Despite growing up on opposite sides of the world, Madison and Ivika have similar stories in their early snowboarding life. Both started out on skis, but soon ditched the two planks once they’d had their first taste of sliding sideways. And while Madison’s home state of Utah may be more recognisable as a winter sport haven, Ivika’s early endeavours in Estonia clearly paid dividends in the long run.

Although, with the highest peak in the country sitting at a mild 318m (for reference that’s only roughly the height of the Eiffel Tower) it makes sense that Ivika’s bread and butter is riding street. One of the most proficient ladies in the game with involvement in some of the most defining videos of the last decade, including her two-year project ‘Honey’, which Ivika counts as her proudest moment in snowboarding.

“Her thing is absolutely proper presses and making really serious features look way too easy”

“When my Honey video came out, I was pretty proud of that. That was awesome.” And so she should be, received with accolades through the community, it showed off Ivika’s tech rail skills and highlighted her keen, creative eye for picking spots. Rome’s Marketing & Team Manager Matt Stillman would agree…

“When Ivika dropped her project ‘Honey’ I recall thinking ‘Yo, Ivika needs to be on Rome’. It was such a great mixture of interesting spots, incredibly stylish riding and just overall snowboarding that got you stoked, it just felt right. Smash cut to the following year when we were able to make it happen and Ivika just keeps doing her thing. Evidently her thing is absolutely proper presses and making really serious features look way too easy.”

Both have filming projects in the pipeline for this season to keep your eyes peeled for, and Madison dropped us a few hints about her plans for this winter. “Well, loosely I’m planning on filming everything, y’know but I am planning a project. I don’t wanna say it’s like a serious backcountry project, but it’s more like a powder oriented thing. I wanna get some airtime!”

While both Ivika and Madison have several high-profile projects under their belts, in terms of ones that the two have seen collaboration on, both Ivika and Madison were involved in Jess Kimura’s groundbreaking all-female project ‘The Uninvited’ back in 2018 but they’ve not actually ridden together in person in a hot minute.

Madison recalls “We’ve ridden together in Salt Lake, we filmed together before I was on Rome for a little bit, which was fun, but only only in my area. It was like it was like three or four years ago, it was kind of a while.”

This season though, the two will meet again for Rome’s Sidehit Seance. Taking place at Sugarbush Parks in Rome’s home state of Vermont, it’s an event that encapsulates the brand’s core vibe. A vibe that drew Madison to Rome initially, “I would say [Rome is] like very homie style, like there’s something about people in the woods of Vermont that’s kind of like old school, I guess. Like when I think of snowboarding in like the 90s.”

“That’s the beauty of snowboarding, it’s a family affair”

Madison speaks with experience even though she was still a wee nipper during the snowboarding heyday in the 90’s, she’s actually a legacy grom whose dad was one of the OG’s in the scene. “On one of my walls in the other room I have his old snowboard, which is a 1984 Burton performer. Original shit”

And that’s the beauty of snowboarding, it’s a family affair, not necessarily blood related, but bonded through a mutual love of sliding on snow. So, while you or I might not be locking in nose presses like Ivika or hucking into Corbet’s like Madison anytime soon, there’s still a place for us within the Rome family. A family full of renegades, punks and shredders who do it for the same reasons we do- for the love of snowboarding.