The Red Bulletin US 10/21

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THE NATURAL THE RED BULLETIN 10/2021

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INSIDE

IZZI GOMEZ doesn’t fear change—she embraces it.

Not satisfied with five SUP world titles, she’s on a quest to become an elite big-wave surfer.

Travis Rice lives a little bigger.

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EDITOR’S NOTE

CHANGE OF HEART Many people struggle with change—they’re more secure with the familiar than uncertainty. But often the most exciting transformations occur when folks step out of their comfort zone. Just ask Izzi Gomez, the subject of our cover story, “The Natural” (page 24). The 21-year-old pro surfer is a five-time SUP world champion, but she decided to avoid the safe route and instead seek new challenges: To become a top big-wave surfer and compete on the Championship Tour. Don’t bet against her.

CONTRIBUTORS THIS ISSUE

ABBY LEE HOOD

“Everywhere I see T-Stacks skate, he’s the best and friendliest expert there,” says the Nashvillebased writer who interviewed dance pioneer Terron “T-Stacks” Frank. “I was delighted to talk with a roller skater with such diverse experience and highlight someone who deserves a lot more attention.” Hood has written for local outlets such as Nashville Scene, as well as Teen Vogue and the New York Times. Page 14

Izzi Gomez, shown here near her home in San Clemente, California, sees herself as a versatile waterwoman and is unafraid to take risks to fulfill her potential.

This issue is full of people taking big chances. “The Fastest Girl in the Village” (page 70) profiles a rider who became the first girl in her Lesotho community to try BMX—and now she’s going to a world championship.

And “Beyond Impossible” (page 50) ponders the exploits of Marc-André Leclerc, an alpine freeclimber who refused to accept boundaries. The risks of failure are real, but so is the profound meaning of chasing your dreams.

06

The Johannesburg-based writer traveled down to Lesotho in Southern Africa to interview pump track racer Khothalang Leuta, but the journey there wasn’t without its challenges.

“The most challenging part was planning to go to Lesotho in the face of constant changes in COVID restrictions. It was a lot of running around like a headless chicken, but I got to meet some solid and kind people,” she says. Page 70

THE RED BULLETIN

STEVEN LIPPMAN(COVER)

LEE NXUMALO

CONTENTS 24 October

BORN TO SURF

“I’m built to surf 50-foot waves,” says our 21-yearold cover star, Izzi Gomez, who was photographed in San Clemente, California, on July 22.

FEATURES

2 4 The Natural

If there’s a limit to how far five-time SUP world champion Izzi Gomez can go in surfing, she hasn’t found it yet.

3 8 The Shape of Water

Photographer Ben Thouard captures images of the legendary waves around Tahiti—and those bold enough to ride them.

5 0 Beyond Impossible

Inside the audacious exploits of climber Marc-André Leclerc, brought to life in the new documentary The Alpinist.

6 2 Dream Machine

Freerunner Pasha Petkuns sees the world as one big playground, and now he’s literally built it as one.

7 0 The Fastest Girl in the Village

Khothalang Leuta has taken over Lesotho’s pump tracks.

Now she’s ready to take on the world.

50 PURE SOUL

The unassuming Canadian climber Marc-André Leclerc soloed dozens of pioneering ascents with soulful purity.

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THE RED BULLETIN

26

THE

DEPARTURE

Taking You to New Heights

11 Windsurfing GOAT Robby Naish is still going strong 14 One to watch: Roller-skate king T-Stacks Frank

16 A balancing act in Yosemite 18 Tracing glaciers in Iceland 20 BASE jumping in Finland 2 2 Four toe-tapping tunes from

soul singer Leon Bridges

GUIDE

Get it. Do it. See it.

81 Travel: Top-notch fun near Zion National Park 84 Fitness tips from WNBA star Arike Ogunbowale 86 An Omega watch worthy of Bond, James Bond 87 Dates for your calendar 88 The best new mountain gear 94 Anatomy of gear 96 The Red Bulletin worldwide

STEVEN LIPPMAN, TYRONE BRADLEY, AUSTIN SIADAK/RED BULL CONTENT POOL

98 BMXing in Costa Rica

70 FAST TRACK

Khothalang Leuta, was the first girl in her town to ride the pump track. Now others are following in her footsteps.

THE RED BULLETIN

09

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LIFE

&

STYLE

BEYOND

THE

ORDINARY

THE

SECOND WIND

CRAIG KOLESKY/RED BULL CONTENT POOL

JÜRGEN SCHMIEDER

Robby Naish—windsurfing’s GOAT—isn’t ready to look back on his life. At 58, he’s still riding the wave.

“I still have more to do than time to do it,” says windsurfer Robby Naish.

THE RED BULLETIN

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Teenage dreams: A 16-year-old Naish at Diamond Head on Oahu, Hawaii, in 1979.

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obby Naish was born in La Jolla, California, in 1963—five years before the first patent for a sailboard was filed. In 1976, he won the Windsurfer World Championships at just 13 years old. It would be the first of 24 windsurfing world titles he’d claim over the next two decades. “There wasn’t the slightest thought it might lead somewhere,” says Naish today. “There was no career path. I was just along for the adventure and trying as best I could, in case it lasted a little bit longer.”

More than four decades later, it’s fair to say it has. At 58, Naish is still flipping his sailboard, and the sport, on its head. He’s a living legend but even more than that—he’s the embodiment of the evolution of global watersports.

In 1968, Naish’s father, an avid surfer, moved the family to Hawaii. Robby was 5. He still lives there today, but the scene around him has changed. Alongside surfing and windsurfing, there’s now kiteboarding, stand-up paddleboarding (SUP), foil surfing and more. Naish hasn’t just mastered these sports; he

helped pioneer them. In the mid-’90s he launched his own business, Naish Sails, innovating gear for these emerging sports. “It was never a goal to do something new— it just happened,” he says.

In 2016, Naish was approached by Joe Berlinger, director of the 2004 rockumentary Metallica: Some Kind of Monster, to make a film where he tackled the world’s longest waves. Then, weeks before the first stop, Naish landed an aerial move badly, resulting in a life-threatening pelvic fracture. The film, released this year, became a candid insight into an athlete facing a different kind of long wave—his own mortality.

Now fully recovered, Naish is older and wiser but just as optimistic as he was that first time. “My last world title was decades ago, but I don’t look at it that way. I don’t sit around talking about the good old days. I’m as active as I was 30 years ago, enjoying where I’m at right now as an old athlete waking up and taking ibuprofen, polishing my old tricks or developing new sports for younger people to get out and enjoy.”

the red bulletin: Let’s talk about that injury . . . robby naish: The moment I did it I thought I’d broken my back. I didn’t crash hard, I just came down from a landing.

Everything was perfectly wrong—if I tried 100 times to do it again I couldn’t. My back foot came out of the strap and went into the water behind me, but my front foot stayed in and went with the board. The kite was going fast and I couldn’t get my weight off my front leg.

Then I felt a pop in my back.

I was in the water trying to see if I could move my legs, and I could, so I thought I’d torn a ligament. I dragged downwind back to the beach and I guess I looked bad. The next thing I know, I’m on a stretcher to hospital, then on a medevac plane to Honolulu. I’d never really had a bad injury my entire career, so it was educational. Certainly unpleasant.

Your first major injury at 53 —did it change your POV? I used to think I was invincible, and not just when I was young.

I’ve been lucky to have a body that can recover quickly, and I’d never even thought about THE RED BULLETIN

CRAIG KOLESKY/RED BULL CONTENT POOL

“I’M LUCKY TO BE WHO I AM, HOW I AM, WHEN I AM.”

T H E D E PA RT U R E

age or what would happen if I got really injured. I’ve spent my entire career avoiding injury. My friends rode dirt bikes; I didn’t. I wouldn’t skateboard, other than cruising on the street. I’ve only got one plate and four screws in my entire body.

They say an athlete dies twice: once when their career is over, then the next time for real. You seem to have cheated that first death.

I completely understand what they mean by that. Most athletes last a few years then move on to something else, and even that is tough. But if you’ve been focused on one thing and it suddenly ends, that’s super difficult. I slowly transitioned out of competition but never retired from sports. In all the things I do, competition is honestly a sideshow to the main activity, so not much changed; there were six or seven events a year that I wasn’t chasing points for, but everything else intensified.

Development, promotional trips, videos—there’s not one day where I feel empty or lost.

I’m also lucky that my arsenal of sports grew; kiting came along, SUP—now foiling and wing surfing. I still have more to do than time to do it.

When did you first think you could make a living doing it?

I was graduating high school in 1981 when we had our first professional windsurfing events. It was a big decision: Would I stay amateur and maybe go to the Olympics [windsurfing was included for the first time in 1984] or turn pro? At that point if you took one dollar as an athlete you were a professional and couldn’t go to the Olympics, so to retain amateur status I donated the prize money from my first two pro windsurfing events to my school. That’s when I realized maybe there was something there. I’d been accepted to the University of California at Santa Cruz, and sponsors wanted to pay me to THE RED BULLETIN

windsurf. I said, “I’m going to defer admission for a year and see what this becomes.” I never looked back.

Many successful athletes can suffer from burnout. How have you stayed the course?

Luck, and being there from the start. My personality helped: I was a loner, antisocial, selfdriven. I don’t hang out with other people and I almost never go to dinner with friends; I’m kind of a weird person. It helped me avoid some of the distractions that drag athletes down and steal focus from their sport. I’m not goal driven—I’ve never set a goal in my life. If you’re going for a target rather than enjoyment, eventually you lose that drive to achieve. I just love what I do.

You talk of being antisocial, but today everything is about social media . . .

The positive [aspect] is it gives every kid an opportunity to showcase themselves. You don’t have to be seen by an agent or a magazine photographer—you get famous by doing your own thing. But it’s also not about getting good; it’s about getting more likes, or doing whatever it takes to earn a million views. Clothing sponsors want to know how many followers you have on Instagram, how many times a week you’ll post and what the content will be. The selfpromotion aspect of being an athlete isn’t new, but it’s not a great personality trait—the loudest guy in the room is usually an asshole. So I hate it, but I do it. Part of my job is trying not to be embarrassed that I’m taking pictures of myself and posting them online. And it creates false expectations. A lot of young sports people are going to be disillusioned, because they’ve been told they’ll make millions as a YouTube star. I have a 13-year-old daughter, and [young people] are under so much pressure. She gets it, but she also doesn’t want to be that weird kid who doesn’t

participate. I’m trying to instill in her that life isn’t a popularity contest, humility is an asset, and to create value in what you do, not what you show.

How damaging is all of this to a sport like surfing?

The sport will be fine—it’s just different. The purity of going out into nature is gone. We used to get on a plane and have no idea what conditions we were going to get. Now you can see there’s going to be a swell in Fiji in two days. I know a lot of kids who are doing really well at surfing and they seem to be enjoying it just as much [as we did]. It’s just strange knowing that your goal is to get home and post your moves, not to just enjoy them and be stoked for the next good session.

Looking back on your life, do you have any regrets?

No, that’s what tears people apart. I’m happy with my life.

It’s not perfect, but damn, I’m lucky to be who I am, how I am, when I am. Being able to wake up and do whatever I want, never taking for granted the fact that people pay me to do what I love to do.

That could end any day— there’s no less guaranteed future than that of a professional sportsman. I relish being able to live the way I do.

The Longest Wave starring Robby Naish is now available to watch on Red Bull TV; redbull.com

In May 2017, Naish traveled to Skeleton Bay in Namibia for the documentary The Longest Wave.

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Quad Skating

ROLLER KING

Dance pioneer T-Stacks Frank was already a legend in the skating rink, but it took a public health crisis to make him one to watch in the park.

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erron “T-Stacks” Frank used to have to beg people to come to his favorite skate rinks around the country, including his home base, Rivergate Skate Center, located just outside Nashville, Tennessee. But these days, they’re showing up without prodding—a welcome sight after months of rink closures.

“I’m seeing skaters I haven’t seen in five or ten years come out,” says the 32-year-old, Riedell-sponsored rhythm and dance skater. Even on the hardwood, it’s easy to mistake Frank for an ice skater or a

ballet dancer with his athletic grace and viral-ready moves.

He can bust out choreography worthy of a music video or twirl endlessly on the toes of one foot. In one YouTube video, Frank dizzyingly spins no less than 25 times, a performance that echoes an Olympic-level ice skating competition. There’s a reason why Frank has more than 28,000 followers on Instagram.

Growing up in Virginia, Frank visited his first rink when he was 12 years old.

From there, he was hooked.

After moving to Tennessee in 2010, Frank began attending THE RED BULLETIN

MATT MATHESON, DON WIGGINS

“HIS SKATING IS GENIUS. IT’S PURE IMPULSIVE CREATIVITY. IT’S MAGIC,” SAYS STEILEN. underground skate parties across the U.S. and quickly became a fixture in the community, traveling to different states about 20 weekends throughout the year.

During a trip to Los Angeles three years ago, Frank met Moxi Skates founder Michelle Steilen—a legend in the roller skating community, known to followers as Estro Jen. Steilen introduced Frank to park skating, and after he returned home to Tennessee, Steilen mailed him a pair of quads better suited for the concrete.

“He is by far the best dance skater I have ever seen,” says Steilen. “His skating is genius.

It’s pure impulsive creativity.”

As rinks began closing due to the pandemic, Frank started hitting the parks all the time. It didn’t take him long to adjust to this new turf.

On his first try, he managed to nail a trick he’d already mastered in the rink—a 540.

A year and change later, he says that toggling between the rink and the park has made him a better skater. “The rink translated to park skating, and park skating transferred to the rink,” Frank says.

But the switch didn’t come without challenges. “My park skates are heavy,” he explains.

“I had to learn how to throw that weight around, but that helped me do certain tricks at the rink, too—like more spins and slides.”

These days, at the Two Rivers Skate Park in Nashville, Frank can be found on his roller skates, dropping into bowls with the ease of a veteran. In a video posted this past January, Frank jumps over the barrier between two double bowls, carves up THE RED BULLETIN

the opposite side, does a handstand on the side of the second bowl and then drops in backwards. It’s common to see him get several feet of air as he exits and reenters a bowl.

