Michael Mawn: Taking on the Freeride World Tour the Bozeman way

It’s nearly 4 p.m. in Bozeman, Montana and the anticipation of snow vibrates through the air. Twenty-one-year old athlete and entrepreneur Michael Mawn sits across from me in the Jake Jabs College of Business and Entrepreneurship at MSU. He wears a mask, but his eyes shine in a way that conveys how he can't contain a smile whenever he talks about snowboarding. He tells me about it now: How he is one of nine men from around the world to snowboard in the upcoming Freeride World Tour, how snowboarding has connected him to Bozeman and, surprisingly, how the sport isn’t everything to him. As he talks it becomes apparent that snowboarding is a catalyst that pushes Mawn to be a better person and live the best life he can.

Born on the East Coast and raised in Colorado, Mawn’s life has been a steady traverse West. Before he was a Bozeman resident and an acclaimed snowboarder, young Mawn learned to love snowy hills by pointing his skis straight and making his dad chase after him. It wasn’t long after that his older sister inspired him to become a snowboarder. From then on, he was hooked.

Mawn’s athleticism and hard working spirit landed him in the halfpipe before he hit the big mountain area of the sport. It also landed him in the hospital.

Mawn was training for the Junior Halfpipe Nationals when he suffered a serious brain injury. Everything he had worked for collapsed in a second. He spent months healing and re-training his brain. Eventually, he got better, but Mawn saw how many people go through similar injuries and realized he had the opportunity to learn from it. “You aren’t your injury and you aren’t just one thing,” Mawn said. “You have to broaden your view.”

That’s why Mawn is a student. He realized “there are many important things I want to do in my life– not just snowboarding,” and started expanding his focus. Mawn wants to be an athlete, student, businessman, brother, uncle, son and future husband– and he is steadily checking off his list.

When Mawn re-entered the snowboarding world he chose a different specialty: freeride. It allows him to “choose how hard I go” because athletes receive scores “not only by steep lines, but by fluidity and control.” This lets Mawn shift his performance based on snow and weather conditions and abide by how hard he can push his body on each particular day. “People might laugh when I say I’m lucky that I found an area of the sport to push myself in a safer way, but it is safer in some aspects.” Freeride allows Mawn to take more calculated risks, appreciate his health and pursue academics as well as his other interests.

Mawn is earning a degree in business and has recently finalized the creation of his app, Posted Software. The software helps businesses, particularly universities, manage last-minute tasks. With Mawn’s software, university staff can post one-time jobs and students can sign up for them. Instead of making a TA clean up a lab after hours, a professor can mention it on Posted Software and a student can then pick up the job to make a little extra cash.

Mawn’s interest in business has helped his relationships in snowboarding in addition to making him an entrepreneur. He is currently sponsored by Bozeman’s own Montucky Cold Snacks and World Boards, as well as Colorado’s Four Points Bar and Switzerland’s SunGod Eyewear. Mawn is excited to represent all of his sponsors in the upcoming Freeride World Tour, but is particularly happy to represent some Bozeman brands. Michael loves the people at World Boards and is thankful for how they “took me under [their] wing and really supported me from early on.” The owner of World Boards, Jay Moore, was one of the first snowboarders on the scene and has helped popularize the sport ever since. Mawn hasn’t been teamed up with Montucky Cold Snacks as long as World Boards, but he highly respects the way they do business. “They’re all about the community,” he said. Indeed, Montucky Cold Snacks donates 8% of their profits to local communities and each employee spends two hours a week doing community service.

Mawn hopes to represent this selfless and loving part of Bozeman on his tour around the world. His first stop is Andorra this February, followed by Austria and Switzerland in March. The tour is subject to change because of COVID-19 and some events have already been canceled; however, the athletes will keep training like it is going to happen until they hear otherwise.

The Freeride World Tour is taking Mawn into the big leagues. When he was younger, Mawn used to watch fellow competitors Victor de Le Rue, Gigi Rüf and Sammy Luebke in films jumping out of helicopters and speeding down huge mountains, wishing he was them. They were a big inspiration to him and now he will ride next to them for a position in the limelight.

Even if the Freeride World Tour does not happen this year, Mawn will keep snowboarding, learning and developing in all areas of his life while promoting the Bozeman way of living. “I’m thankful for the community we have here and recognize how special it is, both the ski and snowboard community, and just in general,” he said.