speaker-0: Ride, teach, inspire. This is the dropping next podcast brought to you by the Canadian Association of Snowboard Instructors. Hey everybody, welcome back to the Dropping Next podcast. I am Rob Whalen and I will not be hosting this episode of the podcast. I'm going to be turning it over to the program managers who are going to be interviewing the winners of the Evaluator of the Year award from their regions. It's a really cool episode, lots of great insights and some behind the scenes chats ⁓ about these fine individuals, a little bit about what they do in the off season, what makes them tick and what keeps them stoked on snowboarding. Great, great episode. Enjoy these five interviews and we'll catch you on the backside. Okay. First up, have Luc Belanger, who is with Nick Pillsworth from the Atlantic region. Enjoy. Yeah. Welcome Nick. Nick is our 25, 26 season evaluator of the year for the Atlantic region. And we're very excited to have Nick here for a few minutes with us. And we're just gonna, you know, like try to get to know Nick, like who's Nick Pillsworth and whatnot. So why don't we start with where are you based Nick and where do you ride out of most of the time? ⁓ I'm based in Nova Scotia, live out in a small community called Blue Rocks. So we're like nestled into the Atlantic Ocean just outside Lunenberg where like famous Blue Noses from. ⁓ and then I ride out of Martok mostly do a little bit of coaching there. ⁓ get to rip some turns with Andy and stuff. yeah, but yeah, just small part of Nova Scotia, very rural. Yeah. Well, yeah, very beautiful part of the world. If you're listening to this and you've never been to Nova Scotia and, ⁓ along the coast, along the Lunenberg area, like it's just picturesque, like everywhere you go, it's, we went with the family and we had a great time. But speaking of my talk, like I saw on IG like yesterday, the humongous pile of snow under a tarp that is getting preserved at the top of the hill. That's really cool. Yeah. What do you know about that? If anything? Not too much, guess, just whatever kind of seeing on social media with everybody else. ⁓ Yeah, no, it's cool. Like the whole snow farming, it's it's neat to see what they're trying to do. I mean, if we can get our season going earlier, that'll be amazing. We're kind of always at the whim of the weather of, mean, this year we opened up nice and early kind of mid December, but like a couple of years ago, it wasn't until mid January that we were able to make some turns. yeah, what they're doing to try to sort of preserve some snow and get us on the Hill earlier. think it's awesome. So it looks massive. ⁓ That's awesome. It looks massive ⁓ on social there, but like I. I really appreciate that, that the enthusiasm from the gang at Martok trying something like that. So that's, I think that's awesome. Super cool. Yeah. but, ⁓ why don't you tell us, get us started with, ⁓ you know, like your story, like, how did you get involved with snowboard instructing and then eventually becoming an evaluator and like to where you are today at your evaluator status? So take us through it. I, ⁓ yeah. So I was certified. I got my level in 1999. ⁓ at Martok with Andy McLean. ⁓ it was kind of terrifying. I did a few, I was a very shy guy. So like trying to talk in front of people was just, I couldn't fathom it at the time, but, ⁓ yeah, did a couple of part-time seasons out there and just buddy of mine said, I'm going to go to Whistler. And I said, okay, I'm going to come too. And in 2001 started working in Whistler. four full-time seasons working at Whistler Kids. And yeah, that was like my introduction to the mountains. ⁓ Yeah, just had a blast doing it, rode as much as I could. It was, yeah, it was sick. It was great. That was going from Little Martauk to Whistler was just like opened up so many doors. Yeah. Very different environment. No question. Yeah. So yeah, worked there for a few years and then... took a few years off where I was actually just sailing. I used to work on tall ships and stuff and was lucky enough to go sailing around the world, working with high school students and then had a little injury, which actually put me back on my board and navigated to Lake Louise, worked there for a bit, traveled to Germany for a couple of winters and actually went to Australia for a couple of our summers. So yeah, I just kind of jumped on and took every advantage I could and Well, I at Lake Louise is when I actually started doing the evaluator training and, ⁓ yeah, I did a little bit there, but it wasn't until I moved back out East that I really started running more and more courses. And that's sort of like the main thing I'm doing out here now. Nice. Cool. Awesome. I just want to pause for a second there and go back to, ⁓ I worked on tall ships and sailed around the world. Like I would love to hear a little bit more about that. So what type of job did you do on the tall ships? Like, do you do a bit of everything? Like I've always been pretty intrigued about the sailboating crew and I've been on the Blue Nose myself and things like that on tall ships. So tell us a little bit about that. What did you do? What's a day in the life of a sailor on the Blue Nose or on the tall ship? It, Blue Nose was, ⁓ kind of traveling port to port. mean, it was just trying to show off the ship. ⁓ right. It was, yeah, she's a really fun to sail, really beautiful ship. ⁓ people come out in throngs to check her out. ⁓ it was a really good ship to have on my resume and kind of put me onto some other vessels. But yeah, I was, I've been sailing since I was a little kid and kind of wanted to get paid to sail and out here, tall shipping kind of was the path I was able to take. ⁓ and then Blue Nose kind of put me onto another square rigger and then onto Concordia, which is this high school tall ship I worked on for four years. So, and like basically did a virtually a full lap around the world, kind of sailing through the South Pacific, Indian Ocean, Mediterranean, like it was insane. And so it was like sail training of teaching these students how to sail and maintain the ship while they also did their normal high school. ⁓ and yeah, it's kind of start work at eight in the morning and then work till five in the afternoon and then all through the night I was on call for if we had, you know, say all maneuvers we had to do. like weather was coming in or some sort of big maneuver happened. So I'd get woken up and go at, you know, climb a hundred feet off the water with 16 year olds and three o'clock in the morning and gnarly weather and kind of, In the South Pacific. Yeah. No big deal. ⁓ my God. That's super interesting. Like it's, don't that. Not many people have gotten to do that. So that's a pretty unique experience. That's great. What's ⁓ one of the things that working on ships and pretty, I'm going to call it unique extreme environment like that. What's, ⁓ what's ⁓ one skill you think that you took from that experience that you take into daily life or teaching snowboarding or being a dad or like things like that? I mean, just sort of patience, listening, trying to have fun. mean, it's, it's a Being on the ship was super rewarding. We just had such a sort of mixed bag of people that it was, you you're just always trying to listen and chat and kind of learn from them, find out how they take, how they like to maneuver through learning and kind of, you know, trial and error. So I think sort of, you know, You know, what we talk about in evaluating of sort of, you know, thinkers, doers and seers of like, this is how somebody learns how to do something. Let's try to kind of use that path to make it understand for them so that they can have the best opportunity to try to absorb it and get better at something. so I think that was maybe one of the biggest things to kind of trying to take away that, cause we had 48 students on the ship on Concordia. ⁓ and I was on for four years. So, you know, it was like, virtually 200 kids that I got to try to teach how to maintain this huge tall ship. And it's what we're doing with Cassie courses of you just get such a mixed bag of people of ages and all that stuff and experience and comfortability and all that. it's trying to help people and so that they can find their best way of navigating through and becoming an instructor. Super cool. What a great experience ⁓ to be on the ship. So do you still see some of these students like once in a while here and there, they live in your area? the students we have on the ship were from all over the place, like all over the world. We do have a lot of students from out west. So a bunch were from Calgary. cool. But we have a couple of the students who were on my last year actually live in the same area as me. So, and one of them is like really good friends with one of our friends. So. Yeah, I bump into a couple of them kind of regularly and yeah, you like being on a ship like that. You grow some really tight bonds. So yeah, it's, it's a cool community. Fun seeing people. Yeah. ⁓ that's great. That's great. So yeah, very cool occupation on your path there. what's your, obviously you teach Cassie courses and I know how many you teach. Like you're a very go-to person for me in the Atlantic region there. And you certainly hold the fourth down over there. But I've noticed that, you know, that you're your year round employment. Like maybe you could talk to us about that, like a little bit, what you do when you're not on the snow. And I know it offers you a good amount of flexibility to do courses in the winter time. Not very thankful for that. So why don't you talk to us about like what your main occupation, what does that look like? Yeah. So I'm a carpenter out here. So I work for a company, a small local company, and we build passive high efficiency homes. So sort of high performance dwellings. ⁓ I've been only with these guys for couple of years now or half. ⁓ but yeah, we're trying to build like really airtight, solidly built sort of architectural homes. ⁓ homes that are obviously going to last, but, ⁓ for a long time, but, ⁓ yeah, that are just trying to be a little more sort of climate conscious. Yeah. Yeah. No, for sure. Yeah. So, luckily my boss is, yeah, he's, he gets it.

