Dave Norona

Passion

To squeeze the most out of life’s adventure. It does not matter what I am doing, it has to be FUN and adventurous! Mountain biking, dirt biking, paddling, kiting, sledding or skiing are all ways to explore the planet and see what is around the next bend. One thing that sledding has over all these sports is that the environment is eve- changing, from location to weather to conditions, as well as the terrain you can cover in a day is insane!

Riding

I have to steal a line from Bret Rasmussen here and honestly say “I don’t really care where is it, but wherever the most snow fell is my favorite place to ride!” Deep snow is the ultimate, and lucky for me, my backyard of Squamish/Whistler/Pemberton gets a ton of DEEP snow! My riding style is all mountain flowy – I love painting deep pow tracks through our coastal rainforest trees and alpine (Just thinking about it makes me smile!).

Gear

My background is in human-powered sports, so having the lightest gear that performs well is what I search for in riding gear. Ski-Doo’s line of Helium gear has really hit this mark, with its blend of lightweight, functional and strong material that makes you feel unbound when your moving through terrain. I have watched it come a long way in the last 5 years, I am still pushing the designers to lighten up the Helium Pants to match the jackets!

Normal Job

I am lucky in that I have never had a REAL job, having started racing human-powered endurance events right out of high school. Racing took me all over the world for 18 years through some of the toughest environments and most grueling events. And when I was done racing, I moved to adventures of my own kind to create great stories for great companies that support me, which is still my passion today.

Most fun on a sled ever

The community of sledding is filled with so many passionate, energetic and incredibly fun people that it is literally impossible not to have a great time when you are out there at snow shows, dealer rides or just in the backcountry with your buddies. That said, we do this ride in Alpine, Wyoming every year with some friends that come from Minnesota, Alaska, B.C. and Wyoming, and from the moment we wake up to when our heads hit our pillows at night we have a good time! Braaaap!