Slash and Berm 11 - An Interview With Zev and Cali
 

Story // Jake Sullivan . March 6, 2025
Photo // Justin Diak

 

Racing embodies a certain purity that is hard to define. Maybe it comes from the primitive urge to go fast down the hill or the decisive knowledge of who crossed the finish line first. Whatever it is, few things in snowboarding are as black and white.

Whether it emerged as a shadow of our two-planked predecessors or a result of our own initiative, racing has been a part of snowboarding since the beginning. From head-to-head downhills to the creation of boardercross and everything in between, one could argue it is our purest form of sport. There is no bias, no questionable judging, just a definitive winner. “If you’re not first, you’re last.”

Over the past decade, as banked slaloms and downhill races have had a resurgence in popularity, Burton’s Slash and Berm stands apart from the rest. Winding through the Stash, Killington’s natural terrain park, the course combines elements of slalom and boardercross alongside park features and unhinged obstacles your standard racer would never deem appropriate. A gap over a giant hole filled with inflatable alligators? You won’t see that in a run-of-the-mill banked slalom. How about a massive snow staircase or full-speed hairpin turns in the woods? In the 11 years of the event, there have been some crazy lines and even more brutal slams.

Slash and Berm runs over three days to include an individual race, a grom race in the Lil Stash, and the fabled team challenge. Four-person crews compete for the fastest combined times and the honor of bringing home the prestigious Bear trophy for the year. This has led to intense rivalries, most notably the multi-year trade-off between Darkside and Backwoods Snowboard Shop in Auburn, Maine.

The race isn't just for bragging rights, either. Every year, a new charity is selected to receive the proceeds from the event. For 2025 it was Wings For Life, a non-profit foundation that funds research projects and clinical studies worldwide to find a cure for spinal cord injuries. After a life-altering accident in 2022 that left him paralyzed from the chest down, longtime Darkside friend and former Slash and Berm team race champion Ryan Manning has been an ambassador of the foundation. One of the most beautiful aspects of the snowboard industry is that when one of our own needs help, we step up. From this year's race, $5,000 was raised for Wings For Life.

In 2024, the Lago Snowboards crew put down the fastest times and took the trophy across the river to the Live Free or Die state. After the defeat, Darkside called the cavalry to bring the Bear back to Killington this year. Zev Wysocki and Connor Waldron took the day off from the shop to race alongside Tucker Zink and shop team rider Storm Rowe. The Girls of Darkside also assembled a crew, with Jordan Waldron and Bettina Guevara joining team riders Erin Alexander and Cali Carlson. The course was challenging and technical. In the end, Zev and Cali ran the fastest times for men and women on both the Team Day and in the individual races, securing Darkside the W. They are possibly the fastest humans we currently know.

I caught up with the two champs to hear their thoughts on the course, the event, and racing in general.

Congrats on winning Slash and Berm! Zev, you’ve been in this race for years, and this is your first win. How are you feeling?

Zev:  Thanks! It still feels surreal. I've been doing this race since I was 7-years old, and finally being on top after climbing the ladder year after year is pretty awesome.

Have you landed on the podium in years past?

Zev:  Yeah, two years ago, it snowed a bunch, and I ended up sneaking into 3rd. And then last year, I got second overall and first in the switch race.

Was this your first time being on a team that won?

Zev:  Yes. I officially joined the Darkside Dream Team last year. In 2023, Tucker was like, “Yo, you beat me this year. Let's get you on the team. He beat me in the Team Race last year, so I had to earn my spot back, but I think I've firmly cemented my place on it now.

Cali, this is your first time at the event. What did you think of the team race? I believe that’s pretty unique to Slash and Berm.

Cali:  I really liked riding with all the ladies. It's a cool idea for sure, and it was sick to see there were three or four girl teams. We all kind of just dropped right after one another and ended up together at the end, like, “Oh, how did you do? Did you make it?”

Yeah, rooting for someone else in a race is a cool concept. Generally, you don’t want anyone to do good, haha. How did it feel being timed against the guys?

Cali:  It made it pretty lighthearted and relaxed, honestly. Maybe next year, they can throw a women's team category in. I think that's lacking for sure. I mean, we had Girls of Darkside Killington, Girls of Darkside Ludlow, a Burton Girls team… I just feel like if they did a women’s team division and then a men’s team division, that would make it more fun.

That would be sick. It’s an ‘Industry’ day as well. I know there are a good number of women in the snowboard industry who would be excited to race. 

Cali:  Ya, I'd love to meet more women in the industry. I'm not super involved in that side of snowboarding by any means, but it'd be really cool to meet more women who work in snowboarding because I'm interested in that, and I’d love just to connect with everyone I can.

What's up with the switch race? How is that?

Zev:  Scary. The moto-whoops in the woods and running the course in a completely different direction is crazy. There’s not a ton you can do to prepare for it.

