Matt Wainhouse

Matt Wainhouse is an anomaly. Watch him ride and you would say this guy has been riding since he could walk, has studied snowboarding lore and is most certainly part of the crowd. But it’s the opposite. Matt didn’t really get serious about snowboarding until he was in college, couldn’t rattle off video parts from the 90s or play the “who’s who” game of this industry. He straps in because he has fun with his friends, and in doing so, his riding speaks for itself. His standout part from 686 Seconds puts every bit of his natural ability on display, which has been polished through an absolute prowess on the formidable terrain of the Pacific Northwest. In speaking with him, his genuine love for snowboarding is contagious and his attitude is humbling. Real talent like his is rare and through every stalled frontside three, Matt is proving that this is only the beginning.

Photos by Jordan Ingmire

[aesop_image img=”https://snowboardmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/mattwainhouse_4_hankevelyn_ingmire.jpg” credit=”” align=”center” lightbox=”off” caption=”Stevens Pass, WA” captionposition=”left”]

Who are you?
I’m Matt Wainhouse and I’m a snowboarder.

You grew up outside of Seattle, correct?
Yep, I grew up in Bothell, Washington. It’s a suburb. It was an area that was in the woods, now there are full blown developments all over the place. My parents have moved out of that area to a nicer one down the freeway.

I started skiing at a really young age, and I was pretty good at it. I switched over to snowboarding when I was 11 or 12-years-old and would go up on the bus after school on Friday nights, or the weekends with my buddies. I didn’t really snowboard in high school, which was kind of weird. I did some high school sports and was in that life. Then I went to a community college and got back into snowboarding; I decided it was time to actually get good.

What brought you back into it other than just going to school?
One of my friends at the time said we should try to get some tricks down and get a shop sponsor. I thought no way, I don’t do tricks! I’ll do straight airs, maybe grab my board. It was kind of funny how it worked out. I think most of it happened on accident. Like, “oops, I accidentally did a 180 and it wasn’t really that hard. Oops, turned that 180 into a 360, then 540,” and so on. That’s how getting better at snowboarding happened for me.

How old are you?
I’m 27.

So this was 2007 or so?
Yeah.

I was looking at you early Vimeo stuff. You had the style back then, but it has for sure been refined and explosive is my best way to describe it. When did you think you were really progressing?
It has always been super fun, no matter what. Every part about it. But I don’t know, probably when people started saying it, that’s when I realized it. I was snowboarding a lot, at least a few days a week. I started riding with some guys that were insane, guys I never thought I would be snowboarding with. As soon as you ride with people that are better than you, all of the sudden you start to progress too. You start trying more stuff and going a little bit bigger. I just really wanted to [get better] because getting better and having a bigger bag of tricks makes it more fun.

Who are the people that you started riding with?
Man there have definitely been a lot, but at the time it was my brother in law, Devin Elliot. Devin is six or seven years older than I am. He’s a big dude that can ollie so high off the tiniest side hits and doesn’t even warm up. He won’t snowboard for a year then do a front seven first try. So him and his friend Seth Stusser. Those are the guys that I still look up to and will be in awe of them. It’s weird how that works sometimes. Maybe you have surpassed them but you still look at them like they’re better than you.

Well if you idolize or look up to somebody at some point, I don’t think that really goes away.
I fully agree. Everyone has they different style and you try to emulate it in a way.

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Did you watch snowboarding when you were younger?
To be honest, not really. I remember watching Peter Line in the Forum videos during junior high, but I didn’t care so much.

So you just figured it all out on your own?
Yeah I didn’t really follow the videos until after high school. The Brain Farm videos are some of the earlier ones I remember actually. I used to YouTube a lot of videos, lots of Jeremy Dubs. That’s what I grew up watching, just stuff on there. I didn’t have too many copies of my own movies. Also Pat McCarthy, Nick Ennen, Landvik, all of those dudes and those old films. Even guys my age like Lucas Debari. I love YouTube.

When did you first met Pat McCarthy?
He was always one of the dudes I never thought I would meet. I think seeing him on the Snowboard Connection (RIP) website was the first time I saw who he was. “There are pro snowboarders in Washington, no way!” I couldn’t believe it. I must have gotten some other videos he was in, watched YouTube videos. My brother-in-law Devin and Seth used to ride with Pat at Stevens Pass, so they were buddies. I think they introduced me sometime along the way. Then I moved to Bellingham to finish school, and I must have met him up there.

How did you get started with 686?
I think it was Pat’s second year into being the 686 team manager, and I hit him with my edit from that season. We already knew each other by then, and we had maybe taken some laps together too. I always thought the outerwear was really cool; I always bought it. So I sent Pat the edit and it was a no brainer for him. Right away he said, “Yep, get him on the AM team.”

