A Pettit Family Album by SBC Skier

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A Pettit TEXT

: FEET BANKS

Family1 Album THE CLIFF IS SOMEWHERE AROUND 15 METRES. On top stand me and Sean Pettit. I have to jump first. ¶ Sean is arguably the best freeskier in Canada. I’m arguably old as dirt with hair on my tongue. ¶ The good news is we’re just hucking into a lake to celebrate the last week of summer. The bad news is the last time I hit this cliff, 10 years ago, the guy with me bruised his nuts when he smacked the water. Afterwards he could barely walk. ¶ I jump and make it, testicles intact. Likewise, Sean effortlessly stomps a big, floaty backflip, the Grade-A balls apparent in his film segments unscathed. The notorious ping-pong ball of energy seems relaxed considering that in two days he’ll embark on months of ski-film touring, signing posters and selling the dream. He apologizes that his agent wouldn’t give me his phone number. ¶ “The agent is a real help, though,” Sean explains. “Otherwise I’d be talking on the phone all the time.” ¶ That’s time Sean would rather spend skiing, skateboarding, hucking into a lake, designing a ski for K2, or plotting an upcoming film project. ¶ Yes, Sean Pettit is a fucking rock star. He works hard and spends half his winter in a heli or a cat. He’s been doing it for almost a decade. And he’s only 19 years old.

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A Pettit TEXT

: FEET BANKS

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Sean digs into a slash at Island Lake Lodge, B.C. Ralphie photo

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Callum enjoys the goods at Mt. Baker, WA. Gunderson photo

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CALLUM PETTIT IS A ROCKSTAR TOO BUT IN THE QUIETER, bass-player kind of

way. He couldn’t make the lake session because he was banging nails at a construction site. After that he has a film premiere to hit before packing up to fly to another film premiere. Before leaving, however, he touches base on the phone multiple times, making sure we hook up. ¶ Callum skis the same way—deliberate, confident. A skier who sees the lines everyone wishes they could see then makes them look effortless. ¶ He also knows what it feels like to drop 20 metres and ragdoll into a crevasse, be rescued, give thanks, and get back to filming. Like his brother, he also has balls of steel. Unlike his brother, at age 21 Callum is legally a man—with a moustache to prove it. ¶ The Pettit brothers have both been sponsored skiers since elementary school. They represent all that’s good about skiing—big lines, big air, deep snow, maximum fun. They’re also a perfect science-fair project for the “Nature vs. Nurture” hypothesis: are we born with our talents, or do we develop them?

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Callum at home in his backyard playground. Pemberton, B.C. Ralphie photo

Together again. The boys scope lines at Island Lake Lodge, B.C. McPhee photo

The boys’ mother, Deb Hillary, traveled the world as a pro alpine skier in the ’80s. She lived in Banff, raced everywhere, freeskied in Chamonix. ¶ “They’ve been skiing since before birth,” Deb says of her sons. “They know the feel.” ¶ Nurture, on the other hand, means things like room to grow. At age 4, Sean skied Heggtveit, the hardest run at his local hill of Camp Fortune, Que. He got a standing ovation. Deb remembers thinking, “We’re gonna have to find a bigger mountain.” ¶ Deb and the kids arrived in Whistler in January 1999, dab in the middle of one of the plumpest snow years ever. Callum was nine, Sean seven. Neither were particularly tall for their age, and the snow was throat-deep most of that winter. They didn’t mind. Four years later, the Pettit brothers were being paid to ski. ¶ The ski industry loves a gimmick, and two Whistler rippers with the same last name was good enough. “The Pettit Brothers” seemed like a sweet package deal. ¶ “I know the ski-pro lifestyle,” Deb says. “It’s a slippery slope, but I knew if I stayed very connected and involved, made sure they were grounded, that they’d be OK.” ¶ It worked. Not only are they OK, but now Callum and Sean do their own thing—different sponsors, different film companies, different schedules. But they know the same secret to skiing: when you grow up fast, the trick is to never forget the kid within. The one who loved skiing to begin with. That kid knows the way. THE NATURE IDEA INCLUDES DNA.

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The first-born takes first tracks at Mt. Baker, WA. Gunderson photo

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Callum gets deep while filming with the Sherpas Cinema crew. Ralphie photo

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You h1ave to give it y1ou1r all to make it h1appen because not many1 people get that ch1ance. WHAT DO YOU REMEMBER FROM THOSE EARLY YEARS IN

because not many people get that chance.

QUEBEC? SEAN: We just ripped around and never

DID BEING A SPONSORED PRO HELP YOU GET CHICKS

joined any race program or anything. ¶ CALLUM: We used to ski these ‘itchy witchy trails’— monkey paths through the woods—hitting side jumps and doing Spread-Eagles.

Quite a few sponsored athletes have gone through that school so it didn’t really play a part. S: Not in Whistler—but everywhere else.

