Flurry of activity
Canadian snowboarding sensation Mark McMorris brings us up to speed on his many plans both on and off the competitive circuit.
Mark McMorris glides down a steep incline of Brandywine Mountain near Whistler. Standing atop his snowboard, he makes the trip look easy. Effortless.
The ease should come as no surprise.
This is McMorris, after all, the pro snowboarder who is a 15-time medallist at the X Games, holds four Burton U.S. Open titles and two Winter Olympic bronze medals, not to mention a beloved athlete for Team Canada.
The January afternoon ride down the hill — which he completed after climbing the incline on the back of a friend’s snowmobile, the engine whining loudly at the effort of carrying the duo up the steep grade through the thick blanket of snow — was one of his first rides after he’d spent time rehabbing from surgery.
But the downtime didn’t stop the 25-year-old athlete from rocketing down the snow-packed span, much to the enjoyment of the small group of people who shot video and took photos of his ascent. So does he ever get scared before pushing over the edge?
“Duh,” he says with a cheeky grin.
It’s a feeling that he admits he experiences more these days, his 2017 accident in the B.C. backcountry undoubt- edly factoring into that change, one that left him with life-threatening injuries, including a broken jaw and arm, ruptured spleen, rib and pelvic fractures and a collapsed lung.
These days, McMorris is a bit more careful, more considerate of his body.
“I’m pretty good about listening to it,” he says, rubbing his hand absent-mindedly over his right knee as McMorris and other members of the group stepped out of their soggy snow gear back at the base camp of Blackcomb Snowmobile.
He recounted how he’d recently had a metal rod removed from his leg.
This year, it’s back to big competition; back to big jumps and bigger tricks, his next stop being the X Games in Aspen, Colo.
But he’s also focusing his energy at a point beyond his snowboarding career. He recently added to his real -state portfolio by buying a home in Whistler, he has starred in the docuseries McMorris and McMorris and he has helped with the making of two films.
These, he admits, are some of the things he’s most proud of in his careers so far.
“I feel like the two movies we made, Making your Mark during the Sochi Olympics and then Unbroken during the last Olympics, are things that I’m most proud of and I think really inspired people because a lot of people go through injuries and don’t really have anybody to turn to because it is really sh---y when you go through a major injury. It’s a lot of waiting. It’s a lot of contemplating giving up,” he says. "I’m really proud of those films and I’m happy that I had people who know me so well to help me tell the story.
“Because the biggest impact I have on myself and people is my story: My challenging attempt to become a snowboarder from where I’m from, my challenges with injuries, my comebacks and then the medals, maybe, last.”
Another element of his life that he’s proud of is his emphasis on giving back through the McMorris Foundation, which sees him team up with his brother Craig to provide Canadian kids with access to athletics.
The biggest impact I have on myself and people is my story.” Snowboarder Mark McMorris
“The McMorris Foundation is for underprivileged kids to get into sports, whether it’s with equipment or registration fees, and any sport of their choice,” McMorris says.
Sports have clearly played a key role in the brothers’ lives.
Growing up in Regina, the duo was given the chance to try pretty much any sport that interested them, McMorris recalls.
It’s an element of pure privilege that’s not lost on him.
“We literally had every opportunity to play every sport under the sun that we wanted. Whether it was volleyball, lacrosse, hockey, snowboarding — my parents were just down with sports. It’s not like we were some crazy wealthy family, but you need to have a little bit of dough to play the sports you want to play. It’s not like you play one sport and you know that’s the one,” he says. “I feel like every kid needs that opportunity.”
According to McMorris, the “life lessons” that can be learned through playing sports can be transformative.
“It helped shape Craig and I fully,” he says. "We wouldn’t be the people we are today — and we’ve learned so many personal skills through sport. You learn how to win and you learn how to lose. You learn how to work with people. It’s all very valuable and I think every kid should be doing that.
“And if they want to and they don’t have the funds — we’re here for them.”
His desire to further the funding of the McMorris Foundation led him to a unique partnership this year. McMorris teamed up with the skin-care company Kiehl’s to created a limited-edition iteration of the brand’s popular Ultra Facial Cream — $36, an “adventure-tested” product that sees 100 per cent of net profits from each sale donated to the foundation (with a goal of raising $20,000).
“Kiehl’s came to us and were excited to work with me,” McMorris says of the partnership process. “There are obviously a few filters it goes through before it gets to me, but a huge thing with my team lately is just trying to give back ... So when they decided they wanted to be a partner with me and a partner of the foundation, it was a complete no-brainer.”
The collaboration proved to be a similarly simple decision for the skin-care brand, which promotes philanthropy in three key areas (children’s wellness, the environment and HIV research) as priorities for the company since 2006.
“Mark’s career is the living proof of how sports can change a child’s life," Alexandre Ratte, the general manager for Kiehl’s Canada, said in a news release. “While maintaining Kiehl’s long-standing mission of giving back to the community in support of children, we are honoured to partner with the McMorris Foundation to help them raise awareness on such an important matter.”
Since the product launched, McMorris has turned to his more than 746,000 fans on social media to help spread the word about the fundraising facial cream (as one does these days).
When asked about his take on utilizing the sharing platforms as a pro athlete, he admits the all-access pass it provides his fans with can be overwhelming — but it looks like he’s more than coping with it.
“When I became a pro snowboarder and started to make money at it, I didn’t even have Instagram. So I’ve lived through that,” he says. "I’m a personable guy, I think, and people seem to like the content I put out. People are really psyched on following my accomplishments, following my hardships and following my travels. And I’m just lucky that I’m able to share it through a platform that is so instant.
“Sometimes it’s bittersweet. Sometimes I wish it was the way it was before, but this is the now and I’m adapting.”
And if it helps to sell a few more of those Ultra Facial Creams in the process, well, that just happens to be a bonus.
Mark’s career is the living proof of how sports can change a child’s life.” Alexandre Ratte, general manager for Kiehl’s Canada