How do you know when youre there?
Its a question to ask any skier trying to make it pro.
Youre out here skiing all winter, all summer if you might.
You get shifts covered, you take courses online.
You rearrange your life in pursuit of the vague goal of getting there.
But how do you know where there is at all?
It takes different shapes for different people.
Hes come a long way from the hills he grew up on around Ottawa.
Its been a process of making inroads.
Trying, practicing, failing, expanding.
Without paying attention its easy to cruise between opportunities, test them, and let the flow take you.
Maxs focus is different.
Hes driven and determined and calculating when it comes to picking chances at success.
You go where the opportunity is.
http://www.newschoolers.com/watch/696886.0/Max-Morello---Crucial
Video: Carlo L. Mion
In Quebec, Max fell in with other up-and-comers.
He shot with Matt McEnery and Highland Productions.
He met Dom and Marty Bullet.
It planted the idea in his head, the dream of making it, getting there.
Camp of Champions / Photo: Stew Medford
The dream eventually brought him to Whistler, he admits.
To make skiing into a job more than a hobby.
Its been four years now.
The first two were spent figuring out how to get better.
He wasnt anything special, he says.
But he got better, he was prepared to learn.
Practice, patience; the same willingness he showed on Eidelweisss 200 metres of vertical.
Maxs is an old story: coming up, seizing opportunities, proving your worth.
After releasing a superunknown edit in 2011, things started falling into place.
But, of course, theres always a catch.
He jumped, for example, at Pete Alports invitation to shoot with Poor Boyz in 2012.
Things dont always work out, and Max knows that.
These are moments of learning that have shaped him and defined his approach to the game.
At 21, Max sees the world with a wisdom that betrays his youth.
Red Bull Foret Urbain / Photo: Felix Rioux
Certain opportunities are easy, he says.
Someone asks to strap a GoPro on your chest during a competition, you say yes.
Thats how exposure works, and Max understands that.
Every bit counts when youre trying to break out.
Until now, hes paid for all his own skis, his own gloves and goggles.
Its nice not to have to ask friends to borrow skis, he laughs.
And sometimes, the best support can come from unlikely places.
Sushi Village, the popular Whistler spot, is, for example, Maxs biggest supporter.
Flights, housing, competition fees, he says: they cover it all.
Like going to PG to blow eight ribs and collapse a lung.
Or like skipping out on Powder Awards because that would mean another thousand gone without any certain return.
Frustrations are part of the process, but you have to learn from them.
Like fucking up in a competition and recognizing that you just cost yourself money for those little mistakes.
Thats what drives Max.
For him, there is not a physical space, rather a state of being.
https://www.newschoolers.com/videos/watch/712308/Max-Morello---War-of-Rails
Max Morellos ambition is boundless.
He hasnt had his own full part yet, but its out there.
These are the pieces that create the broader portrait of what Max Morello is doing and where hes going.
Hes living, skiing and striving towards that place where life and skiing finally move in sync.
