The life of a pro athlete is usually a hectic.
fast-paced, physically draining time. One
minute you're flipping burgers, and the next
you're getting paid to travel around the country
doing what you love to do. In between flights to
and from Utah, I sat down with Chris
Engelsman to find out where he's been and
how he got there.
Why don't you tell us a little about yourself,
starting with your childhood?
My childhood. Well, let's see. I played on the
shores of Lake Michigan a lot. Growing up just
down the street from a huge lake was a lot of fun.
There were many sand dunes around. We would
run and jump off of them, doing flips, landing on our
heads. It was all good. Then we would run into
the water and get all the sand off. I used to play
lots of sports when I was a kid, but then I got a
skateboard and that was it, everything changed. I
started skating everyday. Then the skateboard.
turned into a snowboard. I quit basketball so that I
could snowboard. I didn't feel like getting yelled at
anymore. I would just go out and have fun.
Are there any skaters that you look up to or
that may have influenced your style?
I guess back in the day, Chris Miller, but I'm not
nearly as smooth as him. Maybe Kevin Young's as
smooth as him. Sean Sheffey was an influence to
me. Skating with him in Michigan was fun. A
friend of mine, Jason Bosch from back home, was
an influence because he was smooth. Just smooth
skaters. I guess
Tell us a little about your clothing company.
Well, it started a while ago. It was me and my
buddies that I skated with everyday. We would
write E-Tree on our skateboards then eventually
made E-Tree T-shirts. The finger lickin' smokin'
chicken. It had a chicken with a hand for a wing. It
was smoking a cigarette and printed upside down.
All of my friends thought it was crazy. It was good.
The shirt is now a classic. I made a lot of hats. I
made this, I made that, whatever I wanted I made.
Before obtaining a clothing sponsor, I would make
my own winter jackets and pants. Selling those
kept me going when I was a poor kid and had just
moved to Colorado. Now E-Tree has become more
of a nickname for me than anything else. I've been
too busy to keep up with E-Tree, but now my
mom's going to start sewing some stuff for me.
So, should we look for a summer line?
There's always a summer line.
Snowboarding seems to take up most of your
time now. Are you content with the way the
season has been going?
Yeah, it's good. I can't complain. I ride lots of
powder, good halfpipes and have a lot of fun with
my friends. My only complaint is not having enough
time to go to Michigan to visit friends and family
more often. If I really wanted to, I could probably
make the time. I'm just having too much fun
snowboarding and travelling with everyone.
What type of terrain do you like to ride?
Pretty much everything. It all depends on the
snow. I don't like to limit myself to one thing. It's
all about fast cruisers, drops, technical lines, half
tube and landing on your head. It's all good.
Your sponsors seem to be behind you one
hundred percent.
Yes. K2 kicks ass. They have good products.
You tell them what to make, they usually make it,
and I seem to like it, so it all works out right. You
talk to the engineers at K2, and they get stoked.
Giving them feedback from riding their boards
stokes them, which in turn stokes yourself, so that's
pretty cool. It's a pretty good deal travelling around
testing products. Dragon Optics is another one of
my sponsors. NFA is the clothing company I ride
for. They make cool stuff. I like it a lot. They're
down to earth guys. Shin, Mikey Orr, Savard;
they're all cool guys. Every once in a while we all
get together and ride.
We all know the rock stars, who are some of
the lesser known rulers out there?
Paul Elkins, Eric Amold is one of them, this kid
Josh Rosen; he's a ripper. I just got to ride with
him. Those are some lesser known rippers. There
are a lot of them. Too many to name. There are
about 5 million people out there who rule, and you
can see them at any contest or event where they
are all gathered together. There are always people
going off, you know. It's like, who's that? Ripper
number 532.
Any closing comments before you head off to
the airport?
I really wish I was staying here at home in Utah.
The snow is good. It's a lot of fun.
Bouncing around in the bumps, Chris Engelsman
grabs a grasser in lovely Colorado.
cold snap P
Chris Engelsman
Words and photos by Nate Christenson
DR