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Parkin ripping up the backcountry. Mclaulin Studios photo.
While most 16-year-olds were up to God know’s what last summer, Parkin Costain, the winner of TGR’s 2015 Grom Comp, was nine-to-fiveing for his dad, who builds bike parks at ski areas. He needed to come up with the money for something that would help develop him into a pro skier. That something: a snowmobile.
Parkin pounds the backcountry on his snowmobile probably more than you brush your teeth. He’s homeschooled (but not weird), and invests his time in skiing, filming, and filming skiing. Go ahead and take a second to be jealous. Cool, now appreciate that getting useable footage takes some aggressive behavior, by which I mean hardcore patience and persistence. You’ve got to be dogged.
Over the past many months in many places, Parkin filmed for his latest edit. But since mother nature kind of decided to just do her own wild thing this year, Parkin could only use the footage from Park City, insider scoop that makes me want to break into his house for a sneak a peak of his unreleased goodies.
Unused a vast proportion of his footage may be, but not at all wasteful; each adventure gets him closer to the grail: being in an internationally-featured ski movie. Last year, he made it into Burrrlapz, but he’s looking to go bigger. I ask him where he sees himself in ten years. His response: “Hopefully getting free trips to Alaska; I’m working for those gnarly lines.”
Parkin sends it big. Mclaulin Studios photo.
Parkin’s hooked on Alaska. He went heli-skiing there for the first time at the end of last year and says, “I’ve never seen anything as big as that place. It’s mind-blowing. There’s just so much terrain.” The highlight: skiing a line called “Pablo Escobar.” Nobody had touched it in 7 years.
Alaska aside, Parkin’s into Europe, not necessarily for how he’s been skiing over there—he says, “Conditions were horrible during the Freeride Junior World Championships in Andorra this year, and I skied bad,” which, by the way, means placing 22nd place—but for the food. After admitting I’m a fonduehead, Parkin confessed he had a café-au-lait and chocolate muffin every single day, “and maybe a slice of ham.”
It’s the slices of ham and savvy training that are propelling Parkin up the ranks. He doesn’t have an oppressive gym routine, opting to just ski, mountain bike, and focus on balancing exercises. It’s the knee injuries that scare him. “They’re just so generic,” he says. This summer, he’ll be water ramping at the Utah Olympic park, working to improve his park tricks that he’ll ultimately transfer to big mountain skiing.
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Parkin also knows how to send it on a bike. Ryan Dunfee photo.
Parkin hasn’t yet injured himself skiing—his mentality (listen up, you hooligans!) is that, “If you’re not feeling it, don’t do it; shit can go wrong”—but he broke his collarbone mountain biking. Parkin’s biggest challenge has been being okay with staying in his comfort zone. He realizes progressing doesn’t mean just gnarlier, gnarlier, gnarlier.
While Parkin isn’t all about bigger and badder, he did land 3rd overall after four top finishes in last year’s Junior IFSA tour. What sets him apart is his speed combined with the likes of massive threes to backflip combos…on super steep faces. He says, “Backflipping’s actually less intimidating than straight-airing because you’re not staring at the ground the whole time.”
Lines of beauty after filming. Parkin Costain photo.
I figure Parkin must listen to some pretty rad music to get him in the zone, but it turns out bro prefers, well, listening to the sound of the snow. Why? “Music makes me fall more,” he says, “It’s distracting.” When Parkin does listen to music though, he’s always thinking about ways he can edit to the song. Making ski movies is always on his mind. His tip: “Pick a song with beat, and relevant words, like ‘upside down’ and ‘flip around.’”
This summer, Parkin won’t be building bike trails for his dad. But get off his back—he’s not slacking; he’ll be working on his very own film company, which will launch later this year. Since he was a small kid, Parkin let people know he’d one day be a professional skier, and he sure is following through.
Parkin won the only competition he entered this year: the Snowbird Nationals. In response to his performance, his Instagram followers said he was “bonkers,” “bananas,” and “a beaut,” attributes he says he owes largely to his dad and the IFSA. Keep your radar on this ripper from Whitefish, Montana—he’s going places.