speaker-1: A year and a half

speaker-0: ⁓ winter time is luckily an easier time to take time off. he's very happy for, ⁓ to give me time off to go run courses and stuff. And we also mostly do a four day work week. So, you know, working half a day on Thursday and then driving to PEI in New Brunswick to run a course for the weekend works out pretty easily. Yeah. Yeah. Or flying to Newfoundland or things like that. Yeah. Yeah. That's good. Well, like you tell your boss over there that I owe him a beer at some point for sure. So I'm very thankful for the availability, but you're a carpenter and I'm a totally, ⁓ I call myself a very insecure carpenter. I don't have cards, whatever, but I like to do projects and fix things around my house. So what's your favorite tool? Why? I don't know. I mean, we're kind of There's certain ones we have to go to all the time. mean, using impact drivers is pretty handy. It's nice having that mechanical advantage. You know, we have oscillating saw, which is kind of like a little vibrating blade that, you know, just gets into nooks and crannies and it's all those little tight spots that you can't get something into that works. That tool works very well for all those spots. yeah. Are you a yellow guy, a red guy, or a green guy? Milwaukee, the wall. ⁓ right, ⁓ right. We're green mostly on site. We have to carry a few of our own tools. have Milwaukee stuff. ⁓ yeah, whatever works best. I'm not that die hard of a tool accumulator, but. I know, but I remember one of our program managers, James Hyland's also a very skilled carpenter. And we were talking about tools at one point that it's Milwaukee now, all the way Milwaukee, like transferred everything over. So I'm sure you can have a good conversation with him about that. But what's some of the, like some of the skills that you have as a carpenter? which very different than teaching snowboarding, right? So what are some, is there, would you say there are some skills from your carpenter work or maybe from your snowboard work that like transfer over well to your other occupation? Because they are quite different, but like, would you say there's some skills that you use on the daily or regularly that transfer over really well from one to the other? I mean, we generally have an apprentice on site now. So like we have a cool. Nice guy on site now. So I'm having to do a good little bit of teaching with him. ⁓ I mean, patience with power tools is like to be like, okay, you're going to go rip this. You know, piece of wood on a table saw and knowing that everybody's going to be safe. guy helps a lot. we were framing outside all winter this year. So, you know, layering from snowboarding was kind of really helpful. Definitely wore my own snowboarding thermals. daily on site. well, there you go. Yeah, we had a really, luckily snowy but cold winter. but yeah, I mean, definitely, yeah, we're still doing lots of teaching, which is kind of the neat part of like, yeah, working with this guy and trying to teach them how to, you know, whether it's layout on walls or just interior finishes, or we're doing sort of interior and exterior stuff at the moment, like some siding and then some, ⁓ yeah, interior shiplapse. So kind of. doing the math to figure out layouts and yeah, things like that. So yeah, it kind of still relates. Yeah. Really cool. Like I like, you said the thing about layering and the good gear to be outside. I seem to like contractor guys that have been here, whatever, sometimes in the winter, you see the ones that are really well geared up. You're having a good day out there and I see lots of like kids in hoodies and like, know, and everything is like, you got to freeze like totally. Yeah. We're still showing up a jogging pants on and you're like, is exactly, this is not going to stop anything. You also mentioned that you were at daycare this morning. So you are a relatively new dad. How old is the little one at this point? He is just about 18 months. So my goodness. So that's a super funny age. Like, what is one thing that you could, and that's probably a long list of things. If you're like me, like one thing that you've learned, ⁓ being a new dad, like since you've been a dad, like one thing that you've learned that being a dad has taught you perhaps, so make you realize and things like that. embrace the mess. Yeah, like it's just my partner and I, I think of, ⁓ built up a nice sort of balance of nobody says that when he goes to bed to who has to pick up what it's just somebody dives in and kind of cleans up the house. ⁓ yeah, especially with him learning how to eat of just, know, whatever we're eating goes everywhere. He's just a huge mess and just kind of go, this is rad. It's, know, it's super funny, but yeah, just, ⁓ don't worry. it's, you know, this necessarily isn't forever, but it's like, yeah, it's okay that things are just chaos for the moment. Yeah, yeah, no, that is it like I mean it maybe you can see a little bit from my background I have two kids so it's a well-lived in-house, know, there's toys and things lying around ⁓ but yeah being a dude that the reveling in the chaos like operating it a little bit of the chaos and I find that Sometimes on course it could be like that right pretty chaotic day on a busy day as a result You got to operate in the chaos and just kind of like make it just like okay Well, a lot stuff going around us, but we could do that

speaker-1: Yeah.

speaker-0: ⁓ Well, listen, Nick, like, you know, that's a bunch of little rapid fire question. I hope that the membership has got to a little glimpse into like who is Nick Pillsworth, like a little bit. And we didn't talk like a ton about snowboarding, but that was kind of that was kind of the point here. We wanted to hear about like what's make what's making Nick like tick in the off season. And ⁓ but maybe we can wrap it up like just with one last question of like overall like for teaching courses and being involved? What's your why? Like what would you say is like the really reason why that keeps you coming back, right? Like to doing this stuff and staying involved in the sport. A habit? No, it's snowboarding is like teaching especially has really opened up a lot of doors. I sort of, you know, my family. didn't do any of this. wasn't somebody who went to the ski hill with their parents and got to rip around with them. I literally just had some family friends who would bring me up to the hill with them and they luckily taught skiing so I was able to just carpool with them. And ⁓ I was incredibly shy. ⁓ My first couple lessons I just will never forget because I just was so afraid to talk in front of anybody. ⁓ But just to kind of... Let go to embrace it. ⁓ like the traveling I was able to do, the friends I was able to make the places they able to snowboard in. ⁓ I think it's just such a fun lifestyle activity. It's, ⁓ it's been one of the best things that I've done. and so to kind of like share that, to get people excited, to hopefully have like these new instructors, get other people excited and just kind of, and it's so. small out here. Like we have such a short season in the East Coast and we have some super diehard people that are really passionate into it ⁓ who kind of try to get out every chance they get and like going to the hill it's you have this really tight community just going around saying hi to everybody. You might not know their name but you just chat every weekend or every night when you're up at the hill ⁓ and I've really enjoyed kind of evaluating and noodling around all these little local spots and ⁓ Yeah, there's just really nice people who are really dedicated and love it. it's, ⁓ yeah, I love sharing that. Nice. Okay. Well, Nick, I tell you what, I think that's a great place to wrap it up for a quick, ⁓ interview there. So thank you so much for taking the time. And, ⁓ you know, like it's, ⁓ Atlantic Canada is a really special place. Like in my heart there, I think it's a very, like you said, such a passionate. bunch of people, you know, and people around the country, around the world can't believe that people actually try to snowboard and ski and make a go of it in Atlantic. You know, sometimes it's, it's a battle some years, you know, so it's a very cool to see the energy and the passion coming out of there. And I always look forward to, to go like each year to come say hi to the crew. So, all right. Thank you very much, Nick. And we wish you a great summer and lots of success. in everything that you throw yourself into in this off season. So thank you. Yeah, ditto. Thank you. Appreciate it. Yeah. Awesome. Thanks so much, Luke and Nick. Next up, have James Hyland interviewing Ari Abankas, who works out of the Ontario region.

speaker-2: Listen, after a level four exam, not many things make you nervous.

speaker-0: I like that little nugget after a level 4 exam. Not very many things make you nervous, that's cool.

speaker-2: You're under like such a not only like pressure from yourself and like wanting to do good, but like pressure from wanting to demonstrate to your peers how much you've learned and then demonstrate to your like because most of the like level four valuators, like for me I know, was like a lot of my mentors and friends, and you're like, I want to show you how much I've learned and how well I'm doing. And then you fail, and then you're like, ⁓ okay. ⁓ It was okay.

speaker-0: It's alright, it's alright.

speaker-2: It's okay, I actually survived the whole thing and like didn't break down, so I guess not very many other things are as nerve wracking.

speaker-0: That's great. All right, so do me a favor and ⁓ introduce us, give us a little background on who you are, what you do, not just the snowboard background because you have a pretty interesting background outside of the snow sports industry.

speaker-2: Okay. ⁓ well, I'm Aria Bunkis. ⁓ I'm a director at a Forested Nature School that I started in twenty twenty one. And I've been a teacher in an ECE for I think eight years now. And then before that I was yeah, I've been teaching snowboarding since I was fifteen. And I'm also a yoga instructor, so I do a bit of teaching here and there. Whenever I can and I'm really interested in like mobility. ⁓ yeah. It's like mostly my background for that.

speaker-0: ⁓ How's that those kind of diverse backgrounds helped you in the instructing side of things?

speaker-2: I mean, working with children and learning how to like cater your language so that not just what like not just for one person for but for like multiple individuals has always been really helpful, like when teaching snowboarding, because as like most evaluators and instructors know, like you don't just have like one kind of learning, ⁓ you have multiple and working with kids and like big personalities and little personalities or personalities just across the board, like just really helps and supports that in the teaching world. And then adults are obviously can like you can use like different kinds of language, but it is like the more that you can keep it simple and just like just clear, then you get to the point and you get to snowboard more rather than talking more. And then yoga instruction is the exact same. Like yoga, you gotta keep it like really clear, simple, like what are you doing instead of trying to like complicate it by saying like all these tiny little minute movements? But in it's the same thing in snowboarding, like get to the point. And then you can go into more detail later, ⁓ either in behind the scenes or ⁓ on the chairlift. But ⁓ most of my like careers, most of my careers and most of my jobs and Most of my life has just been kinda revolved around teaching and like talking. Nice.

speaker-0: Yeah, I can imagine that the yoga would be pretty good with queuing and stuff, especially for adults, simple language, parts. Yeah, queuing them and allowing them to move through a process too, right? Like you're an evaluator and there's obviously an end goal. But when you're a yoga instructor, it's not like they finish and you give them a sticker or a badge or whatever. You're just helping them to figure out their body better. So you can kind of lean on that aspect as opposed to like leaning into the passing something and kind of.

speaker-1: spelled towards

speaker-2: Yeah, absolutely. Cause then you're you're also giving them the freedom to try it themselves. Cause everybody is different. You can give one cue that might not work for someone, but if they can figure it out, then they can translate it in a different way. That might be the same thing that you're saying, but they're able to explain it in a different way that makes sense to somebody else or to themselves.

speaker-0: Nice, nice. ⁓ You taught a ton of courses for me this year. ⁓ Obviously, ⁓ that's one aspect of your snowboarding, but outside of that, what gets you fired up when you're not just on course, what you're go to to get just fired up and stoked on snowboarding.

speaker-2: I I love being outside. Like I built my whole career and life around it. So like for me, ⁓ a another sport that gets me as farred up as snowboarding is riverboarding. So kind of swimming down the Ottawa River and you're kind of on this boogie board with flippers and a life jacket and a helmet. And that always gets me super excited because like snowboard season kind of leads into that right away. ⁓ you go from teaching and then high water. ⁓ and then when like during the season, it's just kind of fun to find other kind of physical activities like yoga on the outside and getting really mobile and finding new ways to move and explain ⁓ how you can like how you can snowboard, but like in a personal way. And then I love taking my dog for like adventures and ⁓ friends and family hanging out. I feel like I'm I'm a simple gal in terms of those where I just like to get outside and go explore and find new places to hike and new places to look at. And I'm in my thirties, so I love finding birds. You got the bird app and different areas. Yeah, man. You're in your 30s, like everybody loves finding birds. They're like the new Pokemon. And so you got your apps and you're like, well, you go hiking, you're like, I wonder what that sound is.

speaker-3: and dig a-

speaker-2: ⁓ yeah, and like getting stronger in every aspect, just like working working out or like I said, yoga or finding different activities. That just gets me like really excited because when you get like that little bit stronger, you're like, I feel like I could hang on to my stamina that little bit longer in the sports on the outside that you really, really like.

speaker-0: Cool. On that note, I want to pick into that a little bit. So strength, we'll go into two different avenues here. We'll go strength for teaching. So I want one little nugget that helped elevate your teaching this year that you could maybe pass along to our membership. And then one little nugget helped your physical strengths that you could pass along.

