AS POSTED IN THE NOVEMBER 2011 ISSUE OF FREESKIER.

Words by Nate Abbott | Photos by Chris O'Connell @ June Mountain, CA.

Devin Logan started out as a weekender, driving from New York to Vermont most winter weekends to ski at Mt. Snow. She has moved on from that typical skiing story to spend almost the entire year on the road, competing in both slopestyle and halfpipe events. Although she hasn’t won any of the biggest contests yet, her consistency and talent in both disciplines led her to the top of the 2010-2011 AFP women’s world ranking, both overall and in halfpipe.

With four older siblings, perhaps Logan’s competitive instinct was unavoidable or maybe she is pushed to be the best freestyle skier she can be—and that is simply better than almost any other woman competing today. We caught up with her in New Zealand where she was training and competing in two contests, the Pure NZ Winter Games and the New Zealand Open.

HOW DOES IT FEEL TO BE THE AFP OVERALL AND HALFPIPE CHAMPION FOR THE 2010-2011 SEASON? It feels great. I wasn’t expecting it. I wasn’t even expecting to get into all the competitions I got into. I went to the Grand Prix just thinking I was gonna do that and Dew Tour. I got an X Games spot, and everything just went from there. I was making all the finals, which was a huge goal for me. And it was just a happy ender to the season knowing I’m young and I’m coming after everyone.

ARE THE OTHER WOMEN SKIERS ROLE MODELS OR RIVALS? I look at most of the girl skiers as challenges. I see what they’re doing and I think, “Oh shit, now I need to push this harder.”

CAN YOU BEAT KAYA TURSKI IN SLOPESTYLE THIS YEAR?
Yeah, I believe I can. I’m pushing really hard and learning a lot more things and getting more style into my skiing. I think this year, it’s gonna happen for sure. I don’t want to sound cocky or anything but for sure—it’s gonna go down.

HOW ABOUT SARAH BURKE IN HALFPIPE? Yeah. Definitely. On any given day you can beat anyone. I’m definitely learning a bunch of new stuff in the pipe. Sarah is great at pipe, too. But it’ll happen.

HOW WAS THE ARMADA HIP SESSION AT JUNE MOUNTAIN? It was so much fun. It was the first time I’d ever hit a hip that big before. Those guys [Gus Kenworthy and Jacob Wester] definitely push you, and I definitely went bigger than I thought I would and got some great shots. They’re saying, “That’s sick, now you should do this.” And I did a lot more than I was expecting. I was definitely nervous going into it, not knowing what to expect.

CAN YOU SUCCEED AS A CONTEST SKIER WITHOUT A COACH? That’s a hard question, ’cause you have people like Simon and Gus who are on the U.S. Freeskiing team. They have their own filmers, and they learn from themselves. They watch themselves, and they’re good at coaching themselves. And they’re good enough skiers where they can just tweak something, and they learn it perfectly after that. But for me, I need someone to kick me in the ass a little bit and say, “You gotta do this,” or else I probably wouldn’t push myself as hard.

WERE YOU ALWAYS DOING FREESTYLE? Chris and Sean [Devin’s brothers] did the whole freestyle thing before I was into it. I definitely wanted to be a racer. I had Picabo Street posters on my wall everywhere. But they told me that they’d disown me. And my mom said “no” to me racing because she didn’t want to travel back and forth for races and freestyle. So she just threw me in at a young age. Stoked that she did that. Probably wouldn’t be here right now if I did racing. I’d be out being real intense and everything.

DO YOU FEED OFF YOUR BROTHERS? FIGHT WITH THEM? SUPPORT THEM? All of the above. I feed off them for sure. When I ski with them, I see what they do and I just want to be like them. I fight with them. Chris and me butt heads really hard. At competitions he’ll say, “You should do this.” And I’m like, “I don’t know.” He’ll say, “Stop being a baby.” That’s what brothers and sisters do. But I support them fully. They’re killing it at what they do.

YOUR PARENTS MUST HAVE BEEN VERY SUPPORTIVE.
My dad is a cool guy. He’s really into what we do. He loves it and supports it. He’s kind of crazy at the same time. My mom is pretty down to earth. She lives in Vermont with our dogs and me. But she hangs out by herself now that all the kids are out. I don’t know how she’s keeping sane after five kids. What do you do when you have no one around anymore? She talks to the dogs a lot more. [laughs] They helped us out through thick and thin growing up and put a lot of money and effort into us, and it is paying off.

HAVE YOU TALKED TO YOUR MOM SINCE HURRICANE IRENE PASSED THROUGH VERMONT? I talked to her yesterday. Wilmington got hit really hard. Our whole town was flooded and buildings were taken out on Main Street. She has a candle shop where she makes her own candles. I think it’s done after two years of being open. Our town is destroyed. It’s terrible to see—I was looking at pictures—and going home is gonna be tough. It’s gonna take a real long time to rebuild everything. Really sad to see. I wish I was there right now to help my mom out, but what can you do? I’m just gonna slay it down here for them and win it for them.

AGE: 18
HOMETOWN: Mt. Snow, VT
BIRTHPLACE: Oceanside, NY
SPONSORS: The North Face, Armada, Electric, Skullcandy, U.S. Freesking, Carinthia at Mt. Snow, Girlsonskis.com
RESULTS:
3rd, 2011 Winter X Games Europe, Superpipe, Tignes, FR
2nd, 2011 Winter Dew Tour, Superpipe and Slopestyle, Snowbasin, UT
1st, 2011 Pure NZ Winter Games; Halfpipe, Big air and Slopestyle; Cardrona, NZ
1st, 2011 Association of Freeskiing Professionals World Ranking, Halfpipe and Overall