Unbroken: The Snowboard Life of Mark McMorris

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1

(dramatic music)

(distant cheering)

[Announcer] From Saskatchewan,

ladies and gentlemen,

Mark "McMo" McMorris!

(loud cheering and applauding)

All right, are we ready

to set this place on fire?

Here we go, superhero.

[Commentator] Well,

calling him dominant

might be an understatement.

Our defending gold

medalist, Marc McMorris.

[Nasally Man]

Absolutely perfect.

[Commentator] 92.66, Mark

McMorris in the top spot.

[Broadcaster] Ladies

and Gentlemen, he on one!

[Announcer] Mark McMorris'

slopestyle domination continues.

(announcers groan)

[Announcer] Mark McMorris

hits the rail hard.

He broke his rib

in that competition.

When you break your rib,

and you have to do

those sorts of jumps,

everybody just assumed the

Olympic dream was over.

I think he feels he's got

some unfinished business.

He truly believes that he

should be able to win a gold.

He's got a bronze,

he's so hungry.

There's only one thing that

matters, and that's winning.

[Announcer] This

kid right here

is the most decorated

competitive athlete

in big air and

slopestyle history.

We're the spectacle

culture, we want big.

But at some point, you're like

the human body can't

take that landing.

That's why we have

hospitals, I guess.

(laughter)

(orchestral music)

[Announcer] Front

side triple cork.

(announcers groan)

Mark with one of the

heaviest toe-edge catches

coming down that landing

I have ever seen.

[Announcer] Mark

McMorris broke his femur.

(orchestral music)

I feel so much pain everywhere,

you know my hip, my knee,

everything, the screws, it

all hurts so bad all the time.

If you get hurt, you just want

to get back to it even more.

It's a weird addiction.

(ethereal music)

The 2016/2017 season, he was

coming off the worst injury

of his career, and this is the

year that he has to qualify

for the Canadian Olympic team.

So we traveled

over to South Korea

for the big air test event

for the 2018 Olympics.

Standing at the

top of that run

before I was going to

try my very first one,

I was like oh my god, I'm back.

I thought it I tried a

front side triple cork

I was just gonna

break my femur again.

[Announcer] Best

of Mark McMorris.

It was really

sugary, sketchy snow.

And I just kept telling myself,

you don't need to stress.

[Announcer] Here he goes,

front side triple 14, oh!

Couldn't quite stick it.

I was really happy

that I ate sh*t

on a front side triple.

You know, like and was fine.

I was like oh, I'm good.

I made it to finals and

then I wasn't scared at all,

I tried the next one, I

just really wanted to land.

He knew he was gonna have to

do another front

side triple cork

if he wanted to win the event.

(announcing in foreign language)

[Announcer] Is he

gonna go for it again?

The front side

triple cork 14, yes!

I slammed into the fence.

I didn't even like

stop, I was so happy.

[Announcer] In first

place, and World Cup winner,

from Canada, Mark McMorris.

Winning a contest again

and doing that trick again

was definitely the

hump in my rehab.

I was off to the races on

getting qualified for the team,

so I was super happy to

get a jump-start on it.

They take your

best three results,

so throughout the

2016/2017 season,

all of the athletes on

the team are jockeying

for the best results

at each of the events.

[Announcer] Your winner,

Marc 'McMo' McMorris.

This kid is insane, man.

When he lands a run, it's

not just for himself.

It's for all the people

that are surrounded by him.

What a great guy.

It's like thank you, Mark,

for landing that run.

(blows a kiss)

It means a lot to

be back at the US Open

after missing a year,

it's a Olympic qualifier.

Definitely wanna show

up to play there.

Mark put down one of the

heaviest slopestyle runs

of the year which put him

on the top of the podium

and solidified his spot for

the Olympic team in 2018.

That's like the best

feeling on earth, ecstatic.

It was sweet.

He's going to the Olympics.

It's the one snowboard

event, slopestyle or big air

that's eluded him a gold medal,

and he's a very

competitive person.

He's got a bronze,

rose gold if you will.

But he wants that real gold.

(audience cheering)

I was so happy to just

end my season like that.

Leaving as one of the

guys to beat all the time.

It's like okay, I'm

for sure back now.

Winning is a good feeling,

being the best feels good,

there's no doubt about that.

And winning X-games and

things like that, it's great,

but it's...

I ask myself this

question all the time,

why do guys like Mark, how

do they craft this career

where everyone looks at them

and sort of wants to

do tricks like them,

or wants to be like

them on and off snow?

One part of it is really

being an all-around rider,

not just focusing

on being the best

slopestyle rider in the world.

I mean Mark is a

good rail rider.

He's a great jumper,

he can ride transition,

he rides backcountry.

He gets himself

immersed in the powder

and building jumps out there,

and he's a true snowboarder.

There's huge contests, and

there's endorsement deals,

and everything that

goes along with that,

and media coverage and stuff,

but that's just one

part of snowboarding.

Snowboarding is kind of

ridiculous in that sense,

where you, as a professional,

you strap into a piece of wood

on snow and slide down the

mountain and do tricks,

and you get paid to do that.

(laughs)

You can't forget that, you

know, it's all about the fun.

You're going out there to have

a kick ass time, you know?

With Mark too, I think his

passion for snowboarding,

he loves it, like

actually really loves it,

and it's really inspiring.

He loves snowboarding, he

loves everything about it,

and right now he's still

in that competitive world

and he's going after it and

he's enjoying it and he should.

But he knows there's so

many mountains out there

just waiting for

him to ride down.

It's really refreshing for me,

spending time in the backcountry

and doing that kind

of snowboarding

after all the years and

all the time I spend

chasing contests and park jumps.

Backcountry riding

is a lot different

than competition riding.

There's not some

prize to be won,

it's just trying to

create magic on your own

and it's literally the

most fun thing ever.

(peaceful music)

(loud carving)

(music builds)

Creativity really opens up

when you get into

the backcountry.

It's really just a different

mindset out there too.

You need to know a lot

about snow conditions

and all that stuff.

It's a whole different game.

Avalanches, trees,

rocks in the landing.

There's so many factors

that are pretty life-threatening

in the backcountry.

It's pretty gnarly.

There's just so

many challenges

and that's like understanding

the slope, the terrain,

snow conditions, but that's

just one aspect of it.

Getting hurt back there,

getting somebody out

from back there.

It's not something you

can just download an app

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