Canadian snowboarder Mark McMorris sails through the air at the Rosa Khutor Exterme Park on Feb. 8, 2014 during the Sochi Winter Olympics. McMorris recently made a 40-minute film called In Motion.John Lehmann/The Globe and Mail
Mark McMorris is on a snowmobile, riding deep into the Whistler backcountry, and he's struggling.
Like anyone new to snowmobiling, the 2014 Olympic bronze medalist in snowboard slopestyle sinks his sled several times. He is alongside veterans of the backcountry, Canadian Mikey Rencz and Norwegian Mikkel Bang. They dig him out, and forge on. "They got me unstuck, like, a million times," says McMorris, watching his new film being projected onto a wall at the Red Bull office in Vancouver. "They have everything so dialled. It's so hard. It's so crazy."
The riders get to their wilderness destination and build a large jump. After several days, riding in and out from Whistler, McMorris finally lands the big jump, a frontside triple cork 1440. It's a kaleidoscope: There are four full spins and three off-axis flips. It's one of the toughest tricks in snowboarding. It's not easy on a manicured jump at a ski resort. It's all the more difficult in the raw backcountry.
"There are so many variables," says McMorris, watching the scene play on a projector. "People are just learning frontside triples on park jumps. For me to be able to build a jump and then land that trick was" – he pauses – "pretty special."
This is where McMorris has landed. At 21, he's a veteran and superstar of slopestyle, and his main focus is to win gold at the 2018 Winter Games in South Korea. But last year, he wanted to stake out new ground and ease up on the competition grind. And he wanted to make a movie. The result is In Motion, a 40-minute film that chronicles his forays into the backcountry and his contest life.
The transition from high-pressure international competitions to free-form backcountry boarding is becoming less common for professional riders, Jake Burton Carpenter says in an interview. The owner of Burton Snowboards is one of McMorris's main sponsors. "It takes an extraordinary rider," he says. "It's fun to watch."
After its premiere Tuesday night in Vancouver, In Motion will appear as a 22-minute documentary on ABC on the U.S. Thanksgiving weekend in November. It's prominent exposure for an athlete in a sport that remains relatively niche.
The film shows a young athlete caught between his past and future, captured most clearly in scenes from Laax, Switzerland, where a big contest was delayed because of major snowfall. During the delay, McMorris sought out former Burton teammate Nicolas Mueller, a 33-year-old Swiss for whom Laax is home ground and whose life is the backcountry.
"He texts me: 'Yo, where are you at?'" Muller recalls in the film, with a laconic ease that defines what people picture when they think 'snowboarder.'
"'I'm in the forest, dude,'" Muller says. "'Just pillow lines, you know?' And then he came and found me in the forest."
The essence of snowboarding unfurls, billowing snow and riders dancing through trees. The David Bowie song The Man Who Sold the World plays. It's not obvious, but McMorris, beyond his riding, was heavily involved in every aspect of the film, from editing to music. "I was scary hands-on," he jokes.
For all the medals – three golds and two silvers at X Games in slopestyle, the Olympic bronze, two more golds and a silver at X Games in big air – McMorris remains easily awed by his forebears, humble and wide-eyed. Watching Mueller, in words peppered by punching italics, McMorris says: "Dude, he doesn't fall. You go on these trips and he'll fall twice in eight days." McMorris's voice dips to quiet wonderment. "He's like a cat, man."
The film and story spin back to competitions, where last winter the game was upped – first by McMorris, and then, on the same day, by Japan's Yuki Kadono, then 18. At the U.S. Open last March, McMorris pulled off a contest first, with back-to-back triple cork 1440s. The announcer declared: "Ladies and gentlemen, slopestyle snowboarding has just changed." Then Kadono pulled off back-to-back triple cork 1620s, giving him the victory and denying McMorris a third straight U.S. Open title. The rest of the field was far behind.
"I was so baffled," remembers McMorris, his tone admiring as he watches the film. "It actually sounds like guns were going off when he landed. Listen," he says, the screen showing Kadono as he landed his last jump. "His knee hits his face, I'm pretty sure."
That drives McMorris. His easy-going style belies his competitive ferocity. "Yuki has one trick I can't do – yet. But I also have a trick he hasn't done."
A big contest year approaches, including a test event on the slopestyle course in for the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.
A bronze in hand, gold is the mission.
"I've got to be in there this year, because people are going to be chucking," McMorris says. "And then, next year, I've got to be smoking everybody. And then in 2018 I've got to" – another pause – "double-smoke everybody."
David Ebner