Chris Grenier’s a working man—the kind of guy who will bust his ass to get a trick, who’ll slam repeatedly until he does it just right, and will then grab a shovel and help his crew get theirs, too. He understands that being a professional rider is both a job and a privilege and never takes it for granted. He’s always been that way.

I met Grenier at Mount Snow, VT, back in 2004, when we were both in high school. He was from Southborough, MA, 20 miles west of Boston. Our whole crew from western Massachusetts would go there to snowboard because they had a real-deal park, which hosted the X Games in 2000 and 2001. That first day we rode together he was dressed in an all-khaki outfit with no gloves. He was there to slide rails. He’d do everything switch, and a switch front boardslide seemed insane to me at the time. But Grenier was probably a better skater than snowboarder, and he skated goofy and rode regular, so it made sense. 

We both decided to really give the snowboarding thing a go not long after we met. He and I did front 9s off the same park jump, met a rep, got some free boards and stickers—and thought we had it made. But Grenier kept grinding, kept moving up the food chain. He filmed with a few small companies coming up, got his break in Transworld’s Get Real in 2009, and has turned out a part every year since, including the ender in Videograss’ Mayday in 2014. In 2015, he won gold in the X Games Real Snow contest, as big a nod of recognition as you can get as a street rider…

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