Kyle Kennedy’s Rich Homey Hump Day

Photo: Ben McCabe

Trollhaugen is a breeding ground for snowboard talent. Good vibes, good parks, good locals and of course, an ever-spinning rope tow make excelling at park riding not just possible, but inevitable. But while every kid riding at Trollhaugen is good, Kyle Kennedy’s board control and trick library is next level. This summer, Kyle is digging at Windells, and after he our blew minds with his opening back one on back one off in the latest Diggers XV edit, we figured it we’d better get up to Welches to learn more about this Wisconsin prodigy.

Brooke: Gimme the basics, how old are you, and where do you live?

Kyle: I just turned 21. I live in Dresser, Wisconsin, right next to Trollhaugen, because gas is expensive.

Brooke: What do you do at Trollhaugen?

Kyle: I snowboard and I work there, make the parks and maintain the parks and just ride there, everyday. A lot.

Brooke: What do you do when you’re not snowboarding?

Kyle: Nothing.

Brooke: Really? Literally nothing?

Kyle: I mean, I work at a fuckin’ boat business, like a pontoon business.

Brooke: So you don’t like anything other than snowboarding?

Kyle: I do, but snowboarding is all I’ve done for the past couple years during the summer and the winter, and then I work when I’m not snowboarding in the fall and the spring.

Brooke: What is it about snowboarding?

Kyle: I don’t know, it’s fun. There are no rules. You just go and snowboard. It’s all so cliché!

No place like home. Photo: Eric Ralles

Brooke: Fair enough. The Trollhaugen scene – I’ve never been there – but it looks like it’s the best. Can you explain to someone who’s never been to Trollhaugen what it’s like?

Kyle: Oh it’s amazing. It’s a tiny hill filled with a bunch of little kids who are way better than you, that’ll show you up every single day and make you know it. It’s fun. It’s just rails, all rails compacted in 180 feet of vertical drop. It’s a very mellow hill and it’s got like 10-15 rails on it constantly. The vibes are good. Everyone is always hyped no matter who’s there, and we’re always riding with everyone.

Brooke: Have you ever ridden powder?

Kyle: No.  I actually went on a trip to go to Boston for street, and we ended up not going to Boston and took a day at Sugarbush. They’d gotten like 3 fresh feet in the past week and that was the most powder I’ve ever ridden. That’s like nothing, so…

Brooke: I mean 3 feet of fresh at Sugarbush is a pretty legit powder day.

Kyle: Yeah, it was fun, butI don’t know if you consider that powder.

Brooke: I do. Absolutely.

Kyle: Then yes.

Brooke: And how’d it go? 

Kyle: It was amazing, I could not get the motivation to get out of the woods. Paul Osborne and all those Surgarbush dudes were trying to get me to go film park and I’m like I can’t, I wanna ride the powder. It was so much fun.

Kyle takes advantage of low snow levels. Photo: Chip Proulx

Brooke: Do you think you’ll ever move somewhere to ride better snow?

Kyle: Better snow? I don’t know.

Brooke: I mean ride more powder or ride different terrain. Trollhaugen is a tiny hill, you said it, and it’s a big world out here.

Kyle: I mean yeah, I like going on trips, but I don’t know if I’ll move somewhere anytime soon. I like the Midwest. The Midwest vibes are the best I think, so it’s good there.

Brooke: Seems it, I love everybody from the Midwest. Too bad it’s so cold there.

Kyle: Yeah it is cold. Last year wasn’t bad, 2 years ago it was terrible. But I don’t know, you deal with it. Tow ropes, you just gotta stay on the tow rope. It keeps you warm always.

Brooke: It’s also awesome that you can get noticed and get people watching your snowboarding in the Midwest now. Why do you film? Do you just like doing it?

Kyle: It’s fun. It’s fun with your friends. Like I said there’s no rules, you can do whatever you want. It’s whatever gets you hyped and gets the filmer hyped and I don’t know, just everyone coming in on one project is awesome. Seeing what you can come up with.

Brooke: What other stuff are you psyched on right now in snowboarding? 

Kyle: Well, the brand I ride for, Interior Plan Project, is pretty sick. They’re on the come-up, Pete Harvey is amazing! Other groups – the Impaler dudes obviously, they’re always killing it and their style putting all their stuff together is insane. It’s so raw. And obviously Videograss, 1817, all their stuff. And then these SRD kids, Canadian kids.

Brooke: Finn and JJ?

Kyle: Yeah. They kill it. I don’t even know how many people know of them. Not a lot. They came to Trollhaugen and just showed everyone up, within like 10 minutes.

Brooke: Is it crazy to have like pro crews descend on your home mountain all the time? Or has it always been like that?

Kyle: No, not always. I mean the 1817 crew has always kind of been there, but it was kind of weird a couple years ago when the first  real pro snowboarders that we weren’t really used to came. But now every year there’s someone new and it’s like oh this kid’s coming, tight. So, it’s not like a huge deal anymore. It’s fun, it’s cool obviously to see someone you usually just watch in videos, ride at your home  hill.

Kyle in the wild. Photo: Ben McCabe

Brooke: I was told to ask what you live on?

Kyle: I live on McDonalds, unfortunately. And canned food, that’s a way better answer.

Brooke: McDonalds? So you’re not training every day?

Kyle: Is that a joke? No, I’m not training.

Brooke: You know there’s a lot of snowboarders who work out and watch their diet…

Kyle: Yeah, when they’re doing X Games.  I’m down for contests, like I do some competitions, but I’m not gonna frickin change my diet to go to fuckin’ Sochi.

Brooke: You don’t think it’ll get that way filming video parts?

Kyle: It could if you wanted it to.

Brooke: Look at Dan Brisse. I bet he works out. Or Travis Rice I know is all about like clean living. I mean I’m with you, I snowboard because it’s fun not because I’m trying to be an athlete.

Kyle: Yeah, I don’t wanna work out.

Never make promises you can’t keep. Photo: David Sutton.

Brooke: Ok this is important. There’s already a Kyle Kennedy in Board World (he’s the publisher of Snowboard Mag), so you probably will need a nickname to alleviate confusion. Are you going to go the J2 route, which was Jason Rasmus’s approach when there were too many Jasons, or are you gonna go with a middle initial, or are you gonna add “The Real” like JP and Jeremy did? What’s your strategy?

Kyle: I don’t know, dude. I can’t pick that. Rich Homie Craig is probably the best one.

Brooke: Rich Homie Craig?

Kyle: And no one can explain it, that’s why it’s the best. Yeah I’ll just do that, that one is definitely the best.

Brooke: So Rich Homie Craig it is.

Kyle: I suppose. That’s gonna catch on real quick.

Sponsors, shout outs?

I ride for Interior Plan Project, Ashbury Eyewear, Plenty Humanwear, Holden outerwear, the House Boardshop… I’ve never actually had to name all these off… Union binding Co., and I think that’s it. 1817 kind of hooks me up, I don’t know if that’s really a sponsor but, shout out. It’s a shout out.