Chatting with the Pros: Skier Dash Longe on Carving His Own Path and Staying Creative
Photo by Rocko Menzyk
Dash Longe is an incredible freeskier from Lake Tahoe, California, who’s been a sponsored athlete since he was 13 years old. Since his start as a teen, he’s been featured in tons of ski movies, including Paradise Waits and Rogue Elements. I was so excited to get to connect with Dash to learn about his path to where he is now and how he is continuing his journey in the industry working with DPS as an athlete (and product developer), in addition to balancing his life as a luxury real estate agent, filmmaker, and dad.
Dash, please tell us a little bit about your journey to becoming a pro.
It's a really long story, so I'm not sure where you want me to start, but it does start in Lake Tahoe where I grew up. I grew up skiing Alpine Meadows and then switched to Squaw [Palisades]. It was called a snowboard park back then. My brother had recently switched to snowboarding, so I was obviously ditching freestyle, training, moguls, and going to the park.
And there were a lot of pros too. In the early days of free skiing, when twin tips first came out, it was sort of the Canadian Air Force like Vincent Dorian, J.F. Cusson, and J.P. Auclair, and those guys filming with Johnny Cheserey for Poor Boyz. And then there was Matchstick, and those guys were Crested Butte and Palisades. Then you had your East Coast contingency too, and some Colorado guys, obviously, but Palisades was kind of an epicenter of early freeriding—especially big mountain guys like Kent Kreitler and J.T. Holmes, Clint Fiala, Skogen, C.R. Johnson. They were all there.
So when I skied in the park, those guys were watching, and they were like, "You should come film with us." So, it happened pretty naturally.
That's awesome!
I have a hilarious story about how I got my first sponsor. I was 13, and my buddy and I were hot tubbing at [Palisades] Creek Resort. We were trying to hitchhike to Truckee to meet some girls that we were trying to hang out with. We got a ride from the [Palisades] Creek shuttle bus driver down to the Truckee River Road so that we could hitchhike out to Truckee. The shuttle bus driver was Matt Leventhal, Jason Leventhal’s brother, who had just moved to Tahoe. He is one of skiing's finest photographers of that era, in my opinion. His brother had started Line skis, but they had just started making skis after producing Skiboards for a while. And the team was Eric Pollard, Skogen, Mike Wilson, and a couple of other guys.
I had been tracking Line because it was either Salomon 1080s back then or K2 Enemy, which didn't have much of a turn-up. And then these Line 1260s or the Ostness Dragon. I'm like, “How can I get my hands on some of those?” So I met that guy, and I was immediately enamored when he told me his brother started Line.
And then my friend starts piping up, and he's like, “This is the best skier we know. He's the best skier in our friend group.” And I was all shy. I was like, “No, please don't say that.” And Matt was like, "I want to ski with you." And I said, "Okay, cool." And we met up on a powder day. He brought me some Lines with some demo bindings on them, and we went and shot photos. He's like, “You're on the team.” So, that's how it started.
So you were 13 when you became a sponsored skier? That's incredible.
That year I shot with TGR with Clint Fiala, and then some of the Poor Boyz filmers that lived and were based in Palisades would shoot me in the park. And then Eric Iberg was hanging out shooting The Three Phils in [Palisades] and a few other guys while trying to make his movies. The first real film segments I had were in his films.
We shot a little there and then connected at Mount Hood that spring. And then I got some shots, and I shot for Poor Boyz. However, I remember being heartbroken when I didn’t have any shots in their movie. But then they came out with a movie called Take Two, which was all the B-roll footage that didn't make the cut for their main movie, and I did get a couple of shots in there. And then I got a couple of shots in Eric Iberg's film, Spun, which is a cult classic if you haven't seen it.
What's your favorite part of filming ski movies?
That's a long story too. But to sum it up in just two words: creative expression. I come from a family of artists and I have that creative bug.
Competition skiing was never really that cool for me. I just didn't like it. Honestly, people tell me I'm wrong. They're like, “No, you're wrong. You're competitive.” But I'm not a competitive person.
I got into skiing because I have loved it ever since I first tried. I was a skateboarder before that, and skiing was what I did in the winter every day. But when twin tips came out, and my brother had switched to snowboarding, I was like, “Skiing could be cool. This is it. We're done with the knee patches; we're done with the blades and the backward upside down visors. This is the window to make skiing cool.”
