FAR LEFT Hana Beaman airs over Mary, while Leanne Pelosi leads the way in the Whistler, BC backcountry. Mary learned a lot by filming with Hana and Leanne this year. Looks like they had a bit of fun, too. Photo: Ben Girardi LEFT Mary at home in Skykomish, WA with her and boyfriend Derrek Lever’s pup, Otis. Photo: Carson Artac THE MOUNTAINS were calling, and it was time to pick up and go. In late 2015, like an actor’s pilgrimage to Hollywood, Mary headed west to Index, WA, to live with Derrek in his home state, and ride more powder. The move made sense. “Her whole scene, the whole production of a day, she’s so totally focused on snowboarding,” Vans filmer Jake Price said. Earlier this year, Mary had a big cliff in mind near Stevens that she wanted to hit for a project with Beaman and Pelosi. “I just knew it’s what she wanted in her video part,” Price said. They had two windows to shoot it, and neither was very good, but they still gave it a try. “I hyped her up—told her it wasn’t that big, you got this, no big deal and so on—but when she got to the top and I was setting up at the bottom, I thought, ‘Holy shit, this thing is so much bigger than I thought it was,’” Price said. “I don’t know that any other rider I’ve filmed with would have hit it. She was up there, nervous as hell. I could feel it in the air. She strapped in, got it dialed and just went for it. It was such a badass move.” Big Air Mare is a fitting nom de plume for this sprite from Rhode Island. The area surrounding Stevens Pass is a fitting location for a snowboard movie classic. The three coming together is kismet. Price has directed, edited or filmed a dozen-plus shred films. Hana, a Bell-ingham, WA resident, is in her 18 th season with Vans; Leanne, who lives on Vancouver Island, BC via Calgary and Whistler, is coming off directing Full Moon Film , an all-female backcountry flick. Price wanted to get behind this project “for the whole of snowboarding.” He wanted to make something different, special and timeless. “A cool, artistic film with a female edge—not girly, not message-y,” he said. “Bring it back to what it is, that we’re all snowboarders and that’s all that matters.” Yet for Mary, the pressure to perform would be there with or with-out the opportunity to star in this movie. “I put pressure on myself because I’m addicted to the adrenaline of it,” she said. “It just feels natural to me to be in the zone, grinding every day. Once you’re on a roll, stacking days, there’s no time to think. You’re just in the moment, working, sweating, dead tired, wanting to give up. But you keep going, keep hiking, walking up that line or those stairs one more time.” MARY RAND 055
The Snowboarder's Journal frequency 16.1: Page 55
