Interview: Nate Deschenes
Photos: Scott Sullivan

If you didn’t know any better it would be all too easy to mistake Dan Brisse for your average righteous dude, maybe a carpenter who fishes with his wife on the weekends or something. Down to earth, clean cut and straight forward, Dan is all of the things many pro riders are not, which in a sense makes him so likeable. However, if you have ever seen him snowboard you would notice that he is downright nasty. Beyond his ability to demolish everything from urban rails to backcountry kickers is a focus that is unlike most in the industry––this is what separates a true professional from those on the cusp or the countless who fade away. In the words of Mark Carter, “Dan is driven unlike anyone else I know. He is the only guy I have seen chucking double-corks in the backcountry other than Travis Rice.” In short, Brisse knows what he wants. I spoke with him a week ago en route to Canada were he plans to practice all summer at Camp of Champions.

This Minnesota rail is no match for Dan and his Stairmaster

Let’s begin with your winter. What went down?

This year I was able to be a part of Absinthe Films and their new movie Neverland which was amazing and very exciting for me.

I started the winter off in SLC and in a two-week period I hit some awesome urban features that should make the cut in the film. After living here for six years it is kind of hard finding new things in the city but we did, and there is definitely a few things I did I’m pretty sure haven’t been hit. After that we went to Minnesota for six days and nailed it there as well. We had great weather and all of our stuff lined up as far as what we wanted to hit.

Who did you go out there with?

It was me, Bodie Miller, and Kale Zima with Scott Sullivan shooting photos and Shane filming. We had a really solid trip…nonstop. Up till four am grab a few hours sleep and get back on it early in the morning because we knew that we only had a short time to get all of these things done. I had all of these spots locked into my GPS so the was no searching, it was just from one spot to the next, nonstop.

You are from out there right?

Yep, I grew up in Minnesota and I knew all these spots that I always wanted to do but never had the chance. So when I would go back in the summer I would just take a couple weeks to scout out these different things and then lock them into my GPS. When you only have five days to get it done looking around just drives me nuts. It’s such a quick winter I need to know where I’m going and what I’m doing so were not wasting everyone’s time.

You had talked with me about that trip earlier this year and said something about a couple of the handrails being destroyed, like literally destroyed.

Yeah! Haha! You mean the ones that were ripped up and torn apart. It was crazy, ya know all of these spots weren’t secret, some spots had been hit before and been in local videos and whatnot but a couple that we went to had the rail actually cut out. Not the whole rail but just certain sections of it. Like there was this really popular down flat down and the whole middle part was hacked out by someone. It looked like some other snowboarders had done it and then for some reason didn’t want anyone else to so they just destroyed it. Then we came to another rail where someone had personally knobbed the top section of this rail, not the kind of thing the city would do ya know. It took a special tool to take them off, so it’s like these were the only guys who could hit it because they had the key.

Really?

That’s ridiculous.

It was kinda funny but a bummer at the same time. I mean, we all want to snowboard and have fun, so for someone to destroy something is kind of the opposite of promoting shredding; it was kind of a harsh move. If someone doesn’t want anyone else to hit that spot that’s just too bad, it’s how skateboarding and snowboarding is. I always thought it was cool to go to a spot that you’ve seen before in videos and go there and see what you got. If this is the case now, I think it’s pretty weak. I know I am never going to destroy a rail after I sessioned it for fear of someone else hitting it or one upping me.

Who do you think did it?

Ha! I honestly don’t know. If I did, I would drop some names for sure!

Alright. So back to your winter…

A few days after that I got a call from Justin Hostynek and he told me to get over to Switzerland. You know that trip as well as I do…me , you, Jules Reymond, Sylvain Burborsson, and Gigi Ruf. All said and done, after that trip the biggest thing for me was watching Gigi ride. He’s a master, so fluid and so much skill.

But that one place we went Bosco Gurin …that was nuts! That was some of the most snow I had ever seen in my life.

After Switzerland went to Jackson and hooked up with Travis Rice and Mark Carter which was insane. Those dudes know the area and terrain so well and were just great guys to be shown around by, even on the ski hill. That resort is so steep.

But we were on our sleds most of the time and Travis is a maniac on his snowmobile. Trying to keep up with him just sledding was a rush in itself. It was really cool though heading out to these spots were they filmed those jumps in That’s It That’s All… Just seeing those zones first hand was awesome. Overall, it was unreal. Rice is just an unreal snowboarder with a great personality and Carter is just a wild west man that does what he wants and says what he wants, he’s comedy.

Roof gapping some ruins in Switzerland.

What kind of snowboarding did you guys do? Was it mainly building kickers and stuff like that?

Yeah, it was mainly backcountry jumps but we also hit a lot of things that didn’t take much building, just pat down and send it kind of features. It was actually a lot of fun because it was the first time I was trying tricks off natural stuff like that, plus you don’t have to build and the shots turn out better I think.

That month was the highlight of my winter. In addition to the guys I was with, the weather was consistent. I would snow for a couple days then it would be sunny, then snow again. We would work really hard on those bluebird days and I think it paid off. I really enjoy that... the benefits of working your ass of and getting something great done.

Then back to Salt Lake…

Not a bad day job.

For more jib stuff?

No. Just more of the same, backcountry jumps and whatnot. I like to get my rail stuff out of the way early season, like December and early January, that way I can focus on rounding out my part the rest of the winter when the snow is good. I’m really stoked on both. I like to try and have a good mix of tech urban stuff and good solid backcountry things as well.

It sounds like a busy winter man, plus you did a bunch of contests. I get the feeling you really take pride in what you do. I got a press release or something from Volcom last year saying that you are the hardest working man in snowboarding. Have you heard that before?

Yeah, actually from a few people, which is pretty cool I guess. Billy at Volcom calls me “Blue Collar Brisse”. I just take it fairly seriously. I love snowboarding more than anything and want to stick around for another 10 years ya know!

More speed is probably better than less on this one.

Anything else you’d like to say?

Well, I am stoked to promote Capita. This is one of those companies where I was riding their boards before I was even sponsored by them just because I liked what they stood for. That goes for
Union as well.

Volcom also. Of course I was wearing that when I was a kid and now I’m on their team, which is very cool. They help me out a lot and make a lot of my filming and traveling possible. I use Von Zipper goggles and get stuff from DVS, Nixon and Skullcandy.

More than anything I want to thank Absinthe for having me on board this winter. After so many years of working on parts for smaller productions I feel so lucky to be a part of such a great group of guys that make the best snowboard movies year in and year out. This is my first video part for a big US production company and it’s been such a haul to get to where I am, it almost feels like this is the official start to my career or something. That’s the way I am looking at it.