So it was A) about being a part of something cool, B) doing cool things with cool people, and C) making it look cool—creative expression!
One of my favorite skate films from long ago had a [segment] to “Express Yourself.” And I think about that all the time. I listen to that song, and it's telling you to think about what you're doing, and it's all about what it looks like you're doing when you're doing what you're doing. And that's what I carried through my journey with me. And still, to this day, it's like the riding should do the talking, and we don't settle for anything less than A++ unless we're going through a tormented mental state, which we'll get to later.
My next question is, what are the toughest mental barriers that come with this sport for you?
There are a few. The most obvious is injury. Battling that thought process, coming back from it, and overcoming and standing on top of that line or about to drop into that kicker and not reliving that last moment. Mental stability and spiritual fitness required to hone back into that feeling you had before you got injured and harness that confidence. It is 100% about looking down at something or [being] at the lip of a takeoff, whatever it is you're about to do and having zero doubt in your mind that you're going to do it how you have it in your head.
And then, from an industry standpoint, the bureaucracies of sponsorship and then working with film production companies. And the most painful part of the journey is that I never had representation. I didn't have an agent, so I had to market myself. I hate talking about myself! It even feels unnatural to do interviews like this, where I have to talk about myself.
But, going back to the sponsors. Saying, “Hey, I deserve this, and you guys should absolutely pay $25,000 for me to be in the TGR film this year,” was challenging. Luckily I think my riding did enough talking to where my sponsors would buck up every year and put me back in the film, but whether or not there was [compensation] leftover for me was another story too.
So, coming down the line to film production, there's obviously a component to the ability and the factor of performance in front of the camera. But with how the sponsors align with those people—like Sage, Mac, all the [North Face] athletes—if they have the presenting ski sponsor and the presenting sponsor backing them, it's a lot easier to go on all the trips.
I still have a mental struggle even considering that the riding wouldn't put you in the top section of the film, but there is that bureaucratic battle that those guys have to go through too, and they're pretty good about it. It's like if somebody does the sickest thing ever, it's going to make it. It’s going to shine in the film, but where your B-roll goes? It’s much easier to have your shots hit the cutting room floor if your sponsors aren't paying the big bucks.
And then, I always wanted to go to AK, and I didn't get to go for a long time because you need $50,000 at least out of your own pocket, and then your sponsors have to pay for you to be in the film too. So those guys went for a month to six weeks and burned heli time every time it was bluebird. You'll get shots if you're up there and it's bluebird. Unless you're in the worst mental pickle of your life, getting A-pluses up there is pretty much impossible.
Yeah, those are two sides. My twin brother was a sponsored snowboarder, and he decided to go to art school instead because he watched me with those frustrations when I was a teenager, and he was like, "I don't want snowboarding to become not fun for me."
That's great to get a little insight into barriers in the industry and things that everyone experiences, like injury and coming back from that.
There's so much more I could go into, and they are all so hand-in-hand, too. The year you came off an injury and only had five shots in the film? Then you have to renegotiate your contract and tell them you want to be in the film again. They've got to put a lot of faith in you. And then you're on the film premiere tour all fall, drinking and partying with everybody, and you're not training. And then you go in this mental crater of like, “Oh shoot, [the] season's coming up, and I've been drinking all fall, and I don't have my contract lined up, and they've seen me make a fool out of myself all fall.” It's a hell of a battle. But that's why it takes that certain personality.
The [skiers] that rise to the top are the [skiers] that are not phased by anything. You've got to travel and party well. You've got to show up on a bluebird day. And when the cameras are out, you're not even calling yourself in on the drop-in when the heli's flying. It's like patterns. They count you in, and then you say, "I'm ready." But if they have to do another pattern to get lined up again, they're burning flight time.
To switch gears, what are some of the greatest lessons you've learned from skiing?
Everything that I know in my entire life is based on skiing. From as far back as I can remember, I skied. And every person I know, every thought in my life, the person I married, everything is connected to skiing in some way, shape, or form.
“Everything that I know in my entire life is based on skiing.”
