​Stoke the Fire Athlete Edits: Sage Cattabriga-Alosa

The only thing Sage has been doing longer than going to Burning Man is skiing in TGR flicks – and he’s not slowing down. Turns out that even after nearly 20 years, Sage is still really good at pointing his skis downhill and lettin’ ‘er buck, no wonder he’s one of the most recognizable names in the sport! These days, as one of the most accomplished big-mountain skiers to roam this earth, it’s hard to still describe Sage as a “skid,” but in reality, he’s never not been a ski bum at heart. This year, the Atomic and The North Face legend teamed up with Colter Hinchliffe and KC Deane to put together one of the most memorable PNW segments we’ve ever released for Stoke the Fire. We caught up with Sage in the field to hear about his roots, learning to hit huge cliffs as a grom, this season, and what’s in store for future. Stoke the Fire is on tour now, so find your closest tour stop and buy tickets today!

When did you decide you wanted to ski for the rest of your life?

It must've been a pretty early age when I decided that skiing was a life goal. When I was pretty young, I knew right away, this is what I wanted to do. And I wanted to just figure out a way I can just ski as much as I could. And at first, it was just when you can and then it pretty much becomes an obsession.

Sage knows a thing or three about getting airborne. | Eric Parker photo.

Did you feel confident that skiing was a thing you could do?

A ski bum isn't really a thing until you're older maybe. At first, you're just a ski grom and you're just blasting around and that's all. You don't really know that just skiing is a lifestyle. Trying to find a way to ski as a lifestyle wasn’t a thing until probably like my teens. That's when the whole ski bum world pops into your mind and it's pretty glamorous, especially at a young age. You're like, "Wait, I just get to do the fun stuff I like to do. Seems like a good path."

I don't think I made a conscious decision to be like, "I'm going to be a skier." It just happened. This is what I want to do, who I am. Anytime you find something that you're good at and you start to get good at and you have an ability to get better at something, it can spark something in your imagination in your mind. And then how much that pulls you in is how far you'll take it. And I think, for me, it was a pretty strong spark and I just wanted to follow that path.

The gang spent lots of time chasing human-powered turns in the PNW. | Eric Parker photo.

Was there any resistance from your family or friends when you decided to go down that road?

Yeah. For me, I was a skier up through high school, but when it came time to make some life decisions and I was going out on my own and it was kind of like college or skiing. There was definitely a little bit of resistance. I worked at a record store and the employer was just like, "You're going to do what? You're going to try to be a pro skier? How many people can do that?" There's a little opposition, but I knew in my heart. My parents were really supportive of me, but my dad also being a realist was like, "I don't know. I think you should do something like go to college, something you can fall back on if this doesn't work out." Probably the same thing I would say to my kids. I knew deep down that I could trust what I was going to do, like this was going to work even if someone said that it might not.

What do you think you would have done if you hadn't gone down this path?

Oh man. If I'd be doing something, similar. I don't know. Crawling probably. Yeah. If it's just one thing or another, man, I would have found a way. Being artistic in some sort of creative expression from a young age was something that I really resonated with. So, skiing kind of became that catalyst for that expression. I would have found some other way.

In your opinion, what characteristics does a ski bum have?

I think to me, a ski bum is a pretty wide variety of people, but it really comes down to a love and passion for the sport of skiing or snowboarding. And just being like... to the point where that maybe doesn't matter more than your family or your friends, but it's pretty much one of the highest priorities you have in life and you're willing to sacrifice a lot. I think what it’s really like being a ski bum is you're really willing to sacrifice the amenities of wealth, and the amenities of a high-paying job or something that can get you in life where you're like, "I'm satisfied just doing what I love to do and kind of happy with that. And don't have to have fancy things." And I think that's what being a ski bum is and people can find that in a lot of different ways.

Pretty much what skiing in the PNW is all about. | Eric Parker photo.

What did that path look like for you? What did you do to ensure you skied as much as possible?