Frank, one of only a small handful of Riedell-sponsored rhythm and dance skaters, says one of the biggest highlights of his career was skating in a park in front of Steilen. When he was in L.A. this past May, he got the chance to show off his recently upleveled skills, just three years after their first meeting. For Frank, it felt like a full-circle moment.

“Michelle is the best,” Frank says. “Sending me skates was not a waste.”

“He got good so quick,” Steilen gushes. “He has an incredible amount of talent, but it’s the practice and commitment that makes him the pro that he is.”

Now that rinks are reopening, Frank is enjoying a return to his first love. But not every facility survived the pandemic. In the past year, many culturally significant rinks have closed, unable to pay the bills without customers. Yet Frank says the renewed interest in outdoor roller skating and inline skating gives him hope. He’s optimistic that the renewed interest in these sports during the pandemic—which caused worldwide shortages of roller skates and boosted skaters like Ana Coto to TikTok stardom—is here to stay.

“When Roll Bounce came out, people said, ‘Oh I want to do that!’ ” Frank says, referring to the 2005 film about a rollerskating crew in 1970s Chicago.

“We haven’t had a skate movie in so long. Then the pandemic happened, and people were interested again. It really needs to happen for the rinks, too.

They can’t afford to stay open.”

At least in Nashville, the roller rink, street and skatepark communities seem to be thriving, according to Alyssa Kontos, who rolls with the group Skate Nashville.

Kontos says Frank is an integral part of what makes Nashville’s skate community so welcoming and special.

“T-Stacks is one of the best roller skaters in the world, but he’s our friend,” she says. “He’s not gatekeeping at all, which is really important for the health of skating.”

Indeed, Frank doesn’t put on airs or boast about his skills, even though his peers marvel at his talents. Whether he’s in the rink or in the park, roller skating is his lifelong passion, no matter where it leads him.

“When I’m not working, I’m skating,” Frank says. “I didn’t ever skate to be sponsored; I skated because I love it.”

Steilen for one hopes that bigger things are on the horizon for Frank: “T-Stacks really deserves to do this professionally full-time. He is the king, and he represents what it is to be a roller skater.”

—Abby Lee Hood

Natural talent: For the past year, dance skater T-Stacks Frank has refined his skills in the park.

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Yosemite Valley, California

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TYLER ROEMER

“Travel with no expectations and your camera by your side,” adventure sports photographer Tyler Roemer told the BBC in 2012. “You never know what you’re going to see.” It’s an ethos shared by Brian Mosbaugh, an athlete and stuntman from Utah whose nomadic lifestyle allows him to indulge his passions for BASEjumping, slacklining and climbing worldwide.

For this shoot in Yosemite Valley—the spiritual home of highlining—Mosbaugh had two feet on a line almost 2,000 feet above the ground; Roemer had one finger on the button. tylerroemer.com; Instagram: moabmonkey

DAVYDD CHONG

BALANCE OF POWER

T H E D E PA RT U R E

Landmannalaugar, Iceland

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CHRIS BURKARD

“The story is always the same,” says Chris Burkard. “A beautiful landscape being threatened.” The California photographer hopped aboard a Cessna to trace the flow of Iceland’s glacier rivers, which snake through the Highlands like the roots of some monstrous plant, the yellow Piper Cub aircraft (flying 1,000 feet below) a mere aphid. See the whole project in Burkard’s book At Glacier’s End. chrisburkard.com

DAVYDD CHONG

FROZEN IN TIME

T H E D E PA RT U R E

Gulf of Finland

GUIDING LIGHT

VICTOR SUKHORUKOV/RED BULL ILLUME

DAVYDD CHONG

Lighthouses are more than just beacons; they also serve as great launching pads. Here’s proof, courtesy of photographer Victor Sukhorukov. The Russian overcame the dual threat of a fierce fog and a malfunctioning drone to catch BASE jumper Semjon Lazarev descending this 130-foot-high beauty near St. Petersburg. tankizt.com

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Playlist

SOUL TO THE SOLE

The award-winning singer Leon Bridges got his start as a dancer. Here are four tracks that always get him moving.

W

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MARVIN GAYE “SEXUAL HEALING” (1982) “Marvin Gaye’s trajectory is the blueprint for me. This is not an obvious dance tune, but it has such an undeniable groove.

When it comes on, I’m stopping everything just to move to it. It has a totally different vibe to “Club Rock,” but sometimes you gotta slow things down and let the song transport your body where it wants to take you. It should be a staple for study in dance schools, if it isn’t already. Perfection!”

FUTURE “MARCH MADNESS” (2015) “There are so many Future songs I could have chosen, but this one’s special—when it comes on in the club, there’s an immediate response. It has a strong sense of camaraderie, so me and my homies will be dancing and singing the lyrics straight away; we all sort of move as one, with our bodies directed by the beat.

That has to be one of my favorite feelings. It makes me smile just thinking about it.”

JAMES BROWN “THE PAYBACK” (1974) “I love how there’s so much space in this song. Normally when I’m moving to it I’m using an amalgamation of styles, because you can’t really label it; it’s just James Brown being a badass. It’s perfect for free-form dance, which is my favorite kind of movement because there are no rules; you just express how the music makes you feel. I’ve bust out moves to this more times than I care to remember.”

THE RED BULLETIN

PAVIELLE GARCIA

YUNG NATION “CLUB ROCK” (2012) “This tune is a big part of Dallas and Fort Worth dance culture.

We have a very specific way of dancing to it, which we call boogie dancing. I’ve always considered this a personal anthem; I often put it on at the end of a photo shoot and it always sparks such a good mood. I question anyone who doesn’t want to get up and just move to it. It’s like lightning to the feet. I can never get bored of what this song does to me.”

WILL LAVIN

hen soul music blew up in the early 1960s, Todd Bridges’ father was barely a child. While soul has evolved into myriad styles, it’s this traditional sound—rooted in gospel, jazz and R&B—that can be heard in the music of 32-year-old Todd, better known as Leon Bridges. The Texanborn singer-songwriter rose to fame in 2015 with his top-10 hit “Coming Home” and four years later won a Grammy for the song “Bet Ain’t Worth the Hand.” Bridges has collaborated with the likes of Common and John Mayer and performed for Barack Obama’s 55th birthday at the White House. But he’s also an accomplished dancer from his college years. Here he shares four irresistible grooves.

Leon Bridges’ new album, GoldDiggers Sound, is out now; leonbridges.com

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The Natural If there’s a limit to how far five-time stand-up paddle surfing world champion Izzi Gomez can go in surfing, she hasn’t found it yet.

Words JEN SEE Photography STEVEN LIPPMAN

“I’m built to surf 50foot waves,” says Gomez, who was photographed in relatively calm water in San Clemente, California, on July 22.

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n the wall above Izzi Gomez’s kitchen table hangs a photograph of her surfing.

Taken in January 2021, the image shows Gomez navigating a 30-foot wave at Pe’ahi, aka Jaws, the storied big-wave break on Maui’s north shore. She had spent several hours sitting on her jet ski before that moment, just watching the waves. Honestly, she hadn’t planned to surf that day. That changed when Paige Alms, a two-time Big Wave Tour world champion and mentor to Gomez, told her, “It is now or never.”

Because of the high winds and the size of the swell, surfers could not paddle into the waves. Instead, they had to trust their jet ski drivers to whip them into the mountainous peaks that exploded as the deep-water swell collided with the shallow reef. It was the first time Gomez had towed into Jaws on a big swell.

Once she made the decision to surf, Gomez slid her feet into the straps on her tow board. Then she took hold of the rope attached to the jet ski that would slingshot her into the wave.

“My heart rate was definitely high,” she says. “Because you’re just out there, sitting in your straps, holding the rope— and you know that something’s coming.”

Waves come in sets, and sometimes several minutes can pass between each set. “It’s eerie, because it’ll go flat, but there’s so much energy in the water,” says Gomez.

Finally, her wait was over. As a wave began to build, Gomez stood up on her board. Her driver, Sean Ordonez, brought her into position. “Then you have to choose whether to drop the rope and go, or wait for the next one,” she says. The timing matters, too. Gomez knew that if she let go of the rope early, the next wave would almost certainly crash on her head. A tow board weighs 26

anywhere from 14 to 20 pounds. Gomez knew she could not paddle it to safety.

When Gomez let go of the rope, a switch flipped in her head. She was in the moment, entirely concentrated.

She hung, briefly suspended. Then her board’s rails engaged with the ocean’s surface and held. Gomez carved back closer to the wave’s furious energy. She felt her board bounce and chatter on the wind-cut ridges on the wave’s face. She bent her knees to get lower. Later when she saw the photos, Gomez was surprised.

She thought the wave she had ridden was much smaller than it actually was.

A five-time world champion in standup paddleboard surfing, Gomez, 21, is one of the most versatile women in surfing. Though she could have continued to compete in SUP surfing and win more world titles, Gomez didn’t want to do the same thing she had always done.

It felt too easy. Instead, she wanted to push her talent as far as she could. And if there’s a limit to how far Gomez can go in surfing, she hasn’t found it yet.

THE RED BULLETIN

This image of Gomez dropping in on a 30foot wave at Jaws on Maui in January 2021 hangs in her home.

BRADY LAWRENCE

A

nna Maria Island is a 7-mile sliver of land that sits off the Gulf Coast of Florida, and Izzi Gomez learned to surf in the gentle waves that roll into the island’s white sand beaches.

Within easy walking distance of the beach is West Coast Surf Shop, which her grandfather, Jim Brady, opened in 1964. “That’s where the surf heritage is in my family,” says Gomez, sitting in the airy kitchen of the duplex she rents in her adopted hometown of San Clemente, California. Until the age of 5,

THE RED BULLETIN

Gomez lived on the island and fondly recalls its small-town vibe.

Her parents split up before she was a year old, and her mom, Brandi Brady, raised Gomez and her older brother, Giorgio. Her father, Raul, a former professional athlete who’s originally from Colombia, coached tennis; Gomez remembers seeing him regularly for holidays and birthdays. He supported her when she began to take surfing more seriously and has often traveled to watch her compete.

As they grew older, Gomez and her brother traveled to Florida’s east coast in search of more consistent surf.

Eventually, Brandi moved the family to Jupiter, a beach town within easy reach of Sebastian Inlet and New Smyrna, two of Florida’s surfing hot spots. “Jupiter is amazing with its clear, crystal-blue water,” says Gomez. “There’s always a wave there.” At age 8, Gomez followed her brother into contest surfing. Though she loved competing, she didn’t take surfing especially seriously, and she 27

Gomez, who is a part-time model and a full-time surfing badass, wants to be a role model for girls coming up in the sport.

“I feel like I have unfinished business.” tried a variety of sports. Oddly enough, she attended school with another future Red Bull athlete, skateboarder Zion Wright. “We actually went to elementary school together,” she laughs. “Seriously, we were best friends growing up.”

A trip to the North Shore on Oahu helped change the casual surfer into something more focused. The waves and the lifestyle in Hawaii mesmerized the 12-year-old Gomez. “I was at an age where I felt like it would be amazing to just live on the beach there,” she says.

She spent most days at V-Land, a playful reef break. One day she paddled out at Pipeline. The wave looked even more frightening to her from the water than it had from the beach. She paddled back to shore without catching a wave.

“The North Shore was my first time surfing waves with any power, and I had no real interest in surfing more solid waves at the time,” she recalls.

Inspired by that experience, Gomez intensified her focus on contest surfing.

She hung a poster of Carissa Moore, who had recently won her first world title, on her bedroom wall. Gomez dreamed of making it to the World Championship Tour and winning a title like Moore had.

But the results did not come. An early growth spurt put Gomez at a disadvantage.

With their smaller, lighter bodies, her competitors could surf faster and turn more radically in small waves. “She’s not a dainty little waif,” says Jason Kenworthy, who coaches Gomez in shortboarding.

“And she probably didn’t get the support in those years that might have helped her.” In 2013, at age 13, Gomez quit competing in shortboard events.

While Gomez was struggling with shortboarding, her brother Giorgio began competing in stand-up paddleboard

surfing and picked up a sponsorship from Starboard. Intrigued, Gomez tried the new sport and entered a few local contests. When Giorgio went to a photo shoot at the Typhoon Lagoon wave pool in Orlando, Izzi tagged along. While there, Steve Sjuggerud, the associate publisher of Standup Journal, saw her ride and was impressed with her skills.

Gomez had no idea she was good at surfing stand-up boards. A new career beckoned.

At Huntington Beach in 2013, Gomez won her first SUP Surfing World Tour event, and Starboard signed her up as well. After a second win at the La Torche Pro in France, she finished the year third in the world. Success came as a surprise to her after years of disappointments in shortboard contests. “Winning was so foreign to me,” she says. The bigger standup paddleboards suited Gomez physically, and her experience on shortboards gave her skills her competitors couldn’t match. Then there was her competitive

BRIAN BIELMANN

Gomez won five world championships on the SUP Surfing World Tour between 2014 and 2019.

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drive. “I was like, if I’m doing this, I’m going to win.”

And win she did. Over the next six years, Gomez dominated SUP surfing competition. In 2014, her first full year in the sport, she won a world title after snapping up victories in four of the tour’s five events. By 2019, Gomez, then 19, had won five world titles. Her fear of bigger surf evaporated. On the way to her fourth world title in 2017, Gomez won the SUP surfing tour event at Sunset Beach, a North Shore break known for its strong currents and powerful waves.

Looking back, Gomez credits her years on the SUP world tour for teaching her how to handle the pressures of competition. “I was such a head case back then,” she says. The pressures all came from inside her. Despite her contest wins and world titles, her “crazy inner surf parent” too often told Gomez that she wasn’t good enough. “That’s something I’ve had to work on a lot,” she says. At 15, Gomez began working with a sports psychologist. Those sessions taught her how to better acknowledge her doubts and emotions and to work with them.

Yet as the championships piled up, Gomez began to lose her fire. She felt gratitude for what the sport had given her: She had traveled widely and accumulated irreplaceable experiences.

