
“We would hear those things before we mic’d her up, she would say those things.
“When I was using my Go-Pro without the mic, I would try to get closer to her, and after she fell and got up she’s have something to say to the camera but I always had to get really close. With a microphone it doesn’t miss anything she says. Any sigh, laugh or giggle – it’s pretty adorable.”
Adia likes to remind herself what to watch out for on the slopes, whether dirt or ice, and likes to say hello to characters and animals that decorate the trails for younger kids.
Adia is the youngest of Erich and Courtney’s three kids, along with Luca (five) and August (seven), who’ve all been skiing since Erich was first able to get them to stay in a pair of ski boots (so, around 18 months). They’re all accomplished skiers, and feature heavily in Erich’s videos of skiing Fernie Alpine Resort as part of his ‘That Mountain Life’ videos on YouTube and Instagram.
Adia and her family are now all over the internet, after CNN featured her pep-talks last week. Erich has since seen his follower count on Instagram spike from 3k in early February to over 83k.
There will be plenty more of little Adia, even though winter’s wrapping up in B.C., thanks to the Leidums family being all about the outdoors.
“I’ll keep documenting and micing her up next year. We hike mountains and paddle and all that sort of stuff so we’ll be documenting our journeys here moving forward.”
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