speaker-2: Teaching Naget is ask questions. Like ask questions. Like you can be in as many member sessions or like you can be in as many training sessions as possible. But if you're just standing there and nodding your head that you know, you're not actually taking in a lot of information. And maybe you are, but for me, like I Love to ask questions, whether it's like if you don't want to ask it right then and there because you want to try it out and you're snowboarding, then that's totally fine. But like take the chairlift rides, ask your evaluator, ask your mentors, like ask questions because the more that you can kind of intake and have dialogue and conversations, like your brain runs and you start to see things differently. And it just it gets really, really exciting because you start to actually pick up nuggets that like people that you really look up to can explain it in a different way, and then you're like, ⁓ yeah, that's a great piece of feedback. I actually understand what you just said rather than the the line that you can use to be like, Okay, we're gonna do this part of snowboarding and you go and do it and you try it out. ⁓ but yeah, ask questions and off snow, on snow, wherever you can. Beauty. Yeah. And then strength off like For me, like something that I've learned is like weight training really does make a difference. ⁓ finding an activity outside of snowboarding that does like fire you up. Like for me, I love yoga because yoga is not only just challenging in your mobility, but it really does like bring you like into a mind body connection. And I find that it strengthens parts of your body that you might not necessarily be able to find always with in the gym or if you're weight training. ⁓ but I've like been someone who like lately has really enjoyed just ⁓ yeah, like picking up weights is kind of fun because you see how strong your legs can get. ⁓ and then finding a cardio that you actually enjoy. I don't like running, but I love swimming and I love walking. Like So those are two things that you're like, how far can you go? And you can actually enjoy it 'cause it does everything applies.

speaker-0: Yes, we.

speaker-2: The bumps. You'll find out on bumps where cardio and stamina is.

speaker-1: ⁓ good

speaker-0: You can definitely gas out there. It may have happened. ⁓

speaker-1: You can gas out. Might be my goal.

speaker-2: For the rest of my life is to go down the bumps twice and be like,

speaker-0: Ain't no. Nice. That's a good goal. That's a good goal. ⁓ so you, you're one of our best evaluators, ⁓ nationally for sure. Like, ⁓ and I just want you to give us an insight into something that you incorporate into sort of the courses over the years experience that you've had. That might be sort of your flair, your flash, what, you're bringing to the table that makes you an exciting evaluator.

speaker-2: think like loving the sport outside of teaching is something that I like to bring in because I I personally like I love to teach. So when you see somebody's click, that for me is like really exciting. But you have to like for me I know I have to love snowboarding outside of it. Like that's why I challenge myself on the like outside of just doing my level one and two like teachings. ⁓ it would be amazing one day, like I can't wait to be a level four and to evaluate higher levels, but like the joy of snowboarding outside of Cassie brings the joy of snowboarding into Cassie because the reason that most of us are here is because how much we love snowboarding. So I try to really pass on to my students that like no matter what happens outside of this, like you've learned something, you're taking something. pass this course and it's up to you to how you're gonna handle it because I can give you all the information that you possibly want, but I can't make you a good snowboarder. Like you are the one that's gonna do that. ⁓ so I think just giving students the confidence to know that like, you know, just have fun. Like enjoy the process ⁓ I've been taught that, obviously like possibly by possibly by you, like to enjoy like what's happening now, instead of like trying to get to the end, 'cause this only lasts so long. And it's really, really fun. It's really fun to snowboard.

speaker-0: Yeah, totally. Enjoy snowboarding. That's great. That's a good and you can see it when you ⁓ are evaluating that you love like love snowboarding, love being there, which is pretty infectious. It's pretty rad to be a part of yourselves. You've been, actually, this is a good moment for me to say thank you very much from my standpoint as your pseudo boss. ⁓ You're a great person to work with. ⁓ you're very easy on all the levels that matter, like back of the house, front of the house. ⁓ and I think you bring a lot to the association. So thanks from the association and me. Yeah, no worries. No, you, ⁓ you deserve it. And that's why we're here. Give me a little shine. ⁓ we got a couple of more minutes. Is there anything that we haven't talked about?

speaker-2: James. Appreciate that.

speaker-0: that you were thinking about this interview. Is there anything you wanted to put out there to our membership? Anything you wanted to say to them?

speaker-2: Say, like, as an evaluator, especially when you do work a lot of courses, like for me, I I really do like working a lot of courses because I like meeting a bunch of new people and trying to like always improve myself. ⁓ but like rest, like when you have the time, like rest. Like, we always want to be better and like keep working, and I know like ⁓ a bunch of me and my friends that are all going through the process of like working towards our level four, like often we're always like talking like right after and being like, What'd you think? What'd you learn? Like, what'd you feel? Like, what do you what do you interpret? Like, what did James say about this? And what do you think about this? Or like, what what do you think? ⁓ just rest. Like, really take the time so that you don't get burnt out because burnout is hard to recover from. And snowboarding's fun. And the more that you just like pile on and think you have to be somewhere, the more you're just gonna not want to do it next year. And as someone who did work a lot of courses, like I'm I'm like still excited to go back. So and like my last course, like I wasn't like not looking forward to it. I was looking forward to it and was like, holy crakey, that's like gonna be my last course. That's kind of sad in a way. so yeah, just enjoy the rest and Great recovery and whatever that means to you, just enjoy it.

speaker-0: Nice, good advice. So just to round things out, we're gonna do favorite trick you learned this year. And coolest bird you birded. I don't know what you call birding. Coolest bird you birded.

speaker-2: Coolest bird I burned. I did see actually in Collingwood an owl, but I can't remember what owl it was. It was cool to see it though. ⁓ I know. Well I have it on my app. So I can't remember what kind of bird it was, but it was a bird. And it was an owl. ⁓ man, favorite trick. That's really hard. I don't know. I think ⁓ getting on the rails at all this year was like a really big ⁓

speaker-0: Not very good birder, you were-

speaker-2: ideal for me because I've always kind of had like a hesitation. So I think like a like 180 on and 270 out was the one that I was like working on a lot on a lot. It was just really fun to get and be smooth about it. ⁓ so I think that was probably my big one. Especially on like those big long pipes in ⁓ the park, like on the down. So those were like really fun when you nailed it, you're like, ⁓ my gosh. And then you get off and you're so high. So that one for sure.

speaker-0: Sweet. Awesome. Good answer. Awesome. Thanks, Thank you, James. Thank you, Aria. Next up, we have our Western tag team duo, Lisa Corcoran and Adam Gardner, who are interviewing Peter Sneep out of the Alberta region. Well, yeah. Welcome to the...

speaker-1: Podcast Peter, like ⁓ we're super stoked to have you here and ⁓ and ⁓ thanks again for you know not just putting in work for us this year but actually just ⁓ kind of crushing it. You're kinda one of those guys where we send out and everything you do is ⁓ is pretty awesome, positive experience for everybody on the course and all that stuff. And ⁓ so thanks for that. And the other cool thing this year is just kind of watching you level up a little bit and and get on the on the rookie process a little more. And step up that way, so pretty pretty awesome. ⁓ yeah, I hope you had a good season working courses and stuff. I know you're always pretty, pretty stoked to to get the time.

speaker-4: Yeah, thanks for your all your help this year. It's like you're just lovely to work with. So ⁓ it's nice to talk to you. Finally without just ⁓ talking about work stuff. So nice to see you here.

speaker-1: Thanks so much. Thanks so much for having me. And yeah, thanks for the season too. Like helping me out heaps and ⁓ sending me on cool adventures and then backing me up from the back end. Super cool. And ⁓ it's even with the like rookies and the leveling up stuff, it's always an adventure and ⁓ keeps life exciting, you know. So I'm happy to be here. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, and I think f for us, like, 'cause you're ⁓ one of these guys that's pretty easy to work with and we know you're gonna do a good job. You you kinda reap the rewards of that too, where ⁓ I know last year it was like, Hey, you wanna go back to big white? to to visit some old friends and teach a course there. It's just an easy move for us to send someone like you on the road and I'm sure it's pretty pretty epic too to just get a trip back to see all the crew there and stuff, hey? ⁓ yeah for sure. Yeah. Yeah. Reconnect. It's great. Yeah. I'm actually sporting my big white bank slalom shirt. I know if you saw that. ⁓ nice. Yeah. Edgeworth. Wow. That's awesome. Yeah, it's pretty good.

speaker-0: But. Yeah.

speaker-1: ⁓

speaker-0: Yeah, you were.

speaker-1: Big wake for a while and then ended up in the Bow Valley. And ⁓ I kind of never really knew much about you except for ⁓ what I heard through ⁓ your partner there, Laura, because I've been working with her for quite a few years now. But ⁓ when I first met you, I was like, Man, how is this dude just like so so positive? Like is this for real? And ⁓ I was kind of like a little weary of it. I was like, man.

speaker-0: I don't know.

speaker-1: Like, is he just gonna explode one day? Is he one of those guys? Like, is he just putting this on to like get in and then he's gonna just start acting a fool? But ⁓ the thing I think that made like solidified it, I guess, for me, and this is probably a story that comes up once in a while is when you're on the level four exams and ⁓ you kinda crushed it, you you ripped through the riding, I guess, and the and the teach, past both of those, and we're like, Man, this guy Peter, he's gonna knock it off in in one go here.

speaker-0: DAH

speaker-1: And then you know, ⁓ what happened between runs there? You kinda had a little bobble and and was it a shoulder collar? ⁓ yeah, like ⁓ a what ⁓ AC joint separation? Or some something awful. ⁓ wasn't Tell us a little bit about that 'cause I was like, man, that's that's a tough break. Yeah, it was pretty tough. Like ⁓ it was last run of the of the actual teach exam. And ⁓ like I I ride Lake Louise a little bit, but like I'm not there very often. Like I work at Sunshine and then we ⁓ obviously we make it over sometimes but not mega familiar with all the runs and then we were ⁓ doing this ⁓ freestyle sesh and there was a specific side hit that I spotted on a run earlier in the day and I thought we were there, but we weren't yet. And then I looked behind at my group signaling like I thought it was here, but we're actually gonna keep going and I just Totally like get too excited and I catch my edge, maybe. And ⁓ stacked a little bit. But ⁓ I was like, okay, you've got five minutes left on this thing, like we're not backing out now, so I hold on to my jacket, like we're doing this, and we still, you know, like make it through the ⁓ the the session. And yeah, like obviously like stoked I did because the results were good. ⁓ it's ⁓ it's maybe even like a double edged sword to be so positive all the time, but also like geared. get carried away easily and get too excited about something and then ⁓ yeah that happens too. But we deal with it and then, you know, try to find a positive in that too. ⁓ Yeah. I just thought the thing that was so awesome about that, I think I think maybe the results were the next day, but you came back all slinged up and you're, you know, high fiving everybody and it's like, man, this guy's awesome. Like I probably just would have went home and ⁓ you know, been miserable, but ⁓ Yeah, it was awesome that you came back and ⁓ kind of showed your support and all that stuff. It was it's pretty rad. ⁓ thanks. It was a good time. Yeah, it's one of those memorable stories but not n kind of not the memories that we want to remember, right? Yeah. Totally. And then forever the question of what could have been, but you know again next year and then yeah go at it again. Yeah. Could have made history, but I think you kinda did anyways, so just in a bit of a different way.