She had won five world titles. But the satisfaction she felt ebbed with each new victory. During the years she spent on the SUP world tour, Gomez began to realize that results alone were not enough. Satisfaction came from the work and the process. It came from the journey. She needed something new.

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he pool at the San Clemente Aquatics Center is 17 feet deep on one side. Gomez drops to the bottom, picks up a 35-pound dumbbell and runs in long strides across the pool.

The effort is part of a weekly workout that mixes high-intensity weight exercises on land with underwater intervals. These days, Kenworthy leads the sessions, but he first learned about the style of training from Gomez. “The first time I went, I had to ask her how to do things, and it was like, OK, now the coach is the student,” he recalls. When she’s in San Clemente, Gomez is usually at the pool for a Wednesday-night workout.

Few top surfers even attempt to transition from stand-up paddleboard surfing to big-wave surfing. For a surfer 30

who grew up in Florida, which is known for its small waves, to take on big-wave surfing is rarer still. But Gomez is no ordinary surfer. “If you give her a challenge, she’s going to take it,” says Samantha Campbell of Deep Relief Peak Performance, who trains big-wave surfers such as Alms, Ian Walsh and Gomez. “She’s an incredible surfer and her comfort level on a big board from surfing stand-up paddleboards is a huge advantage,” says Alms. And Gomez isn’t afraid to ask for advice. Alms calls her “inquisitive.”

While still competing in stand-up, Gomez began to prepare. “People think they can just go out and get an inflation vest and paddle out,” she says. “It was almost two years of work before I went out to Jaws for the first time.” She took the safety course offered by the Big Wave Risk Assessment Group and learned breath-holding techniques. Training with Campbell, Gomez spent countless hours in the gym, swam intervals in pounding surf and ran repeats on Haleakalā at 9,000 feet above sea level. Last winter, Alms helped Gomez improve her jet ski skills, which included learning to drive a trailer in Alms’ backyard.

“I feel like the biggest transition is just earning the respect from people all over again,” says Gomez. “There’s a pecking order at Jaws, and I’m trying to get waves.

And it’s like, who is this girl out here?”

Among the world’s giant waves, Jaws is famous for its almost flawless shape.

“It’s the perfect A-frame wave that you draw in your notebook as a kid,” says Alms. “It’s also a 50- or 60-foot wave.”

From the time Gomez saw Jaws from the cliffs, it called to her. Her first session came in 2018, when she paddled out with Connor Baxter, a SUP racing world champion. They drove to the cliffs and jumped off the rocks. Gomez caught her first wave, which she now describes as “small.” It likely had a 15-foot face.

Gomez was exhilarated, an emotion bigwave surfing continues to evoke in her.

Gomez stopped competing in standup paddleboarding after the results came too easily. With big-wave surfing, she has had to learn patience. In December 2019, Gomez was chosen as a first alternate for the Jaws Big Wave Championship event.

When she did not get the call-up, she had to remind herself to stay focused on her own path. “I was bummed, but then I realized, if it’s not my time, it’s not my time,” she says. In big-wave surfing, Gomez has found renewal.

Once a week Gomez does underwater workouts with 35-pound dumbbells to better prepare for the harsh realities of big-wave surfing.

“I’m not some sort of Victoria’s Secret model. What I do is way more badass than that.”

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ipping a chai latte on the bluff above T-Street in San Clemente, Gomez is explaining how she needs to improve her small-wave surfing. Every surf town has a beach break like T-Street, which is known more for its consistency than its quality.

It’s where local surfers catch a few waves before work or after school.

A pedestrian bridge runs across the railroad tracks from the bluff and down to the sand. Out in the water, surfers cluster around the 2-to-3-foot peaks.

Some go right, some left. In front of the bridge, two surfers take off at once and collide. “That’s why I don’t surf that peak,” Gomez says, laughing.

At the same time that Gomez is chasing her big-wave dreams, she is still developing her shortboard surfing.

“I feel like I have unfinished business.

100 percent,” she says. Her effort is paying off. In March 2020—just before COVID shut down competition—Gomez won a contest at Morro Bay. It was her first-ever win at an event in the Qualifying Series, which serves as the stepping stone to the World Championship Tour. “That wasn’t something that just happened,” says Kenworthy. “She worked hard to get to that spot.” Gomez beat a field that included Caitlin Simmers, who’s considered one of the best under-18 surfers in the world.

Moving on from the junior ranks has helped Gomez, and the conditions at Morro Bay suited her powerful turns.

She has also worked closely with San Clemente shaper Eric Rumaner to refine her boards. In an example of how small the surfing community can be, Rumaner is originally from Jupiter, Florida. He pared down the outline and slimmed down the thickness of the shortboards Gomez rides to give her maneuvers on the wave a sharper, more precise style.

And Gomez has done the work of paddling out on days when the waves are small and uninspiring. “You’ve got to motivate and be frothed to surf crappy waves,” says Kenworthy. Gomez surfs 32

The vast selection of boards in Gomez’s garage reflects the breadth of her abilities and interests in the water.

From her home in San Clemente, Gomez can access many local surf spots with her e-bike.

Among her many goals, Gomez has an eye on the 2024 Olympic surf event, which is set to take place at Teahupo’o in Tahiti.

regularly with Kenworthy, who worked as a photographer for Surfer Magazine and has spent years around the surf industry. He admires Gomez’s work ethic, and when he looks at women’s surfing, Kenworthy believes Gomez belongs right there with the best. “Izzi is a full-on athlete and she does gnarly stuff,” he says.

In May 2021, Gomez traveled to El Salvador for the ISA World Surfing Games. The event offered the final chance to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics.

Because her dad retains his Colombian citizenship, Gomez had this one shot to make the Olympics. It was her first THE RED BULLETIN

shortboard contest in over a year. “I feel like I blew it before the contest even started by putting so much pressure on myself,” she says. A broken board during her heat put an end to her hopes.

“When she lost, she was pissed,” says Campbell, who also attended the event. “She’s this fun, bubbly, awesome human, but her ability to turn into contest mode and be a winner is unique.

You could see the fierceness there.”

Gomez is already looking ahead.

The 2024 Olympic surf event will take place at Teahupo’o in Tahiti. Roughly translated as the Place of Broken Skulls, Teahupo’o is one of the most

fearsome waves in the world, which should suit Gomez perfectly. To prepare, she’ll have big-wave sessions each winter, as well as her quest to qualify for the Championship Tour, to push her.

But first, Gomez has a more immediate test—rehab and recovery.

In August 2021, Gomez had surgery to correct a torn labrum and a congenital hip misalignment. She won the Morro Bay QS event with the injury. “Once she gets through the healing process, it’s going to be fun to see her get to be quick and sharp and just sending it,” says Campbell. Gomez hopes to be back in the water in December.

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“Everyone says it’s lonely at the top, but it doesn’t have to be,” says Gomez, who knows that results and happiness are often not related.

It’s hard for Gomez to choose among her ambitions.

Maybe she doesn’t have to choose.

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itting at her kitchen table, face to face with the image of herself at Jaws, Gomez is talking about the expectations that come with being a female athlete in the social media age.

She’s wearing a vintage tropical shirt borrowed from her grandfather’s closet and a necklace she made. She has grown into her athletic body and feels confident in her capabilities. The frustrations that came with her early growth spurt in her teens are behind her now.

Today she sees herself more clearly.

“I try not to focus on how I look, but instead on what’s going to make my performance better,” she says. “I’m built to surf 50-foot waves.” Gomez understands that she’s creating a public image every day on social media. But much like she looked up to Carissa Moore, Gomez hopes that she can be a role model for the girls coming up in surfing. “I’m not some sort of Victoria’s Secret model,” she says. “What I do is way more badass than modeling a T-shirt.”

Articulating her ambitions does not come easily. That’s because what Gomez wants to accomplish is unmatched in surfing. She wants to paddle into a barrel at Jaws, one of the most difficult feats in the sport. She wants to chase both a shortboard world title and a big-wave surfing world title.

Then there’s the 2024 Olympics. It’s hard for Gomez to choose among her ambitions. Who knows—maybe she doesn’t have to choose.

If there’s one thing that Gomez has learned, it’s that results don’t add up to happiness. As she’s grown as an athlete, Gomez has realized she needs to measure success differently. “Everyone says it’s lonely at the top, but it doesn’t have to be,” she says. What she experiences along the way—and who shares the adventure with her—has become more important to Gomez than the goals, however distant and lofty, she eventually achieves. And the joy she has found in that discovery might be the best gift of all.

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The glass wave, December 2015 “This is the north coast of Tahiti, with swells coming from Hawaii and even further away.

A big wave—what we call a shorebreak—forms at the edge of the black sand beach and this gets stirred up, creating a variety of colors.

We’re at sunrise here with a cliff behind, so it looks black. The first rays of sunlight shine out over the cliff and light up this lip of water, providing strong contrast, as if it were glass or lace. I’m at the edge of the beach, with the tips of my fins almost touching the bottom.

You don’t want to get caught by the wave—it can hurt. I’ve lost my camera and fins before.

You can actually get dismembered by the impact of the lip on the sand.”

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THE SHAPE OF WATER

Photographer Ben Thouard captures extraordinary images of the legendary waves around Tahiti, and those bold enough to ride them.

Here he shares just how he got these otherworldly shots.

Words PH CAMY

Emergency exit, August 2017 “I’m underwater with Australian surfer Adrian Buchan, beneath the famous Teahupo’o wave [routinely considered the world’s most dangerous due to its size and power, and because it breaks over a sharp coral reef]. Often with waves that break on the shore, there can be a sandy bottom that stirs up, but here, several hundred meters offshore, it rolls over a coral reef devoid of sand and particles and we have exceptional clarity. Here you can see it’s crashing and the wave doesn’t ‘open,’ so Adrian decides to get out by going through it—he slips under the lip. I was about to shoot Adrian through the tube and then he popped through the wave as it crashed. That’s what makes this unusual shot: Adrian is standing on his board, but underwater.”

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“If you make a mistake, the ocean is unforgiving.” the red bulletin: How did you get your start? ben thouard: I’ve been a surfer since I was very young, but I lived in Toulon [on France’s south coast], which isn’t the best region for surfing, so in my teens I started windsurfing, then took up photography, doing an internship with Bernard Biancotto, one of the pioneers of windsurf photography. At 19, I got the chance to go to Hawaii to take windsurfing photos. I had my camera and a waterproof housing I’d made myself. That took me to Tahiti in 2008 and it was love at first sight. The culture, the people, the quality of the waves, the clarity of the water, the changeable light and different atmospheres in the same day—everything was attractive.

I settled here to develop photography around surfing. I was 22 or 23.

At what point did you decide to take pictures of waves without surfers?

About six years after I moved to Tahiti. There was a gradual evolution in my work. It may sound sad, but surf photography is more of a job; wave photography has become a personal work, a reverie. I wanted to free myself from the constraints of the press or brands that commissioned me and communicate what attracts me about the ocean; to make images that are timeless. The surfer’s outfit and board will date a surf photo, but a good shot of a wave will still be good 20 years from now. I worked hard on the subject, shooting waves in all kinds of conditions, then started selling the photos online. I self-published my book dedicated to waves, Surface, in 2018. This November I will be bringing out a new book, probably titled Turbulences.

Why do you choose to photograph something so untameable?

What fascinates me about waves is capturing a single, fixed image that can be aesthetic, graphic or simply beautiful; one that communicates the power of the ocean—a majestic shape, an explosion, a vortex that appears under the water as the wave breaks up. It’s fabulous to convey the beauty of nature and its strength, which can be frightening.

What do you feel when you’re in the waves?

Excitement. And when it’s a big wave, a bit of fear, of course. I’m also awestruck to be in front of so much beauty. When you’re under the waves of Teahupo’o, it’s an extraordinary sight.

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There’s a high level of physical fitness to what you do. What’s your routine?

I surf as much as I can. Also, I shoot several times a week, and when we have great conditions I’m in the water for three hours in the morning and three in the evening—that’s a lot of swimming on the spot, waiting with my camera. Then suddenly a series of big waves arrives and there’s a sprint, either to escape the wave or to get in the right place to shoot before diving under—it’s a dynamic kind of freediving.

What kind of camera do you need to shoot above and below the water?

I use a Canon, but not a special waterproof camera.

It’s a classic from the professional 1D and 5D series, which can shoot bursts of 15 to 20 images per second with very fast autofocus. There’s not only one way to shoot surfing. I use classic lenses: a fisheye, wide angle or others when the waves are bigger. You can also use a big telephoto lens that fits inside the Aquatech waterproof housing. I have a little under 5 kg [about 11 lbs] of equipment at my fingertips.

Do you use a grip?

Yes, it’s a bit like a speargun, for shooting with my arm out of the water to get those last moments.

There are also interchangeable windows on the waterproof housing to swap lenses, and buttons for camera adjustments and to operate the shutter, because I shoot manually. It’s all attached to my arm with a leash like the one on a surfer’s ankle.

You have to swim, position yourself, frame and focus, and when the surfer breaks into the wave at Mach 12, don’t miss. And if you make a mistake, it’s unforgiving.

What do you mean?

I’ve found myself thrown onto the reef as if plastered to a floor of razor blades. You feel torn apart. It can rip your fins, or your leash can throw the camera into your face. The goal is to be in the heart of the action without being locked inside the wave, and to always have an exit.

Ever feel like you’ve had enough?

I’ve been on the water for more than 15 years, but I’m still amazed by what I see. It’s always moving and changing, so it’s exciting. That’s the power of passion. benthouard.com

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Blind mode, April 2016 “I’ve always liked shots close to the action, so here, with French surfer William Aliotti at Teahupo’o, I’m just under the lip of the wave, and it’s about to crash completely onto the waterproof case that contains my camera. I’m already completely underwater, starting my dive to escape the impact, but my arm is still out of the water to shoot. And then—hop!—I pull my arm under. I have to get beneath the surface to avoid being thrown. I shoot blind and play with risk, getting fraction-of-asecond shots before everything explodes.”

THE RED BULLETIN

“I shoot blind, getting fraction-of-a-second shots before everything explodes.”

