“Okay, Tony Hawk!” The Sammy Carlson Interview

With a celebrated career spanning almost 20 years, Sammy should need no introduction. He bowed out of the contest scene at the height of his powers, with the inaugural Olympics well within his grasp, to pursue his passion for making backcountry film parts. Three X Games Real Ski gold medals and numerous scene-defining films later, Sammy continues to push the envelope of what is possible in the backcountry.

I linked up with Sammy after a long day of watching the snow blow past my window, as winter had prematurely announced itself in the Austrian Alps. We found a sofa in a not-so-quiet hotel corridor and sat down with a couple of beers. What transpired was a free-ranging, tangent-filled chat about his transition to the backcountry, his new film and what the future holds for one of skiing’s true modern greats.

When did your commitment to skiing backcountry start? Your final slopestyle contest was a FIS World Cup in 2013, right?

Yeah, exactly. But, honestly, I was so checked out before then. I remember walking off the podium at X Games in 2011 and feeling super accomplished because that was a childhood dream that I was able to live out. I didn’t feel like I needed to win it again, I didn’t need to prove anything. For me, it was “mission complete.” I was literally walking off the stage thinking, “I’m about to film some crazy shit.” I was already leaning that way pretty early on. I was always super inspired by the Poor Boyz films and Eric Pollard—growing up at Hood, he was always one of my greatest influences. So a lot of the athletes in my inspiration came from the film world. and I started getting into it at an early stage. I think I got my first sled in 2006, before I graduated high school.

I just loved getting away from the busy resorts and discovering the endless amount of terrain out there. When I first came onto the ski scene, all the top athletes would compete and then also put out a gnarly video part. And I was putting out sometimes two or three parts a year!

On top of that, I felt the contests were getting repetitive and I wasn’t being inspired by the direction they were taking. At that point I had already learned so many new tricks. I had already dropped the triple cork, but it wasn’t a new trick that I wanted to do for the X Games or something, I just wanted to do it because I knew I was feeling it. Part of what made that cool was when the double corks came out, I thought I was done. Seeing Bobby Brown— who is to this day one of my favorite jumpers—come through with all the doubles he was doing, I was thinking, “Damn, I might be done.”

That’s surprising to hear from someone who did the first-ever switch triple.

I went from thinking it was over when the doubles came in, to winning X Games with three different double corks in my run – the first time that had ever been done. I was pretty psyched on that.

For me, the switch triple cork was a super powerful feeling because it just showed me how far you can go if you focus on something and set your mind to it. That was a big moment. The day I stomped it, my mind was on fire. It was a really sick experience for me.

Are you chasing that same feeling in the backcountry now? Do you have specific goals, or are you just chasing that feeling of progression? 

When I first started filming backcountry stuff, my goal was to bring more of a freestyle flavor into the backcountry. Everything from how you do turns, to the features or the terrain I ride. It’s not just about riding a line, it’s how you ride that line. And that took time. I really believed that that was the future of freeskiing. It wasn’t about staying in the park and adding another 180 or another cork. I had already done so much of that and the new progression for me was to get out into the mountains. I wanted to have the same focus that I had when I was trying to win X Games, but channeled into the backcountry. So that was a baseline that I tried to keep with me moving forward. 

What were the things that you found difficult to translate into that terrain initially? What were the biggest challenges? 

I had to learn to always respect the danger of it. I was lucky to go up there the first time with Sage Cattabriga-Alosa and Ian McIntosh. They were the best in the game, so I was lucky for them to take me under their wing and give me some really good advice when I was starting. We spoke about risk versus reward and I took lots of key advice from them that I have really held on to. Mostly about being and staying humble. One of my main memories from that trip, I told Sage my line: “I’m gonna ski down this ridge, I’m gonna air up onto that thing, then I’m gonna come down and bust a three off that.” And he just looked over at me, laughed and said, “Okay, Tony Hawk!” He gave me his input on the line and I had to admit that maybe he was right. But right then I thought, I’m not ready right now, but one day I am going to show him that Tony Hawk line!

You could walk away from this tomorrow and be one of the most decorated skiers to have ever done it. But you believe that there’s still more that you can bring to those gnarlier lines?

Definitely. In terms of my backcountry goals now, I feel super accomplished and proud of everything I’ve done. But I definitely think there’s more I can do. In terms of lines, I’ve barely scratched the surface, I am only just getting into that era of my skiing. Last year in Alaska was insane. It was my second year flying with our pilot, Nick, who is such a ninja on the sticks. He is able to drop me off into the most exposed toe-ins.

I’m definitely not going to stop any time soon! I think that these next two seasons can be my best ones yet in terms of influence. Hopefully, I can start really working with great partners and get more involved in giving back to the industry. I’ve been pretty focused on skiing the last few years and that’s been how I wanted to contribute to the industry, through my riding and letting that speak for itself. But now I would like to try and step up and spread that stoke to the next generation. 

For the next generation, do you think there is still a route through the industry without being part of the national competition team?

Yeah, I do actually. To me, that is one of the only positive things I would say about the social media era. It does provide the opportunity for people to make an impact in order to get recognized or to pick up some sponsors. That is cool to see, but at the same time I really feel strongly that there are a lot of negatives happening with social media. The overall impact on the industry can be really bad. Seeing some brands putting money into these “influencers”…. I don’t see the kickback into the culture. It’s hilarious: You’ll see these influencers in Alaska and they shouldn’t really be up there. But they get paid, they are probably making more money than a lot of skiers. 

As the next generation comes up, there’s so many new opportunities for young skiers, but it’s sad that you have to be involved in a national team. For example, they won’t even let me ride the halfpipe at my home mountain. Most of the riders on the teams want me to ride with them, but they won’t even let me in at the gate if I’m not on a national team. It’s getting ridiculous, it’s becoming an elitist thing. When I first got into park skiing there weren’t any teams. The only option was to do ski racing. Skiing park was almost, I don’t wanna say punk, but it was more of a skateboard vibe.

It was almost like a counterculture, right?

Yeah, it was definitely not accepted by the ski racer parents! Now they call it “freeskiing” which is funny. I was 12 the first time I ever heard the word freeskiing. I was blowing off race training one day because there was a crazy pow day, and the race team was training on the rope tow. My friend and I were riding the upper bowl, riding sick pow and having fun. At lunchtime the coach saw us and said that if we kept freeskiing and skipping training, that we weren’t going to be able to race that weekend! Me and my friend looked at each other and said, “Sick! That sounds pretty damn good.” We went up that weekend and that was the first time I saw [Eric] Pollard shred through the park. It looked like slow motion, like something I had never seen before. I literally bombed down, skied up to him and shouted, “Yo, what’s your best trick?” He responded, “switch 9-trillion!” 

Finishing our beers and heading back down to the hotel restaurant, the chat continued off the record. A story about an unfinished game of S.K.A.T.E. with a young, recognisably-competitive, Nick Goepper was a highlight. Nick challenged Sammy to a game but with Sammy in the lead, Nick’s mum called to pick him up. As Sammy waved goodbye, Nick shouted back: “You haven’t won! This isn’t over!” Nick went on to win three Olympic medals – even landing his photo on a Corn Flakes box – but still, Sammy reckons he beat him at S.K.A.T.E.

I could not tell you who was on the front of my cereal box that day in Sölden, but for my money, Sammy deserved to be.

Sammy’s new film is out now and playing on Downdays. You can watch it here!