Youngster Alex Schlopy has been gaining ground and rising through the freeskiing ranks for some time, but this year was his banner breakout season. Young Schlopy takes a minute during his downtime to chat about this summer, JOSS and being the anti-woman drug.

Freeskier: Hey Alex, What's going on, where are you in the world?

Alex Schlopy: Hey! Right now I'm just hanging out back home in Park City which is nice after a good long year of skiing!

FS: You kind of had a breakout year, what was the highlight?

AS: Well, it was so unexpected for me — things just started to happen and I just got more and more stoked. But nothing can match how stoked I was when Wallisch called me up (while I was buying a pair of shoes) and told me I was in consideration for JOSS.

FS: That's not an everyday call. What did you do differently with your skiing to blow up and win things like Dumont Cup?

AS: The main thing I had to focus on was not getting psyched out before events, so I worked on keeping skiing fun, no matter what, no matter how much pressure I was under. It really made me ski better, which I guess led to those things.

FS: What does your mom think of her little 17-yr-old angel out there in the big world filled with loose women, drugs and all kinds of dangers?

AS: Well as you described… I am an angel, so she knows I would NEVER do anything she wouldn't do, but really she understands what I do, since she was an Olympic racer. She knows the ropes, which is really helpful. Plus I'm anti-women's drug.

FS: There isn't a lot of skiing in Park City right now. Got any plans to ski this summer?

AS: As a matter of fact I do! I'm holding off for a couple weeks so I can get my moto craze out of my system, then I'm planning on heading to Hood to shred some jumps before going down to New Zealand to hangout with the Wells bros, and keep skiing and hopefully do some events down there.

FS: What's better, Hood or New Zealand? 

AS: What's tastier, chocolate or vanilla?

FS: Obviously vanilla, so I guess that is New Zealand then?

AS: Who said New Zealand was Vanilla? [laughs] Both are awesome, but I haven't been to either since I was around 13 or 14.

FS: Fair enough. What was your favorite part of Sweden, if JOSS was a highlight for you this year?

AS: I'd say the best part was hanging out with all of the people I've idolized and watched in movies for so long… just being a part of that was such a cool experience. Oh and not to mention hitting scary huge jumps that were built perfectly!

FS: You mentioned moto-ing. That's the new toy for skiers I hear. AS: I guess it is! Anyone who has owned or rode a dirt bike knows it's addicting and loads of fun!

FS: I also heard you got to meet Julia Mancuso [US Olympic racing medalist] at a Spyder shoot… how was that?

AS: Oh, you heard that? [laughs] Well yeah, her, Steve Nyman (Blake Nyman's brother) and I were in the hot tub one night and EVERYONE seemed to think it was a big deal… especially my Dad.

FS: Were they trying to persuade you to the dark side of skiing… racing?

AS: Nope! When I was eight I was in gymnastics spinning and flipping off of everything, they knew they couldn't tame the beast so they set me free on some twin tips, thank god! [laughs]

FS: When was the last time you were in a gymnastics gym? Hit up the pommel horse and the rings for some nostalgia?

AS: I still go from time to time to polish up on some old moves, and work on my parkour skills… I was never good on the pommel horse, though.

FS: You're still super young, are you looking forward to your 18th birthday so you can buy cigarettes and Hustlers?

AS: Actually, I'm more so looking forward to being able to sign my own waivers and be a free man, but those things are nice, too!

FS: That's true. Last question: What was the worst part about the Icelandic Volcano that imprisoned you in Sweden this year? 

AS: Here we go! My travels to get home: start off with Schmuck from NS and I catching a taxi to the airport in Ã…re to go to Stockholm, plane was cancelled. Eight hours later we were right where we started from in a train station. Caught a train to Stockholm (8 hrs.) slept three hrs. Flight from Stockholm to Zurich, Zurich to Toronto, Toronto to Chicago, Chicago to Salt Lake… home! Yeah it was hectic, that's life when you're stuck in a Volcano. I guess.