Interview
Louif Paradis
A Constant Pursuit: Seeking Flow with Louif Paradis
Louif Paradis fires up a small stovetop espresso maker and adds ground coffee from a little mason jar. Those are the only two things on the counter in his cab-over truck camper. It might be the tidiest camper on Earth. Although it’s new, he just drove it across the country and has been living in it for weeks. You’d never know.
It’s mid-May and pissing rain in Government Camp, OR. Louif is here for the Holy Bowly event, but today few will be riding at Timberline. Louif will be sipping coffee and easing into an interview. Chitchat isn’t his primary talent. Call him quiet, shy, introverted, or all of the above. But get him talking and he’s got a story. He’s traversed the globe for a decade, been detained by Hezbollah, and gained perspective through the constant pursuit of betterment—in snowboarding, and in life.
Louif was born in 1987 to Michèle Paradis and Daniel Lemieux. On official documents he’s Louis-Felix Paradis Lemieux. At one point he went by LF, but these days, to some friends, he’s just Lou. He was born and raised in Quebec City. He has a brother, Alexis, who shot snowboarding photos for a while, but now works in the art world. His parents were social workers. Louif’s first job was as a paper delivery boy, his second as a soccer coach—he played soccer as a kid, never hockey…