Focusing more on the bricks used to build a jump in spring rather than the yellow snow, we caught up with Emma Crosby to talk all things Dorothy and filming this past season. The new project alongside Kennedi Deck and a small crew of talented riders dropped earlier this month and the full offering is quite impressive. Coming off a world premiere tour, Emma spent some time wandering around her hometown in Minnesota as we talked injury, Pyramid Gap, and the meaning behind the title (Editor’s note: she did not tell us). Enjoy the quick convo below. – Mark Clavin

So you’re lost somewhere near your house in Minnesota currently?
Yeah, just kind of walking. I’m not super lost, I know where I am.

How has the feedback been on Dorothy so far?
It’s been good. The video went live when I was actually flying home from Europe. So it all hit me at once when I landed and turned my phone on. That was sick. It was super supportive and it’s been pretty good feedback so far.

Any critiques?
No, not yet. That’s maybe something that people do face-to-face haha. 

How was the premier tour? Where all did you guys go again?
We started in Salt Lake and then we went to Vancouver and Seattle. Then we flew overseas and we did Annecy, Innsbruck, Zurich and ended up in Milan.

Is that enough countries to be called a world tour premiere?
No.

Wow, okay, that kind of bores you. What’s your baseline?
No, no, you’re right. Definitely, it is a lot. But it’s hard when you feel like you missed some places. It would have been cool to come to Minnesota or go out east.

True.
But, no, you’re right. It is definitely a lot of places.

You hit the home countries of almost everyone in the movie, yeah?
Yeah, exactly. That was the kind of vibe, everyone had their chance to be in host mode which was pretty awesome. To see where everybody lives and meet their family and see what their environment’s like. That was pretty special. 

Who was the best host?
I would say Gian because he had us in town the longest in Switzerland and we stayed with all his roommates. He kind of led us around Zurich and organized stuff for us which was cool.

Who was the worst house guest?
Everyone really pulled their own weight, even all winter. Nobody was bad. Everybody really stepped up.

Did you have a favorite stop?
Probably Salt Lake. We kind of were joking because every single one of our premieres were either on a Thursday night or a Sunday night or a Tuesday night. It is just how things just lined up but Salt Lake was cool because it was a Sunday night and half of our friends were extremely hungover from a wedding already, but still a lot of people showed up and it was a nice vibe.

Yeah, was that probably the biggest party as well or no?
I’d say every stop had the same kind of rubric where it was doors open at 6 for two hours then a lot of people show up for the movie and then everyone kind of left after besides the 10 to 15 remaining soldiers who will continue on with us for the night which is always funny to see who that was for every stop.

Are there any common characteristics for the last 10 to 15 people that would make it to the bar?
No, I wish there was! That was kind of the hard part and also the most fun because you never really knew who was gonna be. 

No one really talks about the breakdown of who you’re gonna meet at a snowboard premiere.
Totally! Haha, You have the super involved fan, friends, the young kid… the young kid does not come to the bar. 

Where all did you guys go to film this one?
We filmed a little bit in Vancouver at the beginning of the year. They got some snow and Kennedi lives there, so that was a nice start. And then we went to Utah as another home base. Obviously, Utah had a phenomenal winter, and Bryden and I both lived there, so we hit that when we could but a little bit of pow stuff in the beginning. And then we went to Iceland with Jake Kuzyk and Marc O’Malley, and then back to Utah, that’s when I got hurt. So I was kind of chilling for a bit, and I went with the group to Romania, and that’s when Robbie Meehan and Stine came and joined us.

How did you get hurt?
It was right when we got back from Iceland, I tore some ligaments in my ankle. It just sucks, it’s just such a tedious thing that really just takes so long to heal. I was hitting a step-down around Brighton and just kind of overshot it a bit. I was doing a back five and just exploded on impact.

Still healing up from that, or are you feeling pretty good?
Yeah, it’s all pretty good. Took a long time. Think I was healed around mid-March.

And went to Minnesota, stayed with my parents and I was still hurt, but Kennedi got some more clips. 

What’s it like hosting a bunch of snowboarders in your parent’s home in your hometown while looking for spots?
It’s pretty awesome. It’s a full-circle moment in a way. It was cool to see my parents excited to host and have everybody and it’s really nice and homey. I’m down. 

How is getting injured midseason, is that tough to bounce back to get some clips later?
Yeah, super. I think if anything, it was just upsetting. I’m always kind of getting hurt. And especially when there’s a project that’s Kennedi and I. It felt like I was letting Kennedi down and put a lot of extra pressure on Ken when maybe they didn’t need it. … I don’t know, I think it was just hard I just knew with every day that passed it was less we could do for the video. 

What’s up with the title? Wizard of Oz?
We will see if you can figure it out. There is a meaning behind it.

Is it an acronym?
It’s not an acronym, but there’s definitely a little bit of a hidden message in a way and I don’t really want to say exactly why it is called that because it’s kind of fun for people to maybe try to figure it out… so I urge you to do that.

Wizard of Oz? You guys all were in random places and screaming “I just wanna go home”.
Yeah, keep guessing. 

Good marketing.
I know, I’m sorry, I’m not giving you very much to work with.

No, oh no, we already have a good amount. I’m not stressing. Haha, moving on… tell us about Pyramid.
Yeah, I think that for me was a little bit of a bummer. I think I wish it could have gone differently and it could have been better, obviously. But we, I don’t know, I’ve been thinking about it for a bit and with being injured… the only thing that was lining up for me in terms of something bigger that I wanted to do this year was Pyramid. And I kind of thought that since it was such a good snow year, we had extra time, you know, on the tail end of the season. And yeah, I wrangled a crew together and I think we hit it mid-May about. Sam Taxwood hit it with me. 

The clip in the beginning and end of Dorothy looks pretty crazy.
Yeah, both of them weren’t it. I was thinking maybe to scratch it and not use any of it. But then it’s also just hard because I don’t know, it is such a mental battle.

Yeah, but you gotta be proud of those attempts. I was so hyped when I saw that. 

Yeah, I’m not sure. I wish it could have been better and I’m still trying to accept it for what it is because I mean, dude, the thing is, at the end of the day, I did the best that I could on that day with the conditions that we had.

And you didn’t get hurt?
No, no, no.

So that’s also a win.
Yeah, I talked about this a bit with Des, but since it’s such a landmark in snowboarding and since it’s such a big deal, I just kind of felt it had to be matched. And I didn’t. I don’t feel that’s what I did. Moving forward, I have to be even better and all that.

And you can step to it again.
Yeah, exactly.  I learned a lot no matter what. I mean, that was an insane highlight of my season and in my life. Just being out there building for five days and being with our friends and doing that together was such a big accomplishment in itself. Just being a part of that even was such a highlight for me. So I don’t regret it or anything. I just wish it could have been different.

For sure. Any other highlights from this filming season?
I really like snowboarding with Kennedi, so I feel like that was a driving factor going into the winter. It was so cool to see how they operate and I learned so much from them. They’ve been making video parts for the last eight years and to be around that was inspiring. It was a big highlight to be in that presence and to have a finished product with them.