Josh Suran
Primary Outdoor Sport: Skiing
Favorite Beverage: Water
Sunrise of Sunset: Sunrise
Non-Outdoor Hobby: Music
Ski Snack: Rumplemintz
Guilty Pleasure: Nickelback
Favorite Camp Game: Dutch Blitz
Fun Fact: I was Valedictorian
Average Number of Ski Days Per Year: 180-200
Three Words to Describe You: Jovial, Passionate, & Caring
“I ski raced in high school. For whatever reason, Freshman year I didn’t want to do it, but I was involved. I volunteered and helped the team a lot. Sophomore and Junior year, I did race. By Senior year, I knew I loved skiing. Even sophomore year, I was making my own ski videos, making documentaries. I wanted to be the next Warren Miller. So I was doing a lot of that stuff and then I kinda realized that I didn’t want to be a part of the ski team anymore, I just didn’t want people telling me when and where to turn.
I left for college and I joined the ski club at Oregon State very quickly, Corvallis Oregon Free Ride, and went on some ski trips with them. I was always doing ski trips with my dad and brothers when I was younger too. It was always there.
I went to college for engineering. I was going to be an electrical computer engineer, design robots. My original plan was to move down to California and basically be Ironman. you know? I wanted to make cool robotic exoskeletons and all that dope shit, but I just got really bored. Like really, really bored. I was driving back home every weekend to ski. I kinda realized that was not the career path for me.
I switched to a business degree and moved back to Bend so I could ski more. It was shortly after that I was like, ‘No, this is what I want to be doing now.’ I was skiing 120-140 days a season at that point anyways just because I loved it. I knew I wanted to pursue it.
Originally, when I was younger, I wanted to be a professional skier. Then, I realized I’m not that skier. Right? I was like, “Well, I’ll be behind the camera. I still wanna be involved.’ So that’s when I moved out to Montana to pursue skiing as a career path and it kinda worked. It kinda didn’t. It was a couple years of really hard times and when Covid hit and I moved back to Bend. The stars kinda aligned and I started Josh Reports as a joke after having been a snow reporter in Whtiefish. That blew up and now that’s how I found my in as my own personal way of being a professional skier. But it was definitely a weird, round-about way to get there.”
“Imposter Syndrome is the realist thing in the world. I grew up in a world where in professional skiing you were either in videos or a park competitor. That’s what skiing was. Social media didn’t really exist at that point. To me, to be a professional skier meant that you’re one of the best skiers on the mountain. You’re throwing the gnarliest tricks, or you’re competing in the competitions. You’re filming these beautiful video parts. And, I’m a really good skier, but I was never quite that. So I gave up on that dream of being a skier for a while where I was just like, I’m a passionate skier but I’m going to live this ‘real life’. Right?
Then, when I kinda started being successful with Instagram and Josh Reports and finding this alternative approach to being a professional in the industry, where you’re not necessarily the gnarliest rider out there. Not to discredit myself, I’m a good fucking rider, but I’m not Shane McConkey by any means. Right? To come back in and realize that I could make somewhat of a career out of it and a path out of it. Even when I ride through the park today, there are these little homies that are the MBSEF kids out there that are stoked to see me every time that are always saying hi. I love these kids, but they're so much better at riding park than I am. I mean these kids are throwing 720s and 900s off of these jumps that I’m straight airing every time.
There’s this mental battle that you have to recognize. There are people that are stoked to see you doing what you’re doing. So even if you don’t think you're the best at it, you’re still valid in that space. And that’s a battle that I fought for a long time. I think that’s a battle that you never quite win. I think that’s always going to be a thing.”
“You got park riders, racers. You got your everyday skiers. You got the people that are sending big cliffs and stuff. For me, I don’t know what the best term for it would be, but in a way it’s soul skiing. I love when I can ride up the Summit Chairlift and there's these huge open bowls along the backside. I can just lay down fat, beautiful turns. Just looking at a huge open blank canvas of snow and just laying my turns down it. Whether I’m getting a huge air or if it’s just carving all the way down, making one turn look just perfect, I love that part of skiing. Whether or not it’s on resort. We’ve got this face and we can just go. I love that so much. I can just turn down it and make my mark on that side of that mountain that someone else can look up and be like, ‘That looks beautiful, that route down.’ That’s the part I love the most: the backside, the big mountain, the backcountry stuff. Not necessarily the biggest jumps. Not necessarily the biggest tricks, but just pulling together a whole line from the top of the mountain all the way to the bottom of it just like a paintbrush on a canvas.”
