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Not many people can say that they are one of the top young surfers and snowboarders, but Brock Crouch has earned that right.
Brock Crouch is a professional snowboarder who focuses on slopestyle. He was born in Carlsbad, California, but although he surfed from a young age and continues to enter surf events, he discovered his forte was on snow during a family vacation to the ski town of Mammoth Lakes.
There was no turning back after that. "I never wanted to leave Mammoth," he says. By the age of six, Crouch entered his first slopestyle and halfpipe contests with the USA Snowboard Association. He was a natural at competition, and soon he began winning contests, including the USASA Nationals. "When I was about eight, I realised, 'Whoa, I could be really good at this sport,'" says Crouch. "I started winning contests, and I was really excited about that. My coach said to me, 'You should keep doing this.' I just kept progressing every day after that."
Crouch had so much success in snowboarding from such a young age that his parents quickly realised he needed to live closer to the snow. Now he spends much of the winter living in Mammoth and travelling to contests. In the summer, he returns home to Carlsbad, where he surfs and skates as much as he can. He's scored wins and podiums in WSA and NSSA surf contests around southern California and beyond. "I love surfing and skating, but snowboarding is number one," he says. "In snowboarding, you have to be really strong."
By the time he was 11, Crouch had decided he wanted to focus on slopestyle riding. "Halfpipe was kind of boring," he says. "You just go back and forth. I had way more fun in slopestyle." In 2012, his first year focusing on slopestyle, he went undefeated in the USASA events. Now Crouch spends much of the winter travelling to contests worldwide, from the Burton European Open in Switzerland - which he won in 2014 - to the US Revolution Tour, which launches young riders to the next level.
In 2015, he landed on the podium, in third place, at the Rev Tour stop at his home mountain of Mammoth. "That felt really great, especially being at home and bringing home a medal," he says. "It's cool to see how after all the hard work, it finally pays off." Crouch left Mammoth that night, arriving in Carlsbad around 2am. He woke up at 5:30 the next morning to drive to Huntington Beach to compete in a surf contest. "It can get a little crazy, but I just remember to stay in the moment and to have fun," he says.
It's a philosophy that helped him to first place at the 2016 FIS Snowboard World Cup in Korea and will carry him to many more podium appearances in the future.
In 2018, Crouch took third in snowboarding in the Grand Prix at Mammoth Mountain. Later that year, Crouch was riding in Canada's backcountry with friends. He was first down when the ground broke, and an avalanche swallowed him. Thankfully, amazingly, his friends were quickly able to save him in time.
The road to recovery was both mentally and physically harrowing, but Crouch was not yet done with snowboarding. Two years after the near-fatal avalanche, Crouch made his triumphant return to the podium at the 2020 Dew Tour at Copper Mountain Resort.
