Sarah Burke: Queen of Air and Style

 

Freeskier Sarah Burke is the first to admit her life is easy in more ways than one. She can melt the iciest of ski judges at a contest with her warm smile and smooth 900 spins, she almost always gets her way no matter what the situation, but the best thing about her is that last year she relocated to Whistler not just because the skiing is epic, but it's the resort with the best party scene in North America. “In skiing everyone thrives on the hill from adrenaline and so after a good day, you have to find something to keep that stoke going. Skiers like to party so there’s always shots lined up around the bar,” says the 25-year-old freeskier who says she never gets mad at the fact that she’s often mistaken for a “pro ho” in the bar once she sheds the puffy jacket, goggles and ski boots. “Guys see me ski and then they don’t think I am the same person off the hill as I am on the hill. They think I have been sitting in the lodge all day.”

 

Sitting around is hardly Sarah’s style. Just look at her 2003 season when she tore her MCL. At the time she was competing against the men in the U.S. Open Big Air because there wasn’t a women’s division. MCL aside, she still charged on all season winning four out of five contests that winter. The last few years have been no different. She’s a regular on the podium for both the X Games and Gravity Games and can be seen in Matchstick Productions new film “Push.” You can’t fault a girl for being passionate about her sport, especially when her passion is something that most only get to experience every once in a while on vacation. “Powder days take precedent. You can’t argue with someone wanting to make fresh turns, right?”

Lat34 definitely agrees with Sarah, which is why we caught up to her just as the snow was starting to fall, but before it got to deep to keep up with the two-plank temptress to find out what the winter has in store for her.

 

SB: The most basic way to describe it is snowboarding on skis. Jumps, flips, spins over tabletops, riding the halfpipe and rails. If you have ever seen snowboarding it will look familiar. Freeskiing has only really gotten credit as a sport in the last five years since the contests started.

 

SB: Yeah, I did when I skied moguls, but once I started freeriding that wasn’t my dream or desire any more. The new dream became X Games and getting girls into that event. 2005 was the first year we got in. I was really annoying to the organizers until we [girls] got our way and got us in there as a medal sport.

 

LAT34: Where did you grow up?

SB: In a small town called Midland, Ontario.

 

SB: Dad was a big skier. He used to push  me to do tricks and promise me a pair of skis if I did a new trick, but you know he never really gave them to me. Now I get him skis.

 

SB: Stitches, broken bones, yeah it comes with the territory. I have torn my patella tendons, MCL in right knee, broken both of my thumbs. I supplicated a million ribs and SI joint a thousand times. It seems like the bangs and aches and bruises are the worst.

 

SB: I was doing an urban rail a few years ago in Oslo, Norway and I just ended up grinding the cement stairs with my face and my hip. I hit so hard no one could touch me. I was so black and blue. In the film it looks like I did most of it skidding on my face.

 

SB: I also fell over my ski boot and I ended up with a big blood pocket on my leg the size of my palm for like two months. It was gross. You could poke it and it was all mushy and full of liquid.

 

SB: We call Alaska "freeriding" and mogul skiing is kind of the more freestyle form of freeskiing. Unfortunately the Olympics haven't figured that out yet. They are a bit slow when it comes to progression.

 

SB: Yeah, I used to compete and I did pretty well, but I really like just riding and jumping more.  The park competitions just seemed like more fun to me though. They were younger and crazier. That suits my personality more.

 

SB: A 900 spin in the halfpipe. It makes me nervous. You have to go pretty high to get the rotation around. If you don’t push hard enough you land on the top of the halfpipe and if you push too hard you fall down to the bottom.

 

SB: Well in the past it was snowboarders, but skiers are starting to come back and claim territory and share it with them. When I first started you would know every skier on the hill by first and last name. Now it’s like who is that kid? So we are definitely making a comeback. I remember when we weren’t allowed to go in the halfpipe and it was just for snowboarders and so we would sneak in at the end of the night. Once I got busted and they took my pass away for skiing in the halfpipe.

 

SB: Skiers for sure. Skiers are faster for some reason plus we have our poles to take a snowboarder out with.

 

SB: Saas Fe, Switzerland, -40 Celsisus. We had to ski because we were doing a contest but we ran inside every few minutes. It was freezing and you couldn’t feel your toes, so I had to pile into this tiny little shack with a bunch of boys. There were like 5 girls and like 20 guys in there.

 

SB: Not much but if I had to say something it would be being in your ski boots all the time. They are not comfortable compared to being barefoot on the beach. The sun is also bad for your skin, but there are not too many bad things in my book. When it’s really horrible weather and you don’t even want to get out of your warm bed and you don’t want to do some crazy line that looks all sketchy, then you question it. But other than that I love my life.

 

LAT34: Do you ever wake up and say, “Wow I can’t believe this is my life!”
SB: All the time. Even when I am home in Whistler and we will have a great day skiing and stop for a second to just look around. It’s gorgeous and sunny and knowing that you get to do what you love. I get that feeling every day, so it makes my life pretty good.