The Snowboarder's Journal - The Snowboarder's Journal 21.2
EARLY RISES AND LATE RETURNS WITH BRIAN BOZACK
Words: Brook Canstisano 2023-10-24 08:51:42
“Brian Bozack charging hard at Sugar Bowl Resort, CA, fresh off the 2014 Freeride World Tour.” Photo: Sky Emerson
As little league coaches like to say, “Winning isn’t everything, it’s how you play the game.” With age, this adage comes into focus more clearly. Our society often puts the destination before the journey. In doing so, we fail to tell a prescient narrative for our time: The story of the earned.
Brian Bozack was a quiet kid with big rimmed glasses hiding intent eyes. A ski racer from Sugarbush, VT, who came home one day in his early teens and told his mom, “I’m a snowboarder now.”
In 1996 his search for sweeter turns brought him to California’s mountains, specifically Donner Summit and Sugar Bowl. Rumors flew that he was a silent assassin, but few had seen him slay. He certainly didn’t line up at backcountry kickers with the other folks awaiting their leaps to stardom. Instead, you might have found him hiking up the mountain as the cameras rolled in the other direction. This dedication to steep and deep lines drove his evolution; he was emerging as a big mountain man. In 2006 he earned a spot competing on the Freeride World Tour. At the time Bozack was 36, the oldest rookie in the contest’s history.
His riding style is not known for showy tricks or exaggerated turns. Just well-laid lines, as beautiful to look at after he lays them as it is to watch him work. While other riders riff freeform jazz, Bozack hits the notes exactly as written. Competing against men half his age, with technical prowess that can outscore younger knees and bigger airs, Bozack continues to vie for his spot nearly two decades later. Finishing the 2021-22 Freeride World Qualifiers with a respectable third overall, he missed the wild card invitation to the big dance by just one point.
An individual of few words and many friends, Bozack spends his summers gathering the necessary funds for winter in the mountains by working construction with a crew of “local boy” aging shredders. Their number one rule: The work stops when the snow flies. Clinging to the life of the indigent snowboard bum, he remains on the summit, planted in his A-frame cabin just down the road from Sugar Bowl.
Bozack’s story is one of turns learned, the product of unrelenting perseverance. The first to strap on the rock board when early dustings invite disaster, the last to admit defeat to the unyielding summer. A ballad of early rises and late returns. One of mental fortitude and sacrificed physical comforts. His lifetime of studying lines is his comparative advantage against younger generations, even if some of those lines are starting to show on his face.
With his first pro-model deck just released by Vaughn Snowboards, at 47 years old Bozack keeps the dream alive. I caught up with him in early August as he prepared for a trip to Las Lenas, Argentina. “I just love getting to ride new mountains and spending time with my Freeride [World Tour] family,” Bozack says. He is headed to another competition in Argentina this winter and can’t contain the excitement in his voice. “The ’06 and ’07 invitations to go on the tour were unbelievable opportunities,” he continues. “An expenses-paid trip to Argentina’s biggest mountains, competing against my heroes and friends. Who wouldn’t want to try again?”
His tally of 131 days (and counting) on the snow this season make his motive for continuing to compete clear. Snowboarding is his life, his dedication, his way of existence. Tempering the balance between professional athlete and soul rider, allowing the limits of age and facility to be defined only by the stoic nature of the mountains. Doing it for the love, for the beauty of the perfect turn, for the accomplishment of a life well ridden. He’s the most dedicated athlete you never knew, who chooses to lead a magnanimous life.
Like Coach always said, “Winning isn’t everything.”
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