Well, let's see. For me, when I was pretty young in high school, skiing, I could only do it on the weekends or a day that we didn't have school, but I joined the ski team and the ski team kind of allowed me to travel around and therefore take some days away from school to go skiing. And so at first, it was the ski team that I got to kind of escape and get some extra days. And then, it was really just focusing on being able to do whatever it took to be able to get out as many days as I could. And then as I got older and graduated, then it was any free chance I had. So after getting out of high school, it was like, what can I do to get to ski? And it took a little while to figure out a job where I could make some cash, but still get a lot of time skiing. And for me, the kitchen was where I already had some experience. I was already a dishwasher in high school and a pizza delivery guy. So I was like, "Oh, I could apply at a ski lodge and I can work from." Being in the kitchen, generally, it's a lot of nights. And so, that was key because I was able to do a job that I didn't really care about. It wasn't like I was trying to get good at washing dishes, I just was there strictly to ski and that set me up in a place where I could maximize my ski time.

My family were definitely a little skeptical that this might not work out and a little worried that it might not be the best decision as a young kid, but it wasn't long before they saw that. And back to me that they were like, "Yeah. You made a good call." Yeah. Maybe not disappointed, but maybe just waiting to see how it all panned out.

Tell us about learning to fly. When did you first get air on skis? Do you remember that moment?

Grand Targhee is similar to where I live now, Mt. Bachelor. Targhee has a lot of wind and creates a lot of these big wind drifts. And I remember pretty vividly catching a lot of air on one of them where, as a little grom, it didn't really matter if you landed. And we would just do moonies, which were just hit a jump and just lean back and just land on your back. I was like, "Moonie! Do the Moonie!". And there was this massive windlip and it was hard to judge and I went way bigger than I expected and just did this massive Moonie. And just that feeling of floating through the air where time is slowed down and you're just like, "Whoa! What is happening?"

I was maybe a little bit scared, but also pretty excited by it all. And then just landing and feeling like a million feathers and just laughing as a kid. That was a really memorable experience. And then again, being at Targhee, there's a lot of cliffs and a lot of places to start to jump. And so at Targhee, there's this perfect setup where it's a 15 foot cliff to 65 foot cliff, basically along an edge. And so, it was just the perfect setup as soon as you learn what that feeling of being in the air felt like, it's pretty addicting. And then figuring out that there's these perfect cliffs that you can just incrementally go bigger and bigger and bigger. It was a lot of fun.

There's a smile under that buff. | Eric Parker photo.

Do you still feel that now when you’re in the air?

Oh yeah! The feeling's the same as it is now, but that it's like a rush. It's a rush of excitement and wonder when you're in the air. You sort of see it coming, you sort of pop. And as soon as you get in the air, it's like time slows down. And it did for me when I was little and it was amazing and wild. And then as soon as you land, it all comes rushing back and you're kind of just... for me, it was just all about jumping in a powder. So you're dealing with powder, snow, and riding out. And that excitement and feeling of like, "Whoa! What just happened?" Yeah. It never goes away. I think I definitely felt it today!

What do you feel when you’re pushing your boundaries as a skier?

Today I was kind of feeling it a little bit because finally I had a feature that I was pumped on and felt like I could do something, but it's definitely an interesting feeling when you're stepping into something new or you're pushing yourself, whether that's just a little bit or some big feet that you're trying to do. But the feeling is this combination of excitement, anticipation, but also a little bit of nervousness. You're kind of not sure of how it's going to go. You really want to like, "Have I gone through all the options?", "How do I need to think about this?" So you've kind of done all your homework before you get there, but yeah, it's just all about that anticipation and then excitement.

As a kid, stepping to anything that was a new challenge was always like this surprising feeling of being nervous and excited at the same time. And then the confidence that comes with skiing through and being like, "Whoah! I figured that out. I was right where I thought I was. I did that right or I landed and I didn't know I could."

You’ve been doing this for a long time. Is your approach different now than it was before?

Yeah. Probably now, it's just that I'm less hungry. I'm just more patient. And that was always a strength that I found. It was beneficial for me to be patient and knowing that the time was right. And now, I'm even more patient because I'm maybe a little less hungry for it all, but those feelings are still challenges and still have the fear and the excitement and the anticipation and the kind of wonder. And then it kind of just tied up in the stoke of like, "Yeah, I'm going to try this and I'm going to go for it, even if it doesn't work."