WHAT ABOUT THE FIRST TIME YOU SKIED IN WHIS-

WAS IT DIFFICULT TO BALANCE SCHOOL WITH BIG POW

I remember being blown away by all the snow and almost forgetting where we came from. The winter before was the coldest Quebec had ever been; an ice storm took out the power for 14 days. It was easy not to be sad about leaving. S: I remember falling off the Glacier Chair because I was too small to get on. Mom was down from day one and we’d skip school to ski with her—that was daycare. She’d lived out here before, squatting in the bush with hippies. She made the best decision for us, that move was everything. TLER? C:

FREESKIING WAS BLOWING UP IN THOSE DAYS. WHAT

WAS IT LIKE GROWING UP IN THE EPICENTRE? C:

Both us and Kye [Petersen] would just go do our thing with other local shredders. We’d see guys in the park like [Chris] Turpin and Oakley [White-Allen] and the rest of the Whis crew. We watched Eric Iberg’s Royalty and had Heavy Hitting’s Parental Advisory on VHS— we’d see Chris Winter and Johnny Foon and other guys in that movie. S: I didn’t really know what a pro skier was but I knew there were dudes who were badass skiers. We had a big crew of snowboarders and local kids and we just all ripped around. OAKLEY SIGNED YOU GUYS AT 11 AND 13 YEARS OLD—THE

YOUNGEST FREESKI PROS EVER. AS MORE COMPANIES

I was shocked to realize I could actually get paid to ski. I don’t think it sank in until I was 14 or something. C: It never hit all at once—I’m still just trying to keep things going. But it was pretty amazing. You have to give it your all to make it happen CAME ON BOARD WHAT DID IT FEEL LIKE? S:

AT WHISTLER HIGH? C:

style is the combination of our terrain and the people that ski it—legends from years past. The more you see people progress the more you want to push your own envelope. And it’s pretty playful around here. We used to travel to comps when we were younger and we’d always venture out of the park to ski the rest of the mountain. That’s from growing up in Whis.

DAYS, CONTESTS AND KEEPING SPONSORS HAPPY?

I balanced it. I did some correspondence but regular classes were easier because I’m a big procrastinator with homework; in class I’d listen and participate. I’m a better student than Sean but he was younger and travelling a lot when I was in school. It was harder for him. S: I haven’t finished school yet. I plan on it but get busier every year and it’s hard to find time when you’re flying all over the world. There’s a lot of stuff to do behind the scenes—interviews, trade shows, film tours. I’m learning other interesting stuff though— like making my own ski and an Oakley suit. I need to finish high school but I’m teaching myself things I’d never learn anywhere else. C:

WHEN YOU WERE YOUNGER

“THE PETTIT BROS” WAS

KIND OF A PACKAGE DEAL—SAME SPONSORS, FILM

[The split] happened pretty naturally. People figured out we didn’t always want to be “the Brothers.” Having different sponsors and film companies is how the industry works. S: After a while you want to be looked at as your own separate entity. We each got to identify ourselves as the skiers we want to be. SEGMENTS TOGETHER. DID THAT GET OLD? C:

IS THERE A RIVALRY BETWEEN YOU GUYS? C: For sure.

YOUR CHILDHOOD—SOME OF THE FUN AND SCREW-

We have respect but we’re always keen to see what each other has done. I’m super proud of him and the way he slays it. We love seeing each other do well. S: We used to fight a lot as kids but haven’t had a good one in years. We still get to ski together a lot in early season.

SCIOUS ABOUT REPRESENTING BIG BRANDS? S: There’s

WHAT DO YOU LOVE ABOUT ACTUALLY SLIDING ON

DO YOU EVER FEEL LIKE YOU MISSED OUT ON PART OF ING AROUND—BECAUSE YOU ALWAYS HAD TO BE CON-

definitely sacrifice. You have to make a good impression and people look up to you so you can’t get away with being a fool or harming the companies you work with. It matures you and the good outweighs the bad. It shapes you up. C: We’re definitely lucky and have a sweet life but it can be taken away. This is a job that comes with responsibilities you have to respect. It takes a lot of commitment. YOU’RE BOTH KNOWN FOR HAVING THE

“WHISTLER It means making the entire mountain whatever you want it to be. Taking the terrain you have and playing with it in various ways. S: Whistler

STYLE” OF RIDING. WHAT DOES THAT MEAN? C:

No program, no rules. Just the freedom of being able to create. Going with the flow and seeing what you can make happen. C: Getting the blood pumping when you know you gotta be on top of it and having good times with friends in the mountains. SNOW? S:

WHAT SHOULD EVERYONE BE DOING IF THEY WANT TO

Go out and have as much fun as possible and not take it too seriously. That worked out best for me. If you’re having fun you’ll always get better. C: Just ski more and with people who are better than you. Learn from people and respect the mountains while getting as much mileage as you can. BE A BETTER SKIER? S:

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