Mario’s new biopic give an insight into where he’s come from and where he’s going. If you haven’t seen it yet, be sure to check it on our home page or at the bottom of this post.

Hey Mario, nice work on Coming Home! The movie starts off with a lot of old footage from your younger days riding comps and training with the national team. What was the best thing about that time in your life?
At this time it was all about fun… just riding, no worries about contracts, money and injuries. I remember when I was 16 we drove to Davos and built jumps on the most random places and just threw ourself over it. Not thinking at all about getting injured or consequences. All that changes after your first serious injury….

Yeah, it’s normal to feel invincible at that age, but unfortunately that never really lasts for anyone…
In your movie you go on to explain why you made the shift from competition to filming. Do you think there’s a way to bring those worlds back together if we had more creative events?
Yeah I think there is a way. There are still some comps, which are super cool, also for not contest riders. Like the 9 Knights, where you just shred a incredible feature all week long and don’t really think about the fact that it is a comp. Also the Super Natural was a sick thing. We definitely need more stuff like that. The skiers have this “Line Catcher” contest thing… I’d love to do something like that where you just ride down a mountain, chose your own line and hit big back country jumps.

For sure. We really need some kind of euro Super Natural! That would be so sick…
Looking back, it’s pretty cool that Forum helped to push your riding in that direction and didn’t force you to keep doing comps when you weren’t really feeling it. Do you think those opportunities are still there for younger riders coming up? Or do you need to show competitive success before you can move on to filming?
I think these days it’s really tough to go straight into filming without riding contests before. Usually you can start doing your own thing only after you perform good in comps… then the sponsors let you do what you love to do. But if someone works really hard on a project, then you definitely can go on straight to filming.

What is it that you love about the backcountry?
It’s not only the snowboarding, it’s all the things around it, which have to work to get a shot. You’ve gotta know the mountains, knowing where you are and where you can go. Checking the snow conditions, avalanche risk, how the wind has been the past days… it’s all that knowledge, which I’m interested in these days.

But also to be out there alone… no one else around… just mother nature and you. It’s like, hmmmmm… hard to explain, like the mountains tell you what to do or what you can do. There is so much energy when you’re out there in between massive mountains and you feel so small…

So true! I didn’t know you were such a hippie these days haha…
So at this point in your career are you totally over riding street?
Hahah yeah, I’m done with riding street. It’s just not my thing anymore… I love to be in nature and don’t wanna be hustling in the streets. But I still like to watch street parts, if they do creative stuff.

Any funny stories from your trip to Japan that you can share?
Haha well, a lot happened there… but some of them we can’t really tell in public haha. But one is that I almost shit my pants like 300m in front of the hotel. I just couldn’t hold it anymore and took the worst dump. Or when we went to the women’s jacuzzi, and the Japanese people are super strict about having men and women separate. Also, we happened to be there for New Years and had the funniest party in Sapporo… but no comment on that haha!

After Japan you ended up on that crazy heli trip around Davos? How did that opportunity come about?
As I grew up close to Davos and did my apprenticeship as a lumberjack in Klosters, I know those mountains really well. It was always a dream to ride them. I used to work with the swiss helicopter company a lot back in the days and know those guys well. We teamed up with my mountaineer guide friend, Bruno Flütsch, and started this Project. It was a dream come true…

Are you interested in taking your riding in more in that direction? Like filming in AK with a big heli budget?
Yeah I’d really like that. You’re just really far away from civilization and it’s super nice the check everything from the helicopter, before riding down. I hope someday it will be in AK too, but we’ve also got crazy good mountains here, so there is not really a reason to go over there now.

In general, this edit is a lot more “polished” than we’re used to seeing from you. No nudity and I’m pretty sure I didn’t see you puke, even once! : – ) Are you cleaning up your image now that you’ve changed some sponsors?
Ahaha well man, I’m getting older too haha…. so I’m definitely changing. I mean I’m still the same douche bag, but I definitely got more quiet and just enjoy the time in the mountains more than puking in the city haha. Also I’m working on my mountaineering diploma, and through that you hang out with kinda different types of humans than just snowboarders. But I think it’s time to grow up for me. I had a good time puking, but that’s over now haha…  hopefully : D But getting naked is still one of my favorite  things, of course : D

Damn, so we’re probably never gonna see some Ethan VS Mario style stuff from you again?
Haha you never now… maybe when were like 60 years old we’ll put on a comeback for Ethan VS mario.

That would be amazing!
So life’s good in Austria, or are you planning on moving back to Switzerland one of these days?
Hmmm not really. I really like it here in Tirol and I’m not really a patriot. I don’t care which country I live in. I just wanna live in a beautiful place. I mean Switzerland is super beautiful too and I still spend a lot of time in Switzerland. But now, since I live close to Innsbruck, it’s super easy to travel to different places. Switzerland is not far, Italy is close… it doesn’t matter if the snow comes from north, south, east or west… I’m can be anywhere in no time.

Sounds like a good set up!
So what’s your plan for this winter?
I will be filming with my best homies, Tom Klocker, Mario Wanger and filmers Julian Pintarelli and Franco Marco Avi. It will be under the name, Boyz n Toyz and it will be a amazing freeride project. Since we filmed a lot of backcountry jumps last season, I wanna get more into riding lines and do some natural stuff…. just for new challenges. We wanna go far out in the backcountry and find new places and just live the dream. The plan is pretty simple: just having a good time with my friends!!!!!

Sounds like a perfect plan. Thanks for your time Mario! Have a great season…