Catalogue | Chris Rasman
The first thing that comes to mind when I think about Chris’ snowboarding is: stomped. I’ve seen it time and time again over the years and trips we took together. This guy fucking stomps! I remember the first trip we went on together, a road trip down the powder highway with Quiksilver. We were in Revelstoke and Chris found himself upon this massive flat-faced cliff. In my mind I was thinking, Oh shit. He’s stuck up there, he’s going to have to hike out, not a chance. Chris nods to Leo Hoorn and Phil Tifo, ensuring the cameras are ready before launching into space—stomped. As a predominantly street rider, this was my first in-person look at what it actually took to be a backcountry rider.
Another memorable moment was watching him figure out how to Double Backside Rodeo 10 at Superpark. At the time, those were still kind of wild and not a ton of people were stepping up to them. I can’t remember if he even claimed what he was going to try or just went for it, but I remember watching him, jaw-dropped, land this thing within three attempts and ride away like he’d been doing them for years.
Chris has never second-guessed his skills on a snowboard, and it shows. The guy is a beast and it’s always impressive seeing what he gets up to each season. We wanted to pick his brain on a few of his favourite things. — Alex Beebe
[o] Tyler Ravelle
Top 5 Riders
This answer changes monthly for me…
1. Travis Rice
2. Mikkel Bang
3. Mikey Rencz
4. Mark McMorris
5. Jamie Anderson
Top 5 Snowboard Films
1. Momentum
2. Absinthe’s POP
3. Alterna Films Fast Food
4. 91 Words for Snow
5. Art of Flight
Top 3 Clips That Got Away
1. The most painful one for me was a switch back 9 in 2022 on Manboy gap. Every trick above 720 I learned while filming in the back country, and I’ve never done a switch backside 9 before. I learned it on this jump and I was pretty proud of the cork and flavour I gave it. Stomped, rode 6 feet and wheelied to my ass in the compression.
2. Double rodeo on perfect jump in 2015, but I got to redeem myself this year, a full 10 years later, so that felt good.
3. I feel like there’s a bunch of Freeride moments that were close to amazing but slipped away from being a clip for whatever reason. Bails, slowed down, weird style. Those ones are kind of less memorable because you only get one quick shot at it and then it’s over. Tricks on jumps that you’ve built by hand for hours tend to be more frustrating when you don’t get em.
Proudest Clips
Hmm, it's kind of hard to narrow it down. I think I’m at 18 video parts now… so naturally there’s some stuff that makes me laugh when I see it, and some other stuff I’m super proud of. Off the top of my head right now? Let’s go with the backside 1080, and the cliff drop to natural backside 7 from Tango Echo November, and then the natty frontside 7 from my part in The Realm.
Top 5 Proudest Video Parts
1. Year 1 (2014) of our Manboys series
2. 2017 Manboys Series (full part)
3. Snowdance (2020 Manboys film)
4. Plank (2022)
5. Tango Echo November (T.E.N.) (2023)
Top 3 Underrated Riders
1. Eman has always deserved more attention than he got. So fucking talented and always looked amazing doing it.
2. And honestly, Matt Schare. I’m getting his name wrong.. but for years he was always in the middle of the Absinthe films with not much emphasis put on him. But he could do like every trick, went huge, and had a bunch of switch stuff. I always felt like that dude was very underrated.
3. For some underrated up and comers, let’s go Jack McDougall, Tosh Krauskopf, Truth Smith and Finn Finestone.
Top 4 Gnarcore Riders
1. Matt Beardmore
2. Keith Martin
3. Gerhard Gross
4. Stevon Hunter
Top Art Barn Roommates
1. Jon Frye
2. Patrick Henry
3. Jordie Lepage
4. Colin D Watt
5. Tyler Ravelle
6. David Brocklebank
Top 5 Classic Whistler Backcountry Spots
1. Perfect Jump
2. Hollywood Cliffs
3. The Mother
4. Gas Drop
5. Forum Stepdown
Worst Times in the Backcountry
Again, after nearly 20 years of doing this, there’s been tons of shitty times out there [laughs]. I’d say injuries and incidents stand out as pretty bad times… The few moments during and few moments after my avalanche incident from 2021. I spoke about it in my Bombhole interview. Ryan Patterson's broken jaw and elbow during a -30°C arctic outflow was a pretty bad time.
Best Times in the Backcountry
Way too many to recall. We are fucking lucky, and this lifestyle is the best. Getting clips with your homies is always special.
Top 5 People to Sled With
1. Rusty Ockenden
2. Jody Wachniak
3. Matt Belzile
4. Beau Bishop
5. Mark Sollors
Top 5 People to Ride With
1. Matt Belzile
2. Beau Bishop
3. Mikey Cicarelli
4. Sean Miskiman
5. Eric Jackson
Who is the G.O.A.T.?
Travis Rice, without a doubt.
Your ride or die:
My WIFE Lucy.
Favourite snowboard setup:
161 Rasman from Lib Tech with a pair of Flux XF bindings.
