Ryan Decenzo doing a frontside flip in the Brandywine, BC backcountry. He approached Red Bull Canada with the idea and Mason Mashon and I were tasked with finding the zone. We needed a natural inrun to a river gap and we wanted some rock and mountain in the background. Ryan battled this front-side flip and finally got it. Somehow, he never put his board in the water. We brought him out on the sleds and he was on the tools, grinding and building and just as invested as we were. It’s cool to see an athlete like him be down to get wet and cold and build with the crew. When he landed it was a huge party. That was five years ago. With relentless creative energy and a willingness to dive into the deep end of any project, the dude’s been on a roll since. Now 30 years old, his portfolio and client list are as diverse as it comes in the action sports world, having shot everything from Alaskan steeps with Robin Van Gyn, Spen-cer O’Brien and Elena Hight for Arc’teryx to what one might call backcountry skateboarding with Ryan Decenzo for Red Bull. Other clients run the gamut from Burton, Coal, Union, The North Face, Sandbox, Oakley and beyond in the snow world, to moto/mountain bike giant Troy Lee Designs, and regional busi-nesses like Tofino’s Northwest Ocean Adventures. But Tyler still only shoots what he knows and loves, which in his case means constant movement through all seasons. As for where he got it? Tyler credits his dad, Mark. Mark was an engineer. Tyler’s mom, Heather, ran a spa. Mark introduced Tyler to snowboarding at age 6. They took trips to-gether to Whistler. They learned to ride motorcycles together when Tyler was 20 and continued to ride bikes and boards to-gether regularly. Tragically, Mark died in September 2022, in a motorcycle accident. It was heavy for Tyler—still is. The past year, Tyler’s been sorting through the logistical and emotional intrica-cies of his dad’s passing. That’s partly what sent him to Teahupo’o. “The world expects things to return to normal a month or two after [such a loss], but the amount of love I have for my dad… a year later I can basically say he was my hero and I still miss him every day,” Tyler says. “The process of losing him and finding my-self again has been hard, I didn’t know if I’d be happy again. I didn’t know what my future would look like, what my relation-ships would be like, how I miss my daily phone calls and dinners “You quickly learn that work doesn’t really matter. The thing that matters is the relationships in your life, the people you love.” with my dad. I was so uncertain. Moving forward, I decided that I was going to do the living for both of us. I’m trying to live my life to the fullest that I can and have the best relationships that I can, and lean into the people I love the most, because losing my dad—you quickly learn that work doesn’t really matter. The thing that matters is the relationships in your life, the people you love. I’m really proud of this person that I’m becoming. Grief is a never-ending process, just like creativity and photography. Grief is something that you’re always going to deal with, learning to find some positive in it and accepting what happened and finding a way to live a life that my dad would be really proud of. I think he’d be really proud of where I’m at now and how I carry myself and how I am nicer to myself.” For Tyler, that means calling his brother Ryan more often. Staying true to himself and his friends and his family. Making space to pursue new ideas. One to pay the bills, two for the soul. That’s Tyler Ravelle’s formula. And it’s working. 084 THE SNOWBOARDER’S JOURNAL
The Snowboarder's Journal The Snowboarder's Journal 21.3: Page 84
