The Powder Highway didn't have to look any further than Ketchum's Chris Tatsuno, 26, to settle the winner of its "Ultimate Ski Bum," contest that was announced this past fall.
He is a second-generation ski bum and a third-generation filmmaker. How could Powder Highway pass up anyone whose Web site, christatsuno.com, has a motto: "Live fast, take chances, sleep in your car."
Tatsuno, a 2001 Wood River High School graduate, has won The Powder Highway Ultimate Ski Bum contest.
He gets a three-month journey along the "Powder Highway," complete with free lift tickets for three months, 16 days of heli and cat skiing, accommodations and transportation. That's right—free gas.
"I've always wanted to promote ski bumming at its finest," said Tatsuno, who grew up skiing Baldy and was a Sun Valley Ski Team racer before taking a few turns for the University of Colorado ski team.
To win, Tatsuno provided The Powder Highway with a 90-second video explaining why he should be the "Ultimate Ski Bum." You can view it with a click or two on the main page of powderhighway.com.
"It was an interesting concept and I had a great time putting it together," said Tatsuno. "I've been ski bumming real hard the last couple of years—following the Free Skiing World Tour for four winters.
"For the longest time I've been the guy in the van."
Tatsuno's fast-paced and powdery video starts with his birth on Jan. 26, 1983. He was born at the Sun Valley hospital with a "pair of skis already on his feet." Chris' middle name was Yukio, the video said, which is Japanese for "snow."
"This contest is just what I've been waiting for," he said on the video. He added about the ski bum life, "It's all been worth it when I think about the friends I've made."
Tatsuno is the son of Rod Tatsuno, 67, who spent most of the first three years of his life with his family in Utah's Topaz detention/internment camp for Japanese Americans during World War II. Chris' mother, Gaie Shoman, now lives in southern California.
Chris' grandfather, Dave Tatsuno, who lived to 92, managed to sneak a Bell and Howell eight-millimeter camera into the Delta, Utah camp and make home movies of his family—movies that are now in the National Archives in Washington, D.C.
Rod Tatsuno moved to Ketchum in 1969 and began working for the Sun Valley Ski School in 1970. He was chosen to carry the Olympic torch through Twin Falls in 2002. The person who nominated him for the honor was his son Chris.
No one was more excited than Rod about Chris winning the contest. He wrote in a Dec. 2 letter to the Idaho Mountain Express:
"My son Chris excitedly called me from Los Angeles, where he's finishing up his stint as the emcee for the 2009 Warren Miller Dynasty ski film tour, in which he had regaled the locals here last month...."
Chris said he's stoked to spend the winter on the Powder Highway. One of his first stops will be the Canadian Freeskiing Championships during January in British Columbia. Follow further adventures of "Tats" at powderhighway.com.
He'll be on the road until the end of March—at least.
Chris Tatsuno, ski bum Photo by