I didn't know what I would do after my ski career. And I also didn't know what experience I had under my belt to carry into the work world. But, man, I wouldn't be able to do 90% of the stuff I do in my working environment if I didn't have a ski background—everything from camera production to working with marketing teams to logistics.
Trying to patch the ski stuff in with kids on top of work is just a juggle. I keep telling people you could call me a clown because I'm just juggling all day, every day. There are 50,000 things to do, and somebody calls. They need you there in 20 minutes, and you've got to drop everything. And it's just like being on a film trip! You're just waiting until the moment, and then suddenly, the sky's clear, and it's go, go, go. And then you pivot. Mentally you have to pivot. Everything has to change.
And then lastly, risk management and risk versus reward transfers to everything I do in my life. How much time do I have right now? Can I get this done? Is it worth the risk today? It’s a constant risk versus reward situation. And it's everyone that I deal with, from the ski industry and my clients who are trying to buy or sell real estate to every business person that I talk to, including all the CEOs that I've met through my life in skiing and through the different groups that I've skied with. There's a clear correlation between everything I've learned from skiing and what I carry with me in my daily life.
That's wonderful. And in a similar vein, who are your biggest inspirations? This could be in or out of the ski industry.
This question is in many interviews, and I have three different arenas. I have from within skiing, and I have business people older than me that I look up to and consider mentors (including my business partner, Damon). And the business people that I work with who have families. How are you navigating in picking the best, most important thing to do right now and then getting home and shutting down to be ready for family? And so I've looked to a lot of those people for advice.
In that arena, Thomas Laakso, who I'll talk about when we talk about ski design stuff, I look up to him. He's got such a cool program, and he's up snow-blowing his driveway whenever it snows. He lives deep in the mountains, and if it's not going to get in the way of ski touring, he'll wake up at 3 a.m. to snow blow the driveway so that he can go ski touring and then get to work on time. And he doesn't let anything get in the way of his soccer schedule for his girls. He has a daughter that's a super competitive ski racer. He goes to all the races but juggles it all and gets it done. He and his daughter go ski touring at night. They do moonlight ski tours. That is so rad.
And on the creative side, there are skiers and artists and musicians that I just admire a lot. I mean, I could rattle off a lot of artists, but it's people like Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine and those guys who will stay in the studio for 50 days straight until that album's right. And they're not going to sleep. They're not going to eat. They're going to drink coffee. They're going to crush until every note is perfect. And those are the people that I identify with because I'm the guy who's crushed if I don't get my grab correctly. And I don't want it in the film, and then they put it there, and I have to look away when it's on the screen. So, that's just who I am. I'm like, “I'm not going to stop until it's how it is in my head.”
I even watched the Taylor Swift documentary with my kids, and I'm like, “She's got that.” She's that artist who's going to stay in the studio. She's going to do what she wants. She's got the vision. She knows exactly how it's supposed to come out, and she will stay there until it comes out exactly how she has it.
Jerry Garcia had a cool way of doing things, too. That guy just wanted to play, play, play, play, play, play, play, play, play, play, play, play, play! He would come home from a tour and just practice. His daughter was mad at him because he would have to practice when he was home, and that's why he was the best guitar player, at least melodically. So yeah, Elvis, B.B. King, I could just rattle on and on.
With skiing? Eric Pollard, Ian McIntosh, Sage. I love Tom Wallisch from the big-mountain side [of skiing]. There are lots of guys that I have a lot of respect for. But when it comes to true, true ski ability, it's like Doug Coombs and then that rock climber who came out with that Netflix film The Alpinist [Marc-Andre Leclerc]. That film inspired me more than anything this year because it wasn't about the cameras for that guy. It wasn't about anything except climbing these peaks in the rawest, most intense [way]. That dude was barehanded ice-climbing and doing the gnarliest stuff ever. [He] embodies “letting the riding do the talking.” That is the coolest thing. To blow off the camera crew and climb it because it's not the true essence of mountaineering? That just makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up.
Let's shift gears to your connection with DPS. How did you get involved with them?
That's a cool story, too. I don't want to throw anyone or anything under the bus when I talk about this. It's just my internal dialogue and struggles that brought me to the point where it was time to change it up.
