Photo: Red Bull
It’s an absolute fact that Ben Ferguson is one of the best halfpipe snowboarders in the world. He holds that distinction, not just among fans or judges, but also within his circle of fellow pro snowboarders. Ferguson won silver medals in the halfpipe events at both X Games Aspen and the Burton U.S. Open this season, but before either of those triumphs, he won Danny Davis’ Peace Park, an event where the riders themselves decide the victor. The Inertia caught up with the Elder Ferg to talk about Peace Park, main event riding, tales from the X Games Blizzardpipe (this year’s event was shortened to one round due to weather) and more:
Peace Park kind of kicks off the event season for a lot of riders, so start by taking me through that experience. Why is it different than other contests?
Peace Park is a really great event, man. All the homies come down to Wyoming and we just snowboard on this wicked set up for three or four days. The course is the biggest difference. No cookie cutters here. It’s this crazy super-imaginative course with all different kinds of jumps, a quarterpipe, a 13-foot halfpipe that becomes a 22-foot halfpipe halfway down with a channel gap in between, and a skateboard style bowl at the bottom. The possibilities of what you can do on the course are endless.
The fact that the event winner is decided by all the snowboarders there is the biggest reason it’s one of my favorite events. It’s the fact that the dudes you were just riding with all week have decided that you ripped the course the best. It’s a super-sick feeling.
Now how does that compare to the household name competitions like X Games, Dew Tour, the Opens (U.S. & Euro), etc?
It’s way different everywhere else. It’s the regular contest vibe. This is two runs; you fall on those two runs and you don’t even get a real score for what you did before that happens. You’re last, not even. But that happens when you’re trying to do the best you possibly can. I don’t want to go do a lame run that I know I’m going to land and score 5th or 6th. I want to do the gnarliest run I can do and maybe get first; or maybe get last. But at Peace Park, you just ride all day, every day. There’s no run. Everyone is just always watching. Judging wise though, getting a big score from a judge in a heavy contest after you just put down a monster run is a good feeling too.
Speaking of falling in events, there were a lot of spills during X Games Blizzardpipe 2016. But you were able to make it down the first time and got a medal for it. From the riders perspective, was there any hint of what was coming?
We didn’t really know that the blizzard was coming at all. The weather was a little weird in practice. It was a little warm, and misting. In terms of halfpipe, as long as it’s not full on raining, that’s actually a good thing because the moisture in the air makes both sides of the wall softer, which gives them more grip. That helps when you’re trying to really get it with your edges instead of the wall being a scary block of ice. But then it slowly got colder. I thought the wall was going to get icy but it never did, and then snow just started pummeling us. Sheet after sheet of crazy snow.
Once the snow and the competition began, what was your mindset? Did the weather make you go a little safer? How do you view the medal? It’s your first at X Games, but not without controversy.
Maybe it should have, but no it didn’t. I was trying to do a big run. I was trying to do one of the best runs I could do. I went for it and I landed, which not everyone did that first run. To me personally, the way it went down was kind of a bummer. It’s not how I pictured winning my first medal. People around me have been like “Hey man, everybody got one run and nobody knew; it’s still a contest. That happens in snowboarding.” But I wanted to win legit. I don’t want to podium with an asterisk next to the event. But every event I enter, I just want to put down a sick run. If I do that, and the judges like what they see, awesome. But knowing I threw my best is what’s most important to me.
You sound just like Danny Davis, which makes sense since he’s an inspiration of yours. How long has that been the case?
Since I was eight or nine, when I would watch snowboard cuts and events, I always felt like Dan stood out. I remember watching him and the whole Friends crew. They were always stoked, always having fun at the top of the pipe. They were funny, they were goofy, and they were having fun snowboarding, even in contests. I always liked that. Sometimes you watch Danny and you don’t know if he’s going to land or not. He lives on that edge, and that gets you going when you’re watching him ride. He’s super focused on style and over the last couple years he’s been changing halfpipe riding, so he continues to be an inspiration today.
What is the Danny Davis effect, as you understand it, in terms of how he’s affecting progression in event snowboarding?
He’s found success doing things like going switch on flips; no one goes backwards on flips and it’s so hard to do. It’s cool to see the stuff he’s doing. I’ve been trying to add some switch tricks to my own riding lately; that’s definitely something I grabbed from him. The success that he’s having with a stylistic focus is encouraging. It’s encouraging to see that he can do a switch method with sick style and get rewarded a shit ton for it. Because that is hard, and no one does that. You should get rewarded for that. So it’s good to be getting love from the judges as opposed to the next biggest, dangerous trick.
What’s your relationship with Davis today?
We’ve been hanging out a lot more over the last couple seasons. We were roommates at the Burton U.S. Open, so that was pretty dope. Dan’s the man. Really funny, really down to earth. Pretty much everything I expected him to be from watching him. He’s a very genuine dude. I can pick his brain about anything but really it’s never a specific question; I learn from all the conversations we have naturally. I’ve never felt the need to ask.
Brothers in action.
Do you feel like you play that role for your younger brother Gabe in terms of snowboarding knowledge?
We’ve always been and will always just be brothers on a mountain. We push each other a little for sure. I’ll get on him if I don’t think he’s going hard enough or I think he can do better, but man, he’s a naturally talented snowboarder. He does not need too much of me or anyone else in his ear. He’s a very good snowboarder. Honestly, it’s getting tougher to establish who the better Ferg is. But for now, I think I’ve still got him. Still.
How do you want snowboarding to progress?
Personally, I don’t ever want to do a Triplecork in the halfpipe. People have done them; Shaun’s done one and I think one of the Japanese kids did too. I know Shaun really messed himself up attempting one. I think I could maybe do it, but it’s messed up that I have to if I want to podium or win an event. There’s so much more you can do in the halfpipe besides add another flip. Those big white walls are blank canvases man. You can carve the pipe- slash and turn on it like it’s a wave, butter on it, come in switch and alternate the direction of your spins. You can flip up the pipe, you can flip down the pipe, so much stuff that people just don’t do. And a lot of that is because of the crazy double tricks. But I think you’d see more creativity if those cork tricks weren’t such a staple.
Are these the things that you are working on bringing to the halfpipe more so than spins and flips?
I’m definitely trying to learn all of the things I’m talking about here, but that stuff is hard. You got to really dedicate a lot of time to the halfpipe. For me, this year I spent most of my time trying to film. I’ve got multiple video projects I’m trying to be a part of so whenever I’m not at an event, I’m not really in a halfpipe. I’m riding mountains, building jumps and kickers, riding snowmobiles and all that stuff. So it’s tough to progress when you only have contest practices to try new things. But starting next season, I’ll be focusing on the Olympics, so it’ll be crunch time in the halfpipe through 2018.
In your perfect world, what does the future hold for Ben Ferguson the snowboarder?
I want to do this contest thing for a little bit. There are some things, some big things, which I do want to win. I want to win the U.S. Open, I want to win the X Games, I want to go to the Olympics and do the best I can. Ideally, I’d love to win all of them. But after that, I want to just go ride backcountry and just film. Just be like Travis Rice and those guys. Just ride powder boards. I will ride until I’m satisfied, but a couple or three really successful seasons could do it for me.
