His Whistler days suddenly came to a dramatic end after he was told that if he was caught in Canada within a year, he would be banned for life. For being such a non-aggressive person with good intentions and being what I would call a normal human, as opposed to an aggressive rock star, lunatic type, it is amazing how much trouble he seems to get into.
The stories never seem to end, just when you think you've heard all there is to hear, Shane hits you with 2 or 3 more stories describing some random incident that you can't even believe actually happened. Perhaps it has to do with appearances. Image is everything isn't it? Maybe it's the huge lifted van Shane drives. The one that triples as a vehicle, place to sleep, and sled transporter. Or maybe it's his dog Snap, an intimidating rotweiler with a spiked collar. Snap happens to be the sweetest and most sensitive dog ever. There's more risk of hurting her feelings by looking at her funny than there is of her being aggressive towards someone...even though the casual observer doesn't see it that way. It turns out she had a pretty rough upbringing with a previous owner. So too did Shane, minus the owner part. The only thing is...you probably won't hurt Shane's feelings by looking at him funny.
Home mountain? Favorite places to ski?
I really don't think of any where as my home mountain, but if I have to choose I'd say it's Alpental this season. There's a lot of good terrain when everything is open and it's pretty close to home. I like Stevens too, probably be around there a bunch more in the future. My favorite place to ski, hmm, anywhere that's nice and quiet once the sleds are off and has a bit of exploring involved to get in deep, the further out the better. The more authority there is the less you'll see me around. I love being in the mountains with no bullshit to deal with, just having fun with friends.
Sponsors?
Smith and Sturtevant's
How did you come to be a coffee drinker?
Kind of a strange story. Back around 2000, Red Bull was giving me 3 or 4 cases a month, kind of a grass roots product sponsorship sorta thing. I was pretty young and never drank (booze) growing up, and like most people I know, there was a few years needed to figure out how to handle it. I learned one magical night how much Jager and Red Bull my body couldn't handle. It happened to be up at Crystal, at a Red Bull sponsored movie premier. The story I've been told is that someone broke into the mountains beer vault and stole a keg of Redhook. All I really know for sure is that handcuffs really hurt broken hands, especially when a security guard is standing on them, and that the Red Bull stopped showing up. Caffeine withdrawal was a bitch, and lots of coffee seemed to make everything better. Oh yea, a nice hot cup made living in a cold wet van seem... almost luxurious, so I'd have a pot or two a day, and still do.
Have you been skiing at Crystal Mountain much lately?
Yea, all the time. I usually start the day with a 2 or 3 hour tour into a great zone that is slightly out of their boundaries, and finish with a few laps near the new Northway chair.
Do you know why you were banned from Crystal?
Banned? I heard a few rumors about that. I've also heard that it's a felony to restrict a person's right to recreate on federal land. Good thing I haven't tried to buy a ticket. It would suck to give them the satisfaction of saying NO and having to hike up anyway. I have caused a few small problems, but most were directly related to growing up there, being broke, and my painfully steep learning curve. I'm a different person these days and I hope someday the management up there looks out the office window and sees it. Skiing is the most important thing in my life, I don't mind a tour to make some turns with my friends, I'd do it anyways, it's fun. Way more fun than breaking down two of their telephone poles, cutting off all power and leaving the mountains cash registers out of commission for a day. That could have really pissed someone off. Fixing my van afterwards wasn't fun at all either.
And you won the Silver King Freeride at Crystal under an alias because you were banned that year?
No, it was the next year. I've been "banned" for a while.
What was the deal with the alias?
I didn't enter myself under alias, the organizers decided to let me enter at the last minute and put me as last in the starting order. Later on, when the judges' scorecards were printed out, they had Captain Powder listed as the winner. Once they realized what had happened, I got bumped to 2nd place.
Where would you most like to explore or ski?
I lay awake at night to thoughts of dirty lines down Rainier. I've stared at its 4-5000 ft north side for my entire life. It's definitely an obsession. I've summited it a lot and even done some guiding on its easier routes, but it's time for me to start checking some descents off my list. Liberty Ridge, Mowich Face... Fuhrer Thumb, some stuff in Sunset Amphitheater, it's all huge.
What would your ideal line be? Features? Terrain? Snow?
I like big concave lines, the kind you can peak over and see all your takeoffs and landings. I really love a good pillowy spine line, Spi-lows, they're hard to find though.
You were just on a trip with Skier magazine. How was that? Who were you with? Where?
I don't really know what the trip was about, I just got a call from Dana (Flahr) saying there was a spot left on a trip to McGillivray pass lodge with Damian Cromwell. It was a great trip. Heli dropped at the lodge. Served the best food imaginable. We had a great guide (thanks for everything Laars) and found good snow in not so descent of conditions. The terrain was pretty much unbeatable. Easily accessed big lines were everywhere. Unfortunately I was flown home a little early because I stomped kind of a flat air to double heal ejection to a pole handle in the face. It ended up being six fractures in my eye socket area to my temple. I was a shit show on the tour back to the lodge. Luckily a doctor happened to be staying/skiing up there for that week. She helped me a lot. I started the trip with her pulling some staples out of my chin.
What skiers have the most influence on you?
Growing up I'd have to say Lance and Loren Petkovits (Peckerzits), and Ryan Sperring. They were my coaches and guides. They're the ones that taught me to ski backseat and completely out of control! The last few years I've learned a lot from just being around the guys up in Whistler. It's been good to see other perspectives on all different aspects of the sport. Living with guys like Dana, Ian, and Smut defiantly changed my skiing really quickly. Seeing Ian piling up destroyed ski after ski, day after day, on bigger airs than I ever hit was crazy. Dana and Ian's drive to stay strong, and to set and achieve their goals one step at a time was definitely influential.
You have the sweetest van I've ever seen. You customized it yourself didn't you?
My van has been the worst financial mistake and waste of time in my life! It's a 4X4, one ton, extended, diesel, lifted, loud, half broken, money burning machine. I've built a double bed that doubles as a bench seat and is removable so that dirt bikes or a sled still fit right in, ski racks, gas shocks, a charging system for my auxiliary batteries, leather seats from a junk yard, an RV furnace, a beer opener on the front bumper, and a seamless rubber floor. I think I'm on my third tranny, third transfer case, and second front and rear drivelines... It won't quit breaking! Not long ago I rebuilt the entire front end, from straightening the frame with a power ram, to plasma cutting off the old fucked bumper. I did the whole job in a record wind storm, during last years fall floods, under a shredded blue tarp.
When something goes wrong with it, you fix it yourself?
Yes, it seems like thats the only way to get it right for cheap.
How did you learn to do this?
I've never really learned anything any other way but the hard way. My first time with a plasma cutter I cut a skull and crossbones out of steel wearing my Smith aviators. I was seeing white dots the rest of the day. Another lesson learned.
note: Shane never learned how to work on auto's properly, he just takes stuff apart and meticulously records where the parts were and in what order he took them off, so he knows how to put everything back.
Ski Photography by Chad Coleman (www.chadcoleman.com), Damian Cromwell, and Reed Purvis
