MOUNTAIN LIFE - Coast Mountains | Winter Spring 2019

“He was battling prejudice in the industry that he was washed up,” Sarah recalls. “People thought he was a flight risk and a liability. One sponsor even told us he’d be doing a disservice sponsoring us because it would prolong him getting a ‘real’ job. But what no one realized is that Brett is made for the internet and online media.” They learned pretty quickly. In 2009 friends at Whistler Creek Productions hired Tippie to host a series of Crankworx daily highlight videos. With his rider familiarity, a camera and narrative sense honed from his days of hosting snowboard world cup shows for CTV Sportsnet—and that inimitable laugh, Tippie blew everyone’s mind. When Julian Coffey took a job at Pinkbike.com, the BBC, TMZ and Bible of mountain biking, Tippie hit critical mass. Suddenly I was the official host and online presence of Crankworx and also getting 50 pages of magazine coverage every year,” Tippie says. “It’s like in the NHL, there are only a certain number of guys who can get 50 goals a year. I am one of those guys. And I was doing it again.” WINTER/SPRING 2019 MLCM 69 With the birth of their second daughter, Tippie doubled down on his efforts, saying yes to everything that came his way—paid or not. And having a wife with solid business acumen hasn’t hurt (Sarah formerly handled $30 million film deals in Europe for clients like Universal Pictures and PolyGram Films). “We collaborate on everything,” she says, “but his drive and genuine love of the sport is the secret to his success. He is a kid who made his dream come true, how could I ever let him give that up?” “The secret to life is living,” Tippie says. “All I want to do is take care of my family and be in the mountains riding singletrack and powder. When I was young I did a lot of crazy shit to meet hot chicks and get high fives from the badass dudes. I didn’t want to be average, I wanted to be badass too, I wanted to show my parents I could be something. And now I have all that and I just want to do as much as I can before I get old. Wasn’t it Shakespeare who said, ‘Youth is wasted on the young?’” “No,” Sarah interjects. “It was Oscar Wilde.” Tippie’s only response is to laugh that laugh—the one that no magazine can capture. Even internet videos don’t do it justice, not compared to real life. As he shows me to the door, Tippie notices my waterproof shoes and dives into the closet. “Hey check these out, I got these shoes from a drug dealer…” The shoes look brand new, but before the flash of concern can even register on my face he continues, “I don’t know what he laced them with, but I’ve been tripping all day.” Time is chasing all of us but Brett Tippie seems to have found a loophole. He’s spent 50 years perfecting a quiver of time machines and showing us—his friends, his fans, the world—how to use them. Get a snowboard, get a bike, go as hard as you can, and laugh the whole way down. Check out "Brett Tippie's Road Trip Tips for a No-Budget Shred Bum" at Mountainlifemedia.ca If you don't fall, you don't learn.Whistler, BC, 2015. ALE DI LULLO Tippie with Steve Smith at the Crankworx 2013 Canadian Open DH. BLAKE JORGENSON