The Jen Crichton Interview

words and photo by Pippin Lee

What’s going on east coasters! So, the ever-talented Ms. Jen Crichton was nice enough to give me a bit of her time to find out what she has been up to this past season and her thoughts on the direction of freeskiing. Why interview Jen? Well I couldn’t think of a better person, from the short time that I’ve known Jen, she is always so stoked to be out on the hill shredding, and is always trying to push the sport. Representing the ON hard, and always killing it, she is one of the growing stars in women’s freeskiing on the EC.

Of course many people know your family has a big history in freeskiing, can you tell me how you got into freeskiing?
I got into freeskiing after doing mogul skiing pretty competitively for a while. I wanted to do everything my three older brothers were doing so when they joined the local freestyle team I was begging my mom to sign me up too so that I didn’t have to ski green circles with her anymore. I skied NorAms and Junior Worlds and stuff but I think I just got burnt out so I took a break for a while. Around the same time my brother Dave started doing super well in freeskiing and I started getting a lot more interested in it because it seemed like a ton of fun. I didn’t start taking it too seriously until recently but I’m really hoping to do a lot more next year when I’m done school, booyah!

So this year you got picked up by the Salomon Jib Academy as a coach, you have to be pretty stoked traveling around and skiing with the next generation of freestyle skiers, can you tell me a little about what that experience has been like?
It’s really been an emotional rollercoaster… just kidding. Getting to help out with Jib Academy has been awesome! No matter what the conditions or the weather, you know that a lot of the kids have been getting stoked for it all season and that energy can’t help but get you pumped too. So many kids of all different abilities come out and it’s just as rewarding to see someone stomp their first 270 off a rail as someone doing their first cab 7 just because each kid is equally amped. So yeah, Jib Academy has been awesome this year, the energy is contagious and that always makes for an epic day! Plus I got to meet real sweet kids like that gangster Kelly [MONEY] G from Barrie.

Through the Jib Academy what do you think about the next generation of freeskiers coming up?
Jib Academy really showcases the depth of young talent coming up these days. A lot of the kids that came out to the events were throwing down in a big way. Jamieson Irvine is a wizard on rails, so steezy and composed in the air, it’s ridiculous that he’s only 14 (I think?). I also got the chance to help out at an American stop at Loon Mountain and there was a really solid group of girls. Jackie from PA destroyed it! So yeah, the next generation of freeskiers is probably going to be a bunch of mutants who destroy anything in their paths.

Having traveled a good bit in the past couple years, how does the freeskiing culture in Ontario compare to that of the rest of North America, or even east coast skiing in the states?
I’ve spent most of my time skiing on the east coast the past few years just because I’ve been chained to school but the scene in Ontario is pretty similar to anywhere else. With all the edits coming out on the internet these days everyone is pretty much on the same page I think. Rail and jib skills are pretty abundant on the east and I think that’s mostly a result of a lack of quality jumps (or even any jumps) at most resorts. I think the growth of the freeski scene in Ontario is at least keeping pace with other regions in the east. At Mont-Tremblant every “young” person you see is on twin tips and even some adults as well so I think in years to come freeskiing will hopefully dominate the entire mountain… muhaha.

How do you feel about the current “trends” in skiing, should they be embraced?
Trends are a necessity in anything and I embrace them all. I think everyone should just do whatever they feel like doing. Tall tees are great, tight pants are cool, afterbang or heavyhead, whatever, if you feel good doing it then sweet. The one thing I can’t stand is people who hate, take everything too seriously or just think they’re the authority on what’s sick. The best days I have skiing are with my friends when we’re not taking things too seriously, hiking a feature or spinning hot laps. Leave the Haterade at home… we only drink water and G2.

Have you had a chance to check out the JOSS coverage? What has been your favorite edit?
The skiing in Team Norway’s edit is ridiculous along with Team Europe but as far as my favorite edit goes I gotta give it to Team USA. Everything about that edit was genius and pure hilarity. I had the pleasure of getting to see them perform live here the other night at Bill’s in Whistler and they absolutely killed it!

Where do you see skiing going in the future, is bump skiing coming back?
Bump skiing is fun and I respect so much what they’re doing but I can’t honestly say that I see it making a big come back. I’m so grateful for the skiing foundation that moguls gave me and it sucks to see a lot of the young jibbers not being able to even properly carve but at the same time that’s just the reality of where the sport is going. If ski halfpipe makes it into the Olympics then I think that will give another huge push to freeskiing because I think the Olympic dream is what a lot of bump skiers hold on to. I won’t lie to you though, skiing spring bumps is still super fun!

Speaking of bump skiing, you recently had a day on the slopes with the famed Radio Ron, can you tell me what that experience meant to you?
That was probably the highlight of my season! Radio Ron is the most genuine person you will ever meet. Family, friends and skiing are all he cares about in life and I think that’s a pretty dope attitude. Radio is the definition of just skiing for the love of skiing itself and that is a good thing to hold on to now that everybody’s got a friend who’s a pro.

