Travis Rice

• Age

  28

• Stance Settings

  Goof, 23.5" 18° front, -9° back

• Nickname

  Goose

• Hometown

  J Hole

• Home Mountain

  J Hole

• Sponsors

  Lib Tech, Bent Metal, Quiksilver, DC, Red Bull, Bluebird, SnowSkin natural sun screen, Jackson Hole Mnt Resort, Remind Insoles

Curt Morgan and Travis Rice dream big and together have the perfect combination of determination, insanity, experience, credibility, talent and connections, to actually make some of the most unbelievable things a reality... they must be artists. We were able to get a little of their time in the middle of their Art of Flight edit to answer a few questions... actually Travis was in Rome admiring statues. The Art of Flight... what does it mean? We heard you guys were deliberately setting off avalanches and making Lando jump over them? TRAVIS: It’s like a stepping off point. To take flight. That confidence you need to take that fateful step and the serenity in those moments of weightlessness that follow. Well, Curt was constantly throwing out cash bribes for basically anything that happened in an "Avalanche Situation." I think at one point in AK, he claimed like 30 different ways we could get that cheddar by doing crazy tricks in impossible circumstances. Come to think about it no one ever made a dollar!
CURT: I always wanted to make a film about the world called "The Art of Light." I figured that wouldn’t happen for a while so I got impatient and just called this movie "The Art of Flight." Makes sense I guess, these riders lives are detected to leaving the ground. I really like the name. Can you tell us a little bit about how the idea for this movie started? Fight or flight? And what your expectations were in terms of following the success of "That’s it, That’s All"? T: I think Curt and I knew the whole time during the final days of making TITA that we were going to give 'er another go. We took a year off to sort the concept while Curt took Brain Farm to another level. Then fire in the hole, and it feels like we haven’t stopped for the last 20 months!
C: All I wanted to do is step it up again. Everyone I talked to said that it would be impossible to make something better than TITA. That challenge gave me the drive to prove them wrong. I think we succeeded?!?! What type of camera technology did you use for this movie? And how many FPS can you get with your cameras? What was the most expensive piece of equipment lost during the filming of this project? T: I believe they call it a "laundry list" of equipment... you don’t have enough space.... I hate to admit it, but I don’t think we lost anything more than like 2 grand!.. Impressive!
C: We used the Cineflex on Heli, truck, ATV, snowmobile and snow cat.  We used the phantom HD gold and Flex to capture highspeed images up to 2600 FPS.  We used the Panasonic Varicam 3700 for all story and the Arri 235 35mm film camera for most ground based action footage. We lost a few smaller cameras along the way due to water damage and theft. You have to plan on damaging some gear to get a project like this done. You guys pretty much shot everywhere that was hard to get to... how do you guys pick a spot and is there anywhere we might recognize? T: Yeah you will definitely notice a few of our favorite spots in Jackson. The majority of the flick will all look new, mainly because we did a lot of homework on location scouting. Curt definitely put in the overtime on figuring out where some of the deepest terrain existed. Then out of the handful of places we chose, we mounted attacks on the ones that looked like they were having the epic season.
C: We originally had many more locations in mind but the weather kept us working primarily in the Americas. We got into some heavy situations. Probably the sketchiest spots were Patagonia and Nelson, BC. What was the biggest mess you guys got yourselves into and out of, making this movie? T: We claimed we could make this film! Then we actually made this film...
C: Probably deep in the mountains around Nelson, BC. We had the rider heli get stuck on a ridge in a serious ice fog. The blades iced up and we thought the heli was going to slip off the face we were on. Not cool! What kind of monkey rigs did you make for Gabe to swing and film from? C: Hmmm, I don’t know how to answer this. Ha! There’s been rumors that you have been eating wolverine steaks to help add some gristle to your backcountry missions... can you let us in on how you like your wolverine cooked? When your body gets beat up, what do you do for a quick heal? T: I would have to say both rice and RICE on that one.
1. I enjoy it best seared, accompanied with a nice aromatic jasmine. Another favorite is an arborrio wolverine risotto. 2. RICE:  Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation. What is the best way to deal with two weeks of bad weather? Worst head trip with too much time? Best down time ever? T: Make a cilantro Caesar station and develop an instant love of a random professional sports team. preferably one favored to make it to the finals. Chile, so much money spent on the gamble of getting it good and getting double 00’s with the worst winter in 15 years. Just cause it was white didn’t mean you should take flight. Chile, no getting out of contracts! Hmmmm, so what can we do with an imagination and excessive amounts of pre paid heli budget?
C: We spent almost three down weeks in Alaska sitting in a lodge about 80 miles from the nearest town. You kind of lose your mind but with good friends, a lot of weapons, a couple stiff cocktails and the hope of some epic conditions you can make your way through it. It’s tough though! We heard Lando was going ape shit? What gets Lando going? T: Yeah Lando was straight Gorilla flexing at the beginning of this year, silverback style! It really sucked to lose him only a few weeks into the year. He shot his Jackson segment in like 5-6 days. If he hadn’t gotten Tom Broke-offed, 2011 would have been his bitch. Ya’ll gonna just have to wait till 2012 to see him roll heads down the sides of cubic pyramids!
C: Landvik is one of my most favorite people on earth! He makes any situation turn in to a full fledged comedy. His riding has gotten soooo much better and yes, he is going ape shit on a daily basis. In my mind, he is one of the most amazing riders out there. Love me some Lando! Besides the movie, what other projects have you guys been able to barbecue up for "The Art of Flight?" T: Well, I have been overseeing the creation of a book of epic proportions to go along with film. We were able to work with a lot of the best photographers currently capturing snowboarding and ended up editing imagery from 15,000 photos! It is a real design piece more than a book, and comes with the Blu Ray and DVD. You can get them at asymbolgallery.com. We also have a real limited number of large format photo prints signed by the photographers of a few of the most amazing photos from the last 2 years! The quality is unreal!
C: We have been working on many commercials, TV shows and feature films. Brain Farm has taken off! Things are going very well. We are basically on the path of world domination. ;) Travis, does having close friends who are yoga instructors help find you balance? How do your snowboard skills transfer to skeet shooting? T: Yes of course!, Don’t know any personally but. Duh... What’s next??? T: Survival of the premiere tour first and foremost. If we can make it through that then we might film some more shredding some day!
C: We are planning on starting over 5 films and an online action sports network starting this next January. Wish us luck! Oh, and long live Mervin Manufacturing!!!