Matt Beardmore has always spoken his mind, for better or for worse. Whether this shortened his pro snowboard career, or lengthened it, is open for debate. He started ski racing in his hometown of Revelstoke when he was 13 and a few years later, when ski racing became too expensive, he tried his hand at snowboarding and hasn't looked back. As soon as he graduated high school he couldn't get to Whistler fast enough and spent nine years there before moving into his own home in Brackendale, in the heart of sled land, two years ago.

Now 28 years old, Matt finds himself contemplating what's next; what will fill the next chapter in his life now that his snowboarding days are changing. A new found love for helicopters had him in the bush logging all summer to pad the bank account so he could try his hand at being a chopper pilot. I managed to get him on the phone mere moments after returning from his first helicopter flight in Pitt Meadows, near Vancouver, BC.

Where you living these days?
Still at my place in Brackendale, 15 minutes south of Whistler. But it seems like I might have to get a new residence or it's going to be some seriously ridiculous commuting to chopper school.

Whoa, Helicopters? Crazy... Let me catch up on your shredding and then I want to get back to your flying. For a while you were shooting with Absinthe and Alterna but last year you kind of dropped off, what happened there?
I filmed with Absinthe for a bunch of years, but last year I didn't have much of a budget so I couldn't be chasing down the Absinthe dudes. They were cool and would have put me in there on the "bro tip", because I didn't have any sponsorship money for them, but I just couldn't financially chase them all over the place. So I shot with Carlo Wein and Alterna, which was kind of sweet; I started out with Carlo, he was the first guy I ever filmed with and it's a nice way to end it off too, you know?

It seems you are mid-exit from snowboarding. Is this a conscious decision due to a change of focus or were you kind of nudged out?
It's both really... If I was still making a living off of snowboarding, I probably wouldn't have personally made this choice, but since it did happen I am almost thankful for it; you can't snowboard forever. I think as you get older it isn't as smooth a transition into a new career, you know? I've been starting to feel, I wouldn't say hamster wheel, but I've been doing the same thing for 10 years and I just wanted a new set of challenges. I want to learn some new things that will give me the same satisfaction as snowboarding. To be honest, I didn't even try to chase down any new sponsors, and seeing as I was already riding for Drake the boards just kind of happened. I didn't think it was realistic to think I would get back, financially, to where I was. Last time I checked, you need money to eat and function in today's society. [laughing] If I have to put my time and energy into something, I figured I would put it into something more sustainable than snowboarding. I would only have been interested in pushing my limits for another four years, tops... five, maybe. I just figured it was time to make the smart choice.

Do you feel you got the short end of the stick on anything, or are you comfortable with how things transpired?
No, I have no hard feelings, everything happens for a reason. With Atomic, I was working on my pro model, I had my artist, and they were investing a ton of money in me. I was doing really well and they all loved me. They would never have let me go if they had the financial means to keep me around, you know? Maybe they had some bad money management or whatever else, but it was out of my hands and they didn't have any bad intentions at all. 686 was the same thing. They only ended up keeping three dudes total: Louie Vito, Marco Feichtner and Pat McCarthy, so they pretty much axed 75% of their team. I didn't take anything personally.

Like I said, everything happens for a reason. Every year I get pretty tracked up. [laughing] Fractured skull, ribs, and if I do something, I'm the 110% guy. When I broke my ribs, it was like, two inches from my spine from when I rag-dolled through some rocks when I was filming for [Absinthe's] Optimistic. Once you hit a certain level, I'm not the kind of guy that wants to milk it for a pay cheque and just kind of keep it going. I would want to leave snowboarding myself if I felt I wasn't pushing my limits and pushing parts of the sport and stuff. I think it's better to leave when you're on top, you know? Instead of like, Michael Jordan-type shit. I think it was lame that he tried to come back. He should have quit when he quit. That's my opinion. so I just try to practice what I think, or preach. [laughing]

Air Beardmore.
[laughing] Air Beardmore! Yeah, but I might go up and film a little bit, but, I'm really excited, to be honest, because I'm a bit of a work-a-holic, and after all these years I don't think I went into the backcountry once without a camera. I've never shredded fun laps back there with my friends. I used to do it on grey days at the resort, but if I was spending the money on sled gas then there was always a camera, and when there's a camera you are obviously on an agenda and at the end of the day my pay cheques came from that agenda. I'm stoked to go out and just rip it up with zero pressure, and how I spend my day is how I spend my day, I'm just looking for good times instead of having to produce all the time. That's going to be fun, but at the same time it's going to be a whole new set of challenges with choppering.

What brought about your interest in flying helicopters?
At the beginning of last year I was looking for some new sled spots up the Squamish Valley in a little Cessna. I've always had an interest in helicopters from working in the bush and snowboarding. I always thought they were super sweet, but what made me make the full commitment was when the Cessna pilot, who was super cool, let me drive it on the second steering wheel. I was like, ‘holy shit, this is deadly!' [laughing] I loved the feeling and I can really picture myself doing it. I love being in the air and it seems like I am just prolonging my hang time.

Cool... Any last words?
I really want to say thanks to Taylor Loughran for being there for me last year. Everything fell through right before the beginning of the season last year. When that all went down he still doubled me around on his snowmobile all year and filmed me. He wasn't even getting paid or anything. He helped just because he was stoked on my shit. I think it takes a really rad person to do that just in the name of the shred, you know? Mad props and appreciation for him helping me out when the sponsor money wasn't.

Matt proudly rides for Drake Boards and Bindings, Northwave Boots and Von Zipper

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Related:
In The Editing Room With Alterna Films