Your Age: 7

Your Location (where do you ride mostly): Snowplanet, Auckland & Turoa, Mt Ruapehu

Weapon(s) of choice: My Burton Chicklet Snowboard

What’s an average day for you like? Mon-Fri is school, school, school. Most weekends the family heads to Snowplanet for a couple of hours of snowboarding in the morning.

What is the most difficult part of your activity/sports for a beginner? The easiest? The most difficult part is always falling over when you’re learning and being bruised. The easiest part is once you’ve got it, you’ve got it.

What is the best and worst thing about being female in your sport? The best thing is having friends to snowboard with & the worst thing is that there’s not many girls who snowboard.

What would you like to see change in your sport to make it better for you and other female athletes? Lots of people think that little kids can’t snowboard & start them on skis first.  I think if people realized that little kids can snowboard you’d get more girls in the sport.  Lots of kids switch to boarding until they’re older and it’s mainly boys.

What are your favorite brands/designers for your sports apparel and for stepping out? Sheshreds, Roxy & Burton

How dangerous do you really think it is compared to what people do in their regular activities? About the same - I broke my arm on the monkey bars but haven’t broken anything snowboarding (yet).

I bet in your experience you have seen some crazy crashes. Describe one. When people are learning at Snowplanet they often lose control & crash into the pommers & take heaps of people down with them – always funny to watch.

What usually gets people hooked on your activity/sport? Once they learn how to do it without thinking about it they’re hooked.

What is your favorite trick? Riding switch, going over the box & the rainbow.

What gets you pumped up for the day? I always start the day with a hot chocolate – it gives me energy.

What are three things you could not live without? Snowboarding, a pet & my brother.

What are your expectations for this activity/sport? To get better at snowboarding & to have fun!

Who have been your biggest supporters in getting you to where you are now? My dad who taught me to snowboard, my mum who sticks with me on the mountain and does all the trails with me that I want to do and my brother who teaches me snowboarding tricks.

Who’s your favorite rider/shooter (photo/video)? Christy Prior because she’s from New Zealand like I am.

What do you do in your spare time when you’re not riding/shooting/competing? I love being with my friends, going to art class & playing with my cat & rabbit.

How about in the off season to stay in shape? There isn’t really an off season for me as we are lucky to have Snowplanet nearby so I get to snowboard all year.  I enjoy the trampoline and swimming in summer though.

What is your biggest goal to accomplish this/next season? I want to learn to link my turns while riding switch and to do jumps properly.

What’s your favorite “way” to ride? I love riding at Snowplanet more than at the mountain. I like to change between riding natural & switch the whole way down the slope & do wheelies as I go.

Favorite conditions? Sun & powder.

Where would be your biggest dream place to ride and why? Colorado because my dad has snowboarded there & said it’s awesome, and Japan because everyone says their powder is amazing.

What turned you on to your sport? I was going to be a skier – I had one ski lesson but then my mum decided to learn to snowboard & I didn’t want to be the only skier in the family so I started to learn to snowboard with my mum.

Any new tricks you’re working on? I want to learn to ride the park, at the moment I can do the box & the rainbow. My brother is teaching me to do boardslides.

What other extreme/action sports are you into? I love to go on the trampoline every day after school.

What’s your favorite board/bike/sled to ride and why? Burton Chicklet – it is pink with flowers & unicorns on it!

What’s the trick to riding features and not killing yourself? Know your limits & wear protective gear.

How would you describe your riding style? Fast and Fun!

What would you say is your signature trick? Riding switch – it always surprises people.

Favorite drink of choice to refresh yourself after a long day of riding/shooting? A hot chocolate with marshmallows!

What do you want to be when you grow up? Fashion Designer.

Any of your own web pages or social media buttons you want links to? Youtube, Vimeo, FB, Instagram,Twitter etc. etc. Instagram gracie_shreds - Facebook Gracie Wratten