Simon Hillis names Dad, Dane Tudor Rossland BC ski legend

Simon Hillis hails from Rossland, British Columbia | Photo: Nic Alegre

This Bali-born skier shreds pow like he’s never known anything else. Simon Hillis, who you may recognize from last year’s Magic Hour, moved to Rossland, B.C. at the age of three and spent his first day on skis buried in knee-deep powder. Coincidence? Probably not. From the get-go, Hillis flaunted his impeccable style and endless stoke around Red Mountain, BC. After all, he grew up skiing alongside local legends like Dan Tudor. When he was seven years old, he became the mountain’s youngest ever sponsored athlete and quickly ascended through the ranks of competition. But as his appetite for big lines and filming grew, his career flourished. Watch Simon's episode of Legends in the Making.

We were stoked to catch up with Hillis during his time filming in Colorado to talk new lines and old-school legends.

Where are you from / where did you grow up skiing?

I grew up in Red Mountain, B.C. - a full-blown ski community, so there was always tons of support for the sport. Now it’s super cool to be exploring new places like Colorado.

Who are your early ski influences?

One of my early ski influences has got to be Dan Tudor, who’s from Rossland as well. Seeing him rip under the chairlift when I was young was pretty cool. One of the main ski legends in my life has definitely got to be my dad, though. He taught me how to ski when I was little and brought me to the hill every day. In general, growing up in Roslyn around so many legends kind of drew me up to be the skier I am now.

Simon Hillis finds his line in the Colorado backcountry | Photo: Nic Alegre

How’d you wind up here in CO?

I got a call from Jake (Hopfinger) saying he’d be in Colorado in a couple of days and I said yes right away. So I made the trek out. It’s my first time here and I've got a good crew to check it out with. It kind of reminds me of home out here. It’s a small little town, not a ton of people and not super touristy, and just a couple of little shops on Main Street and that's about it.

Who’s the crew & what’s the vibe?

We got Jake, McRae, and Colter out here right now. I got to ski with McRae last year for our Magic Hour segment, but I’ve never skied with Colter, so it’s been cool getting to know him. The vibe has been really good, we're just all sledding a bunch and having a good time. We all seem to work really well together. McRae is a huge chiller, so it’s been nice to hang with him again. And then Colter's got everything pretty dialed. He’s kind of leading the group, which has been super helpful. He’s definitely a pretty loose unit - he rolled the sled trailer a couple times behind the Bronco. It's funny to watch Colter kind of lose his mind a little bit. He’s always a good time and definitely like an important piece of the puzzle for this trip. He put a lot of work in to make it all happen and keep the whole crew organized. 

For Simon, things are looking up. | Photo Nic Alegre

What have you been up to so far out in Colorado? What’s the terrain been like?

Before the film crew even showed up, we got to explore a bunch of new zones and lay out a plan for the coming days. It ended up being super productive. We found a new zone, so when the film crew showed up we were able to nail a bunch of clips right off the bat. Compared to BC, the zones were quite a bit more rocky and the trees are a lot more spread out. Also, the access on sleds is a lot easier than where I'm from.

There's tons of alpine terrain as well as some mini golf pillows and a shell featuring in the trees, so it's all just been really fun to explore. So far, we’ve mostly been exploring some sled zones, but in a few days we’re turning up to a 10th Mountain Division hut to do some touring. They used it back in the day for military training, so excited to go see what's up there.

Highlights from the trip?

So many highlights. Getting to hang out with the whole crew. The night getting into the hut was definitely a highlight. Just an absolute mission. It was a full blizzard, super windy, snowing, and dark out while we were trying to get sleds and all the gear in. We finally made it to this hut which was perched up on a ridge. From there, you’ve got some legendary pillows down one side and nice trees skiing down the other. Then across the valley there's big peaks and some more sick lines. It’s just pretty amazing views any way you look. We lucked out with a weather window that was looking pretty promising. So, we got up super early in the morning for the sunrise and scored. A memorable time for sure.