Snowboarding
5(ish) questions with Travis Rice
Travis Rice touches on the season that changed everything, the accomplishments he’s most proud of, the art of fly fishing and the one piece of advice he’d offer his teenage self.
Before his 30th birthday Travis Rice had been lauded as 'the Paul Revere' of the big mountain freestyle movement by Snowboarder and earned the distinction of being first real-life athlete featured in the best-selling video game franchise SSX. He'd also starred in two of the aforementioned sport’s most important films to date: That’s It, That’s All in 2008, and The Art of Flight just three years later.
We caught up with the modern legend to find out what he’s been up to in the years since then, what he’d like to accomplish in the future, and, in the event that he ever comes into possession of a flux capacitor, what he’d do with the past.
Travis began life on snow as a skiier
© Scott Serfas/Red Bull Content Pool
Can you describe your first memory involving snowboarders?
I first saw snowboarders around Jackson Hole when I was a kid. They were few and far between when I was really young, but one spring, they built this quarter pipe/half pipe/single wall hit feature up on the mountain. I was probably 6 years old, skiing, and it was far and away the coolest feature on the entire mountain. In reality it was probably only a ten-foot transition, but for 6-year-old me it was the biggest thing I’d ever seen while wearing skis... And I just remember watching these snowboarders ride that thing, and then me trying to ski it as a little kid. The following spring, that was the only thing I wanted to go to, that one feature. To this day that’s one of my most vivid memories I have in all my years of snowboarding.
Was that the season that changed your life?
I’d have to say that was when I first developed an appreciation for seeing an entirely different take on how you could approach a mountain as a snowboarder. I was so used to riding fall line as a skier in Jackson Hole where the mountain itself is the mountain, and the terrain -- for me at least -- was always the highlight. Seeing someone build a park feature -- because we didn’t really have a park in Jackson -- seeing that and playing on a it and seeing snowboarders and what they were able to do with it changed everything for me. Funny thing is, it wasn’t until years later that I actually tried snowboarding.
Exploring the wilderness
© Andrew Miller
What would you consider to be the greatest achievement of your career?
Part of me just wants to look back at the diversity of the things I've been able to do, which are separated into a few phases.
Growing up I was a contest kid, so winning Air and Style in Europe is easily a highlight for me on the competitive side of things. The contests we’ve been able to put together, like Natural Selection and Red Bull Supernatural, those are way up there, too. Then there’s the films we've worked on; we spent four years filming the Fourth Phase, so something like that’s special in a way that’s different from winning an event.
The Four Phase premiere in Paris
© Teddy Morellec/Red Bull Content Pool
What’s going through your head the moment you drop into one of those massive Alaskan lines?
Ideally? Nothing. In a perfect world you’ve done your homework, you’ve broken the face down to where your safe spots are, where you want to ride, and the couple of the geological features that you're going to be looking for. You ride that thing in your mind a bunch of times before you actually go up and put yourself on top of it. One of the most important things I do when I first get up there is take a couple of breaths, and completely clear my mind.
I find that if I can just be present, then the ride becomes more about action and reaction, and I won’t really have to think about much else outside of that.
Sending it in Alaska
© Scott Serfas/Red Bull Content Pool
If you could be anything other than an athlete, what would you be?
I'm interested in so many things. If I wasn’t doing this maybe working in biology or, more specifically, with animals. Maybe something to do with alternative energy. I'm really interested and intrigued by alternative energy -- I find it fascinating.
When was the last time something moved you?
Yesterday, actually. I was reading some articles about the current state of affairs with the environment -- in particular, this end of year report looking at the bigger picture of the decisions we’ve made with regards to how we treat Mother Earth. It was pretty sobering for me to sit there and think about what we’ve done.
Admiring the mountain
© Andrew Miller
What’s something people don’t know you can do?
I’m a great fly fisher. I make my own flies sometimes. I’m not the greatest at making my own but I can tie a few.
If you could tell the 13-year-old you anything, what might that be?
I think I would hesitate to tell him anything at all, only because it might change where I'm at today. For better or worse, I’ve made it here with the lessons I've taken on the chin over the course of my life, so I’m not sure I’d want to mess with that.
Travis is thankful how various life lessons have shaped who he is today
© Lukas Pilz/Red Bull Content Pool
Last one: What’s been the single most important moment of your life?
Honestly, I’m not sure. Hopefully it’s today.
3 min
Depth Perception
Snowboarder Travis Rice and friends ponder the personal connection between rider and Nature.
