Mark Carter - always relaxed either on-hill or off.Mark Carter is the man. A down home country boy known for stepping it up big in the mountains. A regular companion of super shred Travis Rice, Carter can often be found sending it, be it at his home resort of Jackson Hole or exotic locales like New Zealand and Alaska. Between his busy schedule Mark found time to head to Snowbird last week to compete in The North Face Masters, finishing first among 85 competitors. Be it on snow or on his family's Wyoming cattle ranch, Mr. Carter knows how to keep it real and keep it fun.

By James Sullivan

Pro File: Mark Carter

Mark, congrats on The North Face Masters win!

Thanks! yeah I was definitely stoked. I don't do a lot of competitions but The North Face has been supporting me so I figured I'd go down and support them and check out the comp.

Tell us about the weekend.

Yeah it was a crazy weekend. We got there on Friday and it starting puking, nuking, and the contest was on hold for two days.

Who where you there with?

It was me and my crew from Jackson: Travis Rice, Willie McMillon and the whole Bluebird crew and we just kinda shredded pow and had Kurt Wastell to guide us around the mountain, which was pretty stellar. So by Monday everyone felt like they had already won because we had such a good weekend.

How did you find The North Face Masters generally?

I was stoked to check it out. Because of the delays it was just one run, which made it all or nothing, which was actually pretty dope. It was cool, the venue was setup good and we had a bunch of snow to blow in there.

Mark sends it at The North Face Masters

We heard there was some avi danger?

Yeah the ski patrollers were working overtime to keep everything and everyone safe. They didn't even open the venue the second day.

So how was your run?

Yeah, I ran 33rd luckily. I didn't really have a line picked out, was just gonna wing it and snowboard and everything worked out. I just rode really fast and fluid and landed all my cliffs, got to the bottom and was pumped.

Thoughts on the format?

I think it's a really cool thing what North Face is doing with the comp. Just getting away form the park and getting into the mountains. There's a lot of people that just want to ride and aren't into icy kickers. After all shredding a powder lap isn't all that bad!

As a sponsored athlete appearing in big time snowboard movies, what was your impression competing with amateur riders?

I was definitely stoked. It's cool to see the public going against the pros and vice-versa and you never know what's gonna happen. For example I didn't know some of the top finishers and it was cool to see them step up.

Carter popping a sweet air in his poppy TNF gear.

Aside from the pro athletes how does The North Face Masters compare to other big mountain events like The Natural Selection?

Well of course the Natural Selection is invite only for the top pros in the world, but with the open format of The North Face Masters it changes things. There were 85 men's riders and there were no buffed out kickers to hit. It was big mountain oriented, not too freestyle or too many manicured takeoffs to throw 720s off of, but it was cool.

How about the pow factor on the course?

Well with the Natural Selection they close the venue for two weeks whereas with this the patrollers ran a lot of avi control and they had to get in there and manage it a bit, but I did my run and it was sick.

Any thoughts on how would you improve the event?

I'd like to see them close it down for a week or two ahead of time and not allow anyone in. Also now they open it up for people to slide through once to scope their line whereas ideally you just scope it from the bottom, take a mental picture and go through it without knowing, which I think adds that extra element.

How bout Snowbird as a venue - as a Jackson Hole local what was your impression of the Bird?

It was actually my first time there. Snowbird was sick. Unfortunately I didn't get to ride the whole mountain because it was super deep and the visibility was not great. What I did get to ride was steep in fast and I like that. I'm a bit biased though, nothing compares to Jackson - haha!

Will you be at the other North Face Masters events?

I won't be able to go to the next one at Crystal Mountain because I'll be in Europe filming, but hopefully I'll be able to go to the event at Kirkwood. It was sweet to do the event, I got a dope Katana sword!

Yeah the sword! You can put it on the mantle next to your buffalo head trophy (from Natural Selection).

Yeah I got the buffalo skull painted by local Jackson artist Ryan Heyworth and was pretty much the best trophy ever, but the Katana sword - I'm digging it. It's not some cheezy-ass sword, either; it's razor sharp - I can cut my snowboard in half with this thing!

Maybe add it to your gun collection?

Totally...a guy can never have enough weapons! Stock up!

Mark atop the podium with his "sweet" katana blade.

What are your filming plans for the rest of the season?

I'm filming for the Bluebird movie, which is coming out next fall and I'm working with Travis Rice and the Brain Farm crew for their two year project. Also going over with TGR to Europe to break it up. Always good to get some trips in. Hopefully put some solid video parts together.

Last time we talked was at The North Face athlete summit - have you had the chance to ride with any of The North Face athletes this winter?

Yeah actually early season style I was in Tahoe with (TNF skier) Dana Flair for a week just shredding. Dana is awesome.

How's the TNF gear holding up for you?

I can't say enough about the gear and the whole North Face program. Hands down it's the best outerwear sponsor there is; everything from tents to sleeping bags; it's the best gear you can possibly be in when you're out in the elements all day. And the fit and the cuts and the colors are dope.

Kinda like a family over there?

Yeah it's pretty rare. I just know everybody. They bring athletes to design meetings and they really care about the input of the athletes. It's awesome.

Does that mean all the cowboys working on the Carter Ranch are outfitted?

Haha - yeah totally! My brother and my dad are in the gear. They're using it this winter while it's freezing cold and they're out checking the cows. It works well on the ranch, which is pretty rare because we beat shit up out there.

It's the ultimate test!

Yeah - big time.

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