Skiing's Favorite Big Mountain Show Dog

Seth Morrison is one guy who isn't exaggerating when he says he knows fear intimately. Just take the filming of Global Storming in 1999. Morrison skiing down a steep mountain when an avalanche cuts loose, knocks him from his feet and he disappears into the Alaskan white envelope. It drags him over a thousand vertical feet before depositing him near the run out and luckily near the surface. He claws his way out through the thin layer of snow and waves to the camera. Just watching the footage is enough to scare most people, but Seth continued to charge for the remainder of the trip. Just another day in the office for a man who has been on the forefront of skiing for a decade.

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I can vividly remember watching this in Match Stick Production’s breakthrough film, 1999’s Global Storming. I was 17, had just quit racing and traded in my GS boards and the idea that skiing should be work for a pair of ‘fat’ skis and the goal of remembering what I loved about this sport. I sat with my brother and best friend in the back corner of the auditorium in our hometown with eyes popping out my head and jaw on the floor as I witnessed what I knew from that first glimpse was the future of skiing. As Seth carved the Alaskan peaks in giant high-speed arcs and threw back flips off huge cliffs, the images seared into my brain and I felt excited to ski for the first time in years. Here was a guy, who learned to ski in the elevation-deprived state of Wisconsin (coincidentally where I had also stood on skis for the first time), redefining what was possible on skis, and chasing his dream to the very pinnacle of the sport. On top of that he had a look and an attitude that was light years away from the racing establishment that was strangling skiing. I spent that winter rediscovering skiing as I ventured into the backcountry, learned back flips, traveled to the nascent US Free-skiing Open and fulfilled the goal of remembering how much fun skiing was. Years later, when I was standing on top of a peak in Alaska staring around in disbelief and about to drop into my dreams, I couldn’t help but remember that night in the auditorium and thank Seth for showing me, and everyone, that with enough imagination and guts anything is possible.

Since bursting onto the scene with a win in the 1996 National Extreme Skiing Championships in Crested Butte CO, Seth has continued to push the envelope of what is possible on a pair of skis for over a decade now. He is one of the most well-known and visible athletes in the sport of skiing, winning the Powder readers’ poll in 2004. He consistently turns in some of the best video parts every year, winning Best Male Performance in 2003 for his effort in Ski Movie III: The Front Line. He has endured and recovered from a few serious injuries, numerous rides in avalanches and lived through a helicopter crash in Portillo, never losing the excitement and passion he has for going for it on big, steep mountains. In the past few years he has turned his talents to ski design and the result is one of the most versatile and progressive skis on the market, the Seth Vicious. Rarely concerned with the past, Seth took the time to talk to talk about what’s next for him, the future of skiing and skis and being known as the ‘guy with colored hair.” 

Lat34:What are your plans for 2007? Do you have any big trips or projects coming up?

SM: My Plans for 2007 consist of working with Tanner Hall and CR Johnson's production company The Bigger Picture as well as Teton Gravity Research. Some trips are still in the works since snow is still building up at this point, a few of The Bigger Picture trips are in conjunction with Oakley.  We have a first of the year trip to Eastern BC, Canada with snow cats and helicopters.  Most of the filming will really start after the X- Games.  With Teton I will film in Alaska and am really excited since I will get a chance to ride with Jeremy Jones.  That’s a dream come true for me.  Hopefully there will be time to go on another trip with them to have a bigger part in their film. There is never enough time.

Lat34: I read on the Oakley site that you were working as a stunt man on a Hollywood production called 'Deep Winter'. How's that been? A friend of mine has an uncle who was a stuntman for years and told me that the Playboy girls like stuntmen better than actors... any truth to that rumor?

SM: That was a fun project to work on since it was a small crew at the beginning and then a large crew with huge cameras and lenses.  I had the chance to ride with a snowboarder named Shin Campos.  Over the years I had admired his big mountain riding.  We filmed in Haines, Alaska for 3 weeks and the avalanche conditions were very high the whole time we were there so that made it very tricky at times.  On Easter I took a big ride in an avalanche and was buried, but sat up out of the snow once the slide came to rest.  It was a scary experience and made me take a few steps down for the rest of the trip.  Our guide (Big Mountain guru Tom Burt) did the best he could with the conditions out there, but in the Big Mountains you never are 100% sure on what is going to happen.  I have not seen the film, only some shots that they let Poor Boyz Productions use in their latest film "Ski Porn". The experience was quite different than a regular ski film shoot as we had a shot list to follow, but it was great to have Shin and I with a Helicopter all to ourselves, in the sick mountains of Haines, AK.  As for the girls, there are not many in AK to speak of and they could care less about what we were doing up there.

Lat34: Alaska and its big mountains have been the focus for most of your career. What do you say to those young 'park bred' pros venturing up there for the first time to heed the call of taking the park into the back country/ big mountains?

SM:It’s totally different up there.  You look at the mountains from the air in the heli, or from the bottom of the run and you say to yourself ok I see where to go.  Then you get dropped off on top and then you think "Where am I on this mountain now?" Sometimes things look really big and you ski down and think that’s not so big then other times you think its small and it’s a very big run.  It takes time to adjust to the size of the mountains up there. You never take things for granted up there. Your pretty much a fly on the wall and that shows you how small you really are.  Your first time you don't really know what you’re getting into, you have to work your way into it and start small and work your way up day by day since conditions are always changing.  Sometimes you have to take a step back down after taking big steps forward.  You can't just go out there and start off on the biggest lines.  Respecting the mountains is what it boils down to.

