Wille Yli-Luoa, Portland, November 2019. Photo: Tozer

“Snowboarding changed the way I