speaker-0: Yeah. You Yeah

speaker-1: ⁓ yeah, and then outside of snowboarding stuff, I I check out a lot of your art and stuff that you post online. That's pretty rad. Just gonna ask you a little bit about that, because I like to do do the arts a little bit as well myself. And ⁓ one of the one of the things that kind of intrigued me was ⁓ I know you do a lot of different art stuff, but a lot of the stuff that you are doing and putting online, it's kind of like the art you would see like an old lady do, like landscapes and watercolors, and I'm like You know, if I saw your paintings and never met you, I'd be like, ⁓ yeah, this is like an maybe like a a seasoned veteran old guy that sets up and does his thing. But ⁓ tell us a little bit about your art and ⁓ kinda what keeps that going and and things like that. Yeah. Funny you bring up the old lady stuff actually. I got to do that. So two years ago I stayed for summer for the first time here in the Bow Valley and I worked at ⁓ Sunshine Over Summer where we do like ⁓ you know, like they got some Trails open and we hiked the trails with the guests and stuff. But sometimes you also just get to sit around a little bit. So I brought my watercolors up and I would paint like a sunshine ish landscape and then I would put them on the little ⁓ notice board at the at the desk there. And then ⁓ at one point these three old ladies hunted me down and they said, like, Are you the guy who does the watercoloring? And they were all like fifty, sixty, seventy, something like that and they were like, Well, they are awesome, but all of your materials are awful And they kinda like recruited me. Turned out to be ⁓ a local artist from Camor and she actually teaches watercolor and she said, You know what? You should come to my watercolor class. You know? You're probably gonna be like the youngest by a couple of decades, but I think it could be really good for you. So I joined her watercolor class for a little bit and then like, yeah, like it was online, it was on Zoom and about half the time was spent like trying to figure out how to make all the cameras work and stuff and all the audio work with all these like slightly maybe older people. And ⁓ But it was a super fun bunch and I learned a lot from her. It was fun to be around that crew for a little bit. So maybe that seeped into the current vibes you're still getting, you know. Yeah. I actually started out with ⁓ with Bob Ross, if you remember that show. That's also pretty old school. So I actually like just watched his episodes and then bought his stuff and then just press play on an episode and paused, did what he did, pressed play, watch what he does, and then tried to copy. That's kinda how it all started, yeah. Nice. Yeah, that's pretty sick. ⁓ yeah, some happy little clouds and Exactly, yeah. Yeah happy little trees. I was just envisioning you now doing ⁓ like a snowboard course and stuff and doing some happy little board slides and you know, happy little straight airs. Yeah, absolutely. So good.

speaker-4: Good. Well I kinda wanna see his art now. It sounds like pretty happy and I think that's fun, Peter. Well

speaker-1: I'm gonna try not to bonk my microphone in the process, will I? Yeah, a little show and tell.

speaker-4: That's fun that you have like a like a little crew of friends that old ladies. They're not old. Fifty's not old. Just like older. But that's pretty fun.

speaker-1: Yeah, yeah, totally. It it crosses generations. This is a little watercolor of Moraine Lake. See if I change the lighting here to make it a little bit better. ⁓ there go. That's better probably. That's a little Moraine Lake from the other day. Thank you. So these are all tiny watercolors. I do like bigger acrylic works too. Here's ⁓ Lake Louise.

speaker-4: It's good. They're great. They're beautiful.

speaker-1: Thank you. Let's see what else I got. I paint these a lot because in summer I drive like shuttle tours up there. Ooh, I like this one actually. This is a little bit bigger of a Lake Louise one. Nice.

speaker-4: It's pretty cool. It's nice to see what you do outside of snowboarding. It's ⁓ kind of cool. It's just like pretty diverse. ⁓ I hur we I ran into you at a like a fire, a campfire, ⁓ in the spring and you had a a show that night in Canmore, I think. And ⁓ what's your what what's what do you play? What's tell ⁓ tell us about your band?

speaker-1: Right on, so we got a band called Company of Wizards. Actually wearing the t shirt right now that Adam has screen printed. I'm not sure if I'm allowed to mention that, but maybe ⁓ yeah. Plug away. Plug away. Beautiful print. ⁓ so ⁓ Company Wizards kinda started over COVID when everything was on lockdown and I actually had to go back to the Netherlands for like a year or two after doing a big stint in Japan and New Zealand. ⁓ and then I had all of these ideas for songs because I used to play in bands when I was younger. And I had always continued the writing ⁓ of songs, but never actually like ⁓ turned them into anything. But then COVID happened and I was like, you know what? No one can see each other. I'm gonna dive deep into how to actually record and mix and produce music, and it kind of started as a one man project. ⁓ so I made an album during COVID. And then when the borders opened again, I went back to New Zealand, started working in Big White, like ⁓ Anna mentioned before, and I started recruiting members during the season to kind of like either do help out with the recording stuff by singing some backup vocals or like actually doing some live shows. And ⁓ at one point I had the Dutch Wizards and they were in rehearsing ⁓ during COVID, and then I had my New Zealand Wizards and they would play with me live in Queenstown, New Zealand. And then I have my now I got my Bow Valley wizards and ⁓ so yeah, I recruited a a vast army of wizards to play the music live with me, which is super cool. Feeling really happy that I've got to find that here in Canada now too. So yeah, it's cool.

speaker-4: Yeah, that's really cool. What kind of music is it?

speaker-1: It's mostly punk rock, but like a hint of metal and a hint of psychedelic and indie in there. ⁓ any inspirations of mine, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard is a big one. and they like to mix it up with genres a lot and that's what I like to do too. So it's kinda like a punk rock sandwich, but there's all kinds of different genres laid onto that sandwich in the middle. Yeah. It's really fun. Yeah, we played a show on Saturday actually at Amfest at Camor. That was really cool.

speaker-4: Sounds fun.

speaker-1: ⁓ that's ⁓ it's cool to be in a small mountain town where we get to do all these cool things, ⁓ like snowboarding all winter and stuff. And I was actually really surprised that the music scene, especially in the alternative realm, is so ⁓ alive. Yeah, there's like free ⁓ punk night every Tuesday night in Banff, and they got four bands playing. They come out from Calgary and from Emmonton and stuff. They usually put a bunch of local bands on and then a couple from the city. And it's like, you know, it's running every month steadily and there's like fifty two hundred people there, it's great. Yeah. Yeah, that sounds pretty awesome. Yeah, super stoked.

speaker-4: You told me that he Peter had a like a nemesis trick. That was a pretty good story. Maybe you should ask him that. I'd like to hear the ans his answer.

speaker-1: Yeah, well, I was kinda joking about ⁓ 'cause Lisa was like, ⁓ I don't I don't know Peter well. So I was like, Well I know like I know about his art, I know about his music, and I I know a bit about his his snowboarding and I was like, actually, I know about ⁓ what was it, the front board down the down the kink there trying to overcome that. Yeah. Tell us a little bit about that. Right on. So it was the big white season of twenty twenty two, twenty twenty three and ⁓ yeah, they had a double kink rail and it was my dream always to like front board slide a double kink. And ⁓ at one point it was night riding and I was hiking it by myself and I I was I thought to myself, like, I'm gonna be really smart about this. It's kinda gnarly. Let's just try to touch the first kink. So I would like put it on on frontboard, touch the kink, come off, like, okay, cool. And then like, okay, let's try to get to the middle of the first the the the middle section. Alright, we got that. Maybe touch the bottom part. Alright, cool. So we touch the bottom part. And then I get pretty close. Like I was maybe like a foot or two off. And I was gonna call it for the day because I had hiked it like twenty times. And then Parkour was at the bottom of that rail going, That was sick. You were so close and I was like, ⁓ man, I I kinda decided that I would call it, but alright, I'll give it one more go. And that's where things kinda go wrong sometimes. It's the curse. And then Matt Lathan rocks up at the top of the park. He was on the he's also on the podcast, hey. and I tell him, like, hey, I'm gonna give this one more go. Would you would you mind filming this one? And then I absolutely axe myself and taco right on the the the second kink angle, ⁓ straight in the ribs. So I break my ribs there. I rock up to park crew that that kinda like ⁓ encourage me to do it, and I fall over and I go, Ugh, I think I need patrol. ⁓ so that was kinda sad. And then yeah, forever I was scared to to try again. ⁓ until this year when at Lake Louise they had ⁓ a a a mellower version of the same feature, down flood down. ⁓ slightly wider tube, not quite as high off the ground, and then I just had the right crew for it. And we actually set out that day to hike that thing. And it was like a mission of like I'm I'm overcoming this fear today. And same thing, just like tried to put it on first, touch the first king, tried to get to the middle, tried to touch the second king. systematically working through it until, you know, it it kind of worked. And then it even though the feature might have been a little bit smaller, the technicalities are kind of the same and that feels like a huge victory. And then maybe like I learned a lot from that whole process of like if the feature is maybe a little bit too gnarly, maybe just go to a place that has a mellower version of that and try to get it done there and then step it up. So I have my building block a little bit scrambled there. And then I've kind of found that I've put the pieces together in the session this year and that was ⁓ just an awesome experience. Just the right crew, the right time, the right feature, good vibes. ⁓ also not solo helps a lot. Like getting the right encouragement from the right people is super important. Yeah, that's that's pretty awesome. yeah, and speaking of encouragement, ⁓ I know I heard a little bit this year about ⁓ you know, you've you passed level four and ⁓ that's awesome. Congrats on that. But some of the things I heard ⁓ through the chatter this year was like the some of the help you were offering ⁓ the park riding a little bit as well for some of the people in the valley here that were we're trying to knock it off. And ⁓ I heard ⁓ this one thing that just came to my mind about the the Zeech police. Tell us a little bit about that. Yeah, ⁓ the Zeech police we were hiking a box at Sunshine and ⁓ a couple of people were training for yeah like level four park park park riding stuff. And I just kinda noticed a little common denominator amongst the team that the board slides were a little bit zeechy and and you but you want to be ⁓ supportive and not like ⁓ yeah, I I I think that humor is a good way to bring something like that. So we caught up with a little joke of like I'm gonna call the zeech police. We but then following it up with a little bit of a hint of ⁓ hey, if you ride in with a little bit more of a counterappointment. rotated position, maybe you can get the board a little bit more sideways while you're on the feature. And then just so we're not like giving unwanted tips or something, but you kind of break the ice with a little bit of humor there. And then that that kinda seemed to work for the whole team. So that was great, Matt. Yeah. Yeah, and I thought it was funny because I had a chance to ride with ⁓ some of the people that were were on these moments with you and and they were doing it. I was what are you guys doing? I I might have got called on it if once or twice too and was like, what? What are we doing here? So for maybe people that are ⁓ listening that don't know about the the Zeech, it's ⁓ it's basically when your board slide doesn't go ninety on the feature, right? Yeah, but that's right, that's right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, so your board board slides are are not ninety with the feature, so anything shy of that is the ⁓ Zeechy. Yeah as as the young youngins would say, hey. That's awesome. And the Zij police will come for you. They will. And ⁓ yeah, I think the Zeech police did did their job because a lot of those people who you were ⁓ riding with and ⁓ and kind of training and and and calling out ⁓ knocked it off this year, which was ⁓ which was pretty awesome. So super awesome to see their successes. Yeah, totally. And ⁓ yeah, I think it's an important part in our industry here and and ⁓ a lot of people kind of

