Chris Rubens, a celebrated backcountry skier, climate activist, and organic farmer, has recently become a key part of the Atomic athlete community. Chris took some time to answer a few questions we had; both about his trajectory towards becoming a professional athlete and his work with First Light Farms, a fully sustainable farm he and his partner, Jesse recently founded. We hope that you enjoy getting to know Chris as much as we are. If you want to follow along on his backcountry ski adventures this season - head over to his social (@chrisrubens) and give him a follow.
Where did you grow up and where did you learn how to ski? Where do you ski now?
I grew up in Calgary, Alberta, and skied with the Sunshine Village Ski Racing Club until I was sixteen years old, when I made the switch to Lake Louise and the Rocky Mountain Freeriders. I spent a few more years skiing out of Canmore and the Rockies before I moved west to Revelstoke, BC. The year after I moved here, Revelstoke Mountain Resort opened, and I have been here ever since.
Can you tell us about your first backcountry experience? What about the backcountry got you hooked and keeps you coming back for more?
Technically, my first backcountry skiing experience was in the Bow Valley at a fairly young age on cross-country gear. There really wasn’t much in the way of alpine touring gear at the time, so we would head out on family adventures that normally had some sort of sketchy descent involved, on cross-country gear. When I quit ski racing and befriended the Hjorleifson brothers, we spent a lot of time walking into the backcountry with Alpine Trekkers to build big backcountry booters. We were lucky to have some great mentors who helped us get into the backcountry safely, where slowly our pursuits changed to chasing bigger lines.
Can you describe your trajectory to becoming a professional skier? Was this a lifelong dream you’ve always had?
To be honest, I never really had a dream of being a professional skier. I didn’t really believe that I could be one. All I really knew was that I wanted to ski as much as possible. At some point, I asked a local store, Fresh Sports, if they would like to sponsor me. From that initial partnership, they linked me up with some companies that I ended up working with for a very long time. Each year things snowballed a little more. It started with receiving some free gear, to shooting photos with some local photographers, and then shooting video segments with small local companies. After a couple of years, I got a bit more budget and the opportunity to film with Matchstick Productions. This sent me on a trajectory to where I am today. Since the start, I have been pinching myself every day and can’t believe that I get paid to ski for a living. It is truly a dream job.
Who were some skiers you looked up to when you were younger? Why did you look up to them?
When I was a ski racer I always looked up to Alberto Tomba, who was an eccentric Italian ski racer. I watched my fair share of Warren Miller's flicks back in the day, so Scott Schmidt was an obvious hero. At my local hill, there were two older guys that I always looked up to, their names were Damien Cromwell and the late Brett Carlson. When I was younger and my race training was over for the day, these guys would let me tag along with them skiing moguls, hitting cliffs and jumps. They were amazing skiers and humble people who had a huge influence on me.
Why did you choose to start skiing for Atomic?
This was a big decision in my life. It meant leaving a company that I had been with for nearly twenty years. One of the reasons I chose to join Atomic was the opportunity to be deeply involved in product design with a new touring ski. I believe in Atomic's commitment to making the company and products more environmentally friendly. Product design and the environment are both near and dear to my heart. These are the things that drew me toward the company and ultimately after talking with the team manager and the ski department, it felt like our values aligned. After one year on the team, I couldn’t be happier with the decision, and it feels great to be part of such an awesome family and company. Working with everyone on R&D has been a real dream come true, I'm looking forward to more.
Have your backcountry experiences influenced the way that you live on a fully sustainable farm?
It's funny because from the outside, backcountry skiing and farming are so incredibly different, but I have come to realize they are very similar. The heart of it is that you are at the mercy of Mother Nature for better or worse. In both, you really need to listen to what the weather is telling you and adjust accordingly. There are lots of techniques and tricks to help you navigate all of that, but at the end of the day, you really need to know when you can push or when you need to let off the gas. It also has similarities in the risk-reward department. When I was younger, I was more into short bursts of adrenaline, then I got much more into hiking for lines which meant a slower more methodical approach, and the highs I am left with last sometimes for days or months. Most of the mistakes or things that you would change in farming can’t be tried until the following year, so it is both a fast and slow learning curve with lots of meticulous planning involved. You end up living with your mistakes for most of the season; after all, planting a seed until harvest is a relatively long process. This process can be both incredibly rewarding but also frustrating. One thing is for sure no matter if it is skiing or farming you are always learning and influenced by the weather.
