Powderrroom.net sat down with Hannah Teter during the Burton World Tour New York City stop. Hannah was kind enough to get up early after a night of partying and tell us about how her summer went and what her plans are for next winter. While it may seem like she’s been around forever, Hannah is only seventeen and was recently named to the Burton Global Team. What have you been doing this summer?
I started off just relaxing at home for a month, regaining myself after the long winter. I got a trainer and he is the man. There’s so many different kinds of workouts, all focused on strengthening up for snowboarding. So I worked out a lot, did a little snowboarding. There was a contest at Mount Hood – the Abominable Snow Jam. It was cool but the weather was pretty bad. Burton had their shoot out in Chile, and then I had a little vacay in Maui. Then we did a little snowboarding in New Zealand and that was pretty much it. You mentioned you’re working with a trainer, what are you doing to get in shape for the season?
We have a badass program….We do a lot of weight lifting and balancing exercises, like med balls, some tramp stuff, and core work. We do so much stuff. So is this a new program for you? | photo: Dean "Blotto" Gray/Burton
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I’ve been doing this all summer, but it’s new for me. So how do you think this is going to help you with snowboarding?
I think it’s going to help me all around. I’ve been testing it out. I was working out all before the Abominable Snow Jam and all before this other snowboard stuff and I felt a lot stronger. What the best piece of snowboarding advice you’ve ever gotten?
Probably from my brothers, “Go big or go home.” That sounds like something brothers would say.
It’s a good one though, because you can always go bigger. And it’s like if I remember that than maybe I will go bigger. Which of your wins last year were you most proud of?
I would have to say the X-Games. One because it’s the X-Games and everyone thinks it the biggest contest of the season….It was really cool attending – it’s one of the most fun which makes it the coolest to win. It’s all night style and live [on tv]. It’s like the Hollywood night of snowboarding. That made it fun. What’s the most fun event to compete in?
I would say the X-Games again or the world cup in Japan. It’s so well set up, and they put us up in these sweet hotels. I would say that or the X-Games. The X-Games because it’s a night contest. I love the night contests. When it’s a nice night the stars are out and the moon is out you can gaze out and get a meditative force going. That’s what I was doing at X-Games. While everyone was going, I was out back behind the huge stage just doing a little stretching and gazing out and being stoked on the moment. Who do you normally ride with?
It kind of depends on what I’m doing. When I go to a Burton related event, maybe shooting for the catalogue or something, I travel with the Burton Global girl riders. For contests and stuff, which is the main part of my winter, I travel with the US Snowboard Team. And that consists now of my two brothers, Abe and Elijah, which is so cool. Tricia Byrnes, Steve Fisher, and Tommy Czeschin and all of those guys so its so fun. Plus my coaches, that’s like my on road family there, and part of it is my family!  | | photo: Dean "Blotto" Gray/Burton |
Where is your favorite place to go riding?
That’s so hard. I love so many mountains….I could do the top US and the top out of country…My favorite resort in the US is Mammoth Mountain, California, just because it’s an all around mountain. You can freeride or go ride pipe, park, or rails. And everyone’s there..it’s like Hollywood for snowboarders. And out of country, I really like riding in Japan for some reason. The people there are so rad and you get to wake up every morning and have miso soup for breakfast before hitting the hill.
What the three words would describe yourself as a snowboard?
I would describe myself as positive and energetic and….faithful. What equipment are you riding this year?
I am currently riding the Custom X, Lexa bindings and Supreme boots. I like the Custom X because you can either get a really good concentrated board or a Custom x where you can ride anything with it. How do you relax and unwind?
I find that I can relax best when I have quiet time to myself, whether it’s a bath with candles or something where you can wind down and live in the moment. Just discover your inner peace…it’s always there but when you’re so busy you forget about it. Do you listen to music when you ride and what kind?
I do listen to music when I ride. I have so much music…I’m kind of an old school fan. I still like the old Sublime albums and I love Bob Marley. And I’m kind of a fan of Black Eyed Peas. I like the Roots, too. As a pro snowboarder, did you seen any change on how women’s snowboarding was viewed after the success of the 2002 Olympics?
Yeah. I was there and I got to be one of the forerunners before the competition and got to ride with all those guys. I was so amazed by her [Kelly Clark] riding. I was watching all the girls and they were doing pretty good in the perfect pipe. The guys were just boosting and Kelly was boosting along with them. Afterwards the guys were like the girls are pretty good too! And since then it just seems to have evolved more and more and more. The girls are getting better and better and doing new things and pushing themselves farther than they’ve ever pushed before, because they want to reach that goal. Is one of your goals to be on the Olympic team? | photo: Jeff Curtes/Burton
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One of my goals is to go to the Olympics. It [US Snowboarding team] is the Olympic Team – or that’s how they describe it. You don’t have to be on the “Olympic Team” to go to the Olympics because of the whole qualifying thing. On the US Team, we kind of do the work. We go to the world cups and get our spots.
