13.2 THE COVER | SEAN MISKIMAN
Sean Miskiman snags his first cover photo while filming for his first video part in The King Snow Movie. First try, fresh tracks, front three grabbed outside the knee and inside the bindings. This is how it's done, kids.
Sean lost the Ro-Sham-Bo. And I was like, "If you don't want to go, it's okay. I know the speed, I can go." He straight up said, "You tell me where to go from, and I got this." It's a big fucking step down. It's a 60-foot drop with a knuckle that you don't want to hit. There're rocks on the left, and you've got to drift in the right direction. Sean hit it, landed right where you want to land. It was really sick to see. —Chris Rasman
That day we got to ride in one of our favourite zones. Mikey Ciccarelli and I met up with Chris Rasman in the afternoon, and we were set to drop this stepdown. This whole time we were building it, I was tripping about hitting it. I was just praying I didn't have to go first. It was just big, and I just hadn't hit anything like that in my snowboarding. Sure enough, I lost the Ro-Sham-Bo. I had to go first, and all in good faith, I had the two best up there, who had hit that feature before. Rasman told me to speed and everything lined up perfectly. One and done. But that's a feeling that I live for. I love that stomach-turning at the top, and that feeling when you land, that excitement, to me, that's the best part about riding in the backcountry and filming is that fear, then the excitement that hits when you land. —Sean Miskiman
This jump was a unique one. The ridge the take-off is on was wind-scoured down to rock. To get the right direction, we built the entire in-run as well as the jump. The jump couldn't have been angled anymore due to rocks on the left side of the landing. Sean was lined up to go first. He took a few speed checks to dial it in and then dropped in. Front 3 spun him away from the rocks, and he stomped first hit. Working with this crew is great. They love to snowboard and never want to be sitting around waiting for anything. It makes for really productive days as a photographer. —Ben Girardi