What was your state of mind when this was happening?
People told me that I was totally worthy, that I should have a sponsor. If it were six years prior I would have never thought that because I didn’t think I could even get a shop sponsor at the time; I was around 20-years-old. A late start for today’s standards. I was hyped, especially because he’s true to the Northwest. I think that helped me in a way. I definitely put a lot of hard work in, so he couldn’t turn me down at the same time. I didn’t have a sponsor, I think it was a good pickup for him and it was a good pickup for me.

[aesop_video width=”100%” align=”center” src=”vimeo” id=”143181357″ caption=”Matt’s insane full part from 686 Seconds” loop=”off” autoplay=”off” controls=”off” viewstart=”off” viewend=”off”]

A lot of your footage comes from Stevens Pass. Tell me about what it was like to learn the ropes there.
It’s crazy because I was living in Bellingham to go to school, I had season passes two years in a row to both Baker and Stevens. I found that I went to Stevens way more because my friends were there. Everybody meets up at the little café, and they have a park there. I love riding park. On a crappy, non-powder day you can just hit jumps and rails, hot lap it on the high-speed chair, there’s night riding and sick pow too. Baker is definitely sicker than Stevens on a pow day, it’s just raw terrain. You can’t beat it. What I love about Stevens on a powder day is there are less people getting it or know where they are going. You’ve got your stashes and if you have the energy you can hike to fresh lines all day. As for the people, it’s an awesome community. There are a lot of people living in the RV lot all year so there are lots of parties. I think any mountain has it, but there might be a special connection because we’ve had friends that died at Stevens Pass. It has brought the community together in a way. Home is where the heart is.

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What was it like to lose friends like that?
You just have to be safe. Choose your runs and the routes you want to take wisely. There are definitely spots that are prone to slides compared to other places. You can always end up in a tree well or hit one, be knocked out, and if you are by yourself then you’re done. Always trust the people that you’re going out with. If you get hurt and you’re by yourself, how are you going to get help? Hopefully you have your phone on you.

We had a big avalanche a couple of years ago. Chris Rudolph, the marketing guy at Stevens Pass, and a couple of the other key players there were buried and killed. Then a local legend Ken Kelley just tumbled, hit a rock on an in-bounds run and died. I don’t know, it can happen anywhere but you just have stay on your guard. I think riding with people on a powder day is super important. Friends on a powder day. Fuck the “no friends on a powder day” saying.

Experiences are at their best when they are shared.
Exactly, it’s so much more fun when you’re with your buddies. Someone to laugh with and talk shit to on the chairlift, talk about your line, show them your tracks.

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I think it’s interesting how you started becoming more involved in snowboarding a bit later, then how you were never really into a scene. Sometimes it can be an “in or out” situation, or about who you know. Do you think that’s because you just had such a tight community there? Or something else?
A big reason that I have never been fully into it is I haven’t spent much time at Mt. Hood in the summer. If you spend a summer or two there, you’re in. You know everybody, everybody knows you, and you’re in the world’s ultimate snowboarding progression land. It’s concentrated with super good snowboarders. I’ve maybe had opportunities to apply for a job there, but I’ve always been here in Seattle. I think we do have a tight community, I’ve never felt a need to move out or stay away from Washington; we’ve been fortunate with good seasons up here. I did try to live in Whistler one year because I’m a dual citizen of Canada. I lived and worked up there in the summer, then winter came around and I hated what I was doing. I quit my job and moved home mid-season. That was a big scene and it wasn’t for me. I missed my friends. I missed my terrain. I missed the short lift lines. The long lines and crazy tourism scared me away.

Do you have an opinion of the snowboarding industry or scene? Or are you indifferent to it?
I do care. I would like to be more involved. I’ve gotten a piece of advice from a very wise man named Johan Malkoski and he said that I needed to spend time at Mt. Hood. I would love to be involved in business within snowboarding, that’s a dream. Mt. Hood is where you are going to meet the people you need to know to do something like that in the future, especially to get a job in the industry or make something happen in snowboarding. Even to simply progress and take your snowboarding the next level. That’s where it’s going to happen. At the same time, I make pretty good money and have been lucky to do what I do. It doesn’t seem like there is a ton of money in the industry, and I’m not trying to just make money from it because I don’t make any money from snowboarding, but it would be cool to do something that you love and contribute to it. It would be fun.

