Watching Chad Greziuk climb chutes, drop cornices and weave his turboed Ski-Doo XM through the trees, it’s hard to believe that five years ago, he couldn’t go 10 feet without getting stuck.
A farm boy from Foam Lake, Saskatchewan, Greziuk—now 28—spent his childhood driving tractors, chasing cows and ripping across the family farm with his brothers on their home-brewed Arctic Cat 340.
“My parents thought an old sled would be much cheaper than travelling for hockey, so that’s what I got,” he said. “It was a piece of junk but I loved it.”
As he grew up, the sleds grew with him. He went through half a dozen machines before getting the one he really wanted, a short-tracked 2007 Ski-Doo MXZ XRS 800.
An epic turning point
Growing tired of the terrain around home and wanting to try something new, in 2008 Greziuk paid Dan Davidoff, a.k.a. the Krazy Canadian, to guide him and his brother Nathan on a sledding trip in the mountains. Greziuk had met Davidoff, who is from Castlegar, B.C., at the Saskatchewan Snowmobile Show.
Since it was their first ever ride in the mountains, the brothers didn’t know what to expect.
“Boy, was I stuck,” said Greziuk. “I had my little short-track and it was like the deepest day ever. It was up to the handlebars. You couldn’t even move.”
But he was hooked. Falling in love with the sport all over again, Greziuk went home, bought a mountain sled and started sidehilling everything he could find in Saskatchewan; creek banks, ditches, wind drifts—you name it, he was on it.
“I didn’t even look at anything here the same way,” he said. “Before, we were blasting straight up and down drifts and now everything we see, we go at it sideways.”
Two years later, Greziuk asked Davidoff if he’d take them on another mountain tour. Remembering the stuck fest of ’08, Davidoff was hesitant but said yes. Practice had paid off, though, as the brothers soon found themselves being filmed for Davidoff’s next Krazy Canadian Adventures sledding movie.
“(Dan) was kind of over-the-top excited that we could actually ride,” said Greziuk. “He didn’t take any money for guiding because he got some footage for his movie and wanted us to come back.”
Growing the sport
On their next trip out west, Greziuk and his brother met up with the gang from the Boondockers video series, and their sledding circle soon grew to include influential riders like Dan Gardiner, Kris (Smasher) Kaltenbacher and Geoff (Phatty) Dyer, as well as Cam and Tyler Hicks from Hickshow Productions and the Micku brothers from Top Secret Shop in Salmon Arm, B.C.
The boys also became known in B.C. and back home in Saskatchewan as the Krazy Saskatchewanians.
“It’s nice that everybody welcomes the Saskatchewan boy,” said Greziuk. “It doesn’t matter where I go, it seems like everybody is willing to take me out and show me around.”
In a pay-it-forward kind of fashion, Greziuk takes the time to show others the joys of mountain freeriding, sharing with them tips and techniques he’s learned along the way.
These days, Greziuk spends most of his riding time in the powder pocket between Sicamous and Castlegar, and when he can’t make it out to B.C., his friends and family look for him in the nearest valley or creek bed, where he can be found on the rail of his sled, developing his technical riding style.
In summertime, when there’s no snow to sled, Greziuk fills his braap needs by racing motocross. He has discovered that the two sports go hand in hand.
“Once I got the dirt bike, that’s when I really started improving on both the bike and the sled,” he said, “especially jumping and momentum. If you’re riding the dirt bike in the sand, you gotta carry momentum. It’s just like riding in the deep snow.”
Passion is his driving force
Things can get competitive, both in the sledding world and the moto world, but Greziuk believes there’s more to riding than just going faster or bigger than the next guy.
“Avalanche safety is a big deal,” he said. “Everyone should get an AST 1 (Avalanche Skills Training Level 1) course and be prepared to survive a night on the mountain.”
Avalanche safety is one of the reasons why Greziuk strives to be a well-rounded rider.
“I like it all and like to be able to ride it all,” he said. “You will always have a good day because if you can’t go climb chutes, you can always go (play) in the trees.”
Although he’s constantly testing his limits, Greziuk doesn’t seek fame or glory. He’s a good ol' prairie boy who does it simply because he loves the sport. And driving 15 hours from Foam Lake to southern B.C. to ride doesn’t bother him one bit.
“You escape from everything when you’re out there,” he said. “You don’t get that feeling anywhere else . . . It’s why I don’t even move out there. It’s a piece of heaven and I don’t mind driving to heaven.”
To see Greziuk in action, check out this year’s Krazy Canadian Adventures 7, Follow Cam 4 and Top Secret Shop’s Action Lines Vol. 2.
