The top comment summed things up: “Sam's part has 10 clips in a row that made me think ‘ohh this must be the ender.’” It was a reaction shared by some of the biggest names in the business. Chris Grenier, Sage Kotsenburg and Spencer Schubert all gave him props on The Bomb Hole podcast. Tommy Gesme reached out. So did the Videograss crew. For a rider who'd had to juggle his riding career with studying for a college degree in mechanical engineering, it was a significant moment.

Take us back to the start. Where did you grow up riding?

Tyrol Basin – a pretty small hill outside of Madison, Wisconsin. Two hundred vertical feet, three chairlifts and a rope tow. My parents would drop me off pretty much every day after school and I'd ride from five to nine, then all day on weekends. They had a really good park growing up; the park managers were just killing it. Mostly rail-heavy, which is pretty much where I cut my teeth.

I heard you've never had a proper powder day. Is that actually true?

Yeah, that's kind of true. I've had leftover powder days, but I've never had a proper you-don't-feel-the-bottom day. The most I've had is probably a foot, but you can still touch the ground. It'd be sick to get a proper waist-deep day where you're just not touching the bottom.

We need to fix this, Sam! Japan, maybe.

For real. I always find it hard to take myself away from the rails, but I would love that.

“I've never had a proper powder day where you don’t feel the bottom. The most I've had is probably a foot”

Who were the riders that inspired you growing up?

Jed Anderson, Danimals and Louif [Paradis] were the top three. Jed was always number one – his trick selection and the technicality of everything he did, combined with the style he had, just blew my mind. The first part I saw of his where I was like, 'who is this guy?' was Shoot the Moon. That was just ingrained into my head. And then Deja Vu – Louif’s' part in that is unreal for the time. Forum and all the Videograss videos were super formative, and Working for the City was another one I just watched on repeat.

What do you think makes a video part stand the test of time?

The riders that go above what everyone else is doing, or look through a different lens. Jed was doing stuff nobody else was capable of. Danimals had spot selection that was always outside the box. The best filmmakers and editors have the snowboarding stand first – like Colton Feldman right now does this insanely well. Tommy Gesme’s riding with Colton's filming and editing is just top tier. They've worked together so long that anything they do is going to be a masterpiece.

Where do you stand on the full-length versus social media debate?

The full-length should still be the gold standard, with social media as a supplement. People are going to remember the full-length project. Social media is a never-ending carousel where something comes out, the next thing comes out, and the memory is lost quickly. The full-length gets ingrained. Like, I remember the first time I watched Forest Bailey's last part in Atlas – I pulled off to the nearest exit and watched it on my phone as soon as it dropped. There's something about those projects, especially if you can have a premiere with a crowd cheering. It's meaningful to me.

Tell us about what you're working on this season.

We're doing a two-year Bomb Hole movie – the largest project I've worked on. We're in year one, going to new zones we haven't been to before: Pittsburgh, Chicago, Minnesota... Alex Havey is the lead filmer and director. I've grown up filming with him, so we have really good chemistry. He's always on Google Maps – we had over 200 pins in Pittsburgh of spots we wanted to check out. We're always on the hunt for the next one.

“We're doing a two-year Bomb Hole movie – it’s the largest project I've worked on”

You're a mechanical engineer. How does that side of your life work right now?

Right now I'm doing manufacturing engineering for heart catheters at Abbott Laboratories. Whenever I'm back from a trip for a few days, I'll hop into the office. It's taken a few years to find the right balance, but it feels like I've got a good groove. My long-term goal would be working directly with the snowboard industry – something like what Maggie Leon does with Rome. The team manager Tom [Pelley] actually sent me some prototype boards to test and give feedback on, which I'm hoping might open a door with Nidecker. Boots and bindings would be super interesting to me – I've worked with moving components, so that feels really tangible.

How did the move to Nidecker come about?

Going into the summer it felt like time for a change, and I reached out to Chris Grenier just to pick his brain. He was really strongly pushing Nidecker – he said he thought it'd be a great fit and liked where the brand was going – so he connected me with Tom. From that first conversation I was really impressed. There wasn't any feeling of like, I had to fit into a mold. But the biggest thing that piqued my interest was knowing it's independently owned by people that love snowboarding. And seeing the moves the brand has made in the last few years… If you'd asked me three years ago if Nidecker was on my radar, I'd have said no. But they've done the right steps to make that push, and it's exciting to be on the starting edge of it.

Do you know any of the riders on the team already?

Yeah, Jed Sky. I've known him for maybe five years here and there. Every time I'm in Utah, we always go board together and have a great time. So it's always sick seeing him. But I’m excited to meet more of the crew soon.

“The biggest thing that piqued my interest at Nidecker was knowing it's independently owned by people that love snowboarding. There wasn't any feeling that I had to fit a mold”

What gear have you been riding?

I've been on the Tape Deck – dropping next season – which I really like, and honestly the graphic might be my favourite I've ever ridden. I was at Heavy Metal last weekend and the amount of compliments I got on that board was awesome. For bindings I've got the Orbit Pros (out next fall) and then the Rift Pro boots... those might be the best boots I've ever ridden. Breaking them in took a little longer than I expected, but once they broke in they were by far the comfiest I've worn. They've been holding up really well.

Any shoutouts?

Yeah, I mean huge shoutout to my fiancée Abby. And then Tom Pelley for getting me on the program. Chris Grenier for connecting us and the opportunity to do the Bomb Hole movie, which is really unreal. And then Alex Havey – he's the one that's filmed pretty much everything I've done. If it wasn't for him, I definitely would not be here right now. I think a lot of times, the person behind the lens is more important than the person in front of it. So super, super grateful to him. I'm sure there's a lot of other people I'm missing. And my mom and dad, of course.

Excited to have you on board, Sam. See you in Laax for team week..

Yeah – super hyped to be part of the squad. See you soon.