speaker-0: Yeah

speaker-1: have their differences when they get through to level four here where they do it to to better them themselves with a better job. Some people walk away, but ⁓ I think the ones that keep this industry going are people like you that ⁓ kind of give back and help other people. So congrats on passing the level four, but also ⁓ congrats on a bunch of your disciples passing this year as well, which I think is is kind of the next step forward and in in the path here of becoming a true ⁓ trainer and stuff. ⁓ yeah, and then some other milestones this year that we kind of rode with you a little bit with ⁓ the level two rookie process. And then the big one was that ⁓ part two that you you did as well. So that was all pretty awesome. So ⁓ hopefully you can keep carrying that momentum for for the next few seasons and and keep her going. Thanks so much. Super appreciate it. And ⁓ I'm that's definitely my intent to keep that going. So happy to be on board and happy to be in the Bow Valley. It's awesome. Sweet. Well, that concludes our episode with Peter. It was awesome chatting with you.

speaker-4: Yeah, thanks Peter. It's just yeah, it's great to have someone like you around and on this team, so really appreciate you. Thank you.

speaker-1: Thanks for having me. Happy to be a part of it.

speaker-0: Thank you Adam and Lisa and Peter. And next up we have our only French segment of the episode. have Luc Bélanger back on to interview Guillaume Larrivée of the Québec Region. OK, super. Maintenant on a notre évaluateur de l'année pour la région de Québec, plus spécifiquement pour la saison 25-26, Guillaume Larrivée. Thank you for us today, Guillaume. Congratulations on your well-deserved for evaluator for the ACMS 12526 of the Quebec

speaker-5: Merci, merci, merci. Un an à autre.

speaker-0: Super bien mérité, on est content de t'avoir dans la chaise aujourd'hui pour te poser une petite question. On veut apprendre à connaître un peu Guillaume l'arrivée. Je suis chanceux que j'ai déjà rencontré, il a beaucoup de conversations, des choses comme ça évidemment, mais les membres qui sont partis de notre association, on connait peut-être pas très bien. On va commencer. Donne-moi ton histoire. How did you get involved in CMS and your path to get to Evaluator level 2 and Park 1 and things like that? Tell me a little bit your path to that.

speaker-5: Ben, je te dirais, fait 30 ans cette année que fais du snowboard et du skateboard, le fond. Mais ça fait, je pense, plus ou moins 17 ans que j'ai fait mon niveau 1 dans l'Ouest canadien. Écoute, j'ai un ami que j'ai rencontré là-bas qui m'a fortement conseillé d'aller faire le cours. J'ai fait ça, j'ai aimé ça. Je revenu au Québec, j'ai enseigné pour Beaumont. Après ça, je me suis en allée un peu plus dans l'anneau d'yage, j'ai enseigné dans l'anneau d'yage, j'ai rencontré Émilie, elle m'a conseillé beaucoup de pousser aussi. Puis, je allé suivre mon niveau 2. Après ça, j'ai continué d'enseigner aussi, j'ai enseigné beaucoup la semaine à des groupes scolaires, j'ai enseigné la fin de semaine aussi, beaucoup beaucoup beaucoup de leçons. Après ça, je suis allé faire mon niveau 3, j'ai rencontré Jen, elle m'a beaucoup encouragé, elle m'a... a aidé à continuer de pousser. J'ai toujours aimé ça, enseigner. Mon père était prof à l'université. C'était impassionné vraiment de ce qu'il faisait. Le snowboard a toujours été une super grosse passion. L'enseigner, c'était naturel et ça a toujours été bien bien le fun. Je ne pensais pas que ça allait m'amener là aujourd'hui. Le chemin s'est fait comme naturellement. C'est vraiment quelque chose que j'adore. C'est l'enseigner, comment enseigner, avoir la chance d'être mentor, puis voir les nouveaux évaluateurs, enseigner, puis faire des bons coups, c'est vraiment ça qui me branche. J'adore ça. Là, c'est mon travail temps plein durant l'hiver, dans le fond depuis plusieurs années. J'ai la chance d'enseigner. au programme Ski et Tud à Saint-Adèle qui sont 800 jeunes en ski snowboard avec mon collègue Daviel. On a beaucoup de fun à faire ça, c'est programme incroyable. Les jeunes sont supers, on se promène partout dans les Laurentides. On enseigne beaucoup, est souvent sur la neige, on enseigne beaucoup. Je pense que c'est c'est cela la clé, On en faire pas mal.

speaker-0: Super! It's definitely been an addition to the team. I don't know, three, four, five years ago, something like that. Especially before I got into the position. it was fun to see your passion and your professionalism develop. Things like that. And more and more, you've become a key in my team. Especially in your region. You live in the corner of Mont Tremblant. Tremblant and Laurentides, things like that. There's a lot of action in that corner. and then you touched on the sport and then it's been, I think it's been several years that you've in the sport And for us, little bit of this program, we may have young potential here, or think there are young in this program who have become monitors too.

speaker-5: Absolument, il en a beaucoup. Il y en a même qui sont devenus évaluateurs, évaluatrices. Dans le fond, si on voit Anne-Charlotte et Maïka qui sont récemment arrivés, viennent de ce programme-là, sont arrivés avec une énergie incroyable. Écoute, habitué de se faire coacher et d'enseigner, c'était super à voir. Beaucoup de nos jeunes, quand ils arrivent secondaire 3, secondaire 4, c'est le temps de travailler. Il y en a beaucoup qui vont aller faire le niveau 1 pour enseigner dans le coin de Saint-Sauveur. Ils viennent toujours un peu de... de ce valet-là. Moi, ça fait toujours une belle fleur de voir les jeunes qu'on a coachés après ça qui veulent coacher ou enseigner. C'est toujours le fun, mais c'est un programme, dans le fond, c'est secondaire 1 à 5. Ils sortent 2 à 3 jours sur la neige par semaine. On fait toutes les stations un peu dans les Laurentides. C'est un suivi durant toute la saison. Ils ont un plan début saison, un plan demi saison. On focus à chaque jour sur une habileté différente, puis on progresse comme ça. Le coaching et la CMS sont ensemble. Moi, j'utilise les deux. Oui, je coache, mais je coache avec les habiletés de la CMS. Tout va se rejoindre. Ça m'aide beaucoup. Je pense que c'est facile aussi pour les jeunes du programme de comprendre. sur quoi on travaille. sais, regarde, aujourd'hui c'est la mise à corps, demain ça sera le pivot, tu sais, on joue en pression, tu on joue toujours avec ces habiletés-là, puis ouais, c'est peut-être ça qui fait qu'on est rendu plus habitué, je pense, d'enseigner et coacher.

speaker-0: Yeah, it's really cool. And your colleague who works on this with you, David Yel, I work with him too. Absolutely. And then I had a discussion with him and he said to are you done with the sports And no, it's just a couple of days. And he couldn't be there all last week, think something like that. He no, have to go the last day because my secondary 5, just the way he said it, it's like... They're back to the program, so they've you for 4 or 5 years now. And way he said it, it made me so to see a coach who has a really good vibe. I know young like the son of Jeanne-Biève who is in program, the son of Jeanne-Biève Piloto, our technical who is in there to have a little program. And now he works at Tremblant as a monitor too.

speaker-5: Exactement. ...

speaker-0: It's really cool to see the energy and passion that out of this program. I think it's really a testament to you, David, and JP Etienne, and all people who have been engaged for several years. You did a very good job of transmitting the passion to several young And it's especially in the recruits like Charlotte Minka, as you said, entering the evaluator team last year. It was really cool.

speaker-5: C'est un honneur aussi de travailler avec ces gars-là, David Yel, JP Etier, faire des sessions ensemble avec eux autres, échanger sur des sujets, c'est vraiment comme ça qu'on s'améliore tout le monde. Moi, j'adore et j'ai adoré travailler avec ces gars-là. C'est c'est vrai. C'est un honor de ça sérieusement. Quand ils m'ont appelé, j'ai tout de suite dit oui. Je compte continuer de faire ça encore longtemps. On a le sentiment qu'on redonne beaucoup. Les jeunes sont contents, ils nous le disent. Quand ils deviennent moniteurs, ou même quand ils nous disent « j'ai adoré ma saison, j'ai appris plein de choses », Moi je les ai en secondaire 1 quand il arrive, je les vois quand ils ressortent plus loin, tu puis de la progression, c'est... T'es fou, hein? Ouais, c'est vraiment...