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The wait, May 2019 “These two pictures are the same place, same day: Teahupo’o at 6 a.m. The morning breeze is ripping the foam off the lip of the wave, the low-angled light of sunrise illuminating the flying foam, with big mountains in the background. In the top photo the surfers wait, eyes riveted to the open sea. In the photo below, a surfer has rolled out with a wave, and the others are positioning for the next one. I work a lot on a jet ski, because it allows me to be very mobile, reactive and, above all, alone and autonomous. Here I’m behind the waves, looking toward the shore. It gives me a completely opposite angle.”

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Slab hunter, April 2020 “In addition to my work as a surf photographer, I got interested in locations that are not necessarily surf spots, where the waves become incredible shapes. Here, not far from Teahupo’o, is an overhang of reefs where the waves break into tubes. I’m in the water with a 300 mm [telephoto zoom] lens, which isn’t common to shoot swimming but it allows me to have this concentration on this curve, this detail. I love the texture on the surface, and this gigantic majestic curve. You can’t see the bottom of the wave on the right, but it’s 4 to 5 meters high.

This kind of atypical shape has a name: a slab.”

The belly of the beast, July 2015 “This swell was so big, surfers were being towed in by a jet ski.

You can see tons of water coming down on the reef. Despite these conditions, Tahitian surfer Matahi Drollet surfs with the strength of his arms, just managing to get over this rolling monster. I’m on a boat, really close. The success of this photo is in the hands of the boat captain, a local fisherman who knows the Teahupo’o wave very well.”

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The believer, May 2013 “Teahupo’o again. Australian Dan Ryan went for a wave that nobody else wanted. He believed it all the way, but when the wave hit the reef, the lip threw him up in the air before crashing down the next second. The wave took him into the lagoon without too much injury.”

Master, May 2019 “People ask if I’ve doctored this picture. Not at all. We’re an hour before sunset, with a mountain behind us, looking in the direction of the sun, with offshore wind pulling spray from the swell. This creates a play of light: droplets of reflected water contrasting with a background in shade. Two elements fighting—water and wind.”

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THE RED BULLETIN

Surf

The unknown surfer, May 2019 “Under the Teahupo’o wave. On this day, the wait between waves was very long, sometimes 25 minutes, but with big waves creating a lot of water clarity—you can see the fish and coral in the foreground. I shot all morning to get two or three photos, placing myself at the bottom of the water. You have to anticipate the wave, dive at the right moment, turn around and prepare your settings and framing—all underwater.

It looks like the surfer is flying, with the sun hitting the fish. This image may be relaxing to look at but not to shoot.

I still don’t know who this surfer is.”

BEYOND IMPOSSIBLE

Mark Jenkins, who has climbed and written about climbing for decades, ponders the audacious exploits and soulful purity of Marc-André Leclerc, brought to life in the new documentary The Alpinist.

Words MARK JENKINS

Marc-André Leclerc, shown here on Torre Egger in Patagonia, soloed dozens of groundbreaking routes.

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AUSTIN SIADAK, SCOTT SERFAS

Leclerc, the protagonist of The Alpinist, had a deep thirst for experience that matched his outsized talents.

I

f you’re not young and brash between 17 and 24 you might as well shoot yourself, because that’s when people are young and brash!” That’s Hevy Duty, hula-hoop virtuoso, twinkle-eyed raconteur and unofficial mayor of Canada’s Squamish rock climbing community, describing MarcAndré Leclerc’s exuberant passion for climbing. “He belongs in a different era—he belongs in the ’80s or the ’70s, when it was wild,” expounds Hevy Duty in his heavy Yorkshire accent. “He’s a man out of his time.” These choice words capture the boundless joy and mortal intensity of The Alpinist, a moving new film about one of the youngest, boldest and best alpinists in the history of mountain climbing. The film opens in theaters on September 10.

In the opening scene, we witness Leclerc soloing a vertical ridge of horrid rock and useless snow, a delicate, deathly dance that makes your palms sweat and your heart thump against your ribs. As the camera pans out, you realize the young climber is thousands of feet off the ground and a nauseous feeling settles into your stomach. Alex Honnold, star of the Oscar-winning film Free Solo and perhaps the most famous climber in the world today, is narrating the scene. “This kid Marc-André Leclerc. Canadian guy. Hardly anyone has heard of him because he’s so under the radar. He’s been doing all kinds of crazy alpine soloing. He basically just goes out and climbs some of the most difficult walls and alpine faces in the world. The most challenging things that anyone has ever climbed.”

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JONATHAN GRIFFITH

Only a handful of elite climbers can free solo hard rock routes, but free soloing alpine routes is even tougher.

This sounds like hyperbole, but it is not. In 2015, after Leclerc, then 22, made the first solo ascent of the Corkscrew on Cerro Torre, Patagonia legend Rolando Garibotti called it “an ascent of earthshifting proportions.” In the film, after Leclerc solos Mount Robson, the holiest and scariest mountain in the Canadian Rockies, veteran expedition leader Jim Elzinga states that Leclerc is “doing things people thought could never be done. He’s redefining what’s possible.” Gray-haired Barry Blanchard, who pioneered extreme alpine routes several decades ago, proclaims, “This is the evolution of alpinism and it’s happening right now in our backyard. And it’s happening with this young guy.”

Given Leclerc’s otherworldly athletic ability and samurai-like equanimity in the face of death, The Alpinist could have easily been yet another bad outdoor documentary. You know what I’m talking about—head-banging punk rock laid over some

“In The Alpinist we get to know not only a climber but a human being.”

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superbody with a chalk bag pulling a roof, or mountain bikers flying down hillsides to the howl of heavy metal, or snowboarders hucking cliffs to yet another melodramatic soundtrack. No wonder mainstream film critics have largely ignored the genre since its inception. There’s a lot of content that would constitute a killer Instagram post but doesn’t cut it as a long-form film. For too long documentaries in this space have lacked character development, history, a real narrative. They’ve lacked storylines full of irony or hypocrisy, doubt or nuance, betrayal or hatred or all the other dark things that make us human. I have been waiting for outdoor documentaries to grow up for 25 years.

Finally, a few outdoor films have transcended the traditional action-focused limitations of the genre.

Touching the Void, even with the reenactments; Grizzly Man, even with the grizzliest audio of any documentary ever; Meru, with the stunning cinematography of Renan Ozturk; The Dawn Wall, a film that finally talks about the honor of true friendship; and of course Free Solo, which singlehandedly brought the world of climbing to the world of moviegoers. These films laid the foundation for The Alpinist, which plumbs the depths of a climber’s craft and creative soul better than any of them.

JONATHAN GRIFFITH

While Alex Honnold soloed on solid granite in Free Solo, Leclerc did it on snow and ice, which is far more fickle and unstable.

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The Alpinist does cleanly and quietly what all great films do: It tells a story. In this case, the story of a driven young man drawn inexorably to climb immense, ice-plastered peaks. Yes, we watch him solo unimaginable lines, ropeless and as preternaturally calm as the clouds beneath his boots, but we also see him when he was a dorky, gangly kid enraptured by the outdoors. We see him lost and loaded on acid, tripping into a world he barely escapes (and only because of his girlfriend).

We see his boyish visage covered in blood after a big fall. We see him living in a stairwell like a proper dirtbag, his curly brown hair so big it looks like an Afro. We see him shy and inarticulate in the hot lights of new attention and nascent fame. Most importantly, we see Marc-André through the voices of his girlfriend, renowned climber Brette Harrington; his mother, Michelle Kuipers; and a host of famous Canadian alpinists—not only Blanchard and Elzinga but also Jon Walsh and Will Gadd. Even the greatest mountaineer of the 20th century, Reinhold Messner, has a few portentous words: “Solo climbing on a high level is an expression of art . . . maybe half of the leading solo climbers of all times died in the mountains. This is tragic and it’s difficult to defend.” In The Alpinist we get to know, if not fully understand, not only a climber but a human being—his strengths and his weaknesses, his desires and his derangements.

One of the first things you learn about MarcAndré is that he is deeply camera-shy and doesn’t give a fuck about fame. He truly is a throwback, as Hevy Duty says, to an earlier age. Believe it or not, there was a time when top climbers didn’t tell their followers what they had for lunch. Pre-social media,

Leclerc liked to do his solo ascents onsight, meaning he climbed routes he had never even seen before, leaving no margin for error.

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you shared your stories with your actual friends, preferably around a campfire. Before IG or Facebook, on an expedition, you spent your evenings with your team talking about life and logistics and weather.

On my last few big trips, with the modern magic of a satellite modem, teammates spent their evenings sending images of themselves that masterfully massage their public personas and completely misrepresent their actual feelings. Refreshingly, Marc-André couldn’t give a shit. He’d solo something heinous and not tell a soul.

Indeed, his naive disregard for the media made making a movie about him problematic for directors Peter Mortimer and Nick Rosen. A perfect example is when Leclerc solos Mount Robson without telling them. When they finally get him on the phone, Marc-André explains “it wouldn’t be a solo to me if somebody was there.” It ain’t easy to make a film about a man who doesn’t care what the world thinks.

He’s like an Olympian who performs in his own remote gymnasium, without a single spectator, doing moves no other human can do.

In The Alpinist, Mortimer and Rosen discuss their frustration with Leclerc and his cavalier attitude toward their film, but they also admire him for his singularity of vision. “Marc was out there every day since he was a teenager,” Mortimer says in a phone interview. “If you looked at his climbing résumé, you’d think he must be 75 years old. He can’t resist the pull of the mountains. When a weather window opens, he has to be out there. He was hungry. He was on a vision quest. It was so pure, so simple, so stripped down. He didn’t have time or interest in thinking about the media or about our film. We knew we were capturing Marc-André when his potential was becoming his reality.”

Leclerc typically kept only three people in the loop: his mom, his sister Bridget and Harrington.

They all totally got him. What he was and why. He would text them from the summit of one peak after another just to let them know he was safe. He was making history and he didn’t really care if anyone else knew about it.

“Some of the climbs he did were changing the face of alpinism,” says his mother, Michelle Kuipers, in a phone interview. “He was enough of a climbing historian to know that, but he had a total lack of interest in being famous.”

Naturally, no film can capture the whole of a human—we are all too messy and complex for that—so talking with Kuipers gave me insight into how Leclerc became who he was. Growing up, money was tight, “but it’s all about perception,” Kuipers says. “We focused on what we did have.

There are an endless number of things you can do without money, you just have to activate your imagination.” Without a car, the family walked everywhere. When it was raining and cold, Kuipers would create a story that imagined the children as intrepid explorers escaping someplace dangerous or on their way to rescue a friend.

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SCOTT SERFAS

Leclerc soloed Mount Robson without telling the filmmakers. “It wouldn’t be a solo to me if somebody was there.”

Leclerc became the first climber to solo the massive Emperor Face of Mount Robson in April 2016.

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“We matched on intensity,” says Brette Harrington, Leclerc’s partner, shown here soloing a climb.

Marc-André was a voracious reader and knew the 1953 tale of Hillary and Norgay on Everest from the age of 4. “He had a fascination with mountains from the beginning,” says Kuipers. Home-schooled from third through sixth grade—“Marc-André would drive his sister crazy by talking in rhymes all day”—then skipping seventh, Marc-André was intellectually and physically precocious but socially awkward. He worked construction with his dad at 14 to pay for his climbing gear. At 15, he screwed eyebolts into the beams in his basement bedroom and started hanging from his ice tools. As a youth, Kuipers says, “he spent a lot of uncomfortable nights out in the mountains, alone.” He became competent in how to deal with difficult situations.

In the film, we see Leclerc trapped in a snowstorm in Patagonia, keeping his head and downclimbing to safety. We see him soloing the stunning Stanley Headwall in the Canadian Rockies, hanging precariously but precisely from his tools, the picks hooked on mere millimeters of rock. His sangfroid is spellbinding.

But then so is his love for his girlfriend, Brette Harrington. From the earliest days of their relationship, Harrington and Leclerc were inseparable. They lived in the stairwell together, they lived in the woods together; they climbed and they climbed and they climbed.

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“Marc is interested in intense experiences,” Harrington says laconically in the film, “living to the fullest.” When I speak to her by phone, she acknowledges that she was the same way, and this mutual need for life in extremis explains, at least in part, why they fell so deeply in love. “We matched on intensity,” she says. “The most meaningful experiences of my life are the climbs I’ve done in poor weather, in extreme places. I like that sort of thing.”

Leclerc was the same. “Marc-André arrived in this world enraged to be in the body of a helpless infant,” says Kuipers. “He needed to start moving immediately. As soon as he could crawl, we were both a lot happier.”

Notably, however, when Leclerc became a climber, this willful rambunctiousness did not translate into a disregard for objective hazard like avalanches and icefalls. Leclerc would study every aspect of a mountain to determine the safest possible line. He would check the weather incessantly, calculating exactly how many hours before the next storm and how many hours it would take him to get up and down. As he says in the movie, “you can control what you’re doing, but you can’t control what the mountain does.” Kuipers recalls how one day Marc-André bicycled to Mount Slesse, soloed it three times by three different routes, but then called to get a ride home because he didn’t want to bicycle across a narrow bridge during rush hour. “He was not a casual risk taker,” says Kuipers. “He was very clear on how much he disliked objective risk. Overhanging seracs, bad weather—he preferred not to take those chances.”

Both Harrington and Kuipers feel the film does an excellent job at capturing the irrepressible spirit of Marc-André Leclerc. Still, Brette believes The Alpinist doesn’t fully express Marc-André’s technical mastery of rock climbing. “Marc put his whole life into rock climbing. Over 90 percent of the time we were climbing with a rope. Marc valued all aspects of climbing—aid climbing, ice climbing, alpine climbing—and wanted to be really well balanced.”

It wasn’t just about mixed climbing or soloing: “Marc could climb 5.13 slab!”

Kuipers agrees. “Yes, Marc-André came into climbing with a lot of natural skill, but to get to where he did required years of single-minded dedication. I remember him practicing clipping a carabiner over and over.” Leclerc practiced his craft hour after hour, week after week, month after month, year after year. As he pulled off bolder ascents, people expressed dismay at the juxtaposition of his age and his ability (most

RICK WHEATER

From the start, Harrington and Leclerc were inseparable.

