NIKITA CLOTHING #FORGIRLSWHORIDE WITH Ari Morrone

Ari Morrone is the smallest package that packs the largest punch- and does it all with a grin that almost never leaves her face. If you want to know what it looks like when someone loves snowboarding above all else, look no further than our GWR feature this month that highlights Ari. Read on to get to know where she's from, what keeps her motivated and what she'll do when she starts to get stressed (hint- it's pretty delicious). 

So Ari- where do you live?

Pennsylvania

Good stuff, good start. Not a lot of people ride out there, where did you start snowboarding?

I started snowboarding at a tiny hill five minutes from my house. The elevation is about 500ft, I learned the basics there and started hitting park!

WHOA 500 ft- how long did it take you to ride from top to bottom?? How many lifts did the hill have?

4 lifts most of the time 3 of them ran. It took about 45 seconds to one minute to ride down!

Haha that's about what we would have thought, you can get a lot of runs in one day with timing like that. Why or how did you get into it?

I can thank my brothers for being the reason I got into snowboarding. At first I was totally against trying it, but when I finally went, I was hooked.

And when you say hooked, you aren't understating yourself. How many days do you think (or know) you got on your snowboard last year?

I stopped counting a few seasons ago, because I basically go every day I can. I would say maybe around 150 days for last season.

That's what we're talking about! How many seasons have you had a record like that? 

Thanks! Probably around 5 or 6 maybe more. I go to Hood every summer so that adds to it! Also I did online High School and got my Associates degree online so I could snowboard more and keep my schedule flexible.

That's so cool. And also a real test of self-control; staying motivated enough to finish school online and snowboard all the time is such a delicate balance, it's so sick that you did things that way.

Switching gears a little bit here; how do you handle the days when you’re waiting for new snow?

We don’t get a lot of natural snow in PA, so most of my days are spent riding the park at Big Boulder. When it does actually snow, we head to the streets almost immediately because it usually melts really fast.

So you basically have a 24hr window to get street clips?

Most snowstorms yes! Last year beside the clips I got in Tahoe, we stayed in PA. If we go up north this year we will have way more options.

Now that's what we call Motivation! Check out Ari's first street part from last year 

How long is your list of street spots to hit right now if snow falls?

We have quite a few spots on our list, which are all in PA. We are planning to explore snowier areas up north.

Do you have a favorite feature or trick?

Nose Press Front one is my go to!

Love it! What about a trick you're working on? Anything on your radar right now that you really want to get?

I’ve been working on front boards a lot, trying to get 360’s out consistently on different rails, and am working on front blunt same ways!

You go out west in the summer, how do you feel it compares to east coast riding?

We have so many rails at Big Boulder and that makes it a ton of fun. But there is just something amazing about slushy sunny summer days on Mt. Hood!

Side note to readers- if you've never ridden a summer at Mt Hood, your last June, July and August have been severely lacking. Summer Snowboarding is where it's at 👽

With how much fun Mt Hood is, what keeps you going back to Big Boulder?

Definitely our parks, we have six parks at Big Boulder, two of them are hike parks, we have rails everywhere and we switch it up pretty often. But I will eventually make the move out West.

Ari prepping for some home-made relaxation in the Reykjavik Hoodie

How do you relax? Or maybe more importantly, do you think you chill? It looks like you’re always doing something!

I wouldn’t say that I often chill the way most people do. I always like to be doing something. In a way, snowboarding is my relaxing! When I step on the mountain it almost kind of calms me down. But when I’m not snowboarding, I look forward to doing my daily workouts and yoga to clear my head and relax. If I’m really stressed out that’s when I start baking haha.

Please call us the next time you've wrapped a session of stress baking, we'll be over in about 5 minutes flat. 🍰   🍩

Alright, our time is almost up, but before we go - any life advice? Snowboarding advice? Words of wisdom to leave us with?

Stay positive and go after your dreams! That goes for life and snowboarding. You can do anything you put your mind to!