Photo: Tim Zimmerman

Extended interview with Travis Rice from the February issue on newsstands now!

Interview by Tawnya Schultz

The scene just hasn’t been the same since Travis Rice blasted through the gates doing things bigger and better than everyone else. In fact, Travis has set the bar so high that the only person who continues to exceed it every year is well, himself. Nicknamed “Crazy” by some of his closest companions, Travis has been reppin’ Jackson Hole for over twenty years, and continues to lead the pack with his seventh pro model with Lib Technologies- the Travis Rice C2 Power Banana.

What are you doing? You down in So Cal?

I’m just leaving Mammoth right now. Heading to L.A. then going to Paris in the morning for Quiksilver Europe’s 40th anniversary.

Oh awesome. Sounds amazing.

Yeah it’s pretty sweet.

I’m on the Lib Tech website right now and you have like three pro models. How many pro models have you had in your career?

This is my seventh board with Lib.

How’s this year’s different from what people have rode before?

Well here’s the beauty of this one. This was my seventh board with Lib and those guys are just so amazing to work with on board design. They’re so open to letting me skew it in any direction I like. Over the years I’ve really been able to really hone in on everything from flex patterns and torsion to dialing in exactly what type of Magne-Traction I think is best. We’ve moved through Banana onward to what I would like to call the end all- the C2 Power Banana- that’s where you have Banana between your feet then camber at the tail and the nose. This particular board is the first C2 offering and I rode it all last year. I rode it at X Games, in Alaska, all over Jackson, summer parks; she’s really diverse. It’s an amazing combination of the beauty of camber which has been around forever with the awesomeness of Banana. The C2 has a lot of control, speed, and power. It’s really fast edge to edge. You don’t go over the nose in powder. It’s the first year C2 is offered and that’s why my board is the best.

So the C2 has Magne-Traction as well?

Yeah they all come with magno. Magne-Traction is tried and proven to be better in all disciplines. It’s kind of like figure skating versus hockey skating. Figure skates are like a regular edge board, where the pressure goes across the whole edge and so getting locked into a single long turn is really good and smooth. Hockey skates, on the other hand are built to be performance-driven, making it really easy to change direction. It’s much more nimble, more ninja-like.

Do you ride a specific size the most, because it’s offered in a bunch of different sizes and widths?

You know I ride them all. When I’m jibbing in the backyard or riding Mountain High or Bear Mountain I’ll ride a 53 or a 55. Usually I ride a 57 for contests. When I’m at home resort riding pow I stick with a 61.5. If I’m in AK, on a big mountain powder day I’ll occasionally ride a 64. Then you got the Hammock.

Oh yeah. I was gonna ask about the Hammock.

That thing is just beautiful in fresh snow. Amazingly beautiful.

That’s sick that they’re making that. So you ride that specifically in the backcountry and not really at resorts?

I have ridden it on resorts before and it’s awesome but it’s just a little scary whenever you’re on cat tracks. It doesn’t really work on hard pack. It’s not what it’s built for. It has a surf shape. You don’t take out your 7’6 gun to ride Southern California beach slop.

That’s a board you definitely wouldn’t ride at Mountain High.

Uh yeah. It’s really great to have an overall board that works for everything. A lot of people can’t afford more than one board but if you’re really looking for optimal performance out of your boards you need to keep it specific. The board you’re gonna jib around with on the mountain isn’t the board you’re gonna want to have in balls deep powder.

What’s the testing process like? When did it start and how did you go about it?

Since the C2 is such a new thing I tested a lot last year. I would seriously go to the mountain with three boards all mounted the exact same, all new, with different C2 variances and different flex patterns, then take two runs on each and switch,” explains Travis. I locked in what I thought was the end-all best and ran with it. This year I put the most effort into getting it dialed in because of the C2 Banana Combo.

Photo: Tim Zimmerman

Explain the graphic concept because it’s pretty interesting.

I’ve always been into birds of prey ever since I was younger. I wanted to do this collaboration. There’s this organization called the Peregrine Fund. They’re based out of Idaho. They’ve organized and have been working on conservation projects all around the world. If there’s issues anywhere else in the food chain the one that is going to be killed the most is the top predator so they’re goal is to work from the bottom up. If the top predator is doing good it’s going to indicate that everything below them is good and all is well.

So then a portion of board sales is going to the Fund?

Yeah some of the board’s proceeds and then Lib put in as well, go to Paradigm Fund. The two birds that are featured on the board are part of a project they started last fall. One’s the harp eagle. It’s this fucking amazing eagle and it’s a really endangered animal. It’s gnarly. It eats monkeys out of trees. It’s super territorial so they need huge territories. And then the other one is the Gyrfalcon which has been steadily declining and they don’t know why.

What other pro model gear do you have this season?

I have my outerwear line I’ve developed with Quiksilver. It’s really nice to be able to work year in and year out and just build upon what worked and what didn’t from the previous season. I’ve got a goggle with those guys as well.

What’s going on with the photo gallery web site you’re working on? Has it launched?

It should be launching anytime. It’s kind of been the only thing I’ve done the last six months is work on that. It’s been great. I’m really happy to where it’s come and the partners that we’re involved with. We’re featuring the I Am Snowboarding exhibit. The companies name is Asymbol. Our web site is www.asymbolgallery.com

So people will be able to buy the photos featured on there?

Yep totally. It’s an E Commerce site. The site’s really fucking cool. It’s kind of like a full circle thing where there’s an interactive framing system or you can get just prints on there. The imagery is all iconic imagery from snowboarding history such as Jamie Lynn and Mike Parillo. The way we’re starting out is we’re just playing catch up, trying to give credit where credit is due. A lot of these pieces people haven’t been able to get a hold of. It’s nice to be able to tell the story with each piece and why it is important and significant. We’re based in Jackson Hole. We have a whole printing studio.

So you’re going to have a gallery out there?

No we have a pop up gallery for traveling but that’s just where our archival storage facility and print studio is.

Gotcha. So what’s up with the film projects this year?

We’re making Flight. Embarking on another two-year project.

Where you going? All over?

Everywhere. Everywhere you haven’t been.

Haha. Yeah I’m sure you are.

We’re going to a bunch of cool places that I’ve always really wanted to go. I don’t even think I can tell you too much about it because we don’t have a lot of it locked down yet. If we were on point we’d have everything organized but we’re just kind of playing it by ear.

Nice. And Natural Selection is on this year again?

Nope it got cancelled.

What! Why?

Tough times really. With economics as they are right now the stars just didn’t line up. We had it good. It was on, it was gonna happen, and then last minute we got our funding pulled. We were still thinking about doing it but we don’t have the funding really and if we’re going to do it I wanna do it right.

Well there’s always next year.

Hey, maybe next year.

It’s gonna turn around some day. Well thanks Travis. I appreciate it and have fun in Paris.

I will indeed. Cheers.

Visit lib-tech.com and peregrinefund.org