Freeheel Skiing has seen some major changes in the past 5 years as equipment has improved and become more accessible to the mainstream. New athletes have brought the sport a new progress as well as a new vision. Steve Leeder is one of those revolutionary athletes that will continually leave a mark wherever he goes. I first saw Leeder back when I bought Unparalleled 2 by UP productions (www.upproductions.com) it still stands as a testament of the vision and revolutionary style that many of those riders brought to the sport. Now one can find Steve in Australia, where he has moved permanently and has taken with him his passion for the sport of Freeheel skiing. He has established several Freeride oriented camps for Freeheelers and is making strides in bringing more exposure to Freeheel skiing in Australia. We met up with Steve for a little Q & A hoping to find out more about the land down under, SteveCrazy Camps, and if there is thriving scene of freeheelers we may be unaware of.

How did you end up in Australia?
My beautiful wife Jayde is from here in Oz. We originally had planned a trip to come over so I could finally meet all of her family. I was going to do that season down at Thredbo again trying to add some cool different footage to my segment for TGP and shoot a bunch more stuff for ‘Chillfactor’. After spending more of the winter in the water surfing than on the snow and a few other things we decided that we were going to hang around Oz.

How does the skiing compare for you down there in comparison to Whistler or some of the other places you have lived?
Well in bounds doesn’t compare at all, unless you think about when I was growing up in Ontario. Aussi resorts are very similar to skiing in Ontario. But if you make the effort you can ski some really fun terrain. I remember back in 2000 the first year that I came down here, I did this photo trip with a photog named Ross Dunstan. That was my real first exposure to AUSSI BACKCOUNTRY and it rocks. We skied some stuff off the Sentinel and looked over at Watson’s crags. All the stuff there rocks its steep technical and if you hit it in good snow then its north American mini put all over the place. You don’t really even have to go that far out. Within a short hike from Thredbo you can hit some real cool places that offer steep and pretty fun lines.

Tell us a bit about your camps that you have been running there.
My goal was to give those that knew how to ski something more. I want to expose them to all the different things that can be done with a free heel setup. And to help the ones that are trying to do some new things not to get hurt in the process.

Where is the Freeheel Scene down in Australia in comparison to what has been going on in N. America?
As far as the whole urban scene that guys like Max have really been focused on there isn’t anybody doing it down here. I have had to get a lot more into park and urban rail stuff down here as the access to big mountain terrain just isn’t as easily accessible as it is in Whistler. There is definitely some crew trying to move into the park but still the most people that are teleing down here are just heading out back in search of some fun pow turns or cranking a nice smooth tele turn on a groomer.

Are many kids in OZ land shredding the freeheel these days?
There are a few kids down here rockin the freeheel. I have done a few camps for all snowboarders and they were so stoked but until they think that it is cool enough for them they probably won’t make the switch. I think the amount of kids that start to pick it up will slowly start to get bigger as they start to see films like CORE and INCOGNITO. With lots of solid park segments urban rails and big gnarly fast big mountain lines. When they start to think of the sport as on par with Alpine. The more times that Telemark is shown in an alpine movie like in JIB CULTURES movie DISTURBING THE PISTE.

What are you trying to accomplish overall and what has the reaction been so far with your Camps?
I am really trying to do the exact same thing that I was doing back home. I really want to help push the image of tele away from the old long beard granola hippy to where it should be, " the exact same as alpine skiing." As far as my camps go I have had a lot of positive feedback from heaps of different people about the camps and lots of interest but the biggest problem down here is getting people to commit as well as part with their money. When it costs 91 bucks just to ride the lifts for the day and the petrol is $1.50/liter there really isn’t much money left over to spend on anything else.

Australia is a frontier for a new wave of freeheel skiers and Steve is obviously making a huge push to help a younger generation see the new vision of the sport. Freeheel friendly events as well as camps will most definitely help take the sport to a new level in the land of OZ. You can keep up with what Steve Leeder is doing on his personal website: www.stevecrazy.com or check him out at one of these camp dates @ Perisher Blue: JULY 22-23, AUGUST 19-20