Travis Rice A snowboarder’s mantra
I’ve just sat down to breakfast with one of the biggest names in snowboarding, and he’s helping me clear up my baby’s vomit. Great start! Things could be worse though, because my breakfast buddy is Travis Rice, and he happens to be a really nice guy.
Travis is hanging out in So Cal while his shoulder heals. He separated it during the half-pipe contest at the US Open. Had he not fallen, Travis would very likely have been crowned Ticket To Ride (TTR) overall winner of the year, which would have given him some major cash along with a nice dose of kudos.
Not that Travis is lacking in either field. He has just signed a five-year contract with Quiksilver rumoured to be enough money to make your eyes water, and as far as kudos goes, he’s won enough gold over the last few years to weigh down 50 Cent, and put out just as many insane video parts to rival any big rider out there.
So who is Travis Rice and how did he rise from an unknown Jackson Hole, Wyoming, local to one of the most famous snowboarders on the planet? For starters, Travis is a super humble guy, not expecting the big-time success he’s had but not overwhelmed by it either. He seems way older than his twenty-four years. He first burst onto the scene when he won a spot to the X Games in 2002, turned up as an unknown and went home with the gold – an impressive fact given that a year earlier Travis didn’t even have a sponsor to his name.
On the back of his stunning X Games win, Absinthe – a major snowboard production company – offered him the chance to go film with them up in Alaska. Travis came home with enough A-grade footage to score the opening section of /Transcendence/. “After filming for only one month I didn’t know what to expect when it came time to check the premiere in San Diego”, he explains. “They screened it in this dope little outdoor/indoor art gallery. As everyone showed up I ran out of cash so I went down the street figuring I had plenty of time before they started the film. I get back to everyone screaming and the film playing. As I walked around everyone was slapping me on the back and congratulating me on the opening part. I didn’t even get to see it until ten days later. I really didn’t expect that one.”
Since then, Travis has gone on to win many a medal and his video parts have just been getting better. Just a couple of weeks ago, he won the slopestyle at the US Open. Ironic, really, because he turned up late, didn’t even practise “because it was icy”, goofed around on his first run and then laid down an absolutely massive run, leaving other riders to fight amongst themselves for silver in a blinding Vermont blizzard.
“I find that so much of what brings about doing good in contests involves actually enjoying riding in them,” Travis says. “This year at the Open the conditions were pretty brutal and all I really was trying to get was all four 180s. I don’t think it’s been done before. Once I got that out of the way I just chucked some tricks on my second run and it worked out.”
When it comes to testing the limits, Travis is your man. Take the time he was out filming in 2004. He and fellow pro Romain de Marchi decided to build a giant kicker and hit Chad’s Gap – an awe-inspiring 120-foot gap in the backcountry of Utah. Just take a second to think about the outcome of coming up short on that. Pure madness?
“That jigsaw came together piece by piece,” Travis explains. “Absinthe films and I had been filming out of Salt Lake City for weeks and had been slowly working up to it. With Romain De Marchi as a filming partner we were able to convince each other that Chad’s Gap was completely possible. We meticulously spent three days building and perfecting the transitions. Romain said that he’d do it if I guinea-pigged it. The toughest part is trying to get your speed right when there isn’t much room for error.” No shit. Travis did clear it though – landing four sweet tricks no less – and became the talking point of the season.
A few months later, though, and Travis’ luck seemed to have changed when he found himself caught in a full-scale avalanche. “Nicolas Mueller and I were rebating this face called Dirty Needles. As you can guess, it wasn’t the friendliest terrain,” he remembers. “I had just ridden the line and went back up to try it one more time. While getting ready to drop in to get to the starting position a massive cornice to my right cracked off. When it peeled off the ridge it opened up a thirty-foot crevasse behind it that was so big the air rushing to fill the space sucked me right off the ridge and down onto the slope behind the four-plex apartment-sized chunk of ice. I was able to stay behind the massive chunks of ice but was caught in the avalanche behind it and tumbled 2000 feet before I was buried up to my armpits.”
If ever there was a defining moment in Travis’ life that was it, and his tone becomes more serious as he explains how it’s affected him: “I remember having a bit of a sensory overload for a few months afterward. Friends and family meant more, food tasted better and my daily surroundings were much more intriguing. Basically the only thing in life you can take for granted is death. It’s how you use your time up until that pivotal moment that personally defines you. Enjoy, and don’t blow it watching MTV – aside from the /Rob and Big Show/.”
“Actually, I am going tornado chasing in June.” That was Travis on the phone to his dad when I picked him up earlier today. It turns out it’s all in the name of his latest movie creation, a two-year project which, aside from showcasing some of the best riders out there (Terje Haakonsen and Nicolas Mueller, for example), is also focusing on the intense weather extremes courtesy of global warming.
Having pulled off his first production last year in the form of The Community Project – an effort to move away from the typical snowboard movie tied down with sponsorship issues – Travis wanted to take it to the next level. In an effort to get footage of them in front of a twister, they are going out with a tornado-chasing professional, dopplers and all. But what I find most impressive is that before Travis knew he was going to get funds for the movie, he went ahead and started it anyway, digging deep into his own pocket to make it happen. When I ask him how he always seems to get companies to back his ideas with some big dollars in the end, his reply is typical of the man that just seems to make shit happen: “A lot of hard work and not letting pessimism affect your vision.”
Hard work has also led to the creation of his own contest – backed by Quiksilver – taking place in Jackson Hole. The event, planned to start next season, will be the first ever slopestyle contest based solely on natural terrain. The reason behind it all? “A lot of the pros out there who are travelling from contest to contest while trying to squeeze some filming in between don’t have the time to take a week out to just enjoy riding their damn snowboards. So that’s were I come in. I’ve been working with Jackson Hole Mountain resort for the last two years on trying to bring a legit big-mountain freestyle contest to Jackson. With Red Bull and Quik onboard I think we’re gonna be able to pull it.”
That’s a lot of life happening in a short space of time. So with all the madness of the last few years, Travis must have a serious case of rock star syndrome, right? Wrong. “Reality is reality; there is a lot terribly wrong in the world today. Read some books, watch a little BBC. Hell, go camping and I find you can even out the keel pretty easy.“
Perhaps it is the fact that Travis is simply doing what he genuinely loves that is the key to both his success and his levelheaded approach to what he does. His attitude towards snowboarding reminds you of the reason you started doing it in the first place. “Snowboarding allows you to truly live within the moment,” he says. “It all comes down to instincts. I find we spend so much of our time second-guessing and validating our reactions in everyday life. When you’re ripping through the trees you don’t have time to question an instinct; only to let it guide you with confidence.”
With breakfast nearly over and my six-month-old son still wildly flapping his arms in general excitement, Travis bends down to offer him a final pearl of wisdom: “Don’t let anyone tell you you can’t fly.” Travis’ story suggests he’s right.
This story originally appeared in Huck #005.
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