Tell us a bit about your job – what’s a typical day in the life of a park shaper? Is there even such a thing?
Being a shaper is many things, every day is different. It’s definitely a lot more challenging than people might think, but I love that about my job. You get to see the sunrise and set while being in the mountains while being out in nature with some great people.

It’s a great experience but to put it into some real short words, I guess you can call me a professional shoveler hahah.

How did you get here? What made you want to get into this side of snowboarding?
I started snowboarding when I was around maybe 17 years old in Iceland and quickly got around to wanting to hit some obstacles, but there wasn’t too much of anything. So, me and some of the kids at home in Iceland would just shape for free so someone would actually do it. From there on I was like, “why am I even doing this for free for”, and I sent it out into the world. I started off shaping in Austria, at Backyards Park in Brandnertal and from there I made it to Laax a year after. So, the real reason for me to get into shaping was just so I could snowboard as much as possible, and to start exploring the world through it.

Was it always the plan? How did it evolve along the way?
Definitely not. I was pretty good at Basketball before I quit, I did probably every sport before I got into snowboarding. When my friends showed me what snowboarding was about, and I finally made it on the hill, there was no turning back. The people, the energy, it was so pure. They didn’t give a shit about falling or even landing a trick, it was the effort you put into it that people got stoked on and I love that. The Icelandic snowboard scene is hesh as fuck, big shout out to everyone at home you’re all bunch of legends and made snowboarding such an amazing experience for me!

How does Laax promote and encourage up and coming freestyle?
The Snowpark Laax crew is amazing and it’s very inspiring working with them and everyone that is involved. Now after the covid times, we’ve been trying to have some more stuff going on so people can come more together and enjoy skiing/snowboarding and just life in general again.

We also have the Crap show that Lucas “Blume” Rösli films and edits by himself. He’s been doing this for years now and is great at it and an absolute legend as well. If you haven’t seen them you should def check em out.

“I honestly went into shaping so I could snowboard as much as possible”

Living in the home of European freestyle you must see so many good riders each day, there are so many rad riders coming up, who should we be keeping our eyes on, who do you think is the ‘next big thing’?
I’ve been eyeing out this ripper in the park, a Scottish girl named Emily Rothney. She’s a great snowboarder and a great person as well. Big respect and can’t wait to see what she will do in the future. Also, while I’m at it, Jake and Joe Simpson are some of the most beautiful and talented people I’ve met. Their riding, filming, editing… They do it all themselves, big respect. And to end it off with, I can not not talk about Maisie Hill, such an amazing person and rider as well. She definitely has it all and is a big inspiration to me, hitting street and doing comps. Just an all-around legend basically.

Where do you see yourself over the next few years? Is shaping a long term career option or do you see it as a stopgap between other things?
I honestly went into shaping so I could snowboard as much as possible. It was basically a tool for me to be able to shred great resorts and get money while doing it. Now I want to come back each year, but I’m going to film some more snowboarding and create something tight hopefully, street has also been a big interest for me so I guess we’ll just have to see what happens.

Have you ever found it difficult to be part of such a physical, machismo-fuelled industry? Has this changed over time?
Sometimes I find it difficult in the sense that some people don’t take me as seriously or think that they need someone more manly to help them out. In my head I just don’t understand this, I was a part of a big family, with a bunch of brothers and everything they were capable of, I was too. I might do some things a bit differently, but I’ll make it work. Within my work buddies, it isn’t so bad. Sometimes, of course, there are incidents, but people don’t even realise most of the time. I think things are slowly pushing into a better direction, since this is a topic that people are actually talking about, finally, and more people are learning about it.

What advice would you give to the next generation looking to join this side of the industry?
I repeat: Do what you want to do and fuck what people think of it.