What brought on the desire to find and buy the land for “First Light Farm?”
I started trying to curb my carbon footprint in 2016 when we launched a movie called “Guilt Trip.” I went deep down the carbon footprint rabbit hole and emerged out the other side with some obvious tangible adjustments I could make in my life. After about a year of traveling less and eating little to no meat, I realized that something I had viewed as a sacrifice had made my life better and more fulfilling. It inspired me to do more. I converted my truck to run on veggie oil, and my partner Jesse and I started searching for land to start an organic farm. We realized that agriculture is a big source of carbon emissions and thought it was something that we could tackle on a small scale. This had been her dream for a long time, and I had been convinced that it was something I would like to try, despite really knowing nothing about it. In March 2020, when the pandemic hit, we still had not found the property of our dreams, but our first thoughts were why are we not farming? From there we ordered seeds and started them with the determination that we would find some land to plant them in one way or another. That first year we started growing on leased land and established the fact that this was something we both wanted to do, we worked well together, and we worked hard enough that we were good at it. That Fall, a piece of land with a house in Revelstoke came up and we were able to purchase it. We are currently coming to the end of our fourth season, and it is wild to see how far we have come.
Could you expand on your thought process for your farm (how did the idea start, what phases have been executed, what phases are still to come)?
As mentioned above we are in year four now, and we have grown substantially every year. The first year we were on about a quarter of an acre, we are now up to two acres and have leased another acre from our neighbors. We have two employees and run from mid-April to mid-October. We have a great growing season in Revelstoke and could push a little more into the shoulder seasons, but we are both die-hard skiers and love having our winters to ski. We have an incredibly supportive community in Revelstoke that keeps the demand for local produce high, so the business is quite successful. Our desire is to showcase a sustainable lifestyle in a mountain community, from earning turns to growing food, we are trying to walk the walk, so to speak. It is a very fulfilling lifestyle albeit a busy one; add our 1-year-old kid into the mix and the chaos gets real but also fun.
What is your Atomic ski/set up of choice? Why?
This past season I bounced between the Bent Chetler 120 and the Bent Chetler 110. For both setups I had either the Shift or Backland binding on them. For boots, I fell in love with the Backland 120 XTD boot for everything. I think the walkability of the boot is excellent, and it also excels at going downhill too. I spend most of my time ski touring in the backcountry and love the versatility of these setups. However, I think if I had to choose one ski it would be the Bent Chetler 110. This ski really blew my mind and it really exceeded expectations with everything I threw at it… from hardback to deep powder, I felt right at home in any condition. This all being said, I'm very excited about the new touring ski that I'm working on.
Can you tell me about your favorite day on snow last year (conditions and what you were doing)? Which ski setup were you using that day?
Last year was an interesting one for me. I changed sponsors, I had a kid and then the avalanche conditions were bad for a lot of the year. So, I spent most of my time close to home, exploring some zones that I am very familiar with on high-hazard days and then some that I had never been to. A lot of it was just scoping lines and zones for a better year. It wasn't the most productive year for time spent skiing, but I still got to put in lots of building blocks for this coming winter. At the same time, I was trying out new gear and figuring out what I liked. That all being said, I think my favorite day this year was traveling to the Atomic Headquarters in Altenmarkt, Austria. I walked in the door for the first time to meet a lot of the ski design team in person. Max, who oversees ski design, handed me a pair of skis I had been working on and later that day I was able to take them out to the local hill and give them a try. After months of meetings and emails, this was a chance to see if the theories worked. The first couple runs, I was trying hard to criticize the ski, but I realized it was skiing in a way I absolutely loved.
Do you have any advice for those skiers looking to get into the backcountry more?
One of the more important things is the mentality of how you approach the backcountry. This should be done with humility and respect. There aren’t really any shortcuts to getting into backcountry skiing safely and so much of it comes down to experience. Slowly over time, things will feel more comfortable, and you will start realizing how far you have come. The obvious thing is to take courses, not only do they help your education, but they are great for finding partners. Traveling with mentors and more experienced friends in the backcountry is one of the best ways to learn. One thing that has worked well for me is finding a group of friends/partners that have a similar risk tolerance.