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MAR/APR 2019
love going back home and riding with them. They are always down to do anything
snow related like go build a jump or setup a spot in Hood River. I remember every
weekend when I was younger all of us piling into my mom’s minivan to head up
to Meadows so hyped to ride. I literally can’t remember riding without them when
I was younger. Without those three I don’t know if I would ever gotten really into
snowboarding
How does Meadows differ from Timberline terrain wise?
Meadows and Timberline are a lot different terrain wise. Meadows is a lot steeper
than Timberline. So if it’s a pow day you’re obviously gonna head to Meadows.
Meadows has a ton of fun cliffs, natural hits, and little poppers. If you know where
to go at Meadows on a pow day you can get fresh tracks all day. I’ll always have
a special place for Meadows just because I grew up riding there. A slushy spring
park day at Timberline is to die for though. Every year they set up the sickest
spring park. It is always the best park I hit all year. There’s also nothing like a sum-
mer day at Timberline.
What is the US Rookie Team like. You have been traveling around the US and
in Europe for competitions. How has that been going and what is it like to
compete overseas?
The Rookie Team has been awesome. I have so many resources now. There is a
PT that travels with us as well as a team doctor that comes on international com-
petitions just incase you take a slam. The coaches are awesome and I love riding
with my homies on the team. I love competing overseas. I get to meet a ton of new
people and see the world/different cultures while snowboarding in the most insane
places. I love traveling and eating crazy foods and seeing how people around the
world live. China was the craziest place I went this year. It was so much different
from the US which was dope. There is definitely an added stress when competing
overseas. It’s like I came all the way out here I better land my run, haha. This was
my first year doing world cups and I was pretty stoked on how it went. I put down a
run in all of them except one and made it to finals in two of them.
Who has become your closest travel and competition friends?
Some of my closest competition/travel friends are Jake Canter, Jack Coyne and
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I landed my first run which was kind of a safety run and then on my second run I
wanted to try some harder stuff but I washed out on the landing of the first jump. I
still had a blast and it was dope to see all the boys throw down. Really hope I get
the invite again next year.
Have you done any film or do shoot photos, gone on an magazine editorial
trip? Are you just concentrating on competition for now?
I haven’t done a whole lot of film/ photo shoots trips. Last year I went to Revelstoke
with some homies to film for the GRLD Cheese movie that is going to be drop-
ping this fall. It was such a fun trip and I’d love to do more trips like that. It’s just
been hard to make time for those trips with so many competitions all season and
also schoolwork. I have two more competitions this year at Mammoth and then I’m
planning to go film at Hood with the GRLD cheese boys. I really enjoy competing
but in the future I’d like to move more into the film scene.
You probably have one of the sickest home skate setups. There are ramps all
over your yard. Even the US Snowboard Team has been there for a session,
and other known skaters have been through there. How did you get so many
ramps?
We have a mini mega ramp that kinda ends where the 11 ft vert ramp begins. So
you can gap from the end of the mini mega into the vert ramp. Then on the other
side of the house we have a 5ft tall and pretty wide mini ramp with a little 2 foot ex-
tension on one wall. We got a lot of our ramps kinda randomly when people were
getting rid of them. The first ramp we got was the mini mega. My dad had a client
that was getting rid of it and asked my dad if he wanted it and he was like yeah
that would be dope. Then the vert ramp came about when my dad and I were
down in Bend for a comp. Dru Brownrigg was moving and asked if we wanted his
vert ramp and we were super down. We got the skatelite off it but then the new
people moved into the house and destroyed the ramp. So we decide just to build
the rest of it because we had all the skatelite and coping. The last ramp we got
was the Unheard mini ramp. They were moving locations and needed a place to
store the ramp so we were psyched to add that one to the collection too.
The best thing about Hood River is there are
endless things to do there and a ton of awe-
some people who are down to do stuff. In the
summer you can start your day snowboarding
at Mt. Hood, cruise back down to Hood River to
go kiting, then skate or mountain bike, then go
to a cool cliff jumping spot to cool off.
Dusty Henricksen. They are super fun to ride with. We are always hyping each
other up and getting each other psyched to try new tricks. They make snowboard-
ing a lot more fun for me. My favorite thing to do with them while I’m on trips is
make goofy edits.
What new tricks have you learned and landed in competition? What other new
tricks are you working on?
Some new tricks I’ve learned and landed in competition are switch backside 1260
and frontside double 1080. I’ve done these tricks in basically every competition
this year. This past October in Switzerland I learned switch backside 1620 and
frontside triple 1440. I”ve been wanting to try them in a comp all season but haven’t
been able to yet.
What has been the sickest contest set up? How have you done at world cups?
The sickest contest setups I’ve been on are definitely LAAX Open and The US
Open. The jumps at these comps are massive and built perfectly. The courses also
flow super well too. This was my first year doing world cups and I did pretty well. I
made finals in The LAAX Open and in Italy.
The US Open in Vail used to be a competition where anybody could attempt to
qualify and then compete against the big name pros. Not any longer. Are you
qualified for 2019? What do you have to do to qualify? How did your runs go?
Yeah I was psyched I got in to it this year, by far the funnest comp I’ve done. The
vibe is so good and unlike any comp I’ve been too. It’s a snowboarder comp for
snowboarders made by snowboarders. On top of all that the course was insane.
Tell us something about how your sponsors have helped you. Who was the
first person to discover your talents and hook you up?
The first person to notice me and hook me up was Wally Inouye. He sold me my
first skateboard when I was 5 at his old skate shop IPS. That was huge because it
started my love for boarding. Then when I was a little older around 7 he sponsored
me for skateboarding and I remember just being through the moon about being
sponsored by IPS. Then when I was 8 he gave me my first “real” snowboard. When
I was 9 I was on the fence about choosing between snowboarding and skiing he
told me I was a skateboarder so I should be a snowboarder. It was the best advice
I’ve ever received. Big shoutout to Wally he’s been supporting me since day 1.
When I was 9 Peter Foley introduced me to Barrett Christy from GNU and the have
had my back ever since.
When dropping into a competition slope course what is usually playing on
your earbuds. How do you block out the pressures of an international compe-
tition?
I have a couple of songs that I usually listen to during comp runs. I listen to “Got
To Have It” by Method Man, “Transportin” by Kodak Black, and “It’s A Vibe” by 2
Chainz. At some contests I’ll pick my song randomly during practice. If I land my
run during practice while a certain song is playing then I’ll play that song during my
comp run. Music always helps me block out nerves/ concentrate before comps.
Do you set goals for yourself or just ride hard and let the progression hap-
pen? How do you learn new tricks? How what have the US Team coaches
helped your snowboarding progress?