{"id":801695,"date":"2019-11-23T18:12:38","date_gmt":"2019-11-24T01:12:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/?p=374921"},"modified":"2019-11-23T18:12:38","modified_gmt":"2019-11-24T01:12:38","slug":"red-gerard-brings-a-you-get-out-what-you-put-in-mentality-into-new-backcountry-contest-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/local-news\/red-gerard-brings-a-you-get-out-what-you-put-in-mentality-into-new-backcountry-contest-season\/","title":{"rendered":"Red Gerard brings a \u2018you get out what you put in\u2019 mentality into new backcountry, contest season"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Olympic gold medalist and 2019 Burton U.S. Open slopestyle champion Red Gerard hits the top of the triple-jump line at Breckenridge Ski Resort’s Park Lane during a stop home in Summit County for the Mountain Dew Snow Dance event Saturday in Breckenridge.<\/strong>
Courtesy O Hello Media<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

BRECKENRIDGE \u2013 After the season, after his 2018 Olympic gold medal stardom<\/a>, Red Gerard has settled into a balance and harmony between backcountry and contest snowboarding \u2014 between personal life and business life.<\/p>\n

At the core, Red has succeeded in what is the ultimate snowboarder\u2019s dream: making your business life symbiotic with personal interests. Over breakfast at Breckenridge Ski Resort during Mountain Dew\u2019s Snow Dance event on Saturday, Red spoke to the latest projects as examples of that healthy and happy work-life balance as well as the lessons he learned in the last year<\/p>\n

When you consider several variables, one can make the argument Red accomplished more and grew more in 2018-19 than in 2017-18. Even considering the fact that in 2018 Red, at the age of 17, became the youngest ever American male to win a gold medal at an individual event in Winter Olympics history.<\/p>\n

Now 19, Red is most proud of the \u201cRed\u2019s Backyard\u201d hike-to-jib park concept that will open later this winter at several Woodward locations at POWDR resort\u2019s, including at Woodward Copper at Copper Mountain Resort<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The idea is one that came from the Gerard family, a fun-loving and humble cast of seven siblings, father Conrad and mother Jen. Red said it was Jen who worked with him on the Red\u2019s Backyard idea, as the Summit County-based family felt it\u2019d be cool to bring the spirit of the family\u2019s actual backyard rail lines on the slope of Ptarmagin Peak near Silverthorne to the public in a simple, fun hangout zone at a lower cost than daunting $200 lift tickets.<\/p>\n

At the top of the park, snowboarders and skiers will be able to store their backpack, grab a rake and be part of the park\u2019s community.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe you\u2019re not making them massive,\u201d Red said of the Red\u2019s Backyard idea, \u201cmaybe you\u2019re not making them for professionals. You\u2019re making them for kids so it\u2019s appealing. And that\u2019s my biggest thing. That\u2019s why we started the Red\u2019s Backyard thing: we\u2019re trying to make it appealing to everyone else.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re trying to base it off basically the actual backyard, just better, obviously,\u201d Red added. \u201cAll of our (homemade) rails are horse fences and stuff and pretty sketchy. But all of the rails at Copper and Killington and Park City are going to be real rails, all painted red, and stuff. The main three rails will be a down bar, a drop-drop-drop rail and an up rail.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for the actual Gerard backyard, Red said the small dirt lips he, his brothers and their pro snowboarder friends build each season benefited from Conrad getting his hands on a tractor over the summer. In recent days, Red said his older brother and snowboard filmmaker Kai and their good friend and pro snowboarder Nik Baden of Steamboat Springs have been putting in work to get the backyard ready to ride. They did so for the first time Friday.<\/p>\n

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LIVE: Here at Mountain Dew Snow Dance at Breckenridge Ski Resort, a ride up and lap off of the Colorado SuperChair with Olympic gold medalist Red Gerard, his brother and filmmaker Kai Gerard and pro snowboarder Nik Baden\u2026<\/p>\n

Posted by Summit Daily News<\/a> on Saturday, November 23, 2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

For Baden, it was his turn to help put work into the backyard. In past years, close friends of the Gerard family, like Olympic silver medalist Kyle Mack<\/a>, have been tasked with manicuring the snow to be ready to ride off of the old moto-bike-engine-powered rope tow.<\/p>\n

Last year, Red took the work that goes into his backyard to a much bigger playground: the backcountry. Red\u2019s work and riding in the backcountry is showcased in the new film \u201cJoy,\u201d which was first pitched to him as a movie where three Olympic medalists \u2014 including Sage Kotsenburg and Ben Ferguson \u2014 take their terrain park skills to natural slopes.<\/p>\n

But once the trio was out in the wilderness, Red said he never really thought about that Olympic connection. At heart, they were three friends having fun building jumps and landing tricks in the backcountry. And if there\u2019s anything he learned from his Olympic slopestyle gold-medalist elder Kotsenburg and his longtime friend Ferguson, it was \u201cyou get out what you put in.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was their quote,\u201d Red said. \u201cI could tell Sage had at the beginning of the year this look in his eye where he was going to make a good (film) part. But I had no clue it was going to be that good. Ben and Sage, they completely went nuts in that movie and had nothing but focus. \u2018You get out what you put in.\u2019 That\u2019s so true. It was really inspiring to watch.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was so much of a learning experience,\u201d Red added of last winter, \u201cand I\u2019m honestly just psyched for this season.\u201d<\/p>\n

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As for this season, Red said his championship at last year\u2019s Burton U.S. Open was proof positive that backcountry riding for \u201cJoy\u201d helped his competition riding in terms of style and creativity. He said he now looks at features different on a slopestyle course.<\/p>\n

He\u2019ll be competing in big air this year, though slopestyle is his preferred discipline. And he still loves contest riding as much as ever despite the occasionally exhausting media attention and pressure of the U.S. contest scene. But he\u2019ll still be spending time in the backcountry, as he said another film is in the works to be released around this time next year.<\/p>\n

If time in the backcountry taught him anything, it was the value of building the foundation for the eventual glory.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes it\u2019s like \u2018the grass is always greener,’\u201d Red said. \u201cI\u2019m in contests (thinking), \u2018I wish I was filming right now.\u2019 And then when I\u2019m doing backcountry snowboarding it\u2019s, \u2018I wish I was doing a contest right now.\u2019 I don\u2019t know, it\u2019s really cool when you do get a good trick out of the backcountry snowboarding just because it\u2019s like, you built that jump for 10 hours, a day, two days \u2014 whatever it is. And for you to walk away from that jump with a trick is something nice.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s your jump,\u201d Red continued. \u201cYou did that. You built that. You earned that trick.\u201d<\/p>\n

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LIVE: Red and Kai Gerard and Nik Baden look on at Mountain Dew Snow Dance slope jam comp at Breckenridge Ski Resort\u2019s Park Lane at today\u2019s Mountain Dew Snow Dance\u2026<\/p>\n

Posted by Summit Daily News<\/a> on Saturday, November 23, 2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

via:: Summit Daily<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Olympic gold medalist and 2019 Burton U.S. Open slopestyle champion Red Gerard hits the top of the triple-jump line at Breckenridge Ski Resort’s Park Lane during a stop home in Summit County for the Mountain Dew Snow Dance event Saturday in Breckenridge.Courtesy O Hello Media BRECKENRIDGE \u2013 After the season, after his 2018 Olympic gold […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[99],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-801695","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-01 23:25:51","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSMT The Mountain","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/801695","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=801695"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/801695\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=801695"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=801695"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=801695"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}