So as well as your busy ski schedule you go to university at Carleton in Ottawa. What are you aiming to graduate with at Carleton and what has it been like trying to balance school with skiing as much as possible?
Going to Carleton and playing soccer there has been an awesome experience. I’m hoping to finish up in December with a degree in Biochemistry so that I can be a crazy scientist. It has definitely not been easy juggling school with skiing. A lot of comps and film trips conflicted this season but I did my best to balance both and looking back on my season I can say that I’m decently happy with how I managed it. I would joke that by Thursday I had my school life together and I was ready to go away for three days and kill it on the ski hill but then by Monday I was in shambles again trying to get my school stuff back on track. But whatever, I wouldn’t have it any other way.

So I’ve heard you got a chance to shred a little with the fellows down at traveling circus. What kind of tomfoolery have you been up to with them?
Yeah I got to meet Will and Andy on a Meathead Films trip down in Pennsylvania in February. I wasn’t filming with them for Travelling Circus specifically but it was super fun to get to shred with them. They are both super chill guys and happen to be extremely good at skiing as well. I think we got along pretty well right away (oh no I hope they would say the same) and we had a ton of fun shredding spring-park conditions together. I’m hoping to do a lot more skiing with those guys next season because they are the poop.

Now I am sure you get asked this a lot, but the people want to know, so can you tell everyone where the hell in the world is Mr. David Crichton and what has he been up to.
Oh weird I never get asked that, haha. Dave is killing it at school in Ottawa. He’s doing his masters degree in law at Carleton. He’s still really up on what’s going on in the ski world though and still shreds when he throws on his skis.

Recently on the Internet there has been a bit of heated debate towards the progression of skiing in the women’s field, and women not pushing it as hard as men, care to give us your opinion?
I think the hate towards women’s freeskiing is pretty lame. There might not be as many girls pushing it as hard as guys but there is definitely a good number of us now really pushing the sport. There’s a growing number of girls hitting urban features and I think everyone really stepped it up as far as slopestyle runs go this year. Look at Kaya Turski, she slays it so hard and is my hero. I also don’t see how hating on it is going to help anything. We should try to promote and showcase the girls who are pushing it instead of just focusing on the negative.



What are your thoughts of a women style JOSS event, or giving women a spot in JOSS?
I heard about some newschoolers thread hating on the idea of giving girls a spot in JOSS. The jumps they hit in that contest are pretty big for the most part but I think there’s definitely some girls around right now who could handle it. A women style JOSS event would be really sick because the features could be more tailored for girls to throw down on them. Queens Cup this year had a photo shoot aspect for a couple of days after the contest which is a great idea. I think a JOSS style event is pretty ambitious but it would be awesome to see more girls park shoots.


Did you do any filming this year? Do you have plans on where you want to go with the rest of your ski career and filming?
I filmed a bunch of urban stuff around Ottawa with my friend Matt McEnery for Highland Films in December. My good friend Kim Lamarre also came down for it and we got some pretty decent shots. I tagged along with Salomon Freeski TV on an east coast rail trip and then later on in the season I got hooked up with Meatheads and did a little bit of filming with them. So yeah I didn’t do too much with any one company but I’m stoked to get some experience filming nonetheless.

So in Ottawa there is an infamous rail (5 kink to elbow, then 3 more kinks) by the name of “Jesus”. Since it has now officially been successfully slayed, have you thought about taking a go at it?
Haha, yeah my friend Marc Danduran slayed that rail last summer. That was a couple of years in the making and a bunch of bad falls, especially because you can only hit it during the summer. So my answer is no, I don’t think I ever want to hit Jesus.


Any plans for summer skiing?
I’m staying around Ottawa for most of the summer to work on finishing school but I’m hoping to get out to Whistler or Hood for a week or two maybe. I’m going to try and get a sick summer backyard set up going with some of my friends back home and maybe even get hyphy with those circus kids down in Rochester.


Quick Questions:
Do you like fishsticks?
If by fishsticks you mean taking my skills to the backcountry, then yes.
Favorite ski movie?
Bridget Jones Diary… she rocked those 1080s hard.
Favorite type of cheese?
I check cheddar like a food inspector.
Afterbang or heavyhead?
I afterbanged your mom
Shred tunes, yay or nay and what?
Mashups are fun, reggae in the sun, screamo when I’m hung.
Vanessa Carleton if I’m skiing with Mack Jones and Matt Tirrell.
Words or wisdom:
Send it, but remember safety first and teamwork.
SHOUT OUT TO DUB. B. and THE ONE EIGHT!!!

Thanks Jen, have a super summer!