Lat34: Which young kids do you see being able to move beyond the park and excel in the big mountains?

SM: I have seen some of my K2 team members like Pep Fujas get into the mountains and do quite well with it.  Pretty much adapting right away. Andy Mahre is another guy to watch. He had a nice segment in "Ski Porn", taking his backwards-skiing talents into the powder and mini golf (smaller lines).  Tanner Hall is really looking at the mountains the way you are supposed to, using natural terrain rather than building a booter to launch off of.  Really all these guys need is trips with helicopters to go beyond where they are now.  It is amazing to see what they choose to do out there since I have my own mission.

 

Lat34: As someone who has been in the game for a while and been through your share of injuries and close calls (I'm looking at some footage online of a heavy ride you took courtesy of an avalanche in Haines this past year... crazy stuff. Are you still as driven to push it as you were a few years ago?

SM: That’s what I live for taking my skiing to new levels.  Some years its trying new tricks off cliffs others its experimenting with new ways to ski down big faces. It really comes down to the snow conditions, that’s what limits what you can do.  Many of the trips we go on the weather makes us sit around a lot and then it clears and the snow is deep and you have to get off the couch and giv’er.  Or sometimes you get totally skunked out and miss out and you can't do what you were hoping to accomplish.  That’s the most frustrating part and what the viewers of the movies don't get to see. They think its always deep powder when your out heli skiing cause thats the way the films make it look.  Over the years patience is something I have had to figure out, and a few times it has gotten the best of me because you feel the pressure to perform in questionable conditions and those are the times when you get hurt.  That has been my biggest battle, holding back when the time is not right. It’s hard when I'm out in the field and watching guys performing on smaller airs when the conditions are bad.  It’s all or nothing for me, I just like to go big.  Doing smaller airs does not appeal to me so much, and is not something I really want in my segment.  When the conditions are good there is no more holding back, its a big mental game for me. I just love to ski.

SM:When the season is over and you know you did your best and it shows when the crowds go wild at the movie showings.  All the parties just seem the same these days.

Lat34: Comment on the value and importance of image and personality as a  non-competitive freeskier who is paid for both talent and (I quote) "the guy with colored hair who throws the big back flips"?

SM: As I say all press is good press.  As long as people are talking about you is what matters.  We see this with the famous people like actors and musicians all the time.  Their antics get play in the press, and they may not be in any movies or have any new albums coming out.  For me I like to let my skiing speak for itself.  When I started that’s how it was, but I dyed my hair different colors for over eight years and at the beginning it really got people to remember me.  At that time in skiing there was not exposure being given to skiers that skied the big mountains.  It was more about competitions like racing and mogul events like the Pro Mogul Tour.

Then there were the extreme skiing events.  When I started it was the second year that these were held and there were only two.

The U.S. National Extremes in Crested Butte, CO and the Worlds in Alaska. These events were the only way to get yourself noticed by film companies and the other skiers that worked with these companies.

It was really hard at the start for me since I was 19 and the industry really didn't know what to think about what we were doing and being that age these companies really didn't take you too seriously.  So having an image and being good at what I was doing gave these companies something to market, pretty much skiing and the lifestyle.  Look at what the Mohawk did for Glen Plake.  Anyone that skis knows him as "That guy with the Mohawk"

SM: In the summer time I like to cross country mountain bike.  This has been the best training I could ever do. When I started as a pro skier I had to make a choice between skiing and mountain biking since I was competing at both.  Choose skiing since there was not so much suffering.  I’ve been DH mountain biking for the past 7 years, and it’s very similar to skiing a terrain park in places like Whistler. That’s pretty much all I have time for. Skiing in the winter and mountain biking is the summer in between skiing in the southern hemisphere.  Snowmobiling has been a nice added bonus to skiing, that’s pretty fun.  You can get deep into the mountains and away from all the people.

Lat34: You have been involved in ski design for several years now and it is obvious that equipment has lots to do with what is possible on skis. What design aspects do you see as the most important heading into the future?

SM: The twin tips was the first big movement and at the same time so were powder skis (fat skis).  Now what we have been really pushing towards as athletes at K2 is rocker.  This is basically a ski that looks like its bent. Giving the ski more of a longer tip in a sense.  This works best in powder, better flotation.  It also helps when the snow is icy and crusty on off piste runs.  At the end of the day it makes skiing easier.  Why would you want to struggle in powder and harder skiing conditions? To me it’s a no-brainer, hardcore skiers are realizing this right now and it will that at least 4 years for this to catch on to the mainstream skier.  As we have already seen people are building quivers of skis for certain conditions.  My pro model ski from K2 "The Seth", is a great all mountain, all the time ski.  When it is really deep I use the AK Enemy, which is a fatter ski than my Pro Model and it has some rocker.  Pretty much for what I like to do on skis I need 2 pairs of skis and that’s it.  Graphics are really changing in the industry as well, mostly from my first pro model. It was crazy to people at the time, flames, ohhh how crazy, but at the time it was. Then the Seth Pistol led the way with hand drawn graphics by my friend that passed away in a snowboard accident, Josh Malay.  At that time there was no other ski with graphics like this and look at free ride skis today, lots of art in them. I think we will see more of this on mainstream skis in the future rather than the old computer generated styles.  Its more fun, sort of a custom look.

SM:Skiing with my buddies Eph and Joe in the East Vail chutes on a storm day.  Those are the best.