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alpinists take decades to get that good), but his mom was not surprised. “What is it that they say, 10,000 hours? Marc-André did that.”

This is self-evident watching him climb in The Alpinist. Whether he’s rock climbing or ice climbing or mixed climbing, his movements are graceful and fluid. No jerky jumps, no too-long reaches, no desperation. There’s an almost slothlike slowness, like a modern dancer doing a difficult maneuver.

(I remember a mentor of mine telling me that to climb fast, you must climb slow.) Experience creates confidence, confidence creates a calm mind, a calm mind creates a calm body, a calm body is capable of astonishing climbing.

You can see Alex Honnold climbing with this kind of self-possession in Free Solo, but there is a deep

chasm of difference: Honnold is climbing on solid granite; Leclerc is climbing on the most fickle of substances, ice and snow, and beneath this fragile layer, the kitty litter they call rock in the Canadian Rockies. If free soloing hard rock routes is only for a handful of the most skilled climbers in the world, free soloing hard alpine routes, with the constant risk of avalanche, serac collapse, changing conditions and little chance of retreat, is in the welkin of the gods and goddesses.

Furthermore, Marc-André Leclerc did his solo ascents onsight. This means he climbed routes he’d never even sunk his ice axes in before. Whereas Honnold practiced the route he soloed on El Cap for Free Solo again and again, with a rope. Leclerc would show up below a massive mountain face and set off

Leclerc became best known for his audacious alpine ascents but his skills on rock were also off the charts.

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Leclerc atop the famed Northeast Buttress of Mount Slesse in British Columbia.

CLARK FYANS, SCOTT SERFAS

into the unknown. He didn’t know what he would encounter. Would the ice be sticky and “thunker” or hollow and treacherous. Would the snow be “styrofoam” or bottomless mush. Nothing had been practiced. Nothing was wired or dialed.

This style of climbing is like running a river without scouting the rapids, not knowing when the next falls will come, knowing only that you will be called upon to use every technique you’ve ever learned, executed with complete composure, just to survive. Onsight free solo alpine climbing is the absolute tip of the arrow in the variegated world of climbing. There is no margin of error. There is no net.

There is nothing but you. Imagine you are an archer, and you must hit the bull’s-eye with every arrow, or be executed. This is onsight alpine free soloing.

Because it is so extreme, this movie would be impossible to understand if the narrative were not intimate, open and comprehensive. Without knowing who Marc-André is, the layperson would assume he was a madman. Without insight into who he was—his upbringing; Brette, his great love; his mother’s nurturing; his vision, humility and adolescent quirkiness—the casual viewer might see Leclerc as a reckless adrenaline junkie. Which is exactly what he was not. This is the misconception of most nonclimbers. They believe climbers to be thrillseekers, daredevils, heedless heathens. In truth, adrenaline is the enemy of good climbing. The goal is not to be flushed with fear but just the opposite. If you are frightened, your reptilian amygdala, one of the most primitive parts of your brain, takes control and your cerebral cortex is left out of the decisionmaking. Naturally, this is when you do stupid things.

A large part of climbing is learning how to control your fear. Indeed, the very best climbers learn to shut off their fear like flicking a light switch. They are in the moment, of the moment, unbounded before the universe.

Thanks to the film’s stunning cinematography (shot from a helicopter with a Cineflex), viewers will feel the fear they can’t believe Leclerc is not feeling.

The vertigo will blow you out of your theater seat.

You are right there beside him, clinging to an icy face, then the camera gradually pulls back, further and further, and the flesh-and-blood human shrinks until he is lost to the enormity and malevolence of the black-and-white wall. If you are a person who can’t look down from the top of a skyscraper, you’ll have to close your eyes often.

Late in the film, mountaineering historian Bernadette McDonald, author of some of the finest biographies of climbers from around the world, remarks that when you “look at the history of alpinism, climbing was a form of freedom. Physical freedom and philosophical freedom. And the ultimate experience of freedom was to climb alone.”

Right before the very end of the film—the actual coda is a tragic plot twist best left unsaid here—as we witness Leclerc pulling onto the summit of an iceencrusted tower, alone, we hear the voice of his THE RED BULLETIN

Leclerc allows us to view a physical, intellectual and emotional awakening of the human spirit. mother saying with hope and pride: “A lot of us live our lives thinking of the things we’d like to do, or the adventures we’d like to have, but we hold back. That’s what really stands out to me about Marc-André’s journey. What is it that you would do if you were able to overcome the things you see as limitations, or the things you’re afraid of? What would you do?”

The Alpinist will leave you dumbfounded by Leclerc’s prowess and nerve—climbers will be talking about this movie for years to come—but, unlike other good outdoor films, this is not the heart of this story.

The Alpinist is the portrait of an artist as a young man.

Like Stephen Dedalus, James Joyce’s literary alter ego, Leclerc allows us to witness an awakening—physical, intellectual and emotional—of the human spirit.

Marc-André, through ardor and intensity, becomes who he dreams of becoming right before our eyes.

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World view: Latvian freerunner Pasha Petkuns sees his vision come to life.

Dream Machine

Freerunner Pasha Petkuns sees the world as one big playground, and now he’s literally built it as one. But this movement artist has another name for his fantasies: plans.

Words HOWARD CALVERT Photography LEO FRANCIS

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Arcade fire: Petkuns’ clone army goes globe-trotting— with the help of some camera trickery.

Below: Vertical hold.

veryone has a childhood dream of what they want to be when they grow up: an athlete, a musician or perhaps a teacher or a vet. Pasha Petkuns wanted to be a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle. Like so many kids in the 1990s, the youngster from Daugavpils, Latvia, was a fan of the sewer-dwelling superheroes. “I used to play Ninja Turtles with my friends, doing all the moves,” he recalls. “And every day at 4 o’clock we’d run back to our houses to watch the show.” But there was one of the “heroes in a half-shell” that he particularly identified with: “I was always [hot-headed rebel] Raphael. He was my favorite.”

Unsurprisingly, Petkuns didn’t grow up to become a Ninja Turtle. But he did follow the example of his antihero hero in other ways. Today, at 28, Petkuns is a real-life daredevil, one of the world’s foremost freerunners—a sport that blends gymnastics, martial arts and breakdance moves to turn cities into urban playgrounds. The release of a self-made showreel in 2009 brought him recognition on the scene, but what followed made him a superstar. After three consecutive wins (once in 2011, twice in 2012) at Red Bull Art of Motion—a global competition of freerunning and its precursor, parkour—came two victories at the Parkour World Cup. This success earned him the nickname “The Boss,” and his mind-blowing videos on TikTok have attracted more than 5.2 million followers. A rebel? Undoubtedly. Hot-headed? Not so much. For all his showmanship, Petkuns is still that dreamer.

And a few years ago a new dream emerged.

It begins with the Latvian waking up inside a giant pinball machine. Suddenly, the plunger launches him forward—in this scenario, Petkuns is the ball. Disoriented, the tiny freerunner scrambles to work out what’s going on as he’s bounced around by the bumpers. Like all pinball tables, this one has a theme: world landmarks. Petkuns grabs hold of 64

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the Eiffel Tower before dropping from it, sliding down the Great Wall of China and landing on a Mayan pyramid. Each time he falls past the flippers, he’s launched back into the game, quickly adapting to sliding, flipping and spinning himself around the obstacles. “Cut!” shouts director Mike Christie, and an exhausted Petkuns drops past the large mechanical flippers—each operated by two burly men—and lands on a safety mat.

“This has been my dream for a long time,” says Petkuns of this absurd vision. But whereas once it was just a product of his overactive imagination, today it’s a physical reality. It’s May 2020, and inside a cavernous hangar in northwest London, bathed in floodlights, stands this monument to the Latvian’s musings. Mere words—or even the pictures that accompany this feature—can’t do it justice. A wall, five stories high and angled at 45 degrees, rises to the ceiling. The back is a lattice of scaffolding, the front a fully realized pinball table with backlit bumpers, rails and those giant flippers. Weighing 25 tons, it’s so heavy that once constructed it had to be sawed in half due to fears it might pull the roof in. A camera operator sits atop an extended cherry picker, while a camera drone hovers overhead. It’s a film project over a decade in the making.

“The biggest challenge was the engineering,” says Christie, who also produced trial-bike legend Danny MacAskill’s equally surreal 2013 toy-based movie, Imaginate. “It took eight months to figure out how to build it. Most companies we approached thought it sounded fun but said we were mad.”

It’s difficult to convey the steepness of that tilt— a log-flume drop would be a close approximation.

Petkuns explains that when you’re on the wall, it feels like you’re standing and lying down at the same time. On the monitors, we watch Petkuns stop midtake to pour a can of Red Bull, but the way gravity affects the liquid, it seems to falls sideways.

“I play with gravity,” he says. “On the first day, I thought, ‘What have I done?’ The wall was massive, unreal. The builders said, ‘This looks like a fun toy,’ but then they winched it up to the ceiling and said, ‘It’s not a toy, it’s a killing machine.’ I had to think, ‘I’m ready. I’ve practiced, and I know I’ll enjoy it. I know what I’m doing. After four weeks, I can control my speed. But it’s not jumping on a wall, it’s riding it.’ ”

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uring his teens, Petkuns’ fascination for Ninja Turtles was replaced by new role models: Jackie Chan, Jean-Claude Van Damme and stars of the silent-movie era such as Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin. “I’d try to repeat their jumps and moves,” he says. “As an adult, I realized there’s so much to learn—they were the ones who started experimenting with movement. Rewatching those silent movies now, I feel like an archaeologist discovering and working out how they did the moves.”

The comedy aspect of these films is something Petkuns brought to his freerunning; together with his gift for acrobatics, this helped build his massive 66

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“On the first day, I thought, ‘What have I done?’ It was unreal.” social media following. “Movement is more than just movement,” he says. “It’s in everything, including the way you talk to people, because, unlike language, movement is the same everywhere. That’s what we’re doing: storytelling through movement, which is a limitless area for me to explore.”

In the mid-2000s, as Petkuns’ interest in physical art forms grew, he gravitated toward early parkour videos on YouTube. One proved to be an epiphany: a 2006 clip titled “The Russian Jumper,” featuring Latvian parkour pioneer Oleg Vorslav. Petkuns says he watched it “maybe 1,000 times.” He set himself the target of learning how to do a “gainer”—a backflip performed moving forwards—while building a bank of tricks. “Tricks were my currency. I didn’t want to be a regular freerunner; I wanted to be different.”

Petkuns believes his propensity for risk-taking runs in the family. He recalls the time his mom leapt from a second-floor balcony when she locked herself out of her flat. “She just hung on the balcony and jumped. When she landed, she kneed herself in her eye. She gets what I’m doing—she always said that if she were younger she would try it with me. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.”

Soon, Petkuns began entering competitions, but it was only when he stopped following the rules of freerunning that his work was noticed. “People told me I had to learn things a certain way. But if I want to slide on my face, I’ll slide on my face. Who says I can’t? Only you are limited by saying you have to land on your legs. The body is an instrument and you are playing it.” Victories at global competitions came thick and fast, and before long this fan of the stars of the silver screen was being courted by Hollywood himself. Moving to L.A., he worked as a stuntman on the 2019 Michael Bay action flick 6 Underground and last year’s Wonder Woman 1984. He also appeared in Cirque du Soleil. It was only a matter of time before Petkuns would star in his own movie.

T Dream sequence: (top) Three years of design and testing went into the creation of the machine; (left) Petkuns reviews the footage with project sports director Michael “Frosti” Snow; (above) a camera operator atop a fully extended cherry picker captures a view of Petkuns’ trickery.

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he origins of Petkuns’ pinball project can be traced back to 2010, after a new bridge was constructed in Daugavpils. “The bridge had slanted walls,” he recalls. “We started sliding under it, and there were columns you could bounce off.

Then something clicked in my head: What if you had rails and obstacles and you slid into them and did flips? I called it ‘freesliding.’ I thought it would be sick to build a huge wall with obstacles on it.”

The idea took root, but it required something more for the shoots to grow. That thing was a Nokia 3200 cell phone. “It had a pinball game on it, and 67

and you just move on.” But today on set there’s a close call. While performing a seemingly innocuous grab, he feels something painful give in his hand.

The crew take no chances and halt filming.

Eight hours later, Petkuns exits an orthopedic surgery in north London. “It’s not broken,” he beams, holding up his injured thumb. The doctor, following behind, corrects him: “There’s a tiny fracture.”

“I didn’t want any drama,” Petkuns says sheepishly. “I always feel happy I lived through an injury. It means I know what can happen, and how to deal with it.”

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Flyover: The freerunner soars above Argentina on his pinball world tour.

I realized freesliding is similar,” Petkuns says. “I loved that pinball is so random. When we began the project, I related pinball to life—it shoots us here and there and we just have to bounce [with it].” But it wasn’t until he shared his vision with Red Bull Art of Motion’s sports director, Nico Martell, that Petkuns found a kindred spirit. “I said, ‘A slanted wall as a pinball machine? Let’s make it happen,’ ” laughs Martell. “It’s taken three years of design and testing to get here. From the top looking down, it’s insane.”

As Petkuns loads himself back onto the pinball set and the crew position themselves for another take, paramedic Chris Hewitt is ready with ice packs. “I have to think about all the nasty things that could happen, like [Petkuns] breaking a leg, getting a head injury or paralyzing himself,” he says. “He’s constantly putting his body under huge pressure and making it look easy.” But Petkuns’ career has had its moments. In 2013, while performing a flip with four twists, he dislocated his elbow landing on a trampoline. An Instagram clip, viewed more than 500,000 times, shows Petkuns crying out in agony as his forearm pops back at a right angle.

“It was pretty terrible,” he recalls. “One of those times where I said, ‘I’ll just do one more.’ You have to respect the danger of the sport and be responsible.

