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2013 Red Bull Rampage : Profile - Norbraten

Oct 10, 2013

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KYLE NORBRATEN

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When I am standing there digging, I am like, why am I doing this?

Red Bull Rampage is one of those opportunities you want to take advantage of and want to be a part of. For Kyle it has always been the style of riding that he enjoys the most, and a style that you do not get a lot of opportunities to do; flowing big lines and linking together things like big step-downs on this kind of terrain. The feeling of putting down a run and the excitement of just being around the event are what draws some of the athletes in. There are not a lot of riders in the big mountain scene, but it is a challenging area to grow with the venues being hard to access.

I knew that I wanted to do something different than last year.

Being creative can be tough at the Rampage site when you don’t have a clean slate to start with, but the riders this year are doing it. Kyle knew that he wanted to do something different from his run last year, which consisted mainly of ridgeline and hits, so he is venturing into a new zone, one that he hasn’t ridden before. The canyon gap side of the course has more potential and an already existing line that his crew has been busy reshaping. He will use the ridgeline in the opposite direction this year to drop into his new line, first facing some immediate tech, then some airs and one big commitment air. There are promises of tricks, tricks and more tricks, and a whole lotta action compared to last year’s run.

I do not feel like anybody has really been as rewarded as much as they should be.

The whole process of building and creating a line with your team, then riding it is the whole package for Kyle. He puts more value on the building over the riding at Rampage, because so much work and effort goes into it. While the riding is still scary and gnarly, he notes that creating it is the hardest part. This appreciation for his hard working team fuels his opinion that builders, and riders, are not adequately rewarded for their efforts. He pointed out that builders compared to riders are not supplied lunches on site, yet they are hanging off of cliff edges trying to build lines. With the limited building days and course ban due to the rain today, Kyle and his team are feeling the stress and hoping to get back at it tomorrow to finish up their work.

No one else is going where I am going.

Everything on the mountain is open to every rider. When it comes to playing nice with the other riders or having to mark his territory, Kyle isn’t worried, mainly because no one is planning any lines where he has set up shop and staked out land. Most riders will be above his area. He does note however that you should always make sure you are not tampering with some else’s line before you start working.

My main goal is to survive it without crashing.

It may go without saying that Kyle wants to stomp his line the whole way down, he wants to do everything that he has planned to do and feel that sense of accomplishment when he rides through the finish corral. Surprisingly he does not think what the judges have to say is all that important, for him it is more about the satisfaction of personal achievement. He thrives off of pushing himself to do something that he’s not that comfortable with.

I am not that concerned about first place or last place. It's just putting down the line and riding that stuff.