speaker-0: I have a 14 year and my guy is 10 years so I see them changing lot at that age. It's not always easy, every day. I know Guillaume Larrivée, snowboard vintage You're really passionate about snowboarding.

speaker-5: Non, absolument, on a dit tchao.

speaker-0: I had the chance to step into your residence a little bit and then you told come come come, see my snowboards, things like that. Tell me a little bit about your snowboard

speaker-5: Ça fait longtemps que je collectionne quand même. J'ai toujours été un fan de Burton quand même, de ce que Jake faisait au Vermont dans les années 80. L'histoire du snowboard est plus jeune que l'histoire du skate. J'ai toujours aimé les shapes, le performer, pourquoi c'était petit, c'était court pour rider dans le bois, pourquoi le tél avait du bubble dedans pour jouer entre les arbres. Les shapes... ça m'a toujours fasciné, pourquoi il rideait ce top board à cette époque-là. L'évolution aussi, vraiment, j'ai toujours trouvé ça cool. J'ai ramassé, j'ai eu la chance, j'ai des Burton de 84 à 94, j'ai tous les Craig Kelly du début, l'évolution de Craig Kelly aussi qui est quand même un rider incroyable. pour avoir ride un Craig Kelly 93 dans la poudreuse dans l'ouest le kicktail, la chape du tail et comment il est placé il claque très bien dans poudreuse c'est des boards, c'était fonctionnel vraiment c'était... c'est quoi? c'est... ouais cette collection-là t'en as vu quelques-uns, quelques-uns mais euh... ouais peut-être euh... c'est ça c'est ouais... de

speaker-0: My father was a shaper of sail boards, fun boards and front constructors, so I was grader in that too. But if you had to choose one jewel, if Emily said Guillaume, it's your turn, you can just keep one. Which one are looking

speaker-5: Je garde un Dupra, Serge Dupra, Shaper de Windsurf et autres. Il a eu du snowboard à fin des années 80, autre évolution dans le fond. Probablement un des premiers gars qui a amené vraiment des planches avec un sidecut dans le fond. C'était quelque chose dans le temps, les gars arrivaient en bas de pente, puis pouvaient carver, puis ils faisaient quasiment le tour de la gang, qu'est-ce qu'ils n'avaient pas vu avant le Vitality Turn. Il a fait ses planches qui s'appelle les Dupras dans le fond. C'est la même shape en trois grandeurs. C'est la D1. Moi je garderais une 165 avec un nose qui est bien pointu dans le fond qui va avaler un peu tout ce que tu veux. Mais qui a quand même un super side cut et qui se roule. Tous les gars et les faits que j'ai mis sur ces planches-là ils capotent. Il a marqué sur ça, me textait le soir et il Guigui, je suis encore bouleversé par cette chèque-là ». Il a tué Dave aussi. Tout le monde, c'est à essayer vraiment du poste.

speaker-0: ⁓ c'est cool, mais t'sais, ça t'a pas pris le temps de prendre la décision? Tu savais, ouais, laquelle, t'sais.

speaker-5: Non, non, je le sais, J'en ai deux, j'ai un 165 puis un 173, mais je garderai ça,

speaker-0: My gem that is no in my collection, now, is a Radair Tanker, 188. It was a capote but riding this thing, I never even had a race it as good as my Radair. At one point, I gave to one of my friends who was always a Burton Supermodel 181. At one point, I gave him my 87, was tripping, and he rode it for years, he probably it.

speaker-5: Ouais, ouais, bimô... Right there, il en faut encore le tanker city board comme populaire, là, 200, 196, 240...

speaker-0: We're doing a 200. Trevor Gavora, a legend of the scene. He had a tanker 200, I remember that. Super cool. And speaking of boards, we're going to come back a little bit, but I'm going to a little break from boards. There's no snow on the at the moment. What do do to keep yourself busy and pay your bills when there's no snow on ground?

speaker-5: C'est tout pour aujourd'hui,

speaker-0: What is Guillaume doing in this time?

speaker-5: J'ai la chance de travailler pour Sentier Monttremblant. Dans le fond, j'entretiens 65 km de Sentier à Tremblant avec mon équipe et mes gars. fait trois ans. On est dans la montagne tout le temps. On se promène, on marche beaucoup. On fait de l'entretien, on fait de la construction, mais tu on est un peu toujours en mouvement, si on peut dire, dans la montagne. Ça nous garde en shape. On fait des bonnes journées. Toujours aimer ça. Ça fait dix ans que je fais ça. le trail building, c'est super cool de bâtir des features, puis que les gens y ride, puis qu'ils aiment ça, puis qu'ils disent, hey, c'est vraiment cool qu'est-ce que t'as bâti. C'est toujours le fun, puis je fais... Ça, c'est mon travail, ce qui paie les factures, puis dans mes temps libres, je fais beaucoup de skateboard, là, tu J'adore vraiment le skate. J'ai fait du skate avant de faire du snowboard. Ça fait partie de moi, là, sérieusement, là. Tu sais, j'ai... j'ai la chance, mon petit bonhomme plus jeune vient s'acheter un petit push bike Strider pour rider avec moi dans le skatepark, tout, pis je le mette mes jambes, on essaye d'en faire. C'est lui qui me dit « ⁓ papa, on va-tu au skatepark? Ça c'est vraiment le plus beau cadeau, on a ce moment-là ensemble d'en faire. ouais, je trouve que c'est, j'ai fait aussi beaucoup de longboard, mais je trouve que c'est un beau cross training. Ouais, le skate ça garde les cheveux actifs, la pop, sais. Puis on a des beaux skateparks en béton partout au Québec. pas skater, tu sais. Quand j'ai eu 30 ans puis ils mis à faire des parcs en béton un peu partout, je m'y suis remis beaucoup. C'est ça, je n'ai jamais arrêté. J'ai un quiver de skate aussi, je chanceux. Ça ne te comprend pas. Un Santa Cruz puis Fallow Pearl, gros fan.

speaker-0: God stop! Nice! So you're quite involved in the mountain bike in your area. Great feeling in the area of Mont Tremblant. By the you've never been there, those who are to go for a ride in Tremblant. It's worth it to go there to have a nice day. Acoustic e-bike, gravel, and everything. There's all kinds of riding to in Mont Tremblant. So, go! Absolutely. But if you had to say if there similarities or things that you find in the Manta Vague like you find in the Snowboard what would say?

speaker-5: Tu sais encore plus que moi, tu es un passionné fan, coach, hiver, coach, être. Je trouve que PMBIA et tout ce qui se fait dans le coaching de MountainBug, c'est incroyable. On est des passionnés. Les passionnés de vélo, c'est des passionnés de vélo. Tout le monde aime vraiment ça. C'est une belle communauté, les gens gentils. Je trouve que c'est inclusif aussi. T'sais toute la famille sortent rider, c'est cool. T'sais l'accessibilité, t'sais j'aime ça. Je trouve ça toujours cool voir des familles qui ride ensemble, t'sais voir du monde qui s'initie, des gars et des filles die hard qui ride à tout et j'autre. C'est des passionnés, c'est cool. Le flow d'une piste de bike, c'est... Moi qui viens du snowboard, du skate, me parle. J'aime ça quand c'est bien fait, tu trouves ça?

speaker-0: Yeah, ⁓ So I join in there too. Coming back to snowboards, there are many kinds of snowboards. And Guillaume L'Arrivée, likes to race as we call them, with good rigid, angles like that, and boards that you can't find anywhere in stores. Talk to me that a little bit. It's as a part of our sport, but what would be your focus of all that? What attracts you in there and the sensations you find?

speaker-5: C'est vraiment, c'est pas le même sport. le fond, je ferais une parenthèse parce que je trouve rider en softboot, c'est une chose, rider en butt-dust, c'est une autre chose. Moi, quand j'ai commencé, même avec un gros background de planche, mes rappeurs étaient complètement off. Je recommençais à zéro, je recommençais mon apprentissage. C'est super cool de recommencer à ZEVO dans quelque chose que tu connaissais déjà, que tu pensais que tu connaissais. pense tellement que tout le monde devrait l'essayer et essayer cette précision-là et ce feeling-là. On a des montagnes qui sont super pour faire ça. Je vais faire un petit slash à Mont Blanc qui est à côté ici. Des pistes très très larges avec un dénivelé qui est quand même smooth. Donc pour faire des bonnes longues mises à cordes, ça fonctionne très très bien. On a de l'équipement aussi qui est... qui est quand même facile même pour quelqu'un qui commencerait. Moi je suis, pour moi le softboot c'est beaucoup le travail, le plaisir, la fluidité, le race c'est la précision et la concentration. C'est comme un autre chose. Je me suis fait coacher, j'ai eu beaucoup d'aide pour progresser où est-ce que je suis rendu. C'était vraiment le fun. Une autre technique complète à apprendre. Mais encore là, comme le coaching, tout se rejoint vraiment, je trouve, avec nos habiletés, les compétences essentielles. Le carving revient beaucoup, beaucoup, en bas de dur ou en bas de molle, parce que les gars et les filles qui ont un certain âge que le freestyle ou les plus grosses features leur parlent moins, ils trouvent du fun en G-Force dans une carve, puis dans la relance. Cassie qui a ramené le cours de carving de trois jours, c'est incroyable. Les parenthèses, je déroge un peu du hardboot, l'équipement de softboots en carving maintenant est incroyable. Des planches qui sont en titane comme des skis de course, mais pour les softboots, ont maintenant des... des risers, même des toe lifts, des heel lifts, du canteen, plein de choses, pour répliquer une position qui va t'amener beaucoup plus ouverte et qui va être beaucoup plus confortable sur ton virage talon. Et Napton a comme ouvert la porte avec ça, avec des planches plus larges. Donc là, les gars n'accrochent plus leur heel cup en virage talon. Ils sont capables de faire quelque chose qui est aussi performant. que des hard boots. Hard boots, c'est un autre histoire, mais quand même, tout le monde devrait l'essayer. C'est ça, venez nous voir au Mont Blanc. C'est plus accessible que les gens le pensent. ça qu'il faut qu'on... Si Jack Michaud disait beaucoup ça, si tu es capable de faire une bonne curve en travers de pente, si tu changeais de hedge tour, puis rembarqué en soft boots, en hard boots, tu vas être en business.