You can’t mess around and think you’ve mastered everything. You learn some tricks are not for you 68

ealing with drama is something Petkuns has also experienced outside sport. In December 2020, he posted a collaborative Instagram video with American porn actress Riley Reid, showing him performing a flip off her back, along with the text: “The true story of how the pimp flip got its name.” It sparked an online debate about sexism in the parkour community. “Posts like this, in the context of our sport, make many women like me feel uncomfortable and/or disrespected,” said Dominican parkour athlete Lorena Abreu. “If women are the butt of your joke, your joke probably sucks,” posted Detroit freerunner Dan Dye. Parkour magazine MÜV ran an article noting that “the actions have been labeled by women in and outside of parkour both as ‘objectifying’ and ‘empowering,’ ” and opened a Discord panel to debate the issue. Petkuns and Reid, whose real name is Ashley Matthews, stayed silent. Six months later (and just weeks after completing filming of the pinball project), they got married. “I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with you @pashatheboss,” Matthews posted to her 1 million followers.

“We found each other through Instagram DMs,” Petkuns explains. “I fell in love with her pretty quickly because she has an amazing personality.

She’s the sweetest girl I’ve ever met.” Now, he says, he can’t wait to be a dad, “doing fun stuff, sliding everywhere together with my kid.” Of any negativity that surrounds his personal life, he thinks it’s nobody else’s business. “Sometimes, people don’t believe in what I’m doing and question me, but the more I consider it, the more I think, ‘Why would I even bother about what people think of what I’m doing?’ I don’t want to change my life for this few seconds of someone thinking badly about me.”

Being flipped around inside a giant pinball machine seems a handy metaphor for the challenges the universe has hurled at Petkuns; regardless, the Latvian retains a simple take on life. “Don’t be afraid to talk about your dreams,” he says. “If you want to be a kid, be a kid. If you want to build a 20-meter-high pinball wall, you can do it. Do whatever makes you happy. I don’t have to listen to anyone, I just have to do what I’m doing. You have this moment—enjoy it.”

Pasha Petkuns’ Human Pinball is out on September 24. Watch it by scanning the QR code or heading to Red Bull TV; redbull.com THE RED BULLETIN

Copyright © 2021 MNA, Inc. All rights reserved.

Seize the opportunity to see what lies beyond the next bend.

Khothalang Leuta rips on a pump track in her native country, Lesotho.

The Fastest Girl in the Village Khothalang Leuta has taken over Lesotho’s pump tracks. Now she’s ready to take on the world.

Words LEE NXUMALO Photography TYRONE BRADLEY

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The 157-meter-long pump track in Roma, Leuta’s springboard to greatness, was built in 2017.

She won the qualifier for the Red Bull Pump Track World Championships there in February 2020.

The 157-meter-long track—with seven berms and three platforms—was intimidating to Leuta at first, and she had no intention of getting in on the action.

When the track began operating, only the boys would use it, while the girls would just stand on the sidelines and watch. Yet eventually her curiosity would intervene.

“At first, I thought the pump track was way too scary, but I was interested in trying it,” she says during an interview in Roma. “It was only the boys and so I thought that I should try.”

“At first I thought the pump track was too scary, but I was interested in trying it.”

“Initially, we really struggled to get the girls on the track,” says Maryke Zietsman, communications manager of the company that built the pump track, Velosolutions.

“They were completely intimidated by the boys. It wasn’t a situation where the boys discouraged them, but from a cultural point of view, it was just not done. We had to beg [Leuta] to race because she had just started on the pump track and I knew that she would ride around the village.

We had to fight this big perception that this sport is for males only. But now it’s widely accepted that the girls ride as well.”

Zietsman is hardly the only one to notice Leuta’s impact. “She’s so fast,” says Nolofasto Buti, a 9-year-old girl who lives in Roma. “She’s shown us kids how to ride well.”

“Khothalang is super quiet and she doesn’t talk much,” says Zietsman. “But she trains and works very hard. Every year I saw her on the track, she got faster and faster.”

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CRAIG KOLESKY/RED BULL CONTENT POOL(2)

n first impression, Khothalang Leuta seems like a shy girl. But the moment she steps onto the pump track in her hometown of Roma in Lesotho (an independent state of about 2 million people completely encircled by the Republic of South Africa), there’s a bounce in her step and a twinkle in her eye that lets everyone know that she boldly means business.

Her record does not lie. Leuta, who is 18, consistently steamrolls her competitors and sweeps up the trophies in local Sky League tournaments, where she has raced against both girls and boys. In February 2020, she won the Red Bull Pump Track Championship qualifiers in Roma, in the women’s division. Thanks to that accomplishment, Leuta qualified for the 2021 Red Bull UCI Pump Track World Championships, which are scheduled to take place in Portugal in mid-October.

But before Leuta became known as a competitive daredevil who gets invited to international competitions, it was just her and the bike. She started riding BMX bicycles when she was just 7. She would pedal for hours around the rocky and mountainous terrain in the small town of Roma for fun.

Then one day she saw a dump truck, a couple of vans and a group of sweaty men with shovels and wheelbarrows tirelessly working by the Roma Trading Post Lodge near her school. Soon she would learn that they were laying the foundation for a pump track that would change her life.

Leuta was the first girl in Roma to ride the pump track. Her success has inspired many to follow in her footsteps.

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Tumelo Makhetha’s bike shop offers a mixture of mountain and BMX bikes for rental and provides low-cost repairs.

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he track in Roma is the product of the “Pump for Peace” initiative, spearheaded by former Swiss professional downhill racer and World Cup standout Claudio Caluori. His company, Velosolutions, builds pump tracks—everything from elite facilities used for international competitions to more modest tracks in disadvantaged and war-torn areas—to make the sport more accessible, especially for children.

The project was born on a trip to Asia in which Velosolutions was commissioned to construct a pump track in an impoverished area near the border of Thailand and Cambodia. Inspired by what he had seen after completing that facility, Caluori set out on a mission to make pump tracks for young kids a global phenomenon.

“When we were finished building [in Cambodia], we immediately saw all of these kids come out and ride with whatever they had,” he recalls in a phone interview. “Some of them had old rusty bikes, while others didn’t even have pedals on their bikes, but they kept riding. I had tears in my eyes. And so I thought, we have to make this possible everywhere in the world.”

Pump for Peace had its first project in Roma. The village became a place of interest after Caluori was invited to ride in the area as part of the mountain biking documentary Following the Horseman by German director Tobias Steinigeweg. On that expedition, he saw the potential to build a track while he passed through Roma. Caluori financed

“Khothalang is super quiet and she doesn’t talk much.

But she trains and works very hard.”

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the project by sourcing sponsorship from different companies, selling his bikes and raising funds through events, concerts and raffles.

Construction took about three to four weeks to complete. It was a challenging feat for Caluori and his team. Obtaining the correct equipment and machinery in such a remote area was tough, as was laying the asphalt under heavy time constraints. The pump track became a community project as people poured in to help with materials and labor.

Tumelo Makhetha remembers it well.

He was the volunteer and community leader in Roma for the project. “The big day I remember well was Asphalt Day,” recalls Makhetha. “We had to shape the soil into the shape of a pump track and then lay the asphalt. Since we laid it in open air, we could not stop laying asphalt. That took hours of hard work.”

After completion, the people of the village took it upon themselves to manage the upkeep and appearance of the facility. They also showed massive support for the riders and attended events hosted on the pump track.

“Once the track was up and running, the community became more active,” says Caluori. “They organized to find a system to provide bikes for the kids, keep the track clean and have little events every week. The whole thing just grew and became more than a pump track.”

The success of the track, bolstered by the growth of cycling culture in the country, led to the construction of the two other tracks in Lesotho—one is in the capital city of Maseru, while the other is in Mantsonyane, a small rural town located in the heart of the Basotho nation.

By the end of 2017, the track in Roma had attracted more than 50 riders in the first iteration of a regional competition called the Sky League. That number would soon double—with more than 100 kids coming in from different areas of Lesotho to participate in the league.

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This is a story about how riding a bike can transform someone’s life and even a community.

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and restrictions caused a lengthy pause in competition.

The local tournament—organized by Makhetha, who also works as an event manager—was conceptualized to promote cycling among the people in Lesotho. It also aims to get more children involved who can blossom into cycling talent and perhaps compete on the world stage as part of an African Dream Team in cycling.

The Sky League is divided into sections featuring the cross-country, pump-track and marathon-riding disciplines.

Makhetha also manages a nearby bike shop. It offers rentals as well as repairs for free or at a small rate so that local riders are not financially excluded from the sport. The shop houses a mixture of mountain and BMX bicycles, and about a dozen of them are available for rent. Some of the bikes are directly sponsored by Lesotho Sky, while others are gifts from donors and sponsors.

Leuta is a regular presence in the shop because she rides a bike she borrows from there.

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hothalang was the first girl that I noticed who took interest in the pump track,” says Makhetha. “I’ve known her since she started riding, but because girls are not that interested in sports, I never thought she would pick it up. She’s always humble and down to earth. I never really thought she could take up riding and do it at the level that she is doing now.”

But the more she engaged with the pump track, the more obsessed she became with it. The 18-year-old frequently watches YouTube videos of BMX riders from across the world and tries to emulate tricks on the pump track.

She’s earned a reputation for being a speed monster, but Leuta has a few stunts in her bag. On an odd day, you can find her doing gap jumps and mixing it in with creative line choices or her signature move, the mega manual.

Her constant presence on the track has allowed her to foster good relationships with her fellow riders.

She has a close friendship with Kopano Matobo, Mosito Mohapi and his cousin, Karabelo Mohapi. She has known all

“Once it was up and running, the community became more active. The whole thing became more than a pump track.”

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three of these guys since she was a young girl, but their relationship has developed into a close bond over the track. When they aren’t on the track trying new tricks, they hang out as a group or meet to do homework together.

Still, none of the boys are spared from her competitive streak. Between the four of them, they are constantly debating who is the fastest. Leuta has defeated Matobo before and claims to have beaten Mosito, but when he is asked about it, he completely denies it as a smile creeps across his face.

“Khothalang is a hard worker,” he says. “She’s a motivator and she has inspired the other girls.”

Mosito will be traveling to Portugal with Leuta for his second appearance at the tournament. He previously qualified and competed in the 2019 World Championships at the Swiss Bike Park in Köniz-Oberried, Switzerland, where he placed in the top 30.

Leuta tried to qualify for Switzerland but fell short in the qualifiers by a few seconds. The experience was crushing, but it didn’t discourage her. If anything,

Leuta, now 18, started riding BMX bikes when she was 7.

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The Red Bull UCI Pump Track World Championships will be held October 15-17 in Lisbon.

Leuta is excited to go to Portugal, and it will be the first time she has been on a plane. it motivated her to get better. “I was really disappointed because I was looking forward to going to Switzerland.

I wanted to win and I was sad that I didn’t,” says Leuta. “But it motivated me and I practiced almost every day after school, even on weekends, and I practiced really hard to prepare for the next qualifiers. I was a little scared [for the second qualifiers] but I knew I was going to win.”

Leuta credits her father for her confidence and for her spirit of will and determination. He was an incredibly influential figure in her life.

“He was a good person—good-hearted and cared about me so much,” she says.

“He always taught me how to try and to never give up. He taught me how to fix my bike and he used to take me everywhere with him just so that I could see how things work.”

Sadly, Leuta’s father passed away in 2010 in a car crash that occurred when he was on a trip to South Africa. She was only in the first grade at the time.

And although his presence is missed, his values and lessons have left an indelible imprint on Leuta’s life.

“He would have been happy seeing where I am today,” says Leuta. “He always wished the best for me and encouraged me to do what I want to do.

He also told me that no one or nothing can stop me from being my best.” Her participation at the Red Bull UCI Pump Track World Championships takes on an elevated meaning for her, as she views it as an opportunity to represent for her father and to make her family proud.

Khothalang’s mother was not initially fond of her daughter on the pump track as she deemed it a dangerous sport. Her

mother’s intuition wasn’t entirely wrong— after all, Leuta suffered a serious injury from the track when she rolled her ankle two years ago. But over time, her mother has warmed up to her daughter taking part in the sport, because she can see how much it has done for Leuta on a personal level.

“I managed to convince her and show her that even though it is dangerous, it’s what my heart desires,” Leuta says. “She saw how good I was and she is happy for me. As for other family members, they just love what I’m doing. They are so happy [that I’m going to Portugal].

My mom was crying the day I qualified.

They all believed in me and they knew the day would come.”

In preparation for the World Championships, Leuta has been training whenever she can. It has been difficult with the constant changes in COVIDrelated restrictions in Lesotho, which limit her ability to use the track. She has also paid close attention to the BMX competitions in Tokyo and has been taking mental notes.

Mosito has also given her a lot of advice about preparing for the tournament. “One thing I keep telling her is that the pump track there will be bigger and a lot more technical,” says the 21-year-old racer. “Those tracks are deep, so I’ve said that she needs to maintain speed and do her tricks clean.

But I think she will be fine.”

Leuta is excited to go to Portugal, and it will be the first time she has been on a plane. She understands that she is not only representing herself but an entire community that looks up to her and roots for her.

“A lot of people are proud of me and are encouraging me,” says Leuta. “I’ve become an inspiration to young girls here. It’s amazing and I just hope that I can do the best. I know I can do my best.

I’ve always wanted to go overseas—to travel and experience new things. And I hope that in the competition, I can smoke them all.”

To learn more about Leuta, check out the documentary The Fastest Girl in the Village, available on Red Bull TV. 79

Utah has all the natural qualities to add the right level of epic to your event. Visit UtahSportsCommission.com to find out why our state is right for you.

guide Get it. Do it. See it.

ZION’S SPLENDOR If you’re heading to southern Utah for Red Bull Rampage—or just hankering for some heart-pumping fun—here’s where to find top-notch hikes, climbs and rides near Zion National Park.

Words EVELYN SPENCE

GETTY IMAGES

In Zion National Park, explore the Narrows, a gorge carved by the Virgin River.

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Do it For an adrenaline boost, hike up Angels Landing.

24 HOURS

A short recipe to create a true geologic wonder: First, find where the Mojave Desert, the Great Basin and the Colorado Plateau converge into a riot of flamboyant Navajo sandstone.

Then add volcanic activity, seismic uplift, ice, wind and the carving power of the Virgin River. Wait a few hundred million years and what you get is the bucket-list land in and around Zion National Park.

