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He’s as Canadian as they get, and if you can’t tell from his accent, listen a little bit closer. It’s pure prairie gold, with a touch of that Canadian kindness we all know and love. Another one who hardly needs an introduction, Craig—the elder of the McMorris brothers—was born for the camera, and if you don’t know what I’m talking about, head to the Red Bull TV archives. He’s a pro snowboarder with a broadcast career—and a personality that speaks for itself. We chatted with Craig about his upcoming film projects and joining the Nidecker family as they crossed the sea to North America.
Ally Watson:
Craig, what is up? Where are you right now?
Craig McMorris:
I’m in Whistler, British Columbia, running a million errands.
Nice. How was your season in the Great White North this past year?
Yeah, my season was great. We had very ambitious plans this year. We wanted to do two separate videos. So, Red Seal is a rail video with me, Adam Franks and Tanner Davidson, who are two snowboarders I really, really admire, and we got that done. That was awesome. We filmed in a bunch of new locations, tons of new spots. Seb Judge filmed it, so that was awesome. I’m really excited for people to see it. It was really important to me to do this video and to highlight these guys because I think these are two of the most underrated snowboarders there are, as far as talent, and, you know, they’re my age, so nobody would consider them rookies.
Sick—stoked for the release.
Yeah, that was really cool, and then we decided to do a backcountry movie called Couple Casuals—that’s just me and Jack MacDougall. I love his style, and I’ve always wanted to kind of put him on as well, so I’m excited for those two projects. I put a lot of energy and effort into them, and I’ve always kind of done ATV boarding and combined everything, but this is the first year I’ve done a separate rail movie and a separate pow movie.
RED SEAL HAS BEEN RELEASED AND COUPLE CASUALS IS COMING SOON:
What made you decide to separate the two?
You know what, I’ve been lucky enough to do this for a number of years, and I’ve been releasing half-and-half video parts for a very long time, and I just kind of saw the landscape has changed and riders have been more specific in what they snowboard on, and I think audiences are as well. There’s people that watch snowboarding and they’re like, “Yeah, I just watch rail snowboarding…that’s what I like.” I think it’s more specific to today’s snowboarding, and hopefully people recognize that.
All right, and you’ve been riding the Nidecker with the Craig graphic. What’s the story?
That was inspired by a number of things. Growing up in Saskatchewan, we’d always go to the rodeo, and my brother and I did this thing called “mutton busting” [where] we would put on a hockey helmet and ride sheep at the rodeo. I think the rodeo is one of the coolest things. I was able to work as a broadcaster on a couple Calgary Stampedes. I worked on a ranch; it’s always been close to my heart. So, [North America marketing manager] Tom Pelley—major shoutout to him—was like, “Let’s try and do a limited-release board.” I was like, “Hell yeah,” and we teamed up with the tattoo artist Gummy Johnston, and he made my dreams come true.
Sick. And how are things with Nidecker? You’ll be coming up on two years with them this winter.
Things have been amazing! It’s just so refreshing to be part of a company that has employees that are just so amped, right? They looked at the North American market and they said “How can we make this better?” as opposed to “How do we dominate it?” They’ve done such a fantastic job at making great product and listening to riders. I’ve been to Europe twice to attend meetings about boots, bindings, boards, marketing—like, the entire team is there talking about it, you know, sitting in a room for hours talking about what we like and don’t like, what the market is saying, and what’s next. I mean, at the end of the day, we’re trying to make the best product. I want somebody to ride a Nidecker snowboard, boot, and binding and be like, “Damn, I don’t think I can ride anything else, because this suits all my needs.”
They’re just doing a super-good job investing in and sponsoring events like the Bomb Hole Cup, the Uninvited, Low Maintenance. They’re not only making amazing product, but they’re putting their money where their mouth is.
Yeah, totally. Their team is just completely stacked right now, and I’m sure it will continue to grow, so that’s cool to see. What’s your current setup?
I ride the Kita boot. It’s a bit stiffer—probably one of the best boots I’ve ridden. I ride the Canon Pro bindings—just your classic good binding. Then I’m riding the Sensor Craig and the Sensor Pro. Between those two boards, it covers everything, honestly. I filmed the entire street movie on that board and an entire backcountry part on the same board, just different sizes.
That’s what’s up.
Yeah! That is what’s up.
OK, let’s pivot and talk broadcasting and boarding. You’ve got two identities: pro boarder and broadcast personality. They kind of go hand in hand.
They do a little bit, but yeah, it’s definitely different. It’s super funny, people’s opinion on it. I think it’s super important, like, for everything I do, if I’m gonna talk about it, I’ve got to be doing it. Being part of it all is where you get all the stories and anecdotes and the things that are interesting when you’re in the booth. I’m snowboarding and I’m on a rail trip, I’m in the backcountry, I’m going to the training camps, hitting the same jumps with everyone who’s competing. Full transparency: Being a pro snowboarder, you work super hard, but your season is only eight months, maybe 10. There’s so much more time, and that’s where I have been developing the broadcast career.
