In the wake of the success their ‘Riding Fjords’ story in our current print mag, we caught up with One Life Crew founding member Kjersti Buaas to find out what the life is all about… 

Interview by Anna Langer

Hey Kjersti, have you had a good start to winter season already?
Hello Cooler! I actually just got to Breckenridge, Colorado! I’m excited to go get some turns in and feel the snow under my feet again. When I was home in Norway it suddenly snowed a ton in two days, and I got to go cross country skiing with my beautiful family. That was a nice way to “start” the winter! I was down in NZ in august with Roxy for a photoshoot, so it feels like season pretty much goes all year around!

What else do you have planned this year?
I’m manifesting a lot of good snow, hopefully some powder and lots of opportunities to progress my snowboarding skills. I am looking at doing most of the major contests and create good times with inspiring people! I have also committed to finishing my bachelor paper, as I have found a topic I really care for and I’m curious to find out more about! Other than that I want to grow as a human (not in size) and spread as much love and smiles as I possibly can!!!

Any nice trips like the Iceland one that’s in our current print issue?
Yeah, we are always brewing up some new ideas for adventures… Have not picked out a destination yet as we have been busy finalizing our first documentary releasing in December!

What makes this crew so fun is that we don’t have a definite course, things are very unpredictable.

Last year you went to Argentina with the One Life Crew – a pretty adventurous crew you got there!
Yes, these girls are a erratic group of humans. What makes this crew so fun is that we don’t have a definite course, things are very unpredictable. When we visited Spain & Andorra after the Vancouver Olympics, our only plan was that we were going to fly to Spain. The rest of the plans unraveled spontaneously as soon as we had landed at the airport in Barcelona. We followed the snow to El Tarter (town in Andorra) and ended up meeting the most well known snowboarder and hotel owner of the town. We got set up in the most exclusive hotel and got treated like kings and queens. I also love that these girls are very passionate about health and the environment. When we were in Argentina we organized and helped build a green house out of plastic bottles, that got gifted to a local school community to grow food in. When I surround myself by people like this, I get inspired to keep growing and learning about how I can help make this world become more future friendly! The Iceland trip has been a very enhancing project for me to take part in. As the years have gone by, One Life has become better at finding solutions that makes us able to accomplish what we really want. Having organizer magician Chanelle Sladics be in charge of the structuring of our projects, has been the most important factor for making it possible to travel, create and explore as a crew!

You don’t hear of such missions from other girls or teams, how come?
Snowboarding has never has been a sport that followed the traditional way of organizing itself, like most other sports do. I think that this is the biggest catalyst for the development of what we call “crews” today. One of the most noticeable things I discovered when I started riding at my local resort, was how the snowboarders were creating little communities. These communities represented everything from bigger groups, where everybody rode together in the park, or smaller groups, where things like “similar” riding style, age or interests outside of snowboarding like music defined the group. Since snowboarding is a male dominated sport (quantitively speaking) , the most natural thing to happen is that we are going to see a bigger trend of “guys crews”. Lately there has been more girls that have taken a initiative to start so-called crews or teams. An example outside of One Life is the Yiip girls that loves to ride together, push each other and be creative on the snow. I encourage more girls to do the same!

People that snowboard tend to have a natural urge to explore, be creative, push limits and find new and undiscovered paths to walk on.

When asked about travelling with the One Life girls, you all always refer to having the same “vibe” – can you explain that a bit more?
One Life is a piece of a already high vibration snowboard culture! People that snowboard tend to have a natural urge to explore, be creative, push limits and find new and undiscovered paths to walk on. Like I said above, the fact that snowboarding is different from other sports by it’s organizing structure, creates this is unique platform for young people to learn and progress on. Even though we have national teams and sponsored teams, the industry still strongly support and care for the crew culture. I think that most people that are involved in snowboarding value and want to see the playing philosophy that vibrates so loud in our community, sustain. What is not better that for like-minded people to get to feed off each other, share their art on snow or get together to share ideas? That is what the snowboarding community is to me.

Iceland was your first split board experience, how was it?
Yes this was my first time testing out split boarding. It is a similar approach to walk on snow as cross country skiing (witch I grew up with), only the best part is that you get to snowboard down the mountain after your hike up! Split boarding from my kayak up the mountains, exploring the pureness of Iceland in raw silence was one the most amazing things I have ever experienced! The water is so clean there that we were filling our water bottles from the melting snow and rivers.

I’m gonna try it too this winter – any tips?
Drying your skins every night will keep them from icing up or getting slippery.

Why do you think the split boarding thing created such a boom-effect in the industry?
Conquering mountaintops, exploring nature and snowboarding, all in one combo! No need to say more…

Make sure you don’t miss their next adventure and follow Kjersti on Twitter, instagram @Kjerstibuaas and of course Facebook!