For a cram session, you need to experience the park itself: Hike up to the views on Angels Landing, a 5.2-mile round-trip adrenaline rush that climbs 21 switchbacks before crossing an extremely narrow rock fin with thousand-foot drops on either side. Crazy exposure not your thing? Book a tour on Angels Leading Ledge Walk, a new guided via ferrata that safely clings to beautiful cliffsides. Come afternoon, head up to Gooseberry Mesa, an iconic plateau with a techy 13.1-mile loop over waves of slickrock. “It’s world-class riding,” says Greg Federman, owner of Xetava Gardens Cafe in nearby St. George. “You’ll feel like you’ve landed on another planet.”

Stay Within walking distance of the park entrance, the clean-

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lined, modern Cliffrose sits right on the Virgin River in Springdale; there’s even a beach with lounge chairs (plus two pools and a new spa). Rustic and comfy, Flanigan’s Inn is just as convenient, and they can send you off with a takeaway breakfast. Gooseberry Lodges, a set of tiny homes not far from Gooseberry Mesa, are a steal—and they each come with bike storage and a repair stand.

Eat In Springdale, locally owned Deep Creek Coffee Company has a laundry list of great espresso drinks, huge breakfast burritos and quinoa bowls. In a primo spot right next to the park entrance, artsy Café Soleil is the perfect place to snatch a panini or a wrap between missions. For a post-ride splurge, hit up King’s Landing—it’s a charcuterie plate, lamb ragu, crème brulee sort of place.

Drink A roadside dive in the 1970s, the Bit and Spur is now where locals assemble for strong margs, Southwestleaning food (chile rellenos, tamales) and surprisingly good live shows. Mellow Zion Canyon Brew Pub offers filling bar food and a dozen beers on tap.

A LONG WEEKEND

One of the world’s best slot canyon hikes, the Virgin River Narrows is a 16-mile point-topoint epic from Chamberlain’s Ranch—a private property outside the park boundaries— down to Temple of Sinawava.

Whether you do it in a long day or camp for a night midway, expect some swimming, some wading and the incredible feeling of slipping through 2,000-foothigh walls. Canyoneering doesn’t get much better than Greater Zion—whether you take on Left Fork (commonly called the Subway for its tunnel-like shape) or negotiate the all-day, 5-mile route down Mystery Canyon, with a 120-foot rappel into the Narrows as a finale. If it’s your first time, Celie Dagesse, operations manager at Zion

Guide Hub, loves Water Canyon outside the park— good anchors, easy starts and some big drops. For another slickrock ride, string together all the routes on Guacamole Mesa, adjacent to the national park, where the exposure is big, the scenery is stunning, and cool petrified wood litters the trail.

Stay Just-opened Open Sky, in Virgin, unlocks a whole new level of glamping: bamboo linens, private outdoor showers and huge soaker tubs. (Bonus: The Guacamole trails are basically in the backyard.) Also new, Water Canyon Resort and Vineyard in Hilldale has stand-alone cottages and onproperty tastings and tours.

Eat Perched on the edge of a basalt canyon in Virgin, River Rock Roasting Company

For melt-off-thebone smoked ribs, head to Balcony One.

As host of Red Bull Rampage, the Zion area offers primo mountain biking.

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Zion National Park

JAY DASH/GREATER ZION CONVENTION, BALCONY ONE, GREATER ZION CONVENTION, GEORGE’S CORNER RESTAURANT EVELYN SPENCE

For a junior version of Zion’s big walls, give Lambs Knoll a try.

The Zion region hosts a bucket list of geologic wonders and adventure.

some named drinks (you can choose your own flavors, too) in multiple locations.

Reed Boggs, a pro mountain biker and St. George local, hits Station II, located in a restored 1918 firehouse, for laid-back, billiards-and-beer Friday nights.

slings quad cappuccinos and can set you up with everything from a giant cinnamon roll to a bacon bleu cheeseburger. Balcony One brings people in from all over for melt-off-the-bone smoked ribs—and its MexicanMediterranean vibes hang together just right. The Cactus Room looks like a souvenir shop—because it is one—but has super wagyu and bison burgers, too.

Drink There’s no better place to try a dirty soda—mixology without the alcohol, conjured up by Utah teetotalers—than Swig, which first opened in St. George and serves 40-

A WEEK

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Whether you call it the TransZion Trek or the Zion National Park Traverse, this 48-mile combo—La Verkin Creek, Hop Valley, Wildcat Canyon, West Rim and East Rim—is the best way to see the innards of Zion, whether you finish it in ultramarathon-style in eight hours or take four days to backpack. And if climbing a desert tower is on your to-do list, you’re in luck: There are scads of 5.6 to 5.10-plus routes here. Lambs Knoll, right outside the park boundary, is a junior version of Zion’s big walls, with lots of two- to three-hour outings

(and no bivy or permit necessary). The gravel grinding here is tough but the red-rock scenery is major, and Bull Dog Pass is a near-perfect 50-miler—just ask Cimarron Chacon, who organizes endurance bike events out of St. George. There’s no shortage of Rampage-style riding if you have the cojones: Boggs gets his ya-yas out on Smith Mesa, where the chutes on Flying Monkey and King Kong are steep and the exposure will give you flop sweat. Want more? Arrange a shuttle to take you to the top of Grafton, a former mule trail that’s now a rough, old-school chunkfest. “It’s not a place to second-guess yourself,” says Federman. “I’ve taken some pretty hard crashes there, but man, what a place to ride.”

And when you want a break from it all, make your way to Snow Canyon State Park.

Sometimes called a mini Zion, it has enough hiking,

climbing, biking and even SUPing to fill up your whole trip—and a moonlight stroll across the sand dunes makes for a pretty killer recovery.

Stay Zion Mountain Ranch rents everything from cute one-bedroom cabins to logbeam lodges that sleep 10— and also runs horseback rides, jeep tours, guided hikes and canyoneering trips.

If you want your gear to be pampered as much as you, book at the Advenire: A valet will park your bike like it’s a Bimmer and even wash, dry and lube it at no extra charge.

Eat The food at Federman’s Xetava Gardens Café, in St. George, is about as locally sourced and fresh as you can get in the middle of the desert—and his new shop next door, Blue Raven Bikes, rents e-bikes of all kinds.

Veyo Pies—double lemon, cherry raspberry and even pie shakes blended with ice cream—has had lines out the door for over 30 years. The deck at the Painted Pony feels like a treehouse and the food is textbook contemporary (and delish).

Drink The bartenders at Wood·Ash·Rye, the Advenire’s in-house restaurant, mix a mean cocktail—and the namesake drink is a smoky thing of beauty. George’s Corner, in an old brick building in the center of St. George, has live music a couple nights a week.

Listen to live music in an old brick building at George’s Corner.

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Do it

TRAIN LIKE A PRO

“MY JOB IS TO SCORE”

Dallas Wings guard Arike Ogunbowale reveals how she trains for the intensity of the WNBA.

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rowing up in Milwaukee, Arike Ogunbowale always had a basketball nearby. In first grade, she began playing on a team, coached by her mom, stacked with fourth and fifth graders. Though it was tough at first, she caught on quickly. “I loved being competitive, and I come from a really competitive family,” she says. “So it was just really fun.”

These days, Ogunbowale, 24, is having fun playing shooting guard for the Dallas Wings. At 5’8” she was the fifth overall draft pick in 2019, after a successful college career at Notre Dame, where she led the team to an NCAA championship in 2018, hitting the game-winning shot in both the final and semifinal games. “Once you get to the pros, training is about what you want to do,” she says. “In order to be great, you need to do things on your own.”

Plainly, she’s doing the work. During 2020, her second season as a pro, Ogunbowale finished the year as the WNBA scoring champion. At the 2021 WNBA All-Star Game, she received the MVP award after scoring 26 points.

“I try to stay hungry and keep pursuing it,” she says. “And I just try to be my best self.”

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“Every year I feel like I add a little something to my game and keep taking steps forward,” says Ogunbowale, who has averaged more than 20 points per game in three WNBA seasons.

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Fitness

S KI LL S

“I’m all about repetition” “As a shooting guard, my job is to know how to score at all times, even when there’s defense on me.

I get my speed on the court from practice games. During the offseason, I play pickup against guys a lot, because they are usually taller and I like to make my practices just like a game.

I like to be in the gym every day and work on different shots. I’m all about repetition. If I’m trying to do a new move or nail a certain shot, I try to perfect it before I move on. Before games, I do a two-ball dribbling drill. That way, I know I’m good.”

R EC OV E RY

STR E N GTH

“Having a strong core is important” “Usually, I’ll lift weights three times a week. For legs, I like squats. I do single-leg squats and split squats, too. I’ll also do Romanian dead lifts, both doubleleg and single-leg. I do about the same amount of exercises for both upper and lower body. For upper body, I do biceps curls, push-ups, and different barbell lifts. Having a strong core is definitely important—it helps with moving and balance. There’s just so many workouts out there. When I’m ready to do an ab workout, I get on Google and I’ll just look at some exercises for that day.”

N UTR ITI O N

“I don’t diet— I eat healthy”

“I can only be on the court as long as I’m feeling good. I get a massage every week. We usually stretch as a team, but I’ll also stretch if I’m working out solo.

I get my ankles taped when I work out, and for games I get my knees taped, too. I always put heat on my knees before games, and I stretch a lot. After, I’ll get in the ice tub or get ice packs.

Before I go to bed, I’ll use the Normatec compression system for 30 minutes and watch TV. I use Yoga Toes for my feet to spread my toes.”

“Before I work out, I like smoothies a lot. I’m a big strawberry-andbanana person. And I add some chocolate protein. After workouts, I like pasta or rice with broccoli, asparagus or something like zucchini. I eat a lot of salmon or other types of fish. And sometimes chicken. When I travel, I try to get good food delivered and keep my usual schedule. While people focus on dieting, I just try to eat healthy.

You know, it’s my body, and whatever decisions I make only affect myself. I try not to be too hard on myself.”

“I think all athletes, especially those at a young age, shouldn’t take things too seriously. Still, taking care of your body and eating right is really important.

Obviously, when you’re younger, there are more chances to eat bad food.

I’m not saying don’t eat bad food, because I definitely did. But I wish I had started earlier eating better and being more conscious about that stuff.”

SEAN BERRY

JEN SEE

“I’m serious about recovery”

“GOOD NUTRITION HABITS SHOULD START YOUNG”

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Get it

Equipment

WATCHES

DECODING 007

Who is James Bond? That’s the question watchmaker Omega asked when making the super spy’s latest timepiece.

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British Intelligence. The Swiss watchmaker fitted the bill perfectly—in particular, its Seamaster line of diving watches, inspired by standard-issue British Navy timepieces from WWII. Stylish, elegant, but most crucially, functional.

With each Bond film from GoldenEye onward, Omega has crafted a Seamaster for him to wear. For the latest, No Time to Die, the watchmaker had an invaluable voice in the development process: Bond actor Daniel Craig. “I had some suggestions and they ran with them,” Craig said in a 2020 interview about the Omega Seamaster Diver 300M 007. Craig influenced the use of lighter titanium instead of stainless steel and the addition of a NATO strap. Omega also gave the watch a “tropical” brown dial and bezel and “aged” faux-patina lumes to signify where 007 is in his life at the start of the film. “In Jamaica, on his boat, sort of retired,” explained Craig.

“It makes complete sense.”

Then there’s the military connection and a callback to author Ian Fleming’s backstory of Bond as a former Naval Commander. Above the 6 o’clock indicator is an insignia that appears on every British military watch—the “broad arrow”—which is mirrored on the caseback above the inscription 0552 (the code for Navy personnel), 923 7697 (denoting a divers watch), A (indicating a screw-in crown) and 007 62 (Bond’s callsign and the year the film series debuted).

“You have that heritage with Omega and the British army watches,” said Craig. “All of those things I wanted to connect through.”

Virtually every Bond song —from Radiohead and Sam Smith to Billie Eilish’s “No Time to Die”—contains a hidden code: the four chords that open Monty Norman’s iconic James Bond theme.

Secret codes in plain sight.

That’s the essence of Bond.

No Time to Die opens October 8. To learn more about the Omega Seamaster Diver 300M 007, go to omegawatches.com

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TOM GUISE

James Bond’s wristwatch, like his car and attire, must embody who he is.

Hands on: Actor Daniel Craig helped in the watch’s development.

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Sign of the times: The “broad arrow” (see bottom of dial) is a traditional feature on British military watches.

OMEGA

n 2015, Radiohead halted the recording of their ninth album, A Moon Shaped Pool, to compose the theme song for the James Bond film Spectre. If that’s news to you, it’s because when the movie came out in October that year, the opening credits were backed by Sam Smith’s “Writing’s on the Wall.”

Radiohead’s song had been rejected. So specific are the requirements of the longestrunning film series that even one of the world’s biggest bands can fail to make the cut.

That’s the standard by which Omega was measured when it became the maker of 007’s personal timepiece, a relationship that began with 1995’s GoldenEye. The secret agent’s wristwatch—like his car, attire, drink of choice and soundtrack—must embody who he is. Bond is a man of contrasts: suave yet gritty, glamorous yet discreet, his accessories possessions of

G U I D E

See it

Calendar

Available Now

ONE EXTRAORDINARY YEAR This documentary follows a few of the countless athletes who’d been training for competitions such as the 2020 Olympics before lockdown left them directionless.

Each athlete has a profound story of setbacks, selfdetermination and reinvention that we can all learn from. redbull.com

ADRIAN BERGGREN/RED BULL CONTENT POOL, RED BULL CONTENT POOL, MPUMELELO MACU/RED BULL CONTENT POOL

October 15 RED BULL RAMPAGE

October 22

RED BULL DANCE YOUR STYLE The best street dancers from all over the country are ready to battle one-on-one for a chance to be crowned the winner of the U.S. National Finals in Washington D.C. Poppers, lockers, hip-hop freestylers, house dancers, waackers, voguers, krumpers, Chicago footworkers and more all compete in a test of their skills and styles.