It’s really fun and refreshing. I don’t think I’ve ever been burnt out on snowboarding, because I always have something else to focus on as well.
And I feel like for broadcasting, you need one specific type of brain, like the kind of person who nails “name that video part” every time. Do you have any childhood memories [of] growing up that influence the way you broadcast?
That’s funny. When I first started, that’s what I thought you needed, and you do a little bit, for sure—you need to remember everything and make sure you know what you’re talking about—but the more you broadcast, the more you level up. The most important thing is being a good storyteller. You need to encapsulate the viewer; maybe 5% of people watching know every trick, [and] that’s who’s getting nerdy. Everybody else, you need to explain the who, what, where, why of the event.
OK, that’s interesting. And the Sochi Olympics was your first broadcast—how was that?
Yeah, it was my first real broadcast. It was so savage—like, sink or swim. I look back on it and it’s so cringe. I was such a rookie. It’s fine if you listen to it, but I can’t stand it because I know all the mistakes I made. It’s funny because I was competing for the Canadian Olympic team spot, and there was a chance I could make it, but I kind of realized that I just didn’t really like slopestyle contests. I could do the tricks; I could hang in there. I wasn’t the best, by any means, but every once in a while, I can make a final at a contest. It was only a means to an end; I just really wanted to film video parts. So, I was literally like, “Who’s broadcasting?” and my agent was like, “Nobody.”So, I put my hat in the ring and did a couple auditions, and then I was in Russia for a month on the ground. It opened up so many doors for me.
Well, the crowd loves the Craig banter. What’s up for this season?
Well, I’m excited for people to watch our two videos. Seb Judge and I put in so much work, and he’s such an amazing filmer. I’m excited to tour around and premiere these videos, and hopefully people like them.
Can’t wait. OK, rapid-fire questions: Best video part of all time?
I’m gonna speak to my generation: Marie-France Roy, No Correct Way,[and] Eero Ettala, Follow Me Around.
Yup, I support this. Good era.
Very good era, very good videos, very different time. Um, so those are the two that I definitely like. I think those are my two favorites. And then, when it comes to all-round boarding, Rene Rinnekangas’ Heaven came out last year. Those are three good video parts. I can stand behind those proud.
Who would you say is the most underrated snowboarder, past or present?
That is a big question. I like that. I like big, big parameters here. OK, on the rail side, I think I’m gonna stick with a couple Canadians. Anto Chamberlain—I always thought he was so underrated. I just watched him do some of the heaviest, scariest, gnarliest, most technical tricks. I’d say him, Frank Bourgeois, Maria Thomsen.
You know, in their absolute primes, they were very underrated. Uh, rail snowboarding kind of took a little bit of a dip when X Games Real Snow was let out, but I think at that time they were doing some of the heaviest stuff. Wow, that is so hard. And Chris Rasman’s a very underrated snowboarder. Jordan Morse was a very underrated, or is currently a very underrated, snowboarder. Damn, yeah, I’m gonna throw all those names in that pot right there. It’s a very difficult industry, and talent doesn’t always mean you make it, which is unfair.
Yeah, totally. OK, what does snowboarding need more of right now?
Snowboarding needs more money. That’ll be sick, because there’s a lot of people who are really sick at snowboarding and they don’t get the love or funding they deserve. I think snowboarding is doing a good job with events, but I do think we need more videos as well. More long video parts. There’s lots of community events, rail jams, contests, but in our generation, the video part was the highest trophy, and it’s fading. There’s more short edits and trip edits, and I just love watching a video part.
Yeah, 100%. Like, I definitely grew up with my brother, you know, like, running to the shop and buying up that season’s videos and sitting there and just “watch, rewind, play, rewind, play.” And I feel like that has just been so cemented into my cultural experience of snowboarding, and it’s something that will never go away. And now I work in snowboard media, and it’s hard to keep up.
Oh, it’s so hard to keep up. There’s so much stuff happening, and it’s good. I’m not saying anything about it. I just think the video part is so important, and it kind of comes back to Nidecker. The thing I like about Nidecker is [that] filming sick footage matters, and they’re hyped on that.
What’s your go-to trick?
Go-to trick? I don’t know. Love a back rodeo on a jump. I think rodeos are the sickest tricks in the world. Backside rodeo, frontside rodeo, off-the-toes rodeo. And then I love, like, a sick boardslide. Those are kind of my two favorites. Pretty simple, but it’s how you do it.
Advice for the next gen?
Get super-duper good at snowboarding. Then get really good at talking to people, hanging out with people, meeting people and going on trips and enjoying the process. That’s one thing Mikey Rencz always said, because there’s a lot of not-super-fun stuff, so if you can just enjoy the process as opposed to focusing on the outcome, you’re going to be a lot happier.
OK, thank you for the wisdom.
