INTERVIEW

Tell us a little about yourself?

I'm 18 years old from Victoria BC. I'm at SFU doing general studies at the moment classes 2 days a week so I try and ski 3 days a week whici gives 2 days off to do homework. This is my 17^th year skiing and it is my greatest love.

How do you express yourself? What do you do?

All my friends say I am the most random person they have ever met I will burst out with a random line from anywhere at anytime. When im skiing though I’m a little more focused and I work my butt off if I have a goal for the day.

How did you get your start?

I moved from Ontario to Victoria when I was a year old.  My parents bought a condo at Mt. Washington when I was 2 because they were big skiers, so I naturally jumped on a pair of skis at the age of 2.  I skied with my parents until I was 6, racing till I was 12, freestyle till I was 16, since then I have just free skied.  I just started to get into powder and back country this year and I really like it. You feel like you have way more freedom in the back country and it’s a lot more challenging to try and get shots and video, I love it.

What's your home hill?

Well I’m originally from a hill on Vancouver Island called Mt. Washington (shout out to everyone back home) but now I'm living in Vancouver, so I ski and train at Whistler.  It’s made me step up my game so much.  My buddy took me on the greatest powder day of my life on Whistler.  It made me feel like a local because it was a secret spot that no one goes to.

Park, pipe or big mountain?

I haven’t skied a pipe since I was 14 because Mt. Washington doesn’t have one; I went in one a few weeks ago and almost died. I’m mainly a park rider, not a big fan of rails but I love launching huge jumps, and my style has really improved this year since hitting Whistler’s, but I really want to move into the back country. I bought a fullface helmet and I’ve been throwing back flips off cliffs and starting to do some fronts and mistys off cliffs so I'm stoked to get into that.

What is an average day for you?

At school when I have class wake up at 830, shower, eat, go to class from 930 till 630, might have a nap in between classes. When I don’t have class wake up at 1030-1100 and chill, do homework, send my friends messages who are in class and rub it in. On a ski day i'll wake up at 8, get out onto the hill for 830-900, ski all day, come home and eat, if there’s night skiing I might go out for a few hours but usually I’ll just come home chill with friends then go to sleep.

Who are your influences?

Well, my parents for putting up with all the stuff I do and getting me to the ski bus at 5am on Fridays this year.  My photographer Chris because if I didn’t have him I wouldn’t have tried half the stuff I can do.  Cr Johnson cause he’s the closest thing to a god in our sport coming back from near-death, Kye Peterson (he’s a year younger and at least a foot shorter than me but I look up to him) because he’s a young kid who left the confines of the park and switched to back country, which is what I want to do, and lastly Tanner Hall because the guy progresses the sport so much and takes so much sh*t but still kills it.

How is it reppin' out of Whistler these days?

It’s awesome, everyone who wears Arson up here are snowboarders, and so maybe people notice me because their like “isn’t Arson a snowboard company” and I'm a kid from a small hill coming in and showing what I can do.  I had one guy ask if he could shoot me, so that made me feel really cool.

Advice to those coming up?

Put your fear on the shelf, don’t be afraid to try new stuff and don’t conform if you wanna stand out.  Get your own style.

What ignites your soul?

In the morning looking outside my window either at my dorm room, condo, or where ever I found a place to stay and seeing snow dumping.

Words to live by......

Resist Conformity

Do you ride to music? If yes, who’s in your IPOD?

You don’t want me to list my music on my Ipod but mainly I take my music from ski movies and songs from motion pictures I like, and if someone has a cool video on Youtube and I like the song I steal it

Favorite song on my Ipod is either:

Picture of Selassie Remix - Khari Kill

Let The Drummer Kick It - Citizen Cope

Falling Inside The Black – Skillet..

What's on your desert island?

Food, few drinks, computer with an internet connection.

You're successful when you've......

I’ve landed a huge trick off a jump or off a cliff and people either ski down to me or yell from the chair “DUDE THAT WAS SOOOOOO SICK!!!!!!!”.  Makes me feel big.

What's in your pocket/wallet right now?

My keys, cell phone, chapstick, in my wallet there’s bank/credit card, receipts, everything but cash.

What do you spend your summers doing?

Working, but this summer I'm doing a week at Camp Of Champions to learn some new tricks, learn right side spins, and get noticed by industry big times.

Tell us about your worst spill?

The worst spill I had was probably at my first pro invite comp last year.  I did a switch 10 but I hiked up another 30 feet cause everyone was casing it.  I skated in hard, jumped to switch and tucked the rest of the way in.  I ended up landing past the tranny and banging my arm up pretty good, but I was back skiing the next day .

What's the goal for this season?

Come out with a ski sponsor and get my name out there.  Trick wise I wanna get double back flips, misty 10, switch 12, and mature my style.

Last words....

“It’s a random saying that doesn’t mean anything, like ‘Rabadaba ding dong’ and ‘Give peace a Chance’” - Andrew Paone (my brother).