I feel like I really love my desire to explore. It's sort of evolved for sure. For a while there was this draw to the exotic, the far, the giant, the gnarly and now that's evolved into more to see what's been overlooked, what's in your backyard, what's in your nearby zone that you maybe haven't looked close enough at or looked at recently.

Tell us about your time in the North Cascades with Colter and KC.

Before I ever came here, I heard that North Cascade Heli is a pretty sleepy little place. And I came here first a long time ago. And when I first came here, I was like, "What, this place exists right here in Washington?" And then when we came here and we experienced the snow and skiing for the first time, it was like, wow, this is really a gem. North Cascade Heli is located in this tricky spot. It's remote, and that remoteness is part of its magic. It's not like it's secretive, but it just keeps it, the access point is a little bit more, takes a little more effort. So if you put in the effort to get here, it's worth your while. I really like the terrain here because there's so much variety down low and in the trees you have tons of features. It's all these pillows and all these really nuanced shapes in the snow. Chutes and cliffs and rocks and just all kinds of stuff. And you look at a panel and you think it's pretty smooth and when you get in, it's way more featured than you even imagined. So even that smooth-looking snow is more featured than you would expect. That's just really fun to ski because it makes things challenging and exciting everywhere you go, every turn you make. As you get higher into the Alpine, there are massive chutes and bigger faces too. And it's so cool because there is this mix of both Alpine and subalpine terrain. For us on this trip, it was a little bit of a tease because we had pretty much just been in the woods and in the mist and in the mystic. But the mountains were teasing us up high and we did get to shred some of the legendary alpine terrain.

Local knowledge goes a long way when showing your buddies around. | Eric Parker photo.

What was it like showing those guys around your neck of the woods?

I live in the Pacific Northwest, so coming to explore another zone, I'm psyched to get to dive deeper into our region. And while this is a place I've been before to get Colter and KC up here and get to show them around a little bit has been a real treat. This was a cool trip because we were combining a lot of different methods of getting into the mountains. We were on our snowmobiles to start out some of the days and the sleds were basically just like a commuter to get up into the mountains. And then from there we're ski touring and hiking for the most part. And that's just a really nice way to be able to get all your gear and get yourself up a ways, but then to be able to park the machine and to start walking around, you really start to find the details.

Then we also have been utilizing the helicopter and rather than just straight heli skiing, getting lap after lap, we've been using the heli to tour. So we've been getting dropped off in the morning and we get set into a zone and then we basically just have the whole day to work and hike and it's a really great way to be productive and we can all just be skiing and hiking and staying busy. And really, each zone we go into, we can kind of create a little studio and stay busy and have a lot of fun each day. So it's been a really cool way because I've never really, I've just been in either full heli ski mode or full touring mode and to kind of combine the two is pretty cool.

Sage in his element. | Eric Parker photo.

Any moments of stoke to share from watching your friends?

On our first couple of days of skiing, KC had spotted this line. We were just starting to kind of figure out the terrain that we were skiing and pretty tricky stuff. A lot of benches, a lot of shelves to the terrain and all that kind of tricky terrain made navigation a little bit challenging. We're still just getting kind of the feeling and the snow and everything. KC was pretty fired up on trying to get to this one line that he'd been looking at for a couple of days and was pretty, as usual, the line isn't the only challenging part. Getting to the line or getting into it was additionally challenging. He had to do this big traverse and kind of chisel up some through some terrain and cross a bunch of chutes. Then he got all lined up on it and I'm not sure what he could see from up there, but knowing that the line had these kind of rolls in it, he probably had some blind moments in there. So I'm sure it's a little nerve-wracking being up top, but he looked at it a lot, had photos and did his homework. So by the time it came time to ski it, he just pretty much put all the pieces together. It was really cool to watch him ski something that he'd been looking at for a couple of days.

What does stoke mean to you? How do you stoke your fire?

Skiing stokes my fire, man. Simple! I like to ski. I like to start at the top and ski to the bottom. I like skiing powder. That stokes my fire. Terrain. Just the feeling of floating around in the mountains and being in the mountains with good people who enjoy the space. What stokes my fire is being around other exciting people and being in nature and skiing.