TRURO, N.S.
When Luke Davis traded in his skis for a snowboard at 14, he had no idea the impact it would have on his life.
Now, after 10 years of snowboarding, the 24-year-old Truro rider is a fully sponsored snowboarder and is considered “one of the best in the Maritimes” by his peers.
But it didn’t come easy.
“I remember hating it my first day,” Davis said of his first experience on a snowboard.
“I didn’t take a lesson or go down the bunny hill or anything, I just went for it right away. I went straight to the top of the hill and then fell the whole way down. I was pretty ready to quit at that point.”
With a determined and competitive spirit though, Davis kept at it and found, as he got better, the sport became more fun.
“I just kept trying it and trying it,” he said.
“Eventually, I quit hockey and everything else and just started snowboarding all the time.”
At 18, Davis received his first sponsor when a friend recommended him to Mitch Cooke, owner of HAF Skate and Tattoo in Truro, who set him up as a sponsored rider for the shop.
“It was sick, I never really thought of anything about snowboarding, but once I got my first sponsor, I began to take it way more serious,” said Davis.
Over the last two years, Davis and a group of snowboarders from around the Maritimes decided to shoot a snowboarding movie, featuring the riders doing tricks throughout the snow-filled streets of different towns and Atlantic Canada.
“The Delinquents Movie got some decent attention,” he said.
“Snowboard Canada posted it on their site and King Snow Magazine, which is a big magazine in Canada, posted it as well. It was even posted over in Europe in Method Magazine. Everyone put in a lot of hard work and it paid off for sure.”
The exposure of the movie helped get Davis and The Delinquents crew noticed, with Davis landing a new sponsor with Rome Snowboards.
Shooting videos of cool tricks in sketchy spots is one of the things Davis loves about snowboarding, and he constantly pushes himself to see if he can go bigger and better for each shot.
“This year I’m meeting up with a couple of snowboarders out West to film a short movie,” said Davis.
“Then the Delinquents crew and I are doing a video series of park edits for Snowboard Canada, which will be featured on their website. We will be shooting those down at Martock in Windsor. They gave our crew a spot in the park to build our own line, which is pretty cool.”
But it’s not all about making movies, as snowboarding has a competitive side as well.
“When they are around, I definitely compete at the rail jam competitions and stuff like that,” said Davis.
“I’ve travelled up to Quebec a few times to enter a few competitions too. In 2015, there was about five of us from Truro and Halifax who went down to Ottawa for the Red Bull Jib Cup, and we ended up winning that. It’s probably one of my biggest wins competition-wise.”
When he isn’t competing or shredding mountains and street spots on film, Davis can be found working at HAF Skate and Tattoo in Truro.
“When I got my first sponsor with HAF, I started working at the shop part time. I’ve been working there full time now for a few years, and I love it.”
Currently, Davis is taking a vacation from the work life to shoot a few street snowboarding scenes in Quebec, desperately searching for the snow his home in Nova Scotia lacks.
“The snowboarding scene in Nova Scotia is super small,” he said.
“The amount of snow we get definitely doesn’t help the scene, and some winters are even worse than others. Right now in Truro, there is no snow, so you have to drive to places like Quebec to chase the snow.
“You have to go where the snow is.”
