Ambassador Profile: Tanner Webster

Meet Tanner Webster from Thousand Oaks, California. He grew up skiing Mammoth and June until he was 13 when he switched to snowboarding and never looked back. He has now been snowboarding for 11 years and in the last two years started riding Elevated boards. This season he entered the Smash Life Banked Slalom and placed second!

Can you describe your connection to the Mountain?

I work for the Trail crew in Grand Teton National Park in the summers and spend 80 percent of my time in the mountains for six months of the year. The mountains are where I've found out the most about myself, my passions and my desires. Nothing feels better to me than being in deep and knowing it's just you and the mountains and animals around you. I've lost some family members, like us all, but I tend to find them when I'm in the mountains and that feeling always moves me.

Can you describe your riding style?

I'd say I like to look at things differently than most. In the last two years since being on Elevated boards my style has evolved rather rapidly. I tend to observe where and what people are riding and often try to do something different or unique. These boards push you to ride with a different outlook, they don't perform like normal snowboards, so I really enjoy figuring out the differences and riding in ridiculous and funky ways.

What is your favorite Elevated Snowboard?

My favorite board right now is the 5'7 MegaFish, simply because it's such an outrageous board that has been incredibly fun to figure out and usually makes me laugh a lot. The whole reason to snowboard is for fun, and riding that board is incredibly fun.

Why Elevated Surf Craft?

Why Elevated, well because it's so different. Snowboarding was always fun, but riding different boards with very different shapes is a whole new game. You can hop on something different and have to completely shift your mindset and riding style. Elevated boards just made snowboarding fresh and different, it's been fun figuring out the differences and enjoying the ride.

How was the Smash Life Banked Slalom?

I was invited to go to the Smash Life Banked Slalom at Lost Trail by some buddies I was visiting in the Tetons. They had all reserved spots in the event but I didn't have a spot and was just going to tag along to hangout, ride and support. After riding with everyone the day before the event, seeing the rad looking course and vibes of the event I checked to see if I could get a spot in the race the next day. I managed to get a spot in the Mens (18-29) category. I didn't have any expectations going into it, I had never ridden something like that or raced in any events ever.

I chose to ride the Megafish because it's what I've been riding and enjoy riding it a lot. I knew it would be an interesting choice going into it but that's what was so fun to me. The course was tight and quick for the first four turns, then it opened up and the remainder of the course was bigger, faster turns. The dig crew did an awesome job shaping the corners into perfectly arched turns with a lot of transition. I fell on run one, but made it through on my second run and was just happy to have raced the course. Later at the award ceremony they announced that I got second in my class, I was shocked. It wasn't the fastest time, but it was cool to be a part of the event and ride at such a rad little mom and pop resort with incredibly welcoming people.