For me, my livelihood has always been based in the outdoors.
Were seated near the back of the Last Drop, one of Revelstokes preferred watering holes.
His girlfriends parents are sweet, and they let him stay at theirs.
| Photo: Jordan Sullivan
Its a self-sustaining lifestyle.
They have the blueprints to their lives all laid out, the same story as any corporate-minded faculty.
Jay moves among them but avoids the kool aid.
A profession is a means to an end, but skiing is boundless.
Photo: Jay Starnino
Now, thats not to say that Jay has no plans of his own.
So: environmental engineering.
A plan for the future, a means of preserving the raw proportion of the mountains for another generation.
And not without pausing to enjoy the outside along the way.
New this season, Jay has been shooting for Hello BC, the provincial tourism board.
Jay, now 22, first came to Revy half a decade ago, when he was 17.
Hes quiet in a self-assured way, his outlook expressive of the place itself.
I feel guilty saying it, but I learned about Jay from the clip below.
Thats first run, incidentally.
http://www.newschoolers.com/videos/watch/800759/Quick-Revelstoke-Dreamline
The shot is actually part of a longer video.
Jays into his second season making POV journals.
Theyre more like documents than edits; a firsthand account of a day in the life.
The process is unstructured, capturing one specific period of time and framing it for the record.
The thing is, the chairlift only takes you up one of them.
If you want the goods, you gotta walk.
Photo: Auzzy Hunter
Out of bounds, there are fewer rules and harsher punishments.
you’re gonna wanna have your shit together.
https://www.newschoolers.com/videos/watch/758477/SO-PITTED
Out there you have to stay focused.
Movement becomes mechanical; you check your altitude and monitor your progress.
One foot in front of the other, kick turn, skirt around prickly terrain.
You are responsible for your own damn self.
Jay doing his best Chris Rubens.
Theres plenty to get away from, plenty of background noise.
As a skier, he has never been preoccupied with the limelight.
I try and run a pretty low key show, he says.
Im not trying to be on the front page of newschoolers every day.
After a pause, he adds: I love skiing.
I hate the ski scene.
But theres also plenty to see up there.
The fact is, sometimes the only way to get the big picture is to make yourself small.
Cut a track zigzagging to the ridge and look out at the back of beyond.
Hell be out in the pass at 50 just as he is at 22.
Jay Starnino finds wisdom out there.
Like a psychedelic experience without the drugs.
Its what makes Jay happy.
Its what makes him a skier.
