“2015 was a pretty bad snow year in the Whistler, BC backcountry, but during the first week of April we got a big storm. Mark wanted to get some backcountry stuff for his movie, so Mikey Rencz took him out and showed him some spots. This spot is really far back in the Callaghan area, and Zak Hale got injured that day and had to get helicoptered out. Mark killed it though, setting down this frontside 1440 triple cork into a powder landing.” Photo: Russell Dalby “Snowboarding is going to grow, but it’s not always going to be what it once was.” Style aside, it didn’t take long for Mark to find himself in inter-national competitions. He made the US Open Slopestyle final at age 15—“I was wearing a pink helmet and dropping in right behind Scot-ty Lago,” Mark says—and in 2010 won Canada’s biggest contest at the time, the Ride Shakedown big air in Quebec City. The Shakedown win led to sponsorships with Oakley and Burton, who still support him. From there, Mark became the best slopestyle rider on the planet, with slope wins at X Games in 2012 and 2013, the US Open in 2013 and 2014, that Olympic bronze with a broken rib in 2014, another X Games victory in 2015, and a slew of other contest podiums. There through it all was his brother Craig. Mark credits Craig as a driving force in his development as a snowboarder and a person. “Craiger Bear, he’s two years older than me,” Mark says. “I pretty much owe everything to him because if he did a backflip on the ground, then I’d have to do a backflip on the ground. If he did this trick, I’d have to learn that trick, and if I did it, vice versa. We’d do anything to push each other’s limits, and we’re so lucky to have each other.” Craig, for his part, is a professional rider, residing in Whistler and filming backcountry parts with the Manboys crew. He’s also parlayed his onscreen prowess into a budding career in broadcast media—he’s a host for both the summer and winter X Games, he called the Sochi Olympics for the Canadian Broadcasting Company, and he had his own show for CBC at the Rio summer games, alongside commercial gigs for the likes of Coors Light and Five Gum. MARK MCMORRIS 081
The Snowboarder's Journal frequency 14.1: Page 81