What do you think of the contest side?
I’m totally down to watch it because that shit is straight entertaining. It’s snowboarding. Whatever. I understand that I will never be doing that, most of my friends will never be doing that, most of snowboarding will never be doing that. But I think it’s good for it. That’s what is making it mainstream; my parents see that stuff come across their news feed. We don’t really have the opportunity to do that kind of stuff in Washington but it’s entertaining to watch. I don’t think there is much style in it, but whatever.

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Do you think that you will stay in Washington? You definitely have it set up, granted that there is a winter this year…
Yeah definitely freaked out a little bit about that whole climate change thing. But I would really love to spend some time someplace else. Maybe a place like Mammoth. I’ve never even been there but that place looks awesome, and you could probably progress your snowboarding a lot faster than you can in Washington, as far as tricks that translate to the backcountry.

What drives you?
My friend Ryan and I are always down for super normal tricks that have insanely cool style. Something with an uncommon grab or tweak, just trying to learn that. We’re not doing triple corks but just learning new tricks. I would like to try to make it out to some bigger terrain someday. Like Manuel Diaz who went from Stevens Pass to Alaska and absolutely fucked up Alaskan spines. He had a spine line in a Pirate video where he just kept going and going. I wish I could get to a tenth of that someday. Just watching the guys that have grown up learning to ride on Northwest terrain then graduated to bigger stuff definitely drives me. I’d like to try it someday.

Tell me about in the big kicker in the Montana backcountry, you have that huge front three that’s poked out so well. Do you think that kind of jumping is uncommon?
The more you spin, the less you can tweak your board. So the slower the spin the more opportunity you have to stall it out, make it look really cool.

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What’s your perfect day?
I guess it would be bluebird, nice and cold, maybe a little fresh pow riding at Stevens Pass with my friends. My second favorite day would be filming on a jump that you put a lot of hard work into before going to kill it on that, then riding another zone after that with your friends and watching them kill it too. Number one perfect day would be riding in-bounds at Stevens Pass or Baker.

What’s the relationship with CAPiTA?
I’m a regional AM. Johan is the guy that got me on board and has been rad to a lot of the local dudes. I just started working demos with Scott Downing aka Sweaty. They’re right here in Ballard [Neighborhood in Seattle] and want to own their home mountain, so there are a few of us on the C3 program. We’re all part of the deal and good to us. I’d like to work my way up a bit more because they have some of the top talent in the entire world. I look at that and think I’ll probably never make it, but it stokes me out to even be part of that program. Everybody on the team is super cool and I love watching everyone ride. I’ve shown Brandon Cocard around on some epic powder days, those are some of the most memorable.

What else is on your mind?
There are so many good snowboarders out there, it’s insane. So many people that are shredders and don’t really care so much, it’s crazy to me sometimes. But maybe they’re not into it, or can’t afford it or get hooked on something else. Snowboarding is easy man, I’ve been trying to skateboard and I’m not a very good skateboarder. You go to a skatepark and there are kids ripping everywhere, just because it’s an easy thing to do after class. I’d imagine it to be similar to the Minnesota scene like Trollhaugen or Hyland.

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Those are skateparks on snow.
They just get ridiculously good. I could never get that good on jibs. It’s crazy how it works out, each region has their guys and they ride a certain way. I’m in awe of so many other people in snowboarding. Looking at video parts every year, I can’t believe what people are doing.

Who are the riders that you’re watching right now?
Well definitely in the Northwest, the guys that I ride with. They are definitely the biggest influences. People that you see in person and are actually snowboarding with, they will influence you more than anybody or any video. You see it done with your own eyes and think, “Maybe I can do that.” I’ll give a shoutout to Kurt Jenson, he’s 40-years-old and doing double wildcats off of huge jumps. Timmy Carlson who just shreds crazy lines, my buddy Ian Wood who is always trying to flow with surfy style, how he turns on the spines. As for video stuff, I watch a lot of rail stuff even though I can’t do much of it. I’m impressed with Eric Jackson, some people think he’s falling away or whatever but he’s sending it with crazy, natural terrain tricks. I’ve always looked up to Lucas Debari, Manuel Diaz, dudes from the Northwest, Pat McCarthy, Matt Edgars. I love watching dudes jump into powder. Arthur Longo is a dude I’m really hyped on. To me he’s got MFM style, the style that you just try to have but never will. There are so many good snowboarders out there, but there are definitely guys that are changing snowboarding, like Scott Stevens. The things he does are unreal.

What is the ultimate goal for you?
The ultimate dream is to be a professional snowboarder, who doesn’t dream about that? It’s still possible, but right now I’m trying to travel and represent some brands. And film a part that I’m super happy with someday, then continue to film. Maybe it’s not always going to be as good as it once was but to be part of something, somebody’s video. There’s no specific goal, just adventure. Adventure with my snowboard.

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