“I'm very stoked with where I am as a skier and the things that I can do. There’s other goals that I’ve started pushing. I’m a big dude and I know how to ride hard so there was a while back where I started pushing myself for speed records. The fastest that I’ve ever gone on a pair of skis that I’ve recorded is 87 mph. I think I’ve gone faster than that, I wasn’t recording at the time, but I’d love to push 100 mph at least once in my life. That’s something most people can’t do just because half the people I know who ride are half my weight and they just can't go that fast, point blank period. But, I almost broke 90mph on a run on Mt. Bachelor which is a relatively flat mountain. I’m pretty stoked on that. I think that’s really cool.
I don’t recommend most people do that because most people won’t take the time to be careful making sure there’s not people in front of them on the run. But, if you do it in a smart and respectful and meaningful manner, I think it’s really cool to find a way to push your boundaries based on who you are and how you are.”
“I love hanging out with my friends on the chairlift or in the backcountry playing Catchphrase after a day of skiing or the apres ski scene in the Skyliner parking lot. There’s a lot about what skiing is that’s not just about turning down a mountain or throwing the biggest trick. There is a whole culture there and a whole community. That’s a huge part of it. Another huge part of it for me is just being a part of that community and encouraging the younger generations to be stoked and to be having fun, not just good at skiing, but good at being a human while skiing. It’s the culture and the good vibes of it that really keeps me in it more than anything.”
“I’ve got so many friends I’ve introduced to snowsports. I meet someone who is new to the sport and they’re like, ‘I’m looking for more people to ride with.’ And I’m like, ‘Come ride with me.’ And they’re, ‘I don’t think you want to ride with me. I’m slow. Blah, blah, blah.’ It’s like, ‘No. The best skier on the mountain is the one with the biggest smile on their face.’ So no matter how good you think you are, there’s always some five year old riding marshmallow who is way better than you because they’re having the time of their life and that’s what it’s about.”
“I firmly believe, if you think you’re too good to ride green runs with your friends who are learning and can’t have fun doing that, you’re not as good as you think you are. Because if you’re that good of a skier, you should be able to have fun riding anything. Practice skiing switch. Practice buttering down the mountain. Practice finding little side hits. Find a way to have fun on any slope you’re on and it makes you a way better skier. As long as you’re smiling and hooting and hollering, it doesn’t matter if you’re on the biggest steepest terrain in Alaska or if you’re riding Home Run off Little Pine. If you’re having fun, you’re doing it right.”
“I think my biggest moments come more so from things I saw when I was a kid and recognize that I’m doing now. They range in a huge variety. There's some really small moments, like I remember when I was a kid skiing off of Northwest on Bachelor. I’d be coming back on the cat track and I would see some dudes, some older guys probably in there mid-twenties, popping out of the trees, backpacks on, snow in their beards, they’re laughing, jovial, and having a good time. I was like, ‘those guys probably just skied the most badass line.’ In my mind, that’s what you wanted to be. I’ve had these moments where I’m out skiing Northwest, popping out of the trees, there’s snow in my beard, and there’s some kids that I’m passing on the cat track and they’re staring at me and I’m like, ‘I’m probably that guy for these kids, and that’s really cool.’”
“I think one of my favorite moments in last three years was walking into Sunrise Lodge just to get some water and some dad and his kid, his kid was probably 6 or 7, came up to me. He was like, ‘Hey, my son is a little shy, but he wanted to say something to you.’ This kid holds his fist out, and he’s like, “Have a great.., enjoy every day y’all. Peace.” I bumped his fist and the kid ran away shy and I’m like here's some little kid getting stoked on me being out here and I’m inspiring this future generation.
There’s the park shredder kids that are middle schoolers who are just stoked to see me that say hi to me every time I pass them all day. Not just once a day, every time I pass them at any point in the day, they say hi. They’re like, ‘Josh, what’s up?’ Fist bump me. I passed by a few of these same kids as they were about to do their first competition of the season. They were just stoked that I was wishing them good luck. There’s that side of it, inspiring the groms.”
