Vitals:

Age: 21
Home: Bend, OR
Sponsors: Lib Tech, Dakine, Dragon Alliance, Blackstrap, Hydro Flask, Mt. Bachelor, Skjersaa’s Ski Shop
Film credits: Twenty_PBP, Burn_4BI9, All Damn Day_4BI9

In Poor Boyz Productions’ latest flick, Twenty, you’ll see featured athletes such as Hall, Fujas, Mahre, Carlson, Auclair and Fostvedt, but 21-year-old Lucas Wachs may be the athlete you remember. Wachs is as comfortable skiing backcountry lines as he is ripping up the terrain park or stacking shots in the streets. After spending the summer coaching at Windells Camp and painting ski lifts across the West, the young gun took a few minutes to chat with us about his recent success.

Q&A

You grew up shredding Mt. Bachelor with snowboarders Max and Gus Warbington. Why’d you choose skiing over snowboarding?

I don’t know. It just felt right, I guess. That’s what I started out with, and I snowboard too, but I like skiing more. I’ve realized that you can get to a lot more places with skis on. Snowboarding is super fun too. I have a setup and I’ll ride. I just think that there’s also more room for progression in skiing.

How did growing up at Bachelor help to define your style?

It had a huge influence on me, and I haven’t really realized it until the past couple of seasons when I’ve gotten out and experienced other places. Learning how to ride natural transitions, find gaps and do tricks off of wind lips has helped me so much. I’ll ride the mountain more than the park when I’m at Bachelor because the whole place is a terrain park. They also have big-mountain stuff, too, that’s helped me a lot. Hitting the cornice
up there, scaring myself. I remember my first time doing the cornice was a huge thing for me. Dropping that was really crazy.

You say the entire mountain is a terrain park at Bachelor, but on your website you say, “the world is your terrain park.” How so?

It’s all about finding ways to be creative in everyday life. When I’m skiing a bunch on a trip and working hard, I always like to have a day where I can relax and do some drawing and reading and shift away. I’m always thinking about skiing, but taking my focus off of it and getting more outside influence is important. Life is more than just skiing.

Poor Boyz cinematographer Pete Alport also calls Bachelor home. What’s your relationship like with him?

I’ve been watching movies that he’s filmed for years, starting with Rage Films and then since he’s started filming for Poor Boyz. I’ve been watching his stuff for probably at least seven years. Four or five years ago, he reached out to me and asked me to come film with him at Bachelor. Since then we’ve been filming together, and he’s the one who got me into the Poor Boyz crew, and he’s the one who’s made a lot of stuff happen.

What was it like filming with Poor Boyz and being part of the twentieth movie with legends of PBP past?

It was a trip, man. I was definitely passionate about putting out the best footage that I possibly could, knowing it was going to be up with Pep’s, Tanner’s, Karl’s and all of those guys. It was an interesting formula that we had filming. Most of the season it was just Jasper Newton and I. It was cool because it was really easy to just bang stuff out with just two of us.

Was there any shot that was included that gave you a lot of trouble?

Yeah, it was a double under flip—taquito flip—which Nicky Keefer actually did first I believe. I was trying it in the powder up on “Grandma’s Hill” on Mt. Baker. Jasper and I built three jumps, and I was stacking for two days. The snow wasn’t very good either, so I was falling really hard for another two days. Then the third day, the snow was even worse, but I finally landed it and it was a crazy feeling. It was definitely the most work I’ve ever put into a trick.

Whether you’re in the backcountry, streets or park, you’re doing it all. What’s your favorite type of skiing?

I definitely like backcountry the most because you can always learn new things. It’s always a learning process. Park skiing definitely helps you get your tricks ready for the backcountry. Backcountry skiing just helps you become a strong skier, and urban skiing makes you tough because it’s just so brutal sometimes.

This year is a pretty big one for you. Knowing that, what are your goals moving forward in your ski career?

Moving forward, I’m going to try to purchase a snowmobile and ride bigger lines and definitely try to just progress in the mountains.

Related: Lucas Wachs performs aerial assault in the backcountry and terrain park in 2013-14 edit