The following article was originally printed in the October 2024 Issue of Slush. To get more articles and subscribe click here.

Mike Cicarelli might just be Whistler’s nicest guy—and not in a forced, leaning into the Canadian stereotype kind of way, but the type of genuinely nice that comes with could only be a deep desire to see everyone around him thrive. Mike’s humble nature shines through no matter the setting. Take his first brush with Natural Selection, when an injury from his competitor allowed him to advance after a duel with Mark McMorris. He made it in on a technicality, but that experience would set the stage for something much bigger down the road. Fast forward two years, and Mike’s standing at the top of the podium, winning the overall Natural Selection title in 2024. You’d think someone with his fundamentals, solid footage, and a Future Islands obsession would be all smiles, but Mike’s as grounded as they come—practically fighting back a grin after taking the top spot. Since stepping away from slope contests, he’s found even more success in the backcountry, proving that sometimes it's for the best to trade in the comp bib to enter a different arena. We caught up to chat about golf, Canadian riders, and what it’s like riding pipe with Raibu Katayama.

I like to start with my most intense hard-hitting question, which is, who do you think would win in an arm-wrestling match between filmer Russell Chai and pro snowboarder Maria Thomsen?

Oh, that's actually a really good question. For some reason, I'm leaning towards Maria Thomsen.

Yeah, that's actually a no-brainer. That's an absolute.

But Russ has been on the bench. He might read this and be pretty bummed, but Maria's a tough cookie. I'm going to give it to her.

I know you volunteer at a golf course in the summer right now, and I'm wondering what the average age gap is between you and your fellow volunteers on the golf course.

I would say it's about 40 years.There was definitely some confusion when I showed up to the volunteer meeting, they go, "So what are you doing here?" I'm like, "Oh, I snowboard and have a lot of free time in the summer. Just kind of want to play golf."

Yeah. What is the lowest golf score you've ever shot, Mike?

76.

Wow. Kind of maybe put a couple of people on notice reading this.

I mean, but it will also put some pressure on me 'cause then people are like, "Oh, this dude claims he can play."

I think it's important that we ask the really important question here, “Psycho Mike,” where does the nickname come from?

It comes from Future Islands. The lead singer sings and dances like no one else, and when I get a little too many drinks in me, I like to try to emulate that.

Do you think it's fair to say that you wouldn't be a professional snowboarder without the existence of Future Islands?

Dude, that would be a very fair thing. It's put me in places that I don't think I would've been able to get to without that sweet, sweet music.

Who do you think the best cab spinner in Canada is?

Oh, the best cab spinner in Canada? That's a great question.DCP would be one of the OG cab 7s. Renzc is really good at cab 7s. Tyler Nicholson was really good at spinning cab. He could really whip around a cab 14. Now at a younger level, there's this kid named Finn Finestone, he's a pretty good cab spinner. That's my four.

Healthy list.

Yeah.

There's a lot of history in Whistler. What would you say the best backcountry jump in Whistler is? All things considered.

All things considered, set up, bang for your buck. I want to say for ease, the forum step down 'cause there's not much build. It's right there and you can go large. It's a pretty shoo-in, but that being said, it's been hit about a trillion times. I'd argue that perfect jump is second, but it's actually because it's not perfect, but it shoots really, really well.

Okay, yep. And on the flip side of that, all things considered, what is the worst backcountry jump in Whistler?

The worst could possibly be a jump that me, Sean, and Chris Rasman tried to build for about three days, and it did not work at all. I think we were calling it the hump or something like that. But yeah, I'll say, Rencz doesn't like when people hit the triconi hip because it's pretty small.

Okay. I love it. In the NBD/ABD conversation, does spinning off the toes count as a different trick?

I love that. I'm going to say it does, because I think it changes the trick. And it also not only changes the trick, it changes the in-run. I would say it's different because not only is it a different axis, but the way you run into the jump is different. Like if you're spinning backside and you want to drift the same way, you have to come off your toes. And I feel like a front nine off heels, it's going to look different. That being said, I wouldn't say you could do it on the same jump in the same session, but...If you cab nine something and then you go off the toes, I back that.

Okay. Now my final question here is, you were on the development halfpipe team in Canada when you were eight years old. You have some chops and Raibu Katayama this summer said that it was actually very frustrating how quickly you were learning halfpipe tricks. Did you ever tell him that you were in fact on the Canadian pipe team, or did you just let him believe you were really quick at learning?

Yeah, I think he maybe thought that was my first time riding halfpipe. I was like, "Raibu, I've been doing this for a long time. I'm just trying to get some of your expertise." And I think at one point he didn't want to give me tips anymore. [Laughs] 

Check out more Run-Ins right here. And don't forget to CLICK AND SUBSCRIBE TO SLUSH THE MAGAZINE TODAY!