interview and photos by Felix Rioux

Hey Laurent!

Hey man what's going on?

Not a whole lot, tell me about last year because two years ago you had a killer season and were all over the place, then last year you got hurt.

Well I hurt my knee so I spent all last year skiing for myself, as opposed to the prior year where all I did was competition after competition all the time. So this year was a nice break and I got to ski with my friends and just have a good time. And that's about it! Just a season for myself without competitions or filming, but just a non-stressfull winter. I really enjoyed it.

What did you learn?

Well I prepared myself to come back, and made sure I had all my bases covered. It also allowed me to get away from the media and let me see what's going on in our industry.

And now you're back in force? Are you bringing any new tricks to the table?

No new tricks, just some new grabs. And as always, I'm just trying to keep the style fresh.

Can you talk to us about a few of the grabs?

Well the first one is the nose-kang, which can be seen on newschoolers. It's a lui kang where I grab lui kang and tweak it a certain way, then grab true nose on the other extended ski. The other one is what I call the death grab, because the chances of wrecking yourself are high, and just yesterday my buddy bailed pretty hard trying it. It's a screaming semen where I grab the leg that is behind and tweak it. It's never really the same tweak, so it keeps the grab different every time.

What are your plans for this season?

Well in March I'll be heading to Whistler and Bella Coola with Oxbow, along with filming with Tyler at Poorboyz throughout the season. That's about it for the winter...other than the Laurent Invitational in January.

Oh tell us a bit more about that!

Sorry! I can't really give you any details since nothing is set in stone and I'm trying to keep them on the dl, but I can tell you it's going to be amazing if everything works out.

Well thanks a lot for the interview, we're looking forward to seeing you on the hill this year. Any last words?

I'd just like to thank all the guys and girls who believe in me. And to everyone else, you need to realize there's still tons of other ways to evolve and progress the sport other than throwing double flips and 1440's.