Cali:  Um, so on Saturday, I turned in my timing chip before the switch race. So I didn't get a time haha. I just did it for fun anyway. I tried to steal someone else's chip, but it didn't work. So, I just did it for fun.

Everyone still talks about Rosey’s Stairway to Hell to this day. Zev, were you in it that year? 

Zev:  Yeah, that was one of the first years I did it. I was pretty young. I don't even think I hit the stairs. I know my brother did, and he completely ate it. I wasn't thinking competitively at that point in my life. I slipped the course that year, and it was just messed up. I was like, “Whoa, those stairs are taller than me”.

Cali:  I saw a video of that. It looked crazy.

What were your thoughts on this year’s course? Cali, this is your first winter on the East Coast. What did you think of the conditions?

Cali:  Yeah, first winter on the East Coast! It was fun. The snow conditions were pretty ideal compared to what it can be out here. Most of the course was soft, then the big banked walls were icy, which just made it a little bit more fun. A little excitement factor where you actually had to know how to slide along the wall instead of carving it.

Zev:  It was technical with a lot of flat. Keeping your speed out of the sharp corners was tough at times. There were a couple of jumps scattered in and some rollers. Nothing crazy, pretty boardercross driven, which I was into. There was a big spine you had to go over in the woods as well. It was challenging. 

Speaking of the woods, what’s that like going in there at full speed? I feel like that’s a unique element to Slash and Berm. I remember Garceau smoking a tree a few years back. We all thought he was done.

Zev:  Oh yeah, it's very sketchy. In both of my first runs, I clipped a pad or two. It’s like you slip the course in practice, and it’s one thing, but once you're going race speed, it’s a totally different game and mindset. It still takes you by surprise every time.

Cali:  That was crazy. It was tight in there. I was talking to some friends on the West Coast about it and was like, yeah, there's trees all padded up and stuff. They were like, “Why were there pads on the trees?” And I was like, “The course literally runs through the woods,” haha. They were so confused. I ran into a tree, that was scary.

Wait, you hit a tree on one of your runs?

Cali:  Yeah, in one of my practice runs. On the team day, I figured out the line for gapping the rollers in the woods. Then, on my first practice run for the individual day, I was like, okay, I know I've done it before, I'm just gonna send it. They were weirdly spaced out, and so close I hated pumping them. So I was like, okay, I'm just going to gap them again. I cleared the first two and then went up the third one super wonky, and I don't know if I made it over it or launched off, but then I bounced off the next one and wrapped myself around a tree. If it wasn’t padded, I definitely would have had a broken collarbone and some broken ribs or something. I couldn't feel anything for like two minutes. I was lying in the snow, and these guys had to unbuckle me and help me get up. I was like, oh, well.

But then you got up and won the race, right?

Cali:  Yeah. I decided to pump the rollers on my first run instead of gapping after that and it worked out. 

You both come from competitive backgrounds but have switched gears recently. Zev used to compete in boardercross, and Cali, you were a slopestyle rider. What prompted the change?

Zev:  I’ve been focusing more on freeriding and riding a lot of park. It’s definitely been a nice change. I raced for the Woodstock team in GS and boardercross for the state high school series and did USASA slope and rail jam when I was young. I never really did well in slope, but boardercross went well, and I ended up at Nationals one year. Last year I raced a Holeshot event at Gore, which is a step between USASA and the World Cup events. I ended up in 8th, but that made me realize I'd need full-time coaching if I wanted to continue on that path, which takes lots of money and time.

Cali:  At one point, I was heavily into slopestyle, which brought me from Washington to Tahoe to train with a team for a couple of years. I was doing Rev tour and some other events, but it eventually got to a point where I was more scared than having fun, so I stepped away.

Did you ever train for racing?

Cali:  Not really. I grew up in Washington, riding some bigger mountains, and I definitely never officially trained. I think it just caught on naturally. One of my big things is finding transitions, like hitting a side hit and finding a different transition to land in that no one else has. I think that translates well over to banked slalom. You have to find the right line and pump the transition, which makes the turns way smoother and faster.

Well, it’s obviously working. You have quite the resume. You’ve won the Legendary Banked Slalom at Mt. Baker, one of the most prestigious events in snowboarding, and the Dirksen Derby.

Cali:  Yeah, it was cool to bring home some golden duct tape a few years back. I got third this year as well. And I’ve won the Dirksen Derby twice and podiumed there a handful of times.

How does the Slash and Berm compare to these other high-profile events?

Cali:  Compared to LBS, it was way less stressful and laid-back. It was on par with some of the smaller, more localized events I’ve done at my home mountain growing up. It was super chill, but you still had people wanting to take it seriously, which made it fun.

I agree; it’s always a fun time. Plus, it's a charity event, which takes some pressure off because we are all there supporting a good cause. 

Thank you both for this and for holding the Darkside flag so high at the race!