RIPPING | TYLER LIGHTFOOT

I have a great memory of Tyler from this past winter. We were out in the backcountry with a full crew. Tyler and Craig McMorris built a really nice hip and a session soon followed. These two grew up snowboarding together as teenagers. It was a bit of a reunion, if you will. They had nicknames for each other and a real vibe going on. I knew deep down Tyler has always wanted a backcountry session with Craig. After a few tries, Tyler drops a little higher than he had previously and proceeds to straight-line at the lip like a stuntman. He goes straight over the hip like a tabletop and stomps. Tyler showed up that day, putting down two of the sickest tricks I've ever seen him do. The style, the size, the trick selection for the hip. All on point. - by Darcy Keller

TYLER LIGHTFOOT

Sponsors: Signal Snowboards, L1 Premium Outerwear, Freedom Skate and Snow

Place: North Battleford, SK.

You're a new dad. That's got to be pretty exciting?

It's been a pretty wild process for sure. The biggest change was I was living for myself and not having a dependent. And then boom, all of a sudden there's somebody here full-on dependent on you. Even before we had a kid, my wife, I knew she could fend for herself; she can handle her own. Whereas a little baby is a lot different, so it's been a pretty awesome start as far as that goes. He's been a really good baby, and it's a lot of fun. I'm excited for the rest of it.

You've been doing concrete work for yourself and started Thunder Crete as a company. Do you stay busy enough?

I started up my own concrete finishing company 10 years ago and we do lots of decorative specialty work. We specialize in flat work. We do stairs, garage pads, driveways, walkways, patios, steps, basement floors, shop floors, and stuff like that. I've just been vibing with that and grinding in the summer to save up for the powder bucks. We're pretty swamped. We get booked up pretty early on, which is nice. I always try to fit in as much as I can. We're definitely not short of work for each season.

You've been an Arctic Cat guy as long as I've known you, and you've recently switched to Ski-Doo. What was the final straw?

Well, it definitely wasn't from peer pressure, you guys have been hounding me forever. It was hard to find parts and lots of dealerships were just shutting down or moving towards different brands. I kind of felt like I knew I was going to be switching over. It was almost a necessity. I don't think I'd look back now. Ski-doo’s definitely handle a lot better. You don't have the janky shaky handlebars, which is nice.

What kind of dedication does it take to be a backcountry snowboarder from Saskatchewan? 

I set my life up to snowboard. During high school, I'd grind in the summertime, save up all the money I could, and then as soon as I was done, I headed out to Golden because I knew you guys were out there. I knew the lifestyle I wanted, and I would do whatever I needed to make it work. So, come summertime, I was working as hard as I could. Putting in long hours, like 12, 14-hour days just to have the time and money to be out West and snowboard and snowmobile. Even now, that's kind of how it's been. I've been super fortunate with my wife letting me take as much time as I need to and putting on tons of kilometres driving wherever I need to find the good snow.

Do you have any shoutouts or any thank yous?

I'd like to thank all the people I've snowboarded with. I've been given tons of opportunities from you, Evan [Lavalee], Dustin Craven, for sure. He's helped get me in movies and put me in the limelight. Russell Davies was teaching me about the lifestyle and culture early on, as well as Brennan Lampitt. Mineki at Rude Boys, I was never really on the team, but I always seemed to make it into the projects they sponsored. A lot of respect to those guys. Ryan Wilisko with L1, and Mark at Signal, they've been awesome to deal with. Even past sponsors, too. And obviously, my parents and my wife, they've always fully supported whatever I've wanted to do.