British freeskiing superstar James ‘Woodsy’ Woods was back in the UK recently to take part in the “Only Mad Dogs and Englishmen” Tour which has seen him touring the country to shred the dry slopes and indoor snow that he grew up on.
What was your best trip this winter?
It’s all just one massive blow of fantastic really. I mean, I’m having a great time always, I’m always going to New Zealand in the summer time, that’s always something I look forward too. Always great skiing there and a lot of stuff to do around the area, as well as skiing, I can surf.
What have you got lined up for the coming season?
Olympic qualifications, every World Cup level event will be dialed, so that’s a goal. I’m gonna tick those boxes along the way. I want to make sure I prioritize that, obviously along with all the massive competitions around the year, like the X-Games. I’m gonna try to get this covered as much as I can during the whole season. But above all keep doing what I love to do. That’s the main thing.
What do you do when you’re not skiing?
I go surfing quite a lot and I’ve been quite in to mountain biking this season.
Following the recent launch of the British Snowsports Fund, aimed at revolutionising the funding of skiing and snowboarding in Great Britain, how did you with funding yourself ?
As it is an action sport, personal endorsement is massive, that what it has all been based on for me. I’ve been doing this for a while, I love what I do but it’s also my job. The support from the GB team as well – what is really good about the British system is we do have people who really do know what they talking about and are heavily involved. They’ve known the industry and what’s going on for a very long time, I can absolutely trust them making the correct decisions, not only for us but for the sport itself as well. They’re not trying to dictate or make any changes, it’s all beneficial for everybody.
How did you get involved in the Mad Dogs Tour?
I was in New Zealand and was invited to the Sosh Big Air in Annecy last October so I was like I’m doing it because my friend is running the event, I’m not gonna miss an event my friend is doing, I’m gonna be there 100%. So it looked like I was going to do a whole lap of the world for one day which didn’t seem that appealing so I thought why no put something on and go back to the UK with some of the guys and show them the dry slopes and having a bit of facetime with the UK ski and snowboard people.
The dry slopes and the domes it’s where I come from, so why not get back a little bit on that footpath with all these guys. So in about a month with the help of all my sponsors here we are! As important as it is that everything is on the internet, everything is online, live, as important as that is, which is huge, nothing is gonna ever beat that facetime, the events have to happen to them to be interesting on the internet.
The biggest surprise was, I was half expecting nobody to show up. I just really wanted to show these guys to the local guys and we ended up packing out all these places. Full every day. We were there for sometimes two hours signing autographs, it was crazy. But to see the enthusiasm from tiny little kids, the parents and all the ages in between, that was really inspiring, I made me feel we were doing something a little bigger than what I thought.
Only Mad Dogs & Englishmen 2016 at Bearsden Snowsports Club, Glasgow, UK. © Neil MacGrain
If you could ski somewhere you have never been before where would it be?
That’s interesting because I’ve skied in a lot of places. Well where haven’t I been? I’ve been everywhere so far for park skiing, I would do it all again but there is a lot more to skiing than I’ve ever tried with the all big mountain, getting out there exploring. There is so much for me to figure out and explore, so I don’t know where it is but I want to go somewhere that I don’t know and put myself out of my comfort zone.