speaker-0: Ha ha! I what I'm doing. Easier to than to do, course. Exactly. I agree with you. I haven't touched my race in the time, level 4, you to do things like that. But in the time, was more popular too. My brother started on that. It teaches you a lot. It's another experience, but you can go and learn things and embark on that in our snowboard every day.

speaker-5: Essayez-le! Essayez-le!

speaker-0: Exactly. I ended up Nick, our Atlantic here. Just last question, to wrap up. What is your why? If you had to choose your why, why do do that as a evaluator? Why do coach the Snowboard? You talked about a little bit earlier. If you had to a summary or something that defines your why, if you continue to it year after year, what would it

speaker-5: Ben, c'est sûr, j'adore ça transmettre ma passion, mais j'aime ça quand l'enseignement du snowboard s'est amené d'une façon claire que tu peux comprendre, dans le fond. Si tu es à certain stade et tu veux progresser, je veux tu comprennes facilement qu'est-ce que ça va te prendre pour progresser. Moi, mon message, c'est d'essayer de l'expliquer facilement pour que tout le monde puisse le comprendre, qu'il reste dans le sport. Je pense que vraiment pour ça que je fais ça. On est une grosse communauté de snow, mais on pas une si grosse communauté de snow. Je pense que c'est important de l'enseigner comme il faut au départ pour que les gens aiment ça et qu'ils continuent de progresser dans le sport et qu'ils en fassent deux, trois, quatre, cinq fois. Ils disent Je vais m'acheter une planche, j'aime vraiment ce sport-là ». C'est important de l'apprendre comme il faut la première fois. Et même si je veux progresser... les autres étapes, c'est important de l'apprendre comme il faut, comment progresser. C'est ça notre rôle vraiment, de l'amener pour que ça soit facile à comprendre pour l'élève, pour le rider, pour le jeune que tu vas coacher et qu'est-ce qu'il faut qu'il fasse pour aller plus haut simplement. C'est ça qui me branche.

speaker-0: Thank for your help and availability. Once again, your professionalism in the evaluator Congratulations for your recognition. It's fully deserved, my friend. Thank you again. I wish you great season on the mountain I can't wait to see you Tremblant. Go make a couple of tracks in your berms.

speaker-5: Oui, c'est cool,

speaker-1: Yeah.

speaker-0: Thank you very much, Guillaume. Thank you, Luc, and thank you, Guillaume. Last but not least, have Matt Latham, who's joining us from the Southern Hemisphere. down in New Zealand right now. We did have a little tech diff on this episode. Elisa's computer decided to overheat. I guess it was a little too hot in Pemberton. So, Adam had to take the reins a little bit on this one and improvise. Enjoy.

speaker-5: Un plaisir.

speaker-1: ⁓ congrats on being the evaluator of the year for BC. Put in a lot of ⁓ hard work for for Lisa and I and we sent you on quite a few awesome road trips. But ⁓ yeah, more than congrats. I think a big thank you for just putting in all that work 'cause you filled in a lot of gaps for us and ⁓ yeah, you put on some miles, hey?

speaker-4: Yeah, so did my car. Yeah, it was ⁓ it was a good good season for sure. So ⁓ yeah, it's ⁓ that's what I like to do.

speaker-1: Did you have a f a final tally on how many ⁓ Ks you put on your car this winter?

speaker-4: no, we I've got the final tally, I'd probably got one new new oil gasket. And ⁓ yeah, that's about it for now. There was that trip one that one trip I was at ⁓ driving a panorama and ⁓ I was driving along, had my friend in with in with me and ⁓ had the lights going on and we're driving down the road, I was like, I think that's a big ⁓ chunk of snow. And I just didn't continue to slow down. I was like, I'll just keep driving. I think my little Honda Civic will clear it. And then I ran over it and turns out it was not a chunk of snow. It was a a large rock and clunk. And then it was just outside the resort. We just kinda trickled in and my my engine oil light came on and then my oil pressure light came on. I'm like, okay, yeah, no, that wasn't snow. So ⁓ yeah, we we just made it and then thankfully we had CAA and ⁓ got the car fixed and then Jacob Greel was with me there, he drove me back in so we got dinner together. It was a that was a fun one.

speaker-1: Yeah, that's awesome. And that was a funny week for for Lisa and I because you were the second ⁓ evaluator with car trouble. So we were ⁓ solving all kinds of problems that week. It was that one thing I noticed about just you and your riding is that you're you're like one of those well rounded kind of snowboarders, right? You're I wouldn't class you as like a you know, a park guy or a free ride guy. You kinda do it all, which which is kinda my style. I like that. So ⁓

speaker-0: for

speaker-4: Yeah.

speaker-1: That's pretty rad. But the other thing I noticed is you just always got this wicked smile going on when you're sh sliding around on your snowboard. So like I'm most stoked on your board there. Well what what keeps that awesome smile going the whole time?

speaker-0: What keeps you there?

speaker-4: Just a changing environment going along, seeing the sights and just kind of appreciating the moment where you are. ⁓ yeah, so there's there's always I always try to find a reason to, yeah, enjoy whether it's getting bucked in the bumps or just floating in the air and the on the jump in the park, free from society's little rules and stuff. So yeah, it's fun.

speaker-1: Sweet. Yeah, I think that's what I enjoy too when people ask me. I'm like, it's just absolute freedom. I can go over there, I can go over there.

speaker-0: this.

speaker-4: Yeah, it's no right or wrong. You just gotta go where you want, do what you want and who's to say who's to judge what's ⁓ what's right or wrong, right? So yeah. Yeah.

speaker-1: Yeah. Unless you're on exams and ⁓ someone's telling you you're doing it wrong. How's New Zealand going down there? Whereabouts are ya?

speaker-4: I'm in one, I guess. I'm just working out of Cardrona slash Tobocone. ⁓ it's been pretty fun so far. We had a bit of a slow start with snow. We were pushed back about two weeks. ⁓ but yeah, it's pretty much live and going now. We just got our parks open yesterday, like our flowy parks. So yeah, ⁓ it's been full on lessons. We're in the school holidays, so it's just carnage and chaos. We're getting seeing like ⁓ one chopper, two choppers a day getting flown up for patrol calls and stuff, so Yeah, just the carnage just is ensued. So just kind of like a head on the swivel out there.

speaker-1: New Zealand's pretty funny like that. I remember when I worked up on the North Island there, up at Rapeu, they had the ⁓ they had the snowboard park right underneath the ⁓ like the beginner chair, and it was like just moth to a light bulb. It was like they would get off the chair before they would even like strap in properly and they would head straight there and it was just total carnage. It was it was just the best. I l I love the Kiwi scene. It's so fun.

speaker-4: Yeah. Pretty pretty laid back people here too. The culture's pretty cool. Sorta back. I'm not sure. It's taking a while to read load. I can see can you hear me? I'm not sure. I it's really slow. ⁓ my computer overheated. I did notice like when I I was looking through your history, Matt, and ⁓ I noticed that you are like you run courses all over Canada. I noticed that you were in Ontario and Quebec and Alberta and

speaker-1: Lisa's back.

speaker-4: BC, you've done twenty six different resorts in Canada. So I guess you really like traveling. ⁓ and then you've worked in New Zealand and Australia and Japan. So you move around a lot. What's ⁓ what's your favorite? What's the best? ⁓ man. Yeah. A lot of people ask me on the chair, you know, where's a favorite place you've ridden? And ⁓ yeah, I have to say probably my favorite spot that I've ridden, I'd was able to take a trip to New Zealand before the season here, Treble Cone is probably my favorite spot. I don't have favorites often. So that's just like a big bowl of goodness. There's just lines everywhere to drop. There's it's just so open and ⁓ the views are from very similar to Canada. So ⁓ yeah, that's my favorite. But ⁓ I'd I describe myself like a suitcase. That's how I put the last five years of my life. Just always on the move, never in the same spot, kinda getting bored easily. So I just like to Get up and go, but I'm hoping to ⁓ call Revelstoke and New Zealand home for a little bit of a consistent foreseeable future. Settle for a bit. Do you know how many addresses you've had in the last like ten years? I always found that tricky to fill out these applications when you've lived in like twenty-six different places. ⁓ any of those yeah. Yeah. I ⁓ I ⁓ struggle with those forms. There's like mailing address, there's residential address, and like God, I'm not I'm not sure where I am even right now. So Yeah, it's been ⁓ it's been it's been hard to keep track of. I usually just have my parents as my default address are back in Ontario and Whitby, so I usually just use them for if if all else fail if all else fails.

speaker-1: Nice. I used to write my license plate number down as my address. I don't know. It's the nearest thing I have to home is a car.

speaker-0: like

speaker-4: Yeah.

speaker-1: Speaking of Revy, that was one of my questions. What are some tips you have for somebody who's who's who's trying to make the move to Revy and and live the POW life out there?

speaker-4: we say be prepared to be adaptable. ⁓ you know, try to find try to find a bit of a connection, community, some friends that you can that you've got, a bit of support system there. ⁓ yeah, you just be pretty be pretty keen for it all. We have a lot of different products at the resort and ⁓ it's a pretty cool lifestyle. So being kinda prepared just to almost teach anything. We have like bumps clinics, we have free ride, we've got ⁓ we've got st just Step and D products. What else? We've got Yeah, lots of kids program. So it's just ⁓ just a wide variety of topics. So you're never you're never getting bored.

speaker-1: There. Probably show up with a few bucks in your bank too, just in case. Hey, like a little bit of a slower opening this season. You guys got pushed back a week.

speaker-4: Yeah, yeah, definitely definitely have being a little bit prepared ⁓ in terms of ⁓ the cash in your cash in your wallet. ⁓ what's the housing situation like in Revia? Is it tricky to get a space? What I found was it's kind of ⁓ it kind of flip flops between the demand between going into summer and going into fall. So we generally see a decrease in demand for housing as we go into summer. ⁓ 'cause a lot of people take off from the winter and we see a lot of ⁓ housing and rentals become available whereas then in the fall the momentum swings the other way where the demand increases because now everyone's coming for the winter. So if you're if you're looking to to secure accommodation Revelstoke, I'd probably recommend ⁓ doing it in like the spring, April, May. That's when people are starting to jet off and if you can get a summer job even better, then you can try and get something long term that'll hold you through into the winter. There's a lot of competition out there. Pretty much competing with half of Australia, so to find ⁓ Place to live. Yeah.

