How The Steeps of Jackson Hole Influenced Local Bryce Newcomb’s Skiing

What does it take to set yourself apart from the pack in a place so saturated with skiers like Jackson? Bryce Newcomb, Atomic ski athlete, has it figured out. It’s pretty simple: let your skiing do the talking. I caught up with him to talk about his role with Atomic and why he hasn't skipped a winter in Jackson for the past nine years.

TGR: Bryce, tell me a little about growing up in Sun Valley, and how your ski career got started.

Bryce: Like a lot of kids in Sun Valley, I grew up racing throughout school, but that got old relatively quickly. I quit racing when I was a junior in high school, and naturally switched to freeskiing. In college, I saw a bunch of my buddies from Sun Valley entering these big mountain comps and though “oh yeah I might as well give it a shot.” I entered my first competition in Taos at 19 and ended up winning it. Skiing became more of my life, and the passion just kept growing. And then the rest is history.

This will be my 9^th winter, and I’m looking forward to it.

Over the last eight years, Newcomb has been busy ticking off classic JHMR lines. Jay Goodrich photo.

TGR: And you’ve lived here year-round the whole time?

Bryce: I was here just for winters for the first few years; I was busy finishing up grad school, where I received a Master’s in Economics.

I had a few opportunities with that, but I just kind of wanted to keep skiing and having fun. And so far, all the hard work has paid off; I’m pretty much right where I want to be. Fired up for this year for sure!

When home is this good, why even leave? Jay Goodrich photo.

TGR: What’s your life like in the off-season, what’s it all about when its not skiing?

Bryce: This past summer has mostly been working. I recently started my own painting business with my buddy, so we’ve been hammering on that. It’s been successful; summer went by really fast!

In the summer, when I'm not working, it’s definitely all biking, surfing, and hiking; kind of everything outdoors you can do around here. Being a surfer in Jackson is easier than you think, we’re lucky enough to have stuff like the lake to take the boats out on and wake surf. Then there’s also the Lunch Counter to surf the river wave at for a few short weeks in the summer.

TGR: Last season was pretty epic in Jackson, were there any standout moments?

Bryce: It was really cool getting up into Grand Teton National Park last year; I had some epic days up there. I tomahawked down the Middle Teton, so that was pretty fun, and I don't know how I walked away from that one. I got maybe 6 turns into it, and then got taken out and probably fell about 1500 feet. Both my skis went all the way down to the bottom. My partner Griffin Post was up there and called out: “dude are you even still alive?” Somehow, I apparently was. He came down and gave me one ski, so we both one-skied the rest of the Middle, and had a great time. That was in the top two worst crashes of my life. I walked away completely unscathed; sometimes you’re just that lucky.

Now I’m definitely stoked to get up into the Park a lot more. It’s very eye-opening to ski lines in the park big-mountain style, and it sure turns some heads. There are so many lines out there, so you can have a lifetime’s worth of epic days. It’s all so big, and once you’re on top of things you think: “Well I’m not going to hop turn down this.” But at the same time, it’s a long ways in on some days. Think: you're eight hours  and you’re exhausted at the top of your line, so you have to be careful.

We even had some super lucky days in December at the resort. The area got super fortunate with conditions early in the season, lines filled in that I’d never seen before. Jackson is the mecca. It’s my favorite resort for sure. The wind was just blowing stuff in, so it was just game on early, and that continued all year. You see something, ski it, get stoked on a zone and then think: “hmmm what else do we have here?”

More classic lines, this time Jackson's infamous Pucker Face. Patrick Nelson photo.

TGR: Now that the snow is falling, what are the plans for the winter?

Bryce: Nothing is set in stone yet. I have been thinking of entering a competition or two again, since it’s been awhile. It would be cool to pop back into that scene there for a couple. Other than that, I have some new ski launches with Atomic on the schedule, and of course ski trips here and there with them. I’m super stoked on a new ski this year: the new Vantage 107. It’s definitely the ski I want, I’ve been telling them for a few years now and they finally delivered!

TGR: Any big missions planned?

Bryce: Right now it’s all up in the air, once ski season hits, it's a bunch of last minute things that happen here and there. I’ve been working on a project launch with some local guys; we want to do a webisode series around Jackson. I envision it as a 3-part series: sled skiing, resort skiing, and then touring, showing off all the rad stuff around home! It’s been a dream project I’ve been trying to figure out for a few years, and I think this might be the year. With so much good stuff right out our door, it’s hard to leave Jackson in the winter.