Skip to main content

Steamboat Magazine

Maddy Schaffrick

11/01/2013 11:25AM ● By Grant Johnson

Photo by Jen Desmond/USSA

Steamboat Springs, CO -

Q. What are some of your favorite runs in Steamboat?
A. I have great memories of almost all the runs in Steamboat. I think some of my greatest are following my dad through the Triangle Trees under the Bar-U-E lift on a powder day. If it had snowed just a couple inches, my dad would take me straight there.

Q. How do you like to relax?
A. I love puzzles and movies. And when I put them together it's one of the best days of my life.

Q. Do you have any superstitions?
A. I'm not a very superstitious person. But I do believe in the power of karma and that the universe always has a way to balance things out. So, I try my best to be respectful of nature and perform good deeds when an opportunity presents itself.

Q. What trick are you looking to conquer next?
A. I have a lot of ideas for tricks I want to do, but I've always done better when I approach each practice day with a completely open mind. This way I can go up there and see how I feel, then get creative with it from there.

Q. What are your educational goals?
A. I definitely want to finish college. My goal is to get my diploma before my 31st birthday. At the pace I'm going now, that's going to take some whipping-into-shape. I would love to work with kids in the future. Whether that be teaching them how to snowboard or teaching them how to read or teaching them to stand up to bullies, I want to pass on knowledge.

Q. Do you have a signature article of clothing you wear when competing?
A. I guess you could call my face paint an article of clothing. Every time I make finals I like to paint my face like a wild animal. It's like getting my “game face” on or having the “eye of the tiger.”

Q. What drew you to your sport at a young age?
A. The X Games. When I was six years old, I was watching women's snowboard superpipe on TV with my dad. I remember watching all the girls look like they were having so much fun. My parents had started me on skis at the age of two, so I was already snow-worthy. Supposedly, I marched up the stairs after watching the competition and told my parents I wasn't coming down until they got me a snowboard. I ended up finishing off the season on skis because “Schaffricks aren't quitters,” according to my dad. But the next year I rented a snowboard and haven't looked back since.

Q. What movie character would you like to be?
A. I would be Jennifer Lawrence's character in “The Hunger Games.” I like thinking I'm a badass and that I could win the games.

Q. Do you have any guilty pleasures?
A. Late night snacking is my jam. Chocolate chip cookie dough is my weakness.

Q. If you had to live in a prior decade, which would it be?
A. I'd love to live in the 1920s without the segregation and lack of women's rights. The culture just seems so classy and sophisticated – women with long, white lace gloves and foot-long cigarette holders.

Q. What’s your favorite summertime activity in Steamboat?
A. Frisbee golf. My dad designed the course up at CMC about 25 years ago. I like to go up there and picture him playing it back then.

Q. What do you think is the most beautiful spot in Steamboat?
A. When the sun sets over the Sleeping Giant.

Q. What was your favorite Steamboat activity as a kid?
A. Selling lemonade on the side of the road.

Q. Which song do you know all the lyrics to?

A. “Goodbye Earl” by the Dixie Chicks.