Photo via Ride Snowboards
Name: Hana Beaman
D.O.B: 8/25/1982
Age Started Snowboarding: 6 years old
Home Mountain: Big Bear/Park City/Mount Baker
Nickname: Beams
Sponsors: Ride, Vans, VonZipper, Nixon, Rockstar Energy
Krush: How much time do you think you spend chasing snow?
Hana: We definitely get a lot of traveling in. For us it’s mostly driving since we have to drive with our sleds and stuff. I’d say for every week that we film there’s at least two full days of travel. We get a lot of miles in. I’d say last winter I put 35,000 miles on my truck, but it all depends on how far the snow is. You kind of just live out of your truck in the wintertime.
What are you filming right now?
We are just starting to film the new season of P.S… Webisodes. We were just filming in Park City for the first episode. We’ll be doing mostly that for the season. All that footage will probably go towards another movie or something.
Does it get annoying to have a camera crew in your face all season?
No, not really. It’s not like a full camera crew. We’re pretty low budget. We just have one camera guy with us and usually they are just like friends.
You’ve traveled to a bunch of places, so where is your favorite place to ride?
I like going to interior British Columbia, that’s always really fun. It’s just so out there. And it’s great for sledding and filming. It’s a cool place to check out and go adventure in. I also love hanging out in Jackson Hole. There’s just so much to film in that small little area. But it all really depends on the snow. If the snow sucks in a zone, then, well it kind of sucks.
What’s it been like moving more into the freeriding side of the sport?
Yeah, I’ve been kind of working my way in since 2005. I got my first snowmobile in 2003 and starting filming a bit with Travis (Rice). He sort of showed me the ropes for sledding and showed me around the backcountry of Jackson Hole. It was a really cool experience that got me hooked. So, I’ve kind of faded out of contests over the past five years. I’ve been focusing more on the backcountry and getting filming shots and less on the contests. It’s been a slow process though. I think the past season was the first full season I devoted only to filming. It’s been a gradual move.
Having done both contest riding and backcountry riding, what do you find is more stressful and rigorous?
I mean they are both stressful in their own way. Contests are stressful because you have to perform at that moment and do the best that you possibly can. But it’s less stressful because you basically know where you’re going. Your season is pretty much all planned out. Where as filming in the backcountry you have a lot more freedom and interpretation on what you want to hit and where you want to film. But it’s super stressful trying to pin down where you want to ride and where the good conditions are. There are just a lot more variables when you’re filming in the backcountry. It’s a tradeoff, different stresses, different pros and cons.
You mentioned briefly that you get to pick where you film, is there anywhere that you’re looking to film next or a trick you want to lay down?
As far as places, not necessarily. There are a few jumps here and there around Whistler, Utah and Jackson. But this year I’d really like to try and get a double-cork. I got one attempt at it last year during this blizzard and it didn’t turn out as bad as I thought it would. This year I’d like to try again on a little better conditions and see what I can do.
Photo via Ride Snowboards
What does your set up look like these days?
I’m on a Ride OMG, usually a 153. Ride is coming out with a board next year that I’ve been testing called the Hellcat. It should be an all-mountain freestyle board for an aggressive charging girl. She should be able to take it into the mountains and ride pow awesomely. And then take it into the park and it will still perform great there. So I’ve been testing that out a bunch this year.
Did you have any input into the design/production of the board?
We do some board testing. Kind of a blind board testing and our engineers take our feedback that we give them and tweak the boards accordingly. The Hellcat was sort of a gap they saw in their board-line. They have taken some of the best aspects of a few different boards and put them together.
What’s it like working with and riding for the Ride Snowboard team?
I don’t get to ride with them too much. Last year I got to ride with Megan Ginter a little bit. Every once in a while I’ll get to do something with Austin (Hironaka) or Darrell (Mathes) or anyone of those guys. But, everyone’s kind of out doing their own thing and their own projects, but it’s a pretty awesome group when we get to get together.
When you’re traveling for snowboarding what’s always in your bag?
(Laughs) I always carry a sleeping bag. A really warm sleeping bag! I usually carry a little cooler with road snacks, tea and stuff like that. Other than that, just your typical snowboard gear. I basically live in my long-underwear in the wintertime.
(Signature Question) Krush’s slogan is “lead the crowd.” How do you think you are leading the women’s snowboard crowd?
Maybe just in the sense that I want to show people that you don’t just have to be a contest rider or you don’t have to be a rail girl. I feel like there is a large opportunity for women to go out in the backcountry and really have a good time, explore, ride and remember the soul of snowboarding. You don’t even need to be a crazy pro to do it. You can go hike in your mountains. There are a lot of different aspects to snowboarding and I like to think I’m inspiring girls to get into the backcountry and to ride more powder and mountain.
(Signature Question) What (to this point) has been your most “Krushable” (epic) moment?
An obvious one from last year would be the Baker Road Gap. But, honestly, I’m more personally excited about getting a Front 7 into powder. For me that was a big moment. And then I’d say, a few years ago when we were filming for Standard we got to go to Alaska and riding some lines up there. To me they were big, maybe to experienced Alaskan riders they weren’t that big. But, that was a crazy awesome experience. That would definitely be up in the top.
What’s next for you? What are you looking forward to most about the upcoming winter?
I’m going to be doing an Olympic qualifier for slopestyle, seeing if I can qualify for that. I’ve also got some cool trips to China lined up, which will be really fun! And, just a bunch of filming, which I’m looking forward to.
Be sure to check out P.S… Webisodes regularly as they drop new edits every two weeks. Also be sure to follow Hana on Facebook and Instagram for updates on her adventures into the backcountry, China, Olympics and beyond.
Got a question for Beams? Drop it in the comments below and we’ll have her answer it for you.