Leading up to the nationals, there are six qualifying events in Boston, New Orleans, Chicago, Los Angeles, Atlanta and Miami. redbull.com

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The premier big-mountain freeride event in the sport, Red Bull Rampage, is ready to return in 2021. Marking the 20-year anniversary of some of the biggest and baddest tricks, lines and moments in freeriding history, 15 of the world’s best riders will descend upon the rugged desert landscape of southern Utah on October 15 to rip on a new Rampage course. Get ready to look back at some of the most legendary runs from the past two decades and learn more about the evolution of the contest since its inception in 2001. For the latest details, follow @ redbullbike or visit redbull.com.

October 16 RED BULL CLIFF DIVING

Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, sits on the Caspian Sea and has a balmy climate in the fall—seemingly the perfect location for a sport that involves leaping into water from a height of more than 90 feet. However, the newest stage in the World Series doesn’t take place on any cliff, but instead indoors at the recently opened (and air-conditioned) Deniz Mall entertainment center. Here, competitors including the 2019 winner Gary Hunt (pictured above at the mall in April) will dive from the top floor of the atrium tower into a 20-foot-deep plunge pool for the World Series final. Watch it live on RBTV. redbull.com

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BLENDERS NEBULA

The Blenders Nebula are sleek and flexible if conditions on the mountain change.

See and be seen in the flamboyant Nebula goggles, which come in an array of colorful designs and lenses ($45 each, one included) that are easily swappable depending upon light conditions or fashion preferences.

The toric lens shape (horizontally curved but flatter vertically) provides excellent peripheral vision and clarity, and the molded EVA case keeps optics unscratched and unsmudged. $120; blenderseyewear.com

POWDER TOOLS Greet the coolest season with gear for skiing, snowboarding and winter adventures.

Words KELLY BASTONE and JOE LINDSEY

G U I D E

S N O W B OA R D I N G

ANON LOGAN WAVECEL

JONES MOUNTAIN SURF

K2 WORLD PEACE

ROME BRASS

BURTON PHOTON BOA

ARBOR SINGLE

Most modern helmets use a slip-plane liner for rotational-impact protection. The WaveCel technology in the Logan instead opts for a honeycomb-like structure. On impact, it absorbs linear energy like a car’s crumple zone, but also shears to dissipate rotational energy. Safety is also stylish and comfortable, with passive ventilation, a 360-degree Boa fit system with one-hand adjustment and Polartec fleece liner and earpads. $240; anonoptics.com

Finally, a binding built for hard-charging speed— with a scaled-down weight and size optimized for small- to average-sized women. The FullWrap chassis maximizes power transfer to the board, and the minimalist toe and ankle straps trim bulk and ounces, allowing for unfettered flight.

Thanks to an adjustable baseplate (made of nylon reinforced with fiberglass), the Brass adapts to a range of boot types and sizes. $260; romesnowboards.com

Part of a new soft-goods line, this parka and bib pant blend impeccable style, durable protection and the eco-minded approach for which Jones is famous. The main shell and ripstop shoulder fabrics are made from recycled plastic, with a waterproof-breathable membrane and recycled Primaloft insulation to keep you dry and warm.

Of course, Jones nails the tech details: pit vents, a secure powder skirt and tons of pockets. $460 (parka), $380 (bib); jonessnowboards.com

Sloppy-fitting boots compromise your control over the board, but the Photon has a dual-zone Boa lacing system that allows the snugness through the foot and cuff to be adjusted independently. (Women get this lacing in the Limelight, with an extra-warm liner and femalespecific fit, for $310.) The Lockdown Lacing mechanism allows for a snug wrap through the heel, and the Vibram outsole sticks to bindings and icy parking lots. $400; burton.com

If you’re starting out in the terrain park or just treating the whole mountain that way, this new board is a smart pick. The smooth, moderate flex is perfect for butters and spins, with a forgiving feel on rails and medium-size jumps— ideal for beginner to intermediate riders. Park riding is hard on boards, but the all-Aspen core, capped tip and tail and sintered 4000 base can withstand hard use as you progress. $420; k2snow.com

Arbor borrowed liberally from surf shapes for this new powder board, which features a medium flex, wide Thunderhead shovel and pintail rear to keep the nose floating in the deep stuff. Grip Tech sidecut brings the contact points closer underfoot for faster, more responsive turns.

Pow fenders, which angle front and rear contact points up slightly from the snow surface, create smoother, less grabby turns both in powder and on choppy hardpack. $530; arborcollective.com

The Photon (and women’s Limelight) has dualzone Boa lacing that offers a snug, adjustable fit.

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S K I I N G

ROSSIGNOL BLACKOPS STARGAZER

ARC’TERYX PROCLINE STRETCH JACKET

TECNICA COCHISE

Designed to offer maximum mobility during backcountry tours—yet protective enough to seal out wind and snow—the men’s Procline (and women’s Shashka Stretch Jacket) features four-way stretch fabric and Gore-Tex Infinium technology, meaning it’s virtually waterproof and ridiculously breathable. The generous cut accommodates extra insulation layers for inbounds shredding. $499; arcteryx.com

This, um, reboot of a long-loved series might yield the ultimate solution for alpine skiing and accessing hike-to terrain and light touring.

The new T-Ride walk system offers 50 degrees of free-flexing forward motion for skinning but locks securely into place for DH mode. It’s compatible with all alpine and tech bindings.

The line is available in seven stiffness profiles, three for men and four for women. $660-$900; blizzard-tecnica.com

DYNASTAR M FREE 99

RUROC LITE

PIEPS 30° PLUS XT

Obliging at slow speeds and fast, this 92 mmwaisted women’s ski adapts to riders’ every whim: Lightweight air tips and a paulownia wood core make them easy to toss around in powdery glades, while a vibration-dampening layer makes them stable on groomers and in mashed-up snow. It’s perfect for advanced skiers who like a varied diet of speed and terrain. $600; rossignol.com

This ski brings the all-around soft-snow performance of Dynastar’s newest all-mountain collection down to a more manageable 99 mm width underfoot. You still get lots of rocker for maneuverability. The hybrid core construction features poplar for a lively feel slashing turns in the deep stuff as well as polyurethane to dampen chatter in the crud. For stretches on groomers, the narrower waist and variable sidecut offers quick, smooth transitions. $700; dynastar.com

Sure, you can style your helmet with stickers— or you could make a statement with one of Ruroc’s bold designs. There’s more here than cool graphics; the EPS foam inside uses lowdensity “crush” zones that slow brain movement after hits to the head. Fidlock magnetic closures make fastening the chin strap ultra-easy, even when wearing bulky gloves. Optional Bluetooth earpads ($130) relay your soundtrack. $150; ruroc.com

If you know just one thing about snow safety, know this: Most avalanches occur on slopes steeper than 30 degrees. This inclinometer is easier to use than most because it straps to a ski pole. Simply position your pole along the slope’s profile or on the snow beneath your feet, and the digital readout tells you the steepness.

It also measures air temperature—handy in warm spring conditions that often trigger wet slides. $80; pieps.com

The Ruroc Lite will help you make a stylish statement and feel smart about safety.

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The innovative Marker Duke PT combines tech and alpine bindings in one platform.

MARKER DUKE PT 12

Tech-style touring bindings usually offer teeth-chattering downhill performance because they lack the shock absorption of an alpine binding. But the Duke PT puts tech and alpine bindings in one platform. Punch the tab at the front and the alpine toe reveals a tech fitting for climbs. At the top, reattach the toe piece and get the spring-cushioned performance of a hardcore freeride binding for downhill. $700; marker.net

MAXTRAX MKII RECOVERY BOARDS

Adventuring in a snowstorm is fun—until you return to a vehicle that’s stuck in a snowy parking lot. These traction boards give tires a grippy surface that lets them overcome deep snow or plow piles. And they’re easily stowed in a pickup bed or on a roof rack (with optional mounting pins that bolt them securely to a roof rail or rear tire harness). $300; maxtraxus.com

Your worries about getting stuck in deep snow are over if you have the easily stowable MKII Recovery Boards.

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M O U N TA I N

BOGS CLASSIC ULTRA MID

A DV E N T U R E

Whether you’re shoveling out the car before heading to the lifts or pulling your kids uphill on sleds, you need a boot that’s up to the task.

These feature a rubber-sponge midsole for all-day comfort and support—and have a waterproof, rubber-coated Neotech construction that’s comfort-rated to 40 below and a siped outsole for sure-footed traction. The 10-inch cuff height ensures you’ll stay dry even in deep snow. $135; bogsfootwear.com

MERRELL COLDPACK ICE+ 6” These boots are equipped to handle winter’s harshest conditions. The waterproof upper and bellows tongue keep you dry, while the 6-inch cuff helps prevent powder from entering at the top (add a gaiter for more protection).

A wide rubber rand provides extra grip on rock scrambles. The fleece lining keeps your toes toasty, and the chunky Arctic Grip outsole from Vibram has widely spaced lugs that will clear wet, sticky snow easily. $150; merrell.com

WOLVERINE TORRENT DUCK BOOT

RAB GENERATOR ALPINE JACKET

BLACK DIAMOND BOUNDARY LINE INSULATED PANT

KLEAN KANTEEN INSULATED TKWIDE

This cozy jacket is your ultimate defense against winter. The PrimaLoft Gold synthetic insulation is infused with Aerogel for maximum insulation—it’s warm enough for the most bitter conditions. But at just 19 ounces, it packs down small enough to fit in any daypack. The helmetcompatible hood features a high-necked front so you can keep sensitive facial skin protected from frostbite. $300; rab.equipment

In variable conditions you need a versatile shell pant. If you’re storm skiing, the waterproofbreathable shell and Thermolite insulation keep you warm and dry when riding a lift straight into the wind. But on a sunny snowshoe hike, the stretch twill fabric offers free movement as sideseam zip vents quickly expel heat as you work up a sweat. Available in men’s and women’s styles. $299; blackdiamondequipment.com

Fear no snow in this waterproof women’s ankle boot, which pairs full-grain leather with vulcanized rubber that seals out slush. An interior fleece lining keeps feet cozy, the side zipper sidesteps fussy lacing, and the cushioned footbed feels more like a running shoe than a winter snow-kicker—making this a primo choice for strolling snowy sidewalks. $100; wolverine.com

Filled with hot coffee or tea, this vacuuminsulated mug will transform into a portable cup of comfort on early-morning drives to the resort or local trailhead. We like the café lid, which is genuinely leakproof—so it can be safely stashed in a backpack beside your favorite puffy jacket or laptop computer without catastrophe.

Available in 16-, 20-, 32- and 64-ounce sizes. $30/16 oz; kleankanteen.com

The Boundary Line Insulated Pant can keep you equally comfortable in storms and on sunny days.

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A N ATO M Y O F G E A R An innovative all-mountain ski, deconstructed.

Words KELLY BASTONE

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pdated for winter ’21-’22 with an array of new construction technologies, Völkl’s iconic Mantra (and women’s Secret 96) raises the bar on versatility: It slays ice and powder, arcs turns both short and long—and grants skiers’ every wish. Here’s how.

VÖLKL M6 MANTRA 9 lbs/pair (177 cm length) $825 voelkl.com

MAGIC NUMBER Measuring 96 mm at the waist, the M6 Mantra and Secret are wide enough to surf pow yet svelte enough to zipper from edge to edge.

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CORE CONCERNS

A multilayer core construction uses poplar and beech woods to deliver a balance of stability and rebound.

TA I L O R E D TO FIT

EDGE POWER

Instead of using a wall-towall sheet of metal to improve edge hold, Völkl engineered an arch-shaped “frame” made of lightweight Titanal (an aluminum composite) that absorbs vibration and boosts power while still flexing underfoot.

Every model length gets a layer of Titanal that’s optimized in shape and width, meaning smaller athletes get a lighter ski and increased agility, while bigger skiers gain torsional stability.

BASES LOADED

Borrowed from World Cup tech, the polyurethane bases are extremely durable and offer great glide, thanks to a secret-formula structure that Völkl grinds into the bases and edges.

PRO TIP 3D MAGIC

The tip, midsection and tail are all shaped to deliver a different turn radius, allowing the ski to carve long arcs and short, noodly turns equally well.

Völkl embroiders individual carbon fibers onto gauze, which lets builders overlay the carbon atop the ski’s stress lines, allowing designers to dictate performance qualities with greater precision.

GLOBAL TEAM

THE RED BULLETIN WORLDWIDE

The Red Bulletin is published in six countries. The cover of this month’s U.K. edition features British triathlete Lucy CharlesBarclay, who is on the hunt to win the next Ironman World Championship.

For more stories beyond the ordinary, go to redbulletin.com.

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THE RED BULLETIN Austria, ISSN 1995-8838 Editor Wolfgang Wieser Proofreaders Hans Fleißner (manager), Petra Hannert, Monika Hasleder, Billy Kirnbauer-Walek Publishing Management Bernhard Schmied Media Sales & Partnerships Thomas Hutterer (manager), Alfred Vrej Minassian, Franz Fellner, Ines Gruber, Thomas Gubier, Daniela Güpner, Wolfgang Kröll, Gabriele Matijevic-Beisteiner, Nicole Okasek-Lang, Britta Pucher, Jennifer Sabejew, Johannes Wahrmann-Schär, Ellen WittmannSochor, Ute Wolker, Christian Wörndle, Sabine Zölß

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Action highlight

Costa Rica is perhaps best known to outsiders for its glorious beaches, its diverse ecosystem, its exceptional coffee and its soccer team, which beat all the odds to reach the 2014 World Cup quarterfinals. But its BMX, maybe not so much. Enter rider Kenneth “Pollis” Tencio, who, in his latest project, De Costa a Costa (From Coast to Coast), takes a 200-mile road trip across his Central American homeland, nailing tricks along the way. “I wanted to show the country off through my sport,” says the 26-year-old. “It became a mission.” Watch the film on Red Bull’s YouTube channel.

The next issue of THE RED BULLETIN is out on October 19.

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THE RED BULLETIN

AGUSTIN MUNOZ/RED BULL CONTENT POOL

DAVYDD CHONG

Coast rider

THE BEST TRIPS ARE A LITTLE OUT THERE.

GO ON A REAL VACATION GORVING.COM

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