What about your winter: your best sessions, trip, shootings…?

The most fun I had this winter was a trip in January to Monashee Powder Cats in B.C..  I was there with M.S.P, T.J. Shiller and C.R. Johnson and I experienced the deepest driest snow I’ve ever skied.  But the best trip I had this winter was a trip to Haines.  I had just got off a two week injury after skiing into a tree and was definitely hungry to get back out there.  It was my first time there and I was blown away with how amazing the terrain was.  Haines definitely has the most conducive terrain to what I would like to do with my skiing.

 

What about your great trip to Alaska for MSP and SalomonFreeski.tv?

Valdez is an impressive place to see, let alone ski.  That place definitely opened my eyes up to the big mountain skiing world.  I walked out of there with a lot more respect to the pioneers of freeskiing for having the drive and motivation to go seek out some of the best mountains in the world. 

 

 

What are your plans for this summer?

I just got back from a really cool trip with Salomon in Chile, testing skis.  We did a snowmobile trip in a zone that had remained pretty much untouched until we got there.  As for the remainder I will be biking, golfing, skate boarding and spending time with friends on the lake… enjoying summer time!

 

What are your motivations, goals and dreams for next season? 

I’ll be on the hunt for more natural features that will lend themselves to throwing tricks with out building or stepping out a jump.  This year I finally feel I got a handle on throwing a controlled 360 off of natural features and I really want to continue to step up the level of difficulty with tricks off of these natural features. 

After being in Valdez, I was reminded just how much I need to learn about the big mountains.  That being said, I’m going to continue to put myself in those scenarios where I’m feeling out of my element in order to get more of a handle on things out there.   Those mountains are extremely humbling and I’m going to take it one step at a time.

 

Tell us about the great Powder award you won in 2007: the Male performance of the year?

I never thought I would win that award again after 2005.  That winter I went out shredded pow, hit jumps, skied lines and had the time of my life doing it all.  I had the opportunity to travel and ski with a super rad crew that made that season my best yet.

 

Who is Mark besides skiing: where and how do you live? What are your other passions and hobbies? 

I live in Squamish (next to Whistler) with a couple of good friends.  We spend our days cruising around the bush with chainsaws looking for new potential wood projects.  I like to take some time off skiing during the summer to enjoy summer for what it is and do a lot of biking, camping, golfing and hanging with friends.  I feel that creating balance in life is key to a happy one.

 

What does a typical day in the life of Mark Abma look like in the winter?

Ideally, I'll get up at 5:45 a.m. to a dark, crisp morning. I'll give myself 15 minutes to roll out of bed, get changed, and get my stuff in order. Then I'll give myself 20 minutes to make myself a fatty breakfast wrap and a smoothie. I'll roll outside, hop in the Chev, give her a couple minutes to warm-up, and then make my way to the gas station to meet Bushfield and fill up my sled. From there we'll go to the Brandywine trail head, unload our sleds, strap our skis on and wait for the filmer and photog to roll up. The ride up is usually a cold one, but as we get closer to the alpine and you see the snow sparkling on the caked trees you forget all about that. Hopefully there's been a couple slednecks ahead of you to punch the trail in, if not there's always somebody in the crew that'll get stuck and is needing some help to dig himself out. After all that, it's a matter of finding a new line or booter spot. If it's a line, more often than not you'll end up hiking to it. If it ends being a day to hit a booter, the dig could take a few hours. If I can get one good shot that day I can go back home happy. If I can go home that day with two or three shots in the bag then I might just have to reward myself with a brewski. All in all, if everybody makes it home safe, it's been a good day roopin' around the mountains.