Interview: Nate Deschenes
Photos: Scott Sullivan

Taking the progression of snowboarding to new heights each and every time he straps in, Travis Rice has resigned the rest of us to watch and wonder in total confusion. Blessed with unimaginable talent, Rice has evolved in to a beast of a man with skills that can only be described as disturbing. It’s really hard to convey just how talented he really is. I mean, I am supposed to be a writer, yet after witnessing him shred lines in AK this past April with Absinthe Films, I am simply stumped on how to relay his snowboarding in to terms we can all understand. What I can say, is that Travis bleeds confidence unlike any rider I have come across. How that translates to his riding is evident, you saw That’s It That’s All... you can’t justify that. What gives him the right to make everyone else suck? His riding speaks for itself, often in terms we cannot understand…I for one am done trying.

I saw Travis a while back in Juneau and caught his thoughts on what riding AK means to him, camping on a glacier for a month, as well as an update on his latest film project.

That’s It, That’s All…it’s over, I win…

So when did you first start coming to Alaska?

The first time I came here was in the spring of 2001. The situation was, I graduated high school early that year and saved up some money working construction so I could travel and do some riding but nothing ended up coming of it until I went down to Superpark in Mammoth. I was with my buddy Rich Goodwin and he basically talked Justin (Hostynek) into filming me. After that little session Justin was stoked and asked me if I wanted to try and film a video part. I was like, “Ummm… OK!” I was so stoked but it was super deep into spring and I didn’t know what he had in mind. He told me I could go up to a place in Alaska called Haines Pass and try and get something, but it would just be me and Rich, no other riders. I was like “Yes Please!”

So I did end up going up there and getting some stuff well into June of that year, just snowmobiling around. It was crazy because that was my first real snowmobile mission too. That was for Transcendence, which I ended up getting the opening part for without even knowing it.

That is quite the first trip! Have you come up every year since?

Yeah. I missed one year in there but that’s it. The following year I rode in a helicopter for the first time and it’s been a priority ever since.

What strikes you most about Alaska that isn’t like the rest of snowboarding?

Well, to that effect, the sickest thing about it is that the terrain is available to anyone who wants to use it. It has been that was since they started using helicopters to access this stuff. The coolest thing about AK is that nothing really changes up here; it is this giant template for people to experiment with. It just shows how much views and perspectives and interpretations of the terrain has evolved over the last 25 years or so. I think that is the coolest aspect of it up here, that people will continue to progress with this terrain for eternity. Straight up!

So would you say it is the next step in serious snowboarding?

I’d say it’s been the next step in serious snowboarding for the past 25 years! And it will continue to be. It’s always been here and it will always be the place where people can come up and challenge their state of mind by riding here.

Travis looking for features in Alaska.

Is there any place gnarlier?

Yeah, I imagine so. But it is so set up here, the logistics and access all that. But FUCK, there is so much terrain that hasn’t even been tapped around the world…Canada, South America and places up here that people have never ridden. So there may be better places to discover yet. But even beyond the discovery of those places, Alaska is still going to be the… um… test subject. What is the word I’m looking for? You know in an experiment you have the variable and what you base it off of…Alaska is the CONTROL. That’s it.

What can you say about all of the variables in riding up here?

I guess you have to start with the fact that Alaska is a battle of mind and matter. Because there are so many options when you are looking at what you want to ride. You can get as big and gnarly as you want and that weighs on the mental side of things. Being able to relax and ride with confidence is one of the biggest obstacles to overcome. And then you have all the dangers of course. Also, is the logistical side of things–the planning, timing the sun, having a good support crew. I mean you have to plan for the worst up here and having trust in your crew is beyond essential. But then after all of the scary shit comes the pure joy of it. Boardin’ man! You get a lot of freeriding in, even when you are filming. Because in other situations when I am filming it’s pretty much getting to the zone and working a lot, hiking and hitting jumps. Here you’re just fucking riding–it just happens that they are filming it.

Snowboard parks take on new shapes and sizes when Rice comes to town.

This year you were up here doing things a little different. Fill us in on what went down.

Wellllllll… I came up this year to go on an extended split-boarding trip outside of the heli zones deep into Glacier Bay National Park. I ended up spending 25 days out there camping! It was for Jeremy Jones’ new film called Deeper. I was with Jonaven Moore, Jones, Johan Olofsson and this Alaskan kid Ryland. We had Tom Burt and Scott Newsome as our guides. What’s there to say man?! It was an insane trip… full immersion. We did a lot of riding from the bottom up. Where as we were skinning out to the areas we wanted to ride and then boot straight up the mountain to the top of our lines.

Had you done anything like that before?

To a certain extent, but nothing like this. I have hiked for lines of course but a full on mission like this, no. I was pretty much a virgin as far as the winter camping goes so I just went right into it, headlong. It was all time! We had some serious storms hit us too.

How did you manage with downtime out in those elements?

Just slowed it down man. Peace of mind. Read some books, did some writing, downloaded knowledge from everyone around me. That was probably the best part–just bullshitting the whole time, hearing crazy stories form everyone out there. Me and Jonaven and Johan built the most amazing snow cave of all time complete with cocktail den. But when we did get to ride it was some of the best shit I have ever been on.

The man, his board and a ghetto blaster.

How was that terrain? Had you ridden anything like those mountains?

Well, it was definitely comparable to the craziest big mountain shit I have ever done. This one line I did was the burliest hikes and ride downs ever. Honestly, the craziest part of it all was the hiking and stuff that you are under without your board on. Clawing your way up chutes and climbing around crags and stuff was WAY scarier than the actual riding, that’s for sure. So that was a big part of the trip, the hiking aspect. But it was a great experience. Being on a slope for two hours versus just getting dropped off on top and riding something for a few minutes was really cool. It’s such a longer experience.

Sounds sick. Do you see you riding gravitating more towards stuff like that?

I mean, what I want to do with my riding hasn’t really changed since the very beginning. And that has always lent itself towards taking what you know from one aspect of snowboarding and applying it to another. And the guys that I ride with I think are all after the same kind of thing. It’s about expressionism, if that is a word, into REAL mountain riding.

Sky high in Jackson Country.

What film projects can we see you in this year?

I worked on Absinthe’s new film, Neverland. I spent four weeks filming for it with Dan Brisse and Mark Carter out in the Jackson area. Then I worked with Jeremy Jones and his project, Deeper, which is coming out next fall. And I am about to start a new one of my own this summer with Brainfarm called Flight.

Any plans you want to divulge?

Oh HELL no! I ain’t sayin’ shit, except that we have a sick crew of riders and I can’t wait to see what they throw down.