Last season you were one of three women doing 900’s in halfpipe competition, do you think that that will be the bar this season or will there be a new trick?
Actually I think it’s going to extend farther because the 9 is kind of old news. It’s last years trick, so I think it’s going to be more inverts…like I know Kelly [Clark] describes it as more technical tricks. Like switch spins and switch airs and diversity and style.
Who are the women in the sport that are pushing it?
There are kind of women in each aspect. There’s the pipe jocks, like me who push the pipe, and the slopestyle girls who push slopestyle, and the rail girls, and there a couple of girls who do all three. For overall girl pushers, I’d say Kelly Clark is definitely one of them, and when Gretchen [Bleiler] comes back she’s another. She’s a little ripper. Tara Dakides is pretty much a killer in the sport of slopestyle and rails. Amazing…There are so many riders it’s hard to just name a few. You go out and it’s like “look at that chick” she’s a no name but she’s killing it. Are you looking at expanding past being a pipe jock?
Definitely. I kind of made a new rule. When you’re with the US Snowboarding Team you’re focused. We go up and ride pipe all day and my rule is I’ve got to at least session the jumps and the rails a couple of times every day so that I can have that diversity and be an overall good snowboarder. Because that’s what it’s coming down to – the guys and girls who can do it all. So what are your goals for the season?
I have some new tricks up my sleeve and I’d like to throw them out in all the contests and stomp them. And just be totally satisfied with my riding because I’ve been training so hard this summer to achieve that status of being a really good snowboarder. I want to have a lot of fun – that’s what really runs me. Having a good time – that’s why I started snowboarding and why I’m still doing it today. It’s a great opportunity and it’s a great amount of fun. This kind of a prep year for the Olympics. It’s the pre-pre-Olympic year so it’s like a special moment where it’s not so busy and you kind of have some relaxation time before next year when it’s going to be off the hook. Is filming one of your goals right now?
A lot of riders…it’s kind of like a toss up…you either film parts or you do the contest scene. I find my self in the contest scene right now, but I’m totally psyched to start filming in the future. Would you rather have a small part in a guys film or a big part in an all-girls film?
They’re both pretty cool. You can look at it both ways, it would be really sweet to have a little part in a boys movie because the boys movies are always so big and it’s just guys ripping it to the max, doing these crazy tricks and maybe a few of yours and you’re like look at me in that. And with girls’ movies, it seems like more of a fun thing. You go film with a bunch of girls and have fun filming. I think they’d both be cool. But I had to choose I’d pick a small part in a guys movie.  | | photo: Dean "Blotto" Gray/Burton |
How do you get over fear?
Once you conquer fear..that’s the thing with snowboarding. You can have fear doing anything in the world whether it be walking down the street or riding on your snowboard. It’s about learning how to maintain it or use it. For some reason we were born to be fearful people…I get the pre butterflies and try to shake it off, and sometimes when I get a little scared to try something I visualize things I’ve done. Like “oh you know a couple of weeks ago you were doing double back flips off a rope swing. This is going to be so easy in the halfpipe” or wherever. That helps me a lot…. It’s all about the moment. The mind leads the body.
What keeps you going?
Sometimes I find my self getting stressed out and then I think “you’re doing the coolest thing in the world..some kids dream to be doing what your doing.” So it motivates me to be psyched and be really satisfied where I’m standing, where I am. Because some people dream of this, and I’m here. Do you feel like you’re missing out on not being in normal high school?
I remember when I did a little bit of traveling a couple of years ago, the beginning of the whole snowboard successful area. I snowboarded all winter and I went back to public school in the spring and it was so weird for me. I was .. I don’t know..I didn’t fit in anymore. I guess I achieved a different mindset. In public schools, kids talked about crazy things and I was like man can’t you talk about anything better and I was totally out of the loop. So that’s when I figured out that I wasn’t missing out on public school.
So if you weren’t a pro snowboarder, where do you think your life would be heading right now?
I’d be a senior in public school. I’m really interested in teaching and helping out kids in whatever aspect whether it is in sports or in school or anywhere. I may even be working towards teaching status. Actually, I’ll probably be aiming in that direction in the future years. You’re not old enough to vote yet but…Bush or Kerry?
I was watching the debate the other night and I really thought Kerry sounded way better than Bush. His whole plan, he’s got a plan, he’s got a focus and he has so much information. He’s on his shit. So I would definitely vote Kerry for sure...I would 100% vote Kerry over Bush. | 
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