What can I say about Joe Schuster? Canadian rock star, darn good skier, and an overall outstanding dude. There, I think that about sums it up.

Did a little Skyping with the man a while back, and here's what he had to say about his 2010-2011 season.

Where are you from and when did you start skiing?

Vernon, BC. Probably started skiing about 9 years ago.

Who are you current sponsors?

Eira, Liberty, Kombi, Scott, and Voleurz.

I hear you went on a few pretty epic trips earlier in the season with Eira. Tell me about that.

Yeah well to start it off, Eira flew myself Chug [Ian Cosco] and Pete [Olenick], the best teammates ever, out to Toronto to their headquarters where we got to meet everyone, check out all the gear and go to the strippers real quick before we hopped on the plane down to Chile. We spent about ten days there with them shooting for their new catalog.

The snow conditions were super bad but we made the most of it and got some cool shots and had an awesome time, especially since it was the first time to South America for all three of us. Later in the fall we went back out to Toronto for a sales meeting which was rad, just hanging with all the reps and sales people within the company. Everyone there is awesome, so it made doing a sales meeting super fun.

What else did you get up to at the beginning of this season?

Pretty much just Colorado! Drove down with Chug and [Matt] Margetts just in time for Thanksgiving, and then hung out around Keystone and Breckenridge everyday until Christmas. It's just so good there that it would be hard to go anywhere else.

I saw you crushing it in practice at the Denver Big Air, and the next thing I know you had pulled out of the event with a knee injury, what happened?

Well, I wanted to try something different because I had seen everyone there doing forward doubles, so I thought I would try just a straight up cork 10 which I haven't done since I was probably sixteen. I came out of the trick when I thought I should be landing and then realized I still had five or ten feet to drop, and just over rotated and landed sideways. I ended up tearing my MCL on my right knee which really sucked, but I guess thats just part of the game and lucky for me I don't need surgery. It is only supposed to be a six week recovery, which isn't that bad at all considering I thought my season was going to be over.

What have you been doing since then to get back to 100%?

I spent about the first ten days on crutches, sitting around in lots of pain which sucked. But once I got past that point I starting going to the gym doing whatever I could just to try and stay somewhat active. It took me over two weeks to be able to ride the bike, and since then I have just been going to the gym everyday, riding the bike, getting movement back and all that stuff. Since I got back to Canada I have taken only three days off at the gym, and I haven't even partied once since my injury.

As an athlete pushing to break into the world's top tier of freeskiers, what do injuries like this do in terms of discouraging you, motivating you, etc?

Well they definitely suck, I have been at home just watching everyone at Dew Tour and World Champs on TV just getting down and killing it so hard. Then I talk to my friends and they're all doing pow trips now and everything, so just hanging at home being bored by myself sucks knowing that all my bros are having so much fun out there. But as far as motivation goes, it's huge in that sense as well.

I thought my season was over for sure so when I figured out it was only a partial tear, I just told myself that I need to get strong and not fu*k around with my rehab, so that I can go skiing as soon as I am ready. Plus it has also made me appreciate the days that I do get to ski. Before, it was always just another day on the hill, and now I seriously cant wait to get back out there and shred.

Plans for the rest of the season?

Hopefully I'll be skiing by early to mid March, so I will probably go back to CO and shred around there for a couple weeks and just try and get everything back. Then Ill be heading out to Maine for the Dumont Cup at the end of the month, and after that either back to CO or go to Whistler and shoot some pow before WSI. Not too sure yet, I haven't got that far ahead, but either way I am so stoked to be going skiing.

What's up with the bleached hair?

Well I did it a while ago with Bone [Justin Dorey] when we were in Vernon partying one night this fall. We just decided late at night that we should do something different and bleach our hair, so we did and it looked amazing. After that Chug did his as well. But later he shaved it off like a pussy. Bone still has his, but it kind of faded, so it doesn't look as good as it first did, but I'm sure he will do it again. This time it needs to be platinum like mine.

Vernon, or the Playboy Mansion?

Well Vernon has been super pimp lately, just hanging out here with all the meatheads at the gym and all, but believe it or not, I'm going to have to go with Playboy Mansion. Oh, but wait, I heard on the news the other day that there was a huge disease break out at the mansion, and there was something like one hundred people affected by it. So, maybe not?

Coke or Pepsi?

Coke if you're locked in a laundry room, Pepsi if you're… well no, just Coke.

Cowboys or Indians?

I would pretty much always say cowboys in this situation, but lately I have been really into those head pieces that Indians have that run down the side of their backs with all the feathers and sh*t, so I'm going to go with Indians.

Any Shout Outs?

For sure. My sponsors, my family, and most of all my idiot friends who make skiing so damn fun.