We already covered that my first sponsor was Line. And then, when Line didn't have money to support my film project while being in a TGR movie, I switched to Völkl. That was such a cool relationship. I just cherish every year, and I’m still great friends with all of the people I worked with there. They still help me with Product for Marker and Dalbello, and I ride their gear and love it to this day.
The [Völkl] Chopstick and Kuro were the only skis we had an influence on, whereas with Line, we were testing skis, we were giving direct feedback, and it was such a fun feedback loop be a part of. And when it came to our film projects and who we were, it was all about that creative identity.
Through the journey with TGR, I lost that creative identity because it was someone else's project, and I was on someone else's skis, and I didn't have that influence to be a part of that cool part the metric that I mentioned earlier.
Toward the end of my journey with TGR, I capped it. I just said, “Give my spot to Völkl. Give my sponsor dollars to somebody else because I've got to focus on being a dad and starting this new career in real estate.” And, yeah, you could pay $25,000 for me to go on a three-week trip, and I could do it, but I can't put the time in up in Jackson or down here to get all the extra shots. And I've committed to other people now—family being one of them and my business partner that brought me on.
So then [Völkl] just said, "Cool, why don't you make a trip? We'll still pay you, and you could go with Warren Miller?" I said, "Sick, love it. I don't have to walk from this dream." And I went and shot with Warren Miller that year, and it was enough. I loved the experience. I got to shoot with Tom Day, who's one of my idols and one of the guys I look up to in life that I saw in ski films when I was a little kid. The trip was with this kid Jimmi Ryan, who’s blossoming, but that was his first ever film and AK trip. And it was just the two of us with Tom Day.
I sadly stopped liking Warren Miller movies when freeride became a part of the program because it was not rock and roll. And it didn't have that edge that excited me like skateboarding. So I really analyzed it after that year. I'm like, “Hey, I'm making money somewhere else. This ski thing is about having fun, being a part of something cool, making the content, and expressing myself creatively. So how am I going to do that?” And I was like, “I've got to focus locally. I have to do this locally.” If I'm going to make content, I've got to be able to do it here at Alta, Snowbird, Brighton, or Park City.
And my friend had just started working at DPS, and then my other friend, Jamie Starr, had just gotten hired too. And I was like, “This is the team. I'm going to go in there, and I'm just going to say, ‘Hey guys, I want to work with you.’”
I went in there, and it was right when they were trying to make this ski called the Koala for the team. And they're like, “This couldn't be better timing. We love that you want to do this locally. We want to do these events with you. We want to make content and produce it locally. This just fits so perfectly.” And then I just started going! My brain was like, “This is it.” And since then, that vision is just coming true daily. It's so rad. We were testing yesterday in waist-deep pow for the new middle width of the Koala line, the third middle sibling that will be born last.
Tell us more about the Koala.
I'll feed off of where we ended that last question because it goes hand in hand. The coolest part about DPS is the factory is right down there. It is 10 minutes from my office and 12 minutes from my house. We can go down there and make skis at 7 a.m. and ski them by the time the chairlifts start running, and I can be back at my office working by 10:30. I can do four laps on the four different test skis, give them my feedback, and then we perfect.
When I first arrived, they told me, “We're tweakers. We're always tweaking. We're always trying to perfect. We're changing material types. We're changing sidewalls. We're changing how we layer the skis or sandwich the construction.” And I was like, “This is so rad.” And we've been doing that with the Koala since I came around.
They had an iteration made so that I could step in, and it was way closer than I anticipated. It was stiff as all hell, and I loved that because I still ride race boots. So we took what they had, and we've been tweaking and perfecting it ever since.
It's the most rewarding process in my journey in skiing. It is the coolest thing. And I get to go down there—they're in this cool industry building—and other people in the real estate world work out of that building that I can meet with. So I will drive down there, and we'll tweak skis for 15, 20 minutes, and then run in and talk about the gloves or how to add this watch thing to our baselayer so that I can answer the phone with my nose when I'm skiing. And then they make the tweaks, and then we come back, take the skis to the hill, and test them.
I couldn’t do that without two things. 1) Being in Salt Lake City. There's no place like this on the planet where you can make skis in a factory and then ski them half an hour away. And 2) I get to work and be a dad because of those two things. So, in the auxiliary of those two things, I get to continue not to let these visions for skiing in my head conquer me because I get to keep chipping away at them.