speaker-0: Yeah.

speaker-1: Lots of people from Quebec go there too, I remember spending a little bit of time out there and being like, Wow, there's a lot a lot of Frenchies out here that are really stoked on ⁓ shredding the shredding the powder.

speaker-4: Yeah, and a lot. They ⁓ they love the camper vans too. Yeah. A lot of people Yeah, a lot of camper vans I've seen. Mm.

speaker-1: Yeah. I think that's a pretty pro tip for a lot of ski towns though. It's like try and show up when everybody's just kind of leaving and sometimes that means you gotta end up spending an extra bit of time, maybe an extra month before the season really gets rolling, just to make sure you're you're set up and you have a place to live, even if it's gonna cost you, you know, another month or two of rent. I don't know what happens. ⁓

speaker-4: Yeah, yeah, totally.

speaker-1: And I think probably part of the key to success too was ⁓ you know, Lisa and I kept you on the road about half the winter or two where ⁓ we were actually joking midway through, like, how did the resort give you this much time?

speaker-4: I was wondering the same thing. Shout out to ⁓ the Revelstoke Management staff for all the time off. If anyone's ⁓ here listening in on this.

speaker-1: Imagine the Matt Latham without snowboarding. You know, erase that part of your life. ⁓ Who's the real Matt Latham? Tell us more.

speaker-4: I'll just go I'll start off with a quick ⁓ enunciation correction. ⁓ we'll go with Latham. Boy, yeah, I was kinda thinking about that too. I'm like, where would I be today without snowboarding? And ⁓ I kind of just think back to my earlier years growing up in Toronto, ⁓ ice hockey was all I knew. You know, you're kinda born out of the womb and into a pair of skates like most Canadian children are. So ⁓ yeah, before snowboarding was all it was all ice hockey.

speaker-1: Leesham, yeah, sorry. Well, did you ⁓ play at all in like a beer league in Revee or in New Zealand there? Do they have anything going on like that?

speaker-4: I played it last year, ⁓ Beer League in Revelstoke. ⁓ the games are gonna be a little bit demanding though. It would be about two or three games a week and some of them were at like nine or ten at night and I was like, This is past my bedtime. I was like, ⁓ man, this is gonna yeah, this a this is ⁓ a little bit too late. So some of them were okay, but ⁓ yeah, a lot of games and then you know, you'd play start at nine o'clock and then the game would go until like ten and then you gotta get change and then get home, shower and all your roommates asleep, and so you are just trying to like

speaker-0: Get me.

speaker-4: Yeah, just try to get freshened up for the next day. But yeah. growing up I played in competitive leagues and stuff and ⁓ played on some high school teams.

speaker-1: I had a good friend who ⁓ he went to New Zealand. He actually ended up marrying a Kiwi girl and I went to visit him one time and he was on a New Zealand ⁓ hockey team and it was the funniest thing ever 'cause he was the same. He was kind of like a rep team player up in Canada. So in New Zealand he was probably the best player they'd ever seen. I went to see one of his games and it was like you remember the Harlem Globetroners with basketball? That's kind of what it was like with him playing ⁓ hockey against all these ⁓ He easy just skate in circles around them, doing all these trick shots. So I would recommend if you can find a league down there, maybe you'll ⁓ you'll just be the next up and coming superstar down there.

speaker-4: Well, speaking of that, yeah, ⁓ Cardrone and Trouble Cone, they actually have an ice hockey team. It's a staff team, and ⁓ they play a game in September against all the Queenstown resorts. So there's like a big rivalry between the two. So it's they've been playing the game for years. Apparently it's a massive turnout. It's like two hundred, three hundred fans, all staff. Got signs, they got they got the crowds. ⁓ but it's a pretty full on competitive game. So they've ⁓ I think part of the reason why they hired me is so they can play it on their on their hockey team 'cause they know I'm Canadian. I think part of it was live, but no, I'm just kidding. So that'll be pretty fun. I think Cardrona has been losing the last few years, so I'm determined to change that this year.

speaker-1: ⁓ yeah. I can see big things. I'm not gonna condone gamble in here, but if ⁓ if anybody's putting money on that we got the insight.

speaker-4: Yeah. Yeah, exactly.

speaker-1: Well yeah, you gotta let us know how it goes. I remember the last time I saw you, your knee was causing you some problems. How's that doing?

speaker-4: Yeah, it's better now. I had to go to during the level four exams I had to go see a ⁓ chiropractor quick and he gave me a few exercises that I've been doing to this day. So yeah, kinda one of those things with this industry in the off season you got time to like take care of stuff like I was saying before and yeah, kinda heal your body a bit. So yeah, the knee's doing better. Just had to stretch the hamstrings. I think that was more of the problem, just tighter hamstrings. So yeah, and ⁓ just packing just pack like a nice stretchy band bit of a lacrosse ball and ⁓ just some really simple at home exercises have kind of yeah got me bounced back. So, you know, just staying tough out there, kinda like again, this kinda comes back from the all the hot ice hockey I played. This, you know, playing through playing through some injuries, some bumps, some bruises, you kinda just you fall, you get back up and you just kinda keep going, right? But yeah, yeah. Just gotta remember to take that time to heal yourself a little bit. Yeah. So I think credit my years to Hawke kind of getting a tougher mentality.

speaker-1: So Matt, we learned a little bit more about ⁓ you know, what you do off snow with the ho with the hockey and stuff like that on the ice. ⁓ anything else that you ⁓ you do that ⁓

speaker-4: Yeah, in between between the winters, I get that very short lived summer for about, you know, two months. So it's not very long. So I kind of just try to try to keep my activities fresh and ⁓ fun. So yeah, in between I like to get out and golf a little bit. I'd probably classify myself as an intermediate golf intermediate golfer. You know, it's golfing's a lot like gambling, right? You win some, you lose some. Sometimes you shank a shot and the ball goes in for a bath, and then sometimes you get it on the green and you Yeah. So yeah, it's ⁓ it's ⁓ it has its highs and its lows. I've always kinda remembered this quote, ⁓ if you're having a bad day, just go golfing, just to remind you it gets a lot worse. Golf and I've started to take up skateboarding actually. just cruising right now. I think I'm fearing for my life just to even attempt an Ollie, just knowing my ankles are are so loose. So I'm just kinda more of a cruiser skateboarder. ⁓ something I wish I had done a little bit more earlier earlier in high school, 'cause ⁓ I think it would have helped me out a lot now, just seeing all my buddies in high school to be outside, you know, waiting for the bell to ring and to be on this random curb on the sidewalk trying to do this trick and then we get they get so frustrated, I'd look at them and be like, Why are they putting themselves through this pain? And now when every time I'm doing a rail or something, I'm trying to trick and you know I get some wobbles and bobbles, I like I'm like, Okay, I get it. I see why the ⁓ the the frustration is kicking in. So yeah, ⁓ I think now I just kinda like to enjoy the cruise around Rebelstoke on my skateboard. It's a really fun town for that.

speaker-1: Yeah, skateboarding, yeah. Like I've skateboarded for almost four years and it's it's kinda like golf where some days you have a good day and you can land a few tricks and then you know, the the next time it just doesn't happen. And I think that's like the the relationship that you'll learn with with skateboarding once you start doing some more tricks and stuff, is like just because you kick flip once doesn't mean you're gonna do it again. But ⁓

speaker-4: Yeah, it's ⁓ yeah.

speaker-1: It's it's a painful one emotionally but also ⁓ physically for sure. Where where the falls are yeah, they're a little more painful than than on snow, that's for sure.

speaker-4: And probably more painful too at thirty three than fifteen, right? So or totally yeah. Anything above that. Can you s can you still do a kick flip?

speaker-1: Yeah, ⁓ yeah, I I still skate quite a bit and ⁓ yeah, it's just one of those things where I think if I ⁓ if I can't I'm gonna be a real miserable guy. I I think skateboarding for me was my my main sport before any of this happened. I was a I was a skateboarder since I was a little kid. Yeah, kudos for you for ⁓ taking it up later in life. I always ⁓ meet up with some other dads at the skate park who are trying to keep up to their kids and ⁓

speaker-4: Yeah.

speaker-1: I don't know if they enjoy it. I think they hate it. It's like ⁓ it's crazy they're all padded up and they're still just getting beat down, falling all over the place. It's hilarious.

speaker-4: Yeah, I would ⁓ yeah, well if I were to try and learn any tricks now, I think I'd be that guy all wrapped up in bubble wrap at the skate park, trying anything.

speaker-1: Yeah.

speaker-4: Yeah, knowing me. ⁓

speaker-1: I had this mini ramp once that had a rope in the middle so you could hang on to it and ⁓ it was really good for people learning 'cause if you're gonna fall you just kinda let the rope catch you.

speaker-0: And.

speaker-4: ⁓ that's good. They safety that.

speaker-1: Yeah, but I think skateboarding's one of those great things. It doesn't matter if you're doing tricks or just standing on the thing cruising around. Like it's just such a great thing for your ⁓ for your balance and your your ⁓ your twitch factor, you know, being ready for anything. Well yeah, thanks Matt for joining us here on the podcast. It's pretty rad to actually get to know you a little more than ⁓ you know, just diving into the course world and the and the snowboard stuff. So ⁓ Yeah, thanks again for being on here and thanks again for ⁓ yeah, putting in all the work you did this winter. I know Elisa's screen I think is off, but I'll say ⁓ thanks on her behalf as well 'cause I can see her face even though ⁓ she might not show up on this recording here. So it's gonna be as long as you score a goal there in the hockey I think she'll be all good.

speaker-4: A thumbs up. Yeah, sounds good. I'll try and ⁓ try and do my best. Yeah, thanks again for ⁓ yeah, your guys' support as well and ⁓ yeah, it was it's awesome to work underneath you too. So, ⁓ yeah, looking forward to getting back to Canada and getting things started up again and seeing what we can accomplish next winter.

speaker-0: Okay, that's all we have for today's episode. Thanks so much for tuning in everyone to this extra special episode. I know I really enjoyed it. I hope you did too. Huge congrats going out to Nick, Arya, Peter, Guillaume and Matt. What an awesome accomplishment and I'm super stoked that we got to spend this time with you and share some insights about you with the audience. ⁓ Can't wait to see you on snow very soon, but in the interim, we'll see you on the next episode. in two weeks.