JUST THE TIP

YOU MAY THINK YOU KNOW BRETT TIPPLE GODFATHER OF FREERIDE, LARGER-THAN-LIFE EVENT HOST, HIGH-ENERGY INTERVIEWER BUT THAT'S JUST SCRATCHING THE SURFACE. THIS MAN HAS HAD SOME DARK TIMES, BUT NEVER LOST HIS ENERGIZER BUNNY ENTHUSIASM.

- Malcolm Mclaws

What can you say about Brett Tippie? The man who put the ‘free’ in riding, as he helped start the scene we love to watch today. From those early days careering down scree slopes in Kamloops, BC, to the heroics of Red Bull Rampage and his modern role as irrepressible man-on-the-mic, the ‘Director of Good Times’ has remained a larger-than-life character, living and riding beyond limits. At one point, the Tip took a path downhill, but like any good freerider he rode it out. A true legend of the sport, we thought it high time we caught up with him to get the full behind-the-scenes story.

Roots in the ’Loops

Tippie grew up in Kamloops, where he had a happy childhood, playing all kinds of sports and roaming the hills and forests. He loved the outdoors, and once he discovered snowboarding in the early ’80s, he was hooked. After a year of college, he ended up floating around BC, planting trees in summer and boarding in winter. Going pro in 1991, he raced giant slalom, super-G and boardercross, picking up sponsorship from Burton, narrowly missing Olympic selection in 1998 and retiring as Canadian boardercross champion in 2000.

It was in 1983 that Tippie first slung a leg over a mountain bike. “It was just a way to get some adrenaline flowing when there was no snow,” he explains. “Kamloops was full of big-mountain style lines so we shredded it as best we could with our imaginations, skills and fully-rigid bikes with cantilever brakes. Haha! I was never a strong jumper or into doing tricks, and always just wanted to hit steep lines, carve corners, drop cliffs, explore new terrain and hang out with like-minded people.”