“Bryan Fox filming for Depth Perception in Galena, BC and testing a 156 swallowtail he dubbed the ‘brown trout.’” Photo: Andrew Miller Then in the spring of 2012 you were standing on top of Alaskan peaks with Travis Rice. How did that shape your snowboarding? That was fortunate. We had to shoot something for Quiksilver and he was on a middle year of his projects. We were already friends, and he brought me along to check out a couple new places. His knowledge of being in a heli and picking out terrain was next level. I’m a nerd—I’m not gung ho to do risky things. I like to ride lines that are attractive and work. He was very meticulous about the lines he wanted to ride, even though it looks crazy in the end. He would walk me through everything, he would point out long lines and break them down into chunks. That trip changed the way I looked at all terrain and truly shifted my focus. Now that you’ve had a taste of all types of terrain, are you strictly focused on riding backcountry? Yeah, I’m just trying to ride mountains. I’m 100 percent weather man. I’ve been lucky to have sponsors who support my mission of riding fresh snow. All I do is chase it. Fortunately, I have enough funds to go where it’s good. I like riding park and I’m not against it, it’s just that I like riding powder more. Who do you trust the most in the backcountry? Austin [Smith] and Curtis [Ciszek]. Those guys are two of my best friends and we’ve done a bunch of avy classes together. Both Austin and Curtis were involved with Pathology Project , Energy and Mediocre Madness . Before that, we did NeoProto and the People movies and were always traveling together. It’s been 10 or 12 years of going on trips with those dudes. I’ve spent enough time with them to know that they can handle trauma or tragedy. I know that if shit hap-pens, they’ll both have a solid head. We all met at a young age and have been pretty aggressive about doing projects together and that’s allowed us to control our own destiny. It’s wise to surround yourself with people you can trust. You can easily get caught in an avy or break your leg, and if you can’t trust the people you are with, it’s too high of a risk given what you’re already trying to do out there. We’re definitely not those uber-pro’s. Maybe Austin is skill-wise. But I think a lot of our success is due to putting out our own content in a genuine way. 072 THE SNOWBOARDER’S JOURNAL
The Snowboarder's Journal frequency 15.3 : Page 72
