...but you can't take the AK out of the man. By AK I am of course referring to the unforgiving, desolate but breathtaking state of Alaska. ‘The Last Frontier' is home to, arguably, the best and most dangerous snowboard terrain on the planet and breeds some of the greatest backcountry snowboarders around, Mark Landvik not withstanding. Mark grew up in Juneau, and even though he ventured to the Pacific Northwest right after high school, trading in his home resort of Eaglecrest for Mount Baker, he certainly didn't trade in any of his big mountain riding ability. Although the terrain in AK is second to none, the exposure to the snowboarding industry is minimal, "I just wanted to pursue snowboarding." Mark explains, "I couldn't do that in AK so I wanted to come down here and try my luck. I had always heard great stuff about Mount Baker so I made a home in Bellingham and have been here for 10 years."

At 32 years old, Mark's riding in the groundbreaking Brain Farm film Art of Flight proves that he is still progressing at an alarming rate and shows no signs of slowing down. Getting this humble snowboarder to talk about himself was a little like trying to ride a moose down Main Street in Juneau. After disarming him with some small talk he opened up a little, but still used ‘we' and ‘us' in lieu of ‘I' and ‘me' when talking about snowboarding accomplishments. I must admit, not what I expected from the brazen, eternally loud jokester that pulls out his red-necked alter ego, Hank, for comic relief on the regular, it was definitely very refreshing.

Who did you link up with when you first moved to Washington State?
I've always been working with Jesse Burtner, being from Alaska we grew up hanging out together. We started filming with Standard Films, and eventually I met Travis [Rice] through mutual friends and snowboarding and stuff like that.

Did you and Travis have an instant connection?
Yeah, I think so. I think he liked my riding, and so did Curt [Morgan], and he wanted me to work with them on the That's It, That's All project. They brought me on and we've pretty much been best friends since the get-go so it's been pretty easy. We met at the [Mount Baker] Banked Slalom quite a few years ago, but the first time we really hung out was when we were filming for That's It, That's All.

What's the big difference between shooting for a more contemporary snowboard film compared to one of Morgan and Rice's projects?
Usually it's one filmer and one photographer. With Curt, you'll have at least one photographer but then five or six other guys filming different angles on different cameras. The amount of work and effort to get all those people, all the equipment, all the weights...just all the crap that goes along with the Brain Farm crew. It's a lot more work with a lot more people involved, anywhere from 10 to 15 people when we're shooting in the backcountry. It's a pretty drastic difference.

There was definitely a jump in your level of riding between That's It, That's All and Art of Flight, do you feel your riding evolved a lot between those two projects?
I don't know. At one point we weren't sure if we were going to have another Brain Farm Project come around so that really made you go for it on the snow and not hold anything back. I guess it's just the progression from year to year. It's pretty hard not to, you know? It's just the way we are. Year after year if we're not progressing then it's just pretty dull and I don't think we'd be satisfied with ourselves. It's just the natural progression.

Do you think the environments you find yourself in, the crew you're shooting and riding with and the pressures you put on yourself accelerated your progression? Can you pinpoint any one thing?
For me, it's a matter of shutting all that stuff out and just focusing on my snowboarding. That's the hardest part. Trying to deal with the fact that there are helicopters and tons of people filming from different angles, you know? It's just madness. For me it's really good to just shut all that stuff down and really focus on snowboarding. That's the hardest part I think.

Would you say you are your own worst critic? Do you catch yourself watching vids or seeing photos of yourself and cringing?
Oh, for sure! I mean, there's always that. Year after year you aren't 100% satisfied with your riding. There's always that but you just have to let it go. You have to focus on the next year and move on because you're never really going to be satisfied. There are always going to be some things that you wish you had landed or wish you had tried.

(keep reading for more with Mark Landvik)