That's so cool. That just sounds fun.
It's unreal. It's magical. It really is. And the process with those guys is so rad.
I could go on and on, but the Koala is getting really, really cool. And what's currently in line, I stand by it. I still ski it. I love it. But, as I said, we're tweaking. The next ones are going to be cool, too. But what we have now are three iterations later, with 103 and 118. And we've gotten them progressively more playful because we started stiff and aggressive, and we've dialed back to accommodate more jibbing, freeride, and butters.
But the mission all along that I said from the gate was these skis have to arc a turn from the second you pull it off out of the cellophane and mount those things and drop them on the snow for the first time. So you need to be able to connect that edge in the lift line, and then when you get off, you should be able to feel them, and they should ski really well, no matter what the conditions are. So the driving force behind the ski is A) turn B) functionality in all the other parts of the mountain that you will have to put it on top of and off of.
Exciting! Is there any other gear from DPS or anyone else that you're really loving right now?
Yeah, I could go on and on about their line, too. The skis that I watch get manufactured there, the proprietary weave of carbon fiber that they have, the aerospace foam that they have dialed with the aerospace company to put in their two-year line, and how they sandwich the different types of wood and where they get it from, make that Pagoda two-year line just absolutely insane. So I love anything in that two-year line. Anything Pagoda is really, really good. But I'll say the 138 is the one I could reference right now. And man, I loved the Koala so much on days like yesterday, but it's that bottomless day. That tool is just insane. So that thing's fun. But the front-side skis are awesome too.
And then this [shows baselayer]. This transfers to work for me because I just put the vest over it, but it's got the hood. I always wear my hood under my helmet. And I love the gaiters because jackets don't come with gaiters anymore. So I got the gaiters, then the snow doesn't come down my gloves.
And then we're perfecting the DPS gloves so that you have your little watch hole. So when I'm shredding and have to take a work call, I'll just slide the gloves down, and then I just answer the phone right there. And I got the ear pod in, and I can just keep ripping. But yep, I wear this [baselayer]. My wife hates me because it smells pretty bad in the winter. So it’s my go-to every day and sometimes I just wear it to work.
And those touring poles! The touring poles are super cool. I was just baffled by how light they were, and it almost felt weird how light that swing weight was. But once I got used to it, like a day or two later, it's almost like I don't even have a pole in my hand. Of course, you can still use that motion and pole plant and lean on them wherever needed for your balance. But it's like having an air stick in your hand. It's the coolest pole I've ever used.
Sweet! So my next set of questions is like rapid-fire questions. So first up, what are your favorite activities in the off-season?
Well, I love just hanging out with my kids. I'm training myself to be better and better about trying not to push my agenda and what I want to do. That's taken seven years of constant feedback from them and my wife. I have a seven and a five-year-old daughter. And 95% of the time, they don't want to do what I want. So doing what my kids want to do and finding the reward is very special.
But aside from that, I'm hooked on mountain biking. I didn't get into it until two and a half years ago, which is crazy because every skier I've ever known is a mountain biker, too. But I finally got one, and I'm die-hard hooked. The two offices where I work and my house, I can ride out and go ride the crest right down to my office. I can ride the crest, shower at my uncle's pad in the canyons, and then be at work at nine. It works really well—just like skiing or ski touring.
And then I love hiking, love swimming. My kids are into crawdad fishing when we go back to Lake Tahoe, but when they're ready, we'll go backpacking. I know plenty of parents have taken their kids backpacking at five and seven, but we haven't done that yet.
What's your favorite place to take your kids skiing?
We ski at Alta and Snowbird. They love both, but Alta's just a little bit more kid-friendly—the terrain and the way the lodges are laid out. There's nothing quite like Alta for bringing a family. Snowbird's a close second. Love Snowbird. It is also very family-friendly with plenty of great kid terrain, but I'm the guy who takes my kids up to the top of the tram, like, "Let's go down." And then they get pissed at me. And so, yes, it's a little easier to keep it in the wheelhouse at Alta is a little easier. But we got Ikon passes this year, so we will explore more.
