AI Summary
5 min readChris Burandt didn't set out to become a professional snowmobiler. He set out to figure out how to make a living doing what he loved, and that distinction shaped every decision he made. Growing up a city kid in Denver, the mountains at his grandparents' cabin gave him a feeling he couldn't find anywhere else. By 14, he was working two jobs—bowling alley, nursing home dishes—to save for a sled. At 15, his parents co-signed a $3,500 loan for a 1990 Indy 500. He still has the classified ad. He still has the sled. That early pattern—work, save, buy the machine, ride—became the template for everything that followed.
The path was never a straight line
Burandt didn't know how to become a professional snowmobiler because the career barely existed. He started by working at a dealership for the parts discount, then went to college in Idaho mostly for the snow. He quit, spliced fiber optics for $6 a splice, and worked enough to buy a new sled and take winters off. He tried snowcross racing because that was the only known path, but he didn't love it. What he loved was jumping. When X Games and freestyle motocross started gaining traction, he saw an opening. His big break came at a snowcross race in West Yellowstone where a freestyle exhibition was happening. He had two tricks. For his third, he just pinned the throttle, overshot the landing by 50 feet, blew up his sled, and survived.
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What you'll learn
- 1 (00:00) **Opening & Banter** - Cam and Chris Burandt joke about the pronunciation of "Burandt" and regional terms for snowmobiles (snow machine vs. sled).
- 2 (04:03) **Early Passion & The Drive to Go Pro** - Chris explains how a childhood love for the mountains and snowmobiling turned into a singular career obsession.
- 3 (13:00) **Forced Learning & Becoming a Leader** - Chris describes how riding with better people and being forced to lead accelerated his skill development.
- 4 (20:30) **The Grind: Fiber Optics and the Path to Pro** - Chris details the non-glamorous jobs that funded his snowmobile obsession and the search for a viable career path.
- 5 (29:10) **The Big Break: Slednecks and the "Send It" Moment** - Chris recounts the pivotal freestyle exhibition that got him noticed by the Slednecks crew.
- 6 (40:40) **From Salesman to Pro Rider: The Articat Years** - Chris describes working as a district sales manager while building his freestyle career, and the ethical conflict that pushed him to quit.
- 7 (55:28) **The Backflip: Conquering the Mental Block** - The detailed story of learning the backflip two weeks before X Games, overcoming a massive mental hurdle.
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Show Notes
Chris Burandt - renowned American professional snowmobiler, widely regarded as one of the world's best all-around riders, particularly in backcountry and freestyle disciplines. He rose to fame in the early 2000s as a freestyle pioneer nicknamed “Big Air Burandt,” becoming the first-ever X Games Freestyle Gold Medalist and starring in Slednecks films.
Today, he is a longtime Polaris Pro Rider, owner of Burandt’s Backcountry Adventure guided tours, a popular content creator, and entrepreneur. Inducted into the Colorado Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2024, he continues to ride, guide, and innovate in the industry.
Follow Chris:
https://www.instagram.com/chrisburandt211/
Follow along:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cameronrhanes
Twitter: https://twitter.com/cameronhanes
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/camhanes/
Website: https://www.cameronhanes.com
Timestamps:
00:00:00 – Blue Collar to Professional Snowmobiler
00:06:20 – Competitive from a Young Age & a Love for Motorsports & Adventure
00:13:07 – Developing Riding Skills & Confidence as a Kid
00:20:02 – Quitting College to Splicing Fiber Optics
00:23:26 – Going Pro: A Foot in the Door with Slednecks
00:35:25 – Opportunities in the 2000’s: Slednecks, Big Jumps, & Freestyle
00:39:22 – The Growth of Freestyle & Working for Arctic Cat
00:45:45 – X-Games Tricks & Disparity to Keep Freestyle on TV
00:55:48 – The Compound, Defeat from a Backflip, & Mental Toughness
01:00:53 – 100ft Downhill Death-gap Jump
01:07:52 – Winning the 2007 X-Games: Jumping the Big Dog
01:24:33 – Stunt Double for Vin Diesel
01:31:00 – Burandt’s Backcountry Adventures & a Passion for Snowmobiling
01:35:47 – How Chris and Cam Met: A Seminar in Colorado
01:39:13 – Chris’s Love for Bowhunting
01:42:35 – Mental State from Accomplishing Goals
01:45:46 – The Bow Rack, Roy Roth, & Roy Roth
01:52:23 – F**k, Marry, Kill: Snowmobiling, Dirt Biking, or Bowhunting
01:58:52 – Final Thoughts: Running Pisgah
Thank you to our sponsors:
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