Oh, and Sun Valley! My wife grew up in Sun Valley, so we love skiing there. Dollar's great for the kids, and they get all fired up when they get to Ski Baldy. And when they skied Baldy the first time from the top, it was this major accomplishment. So yeah, those are my favorite places. And then taking them back to Tahoe this winter to ski there for the first time. So I plan to do that, but I can't wait to show them Alpine and Palisades, where I grew up.
What's your favorite resort to ski?
Alta and Snowbird, but for different reasons. Alta, Snowbird, because it's here. I do love Brighton and Solitude. I like Park City because it's close to my office, but for favorites, Alta, Snowbird, and Palisades. And then, I pivot between Sun Valley and Jackson. I love Jackson. It's such a scene, and it's such a “cool guy,” like “let me show off for you” kind of place, and you're getting judged because you didn't bring your beacon or something to the ski resort. But Sun Valley is magical. The slack country, and just driving a little way up north, and the stuff you can access inbounds is like—I can’t talk about it anymore!
What's your favorite backcountry zone to ski in?
Ever? BC [British Columbia].
But here, I always gravitate towards anything Little Cottonwood Canyon because it's easy, and I know all my spots so well, and I know I can stay safe. I know every aspect. I know the terrain. I know that's where I map the storms, how they've sat, where the faceting is, and everything. And I just feel most comfortable there, and it's just an easy go-to.
But then anything between Alta and Brighton, too, is awesome. I mean, that's all the terrain. I pretty much just mentioned everything in that Stone's Throw project that I did. That was my hell-bent “we're going to make something rad when I came on to DPS” project to highlight this Koala ski and all its capabilities. It is an ode to Salt Lake City and being able to work with DPS and do everything I can do. And it just really encompasses all that.
I'm excited to see it!
So anything in that film is where I've predominantly skied. It's all the stuff. It's all the classic hits you've seen in skiing and snowboarding movies since the 90s.
Favorite snack in the backcountry?
Anything that's in my kids' drawer that they haven't touched in a while. We have a snack drawer, and I don't have time to get my own. So I just snake something from there and bring it in.
Perfect. Favorite pump-up jam.
I don't think you know what sort of rabbit hole you're going to get yourself into, but there are three songs that can make me cry. But I can't mention two because I want to use them for a film project someday.
It depends on the mood, too. Sometimes I'll listen to rap. I like to listen to “I Want To Be a Baller,” but my favorite rap pump-up jam is “Can't C Me” by Tupac from All Eyez On Me. It’s my childhood, West Coast. We all just wanted to be gangsters when we were in high school. It's stupid, but I love that jam.
Then I mostly listen to rock and roll and blues. But there's a Johnny Winter song that I'm hot on right now. He’s a nasty guitar player. It's unreal, but “Be Careful With a Fool” is the song, and I've been jamming to that quite a bit.
Awesome. All right, last couple of questions. So are there any goals that you have for this season?
I have way too many to list. However, I have a grand vision, and every little goal goes towards that.
Okay. And then, lastly, do you have any tips or advice for those just getting into the sport or looking to progress?
Yeah, just have fun. This whole thing is about having fun, and if you're not having fun, it should be about laughing. It should be about having a good time. It should be about hanging out with your friends. You've got to party on the hill, whatever you must do. But once you open that door, your whole life will change. So just let it be fun.
I have to coach some of my friends who are parents that moved here and are trying to get into it. We talk about what day we will go, but when we get there, we ski. We can have a central meeting place and meet at the rack if you get lost. But we're skiing and having fun. If you put too many plans in play, there are expectations and tears and whatever else. So just let life come at you, let the mountain come at you, try to be present, and not let your anxiety get the best of you.
Conclusion
I offer a huge thanks to Dash for taking time out of his packed schedule to get into the details of the challenges and accomplishments he has experienced as a long-time professional skier.
Dash’s story is both unique and inspiring, from a bus driver hooking him up with a sponsorship before Dash could drive to where he is now on the path he carved out to continue doing what he loves with DPS in a way that allows him to balance family, work, and play. There are lots of takeaways from Dash, and certainly lots more we could learn from him, but most importantly, remember that the point of skiing is just to have fun!
If you're interested in new gear like Dash's or any other ski equipment, you can connect with a Ski Expert like me here on Curated! We’re a group of ski lovers like you who can’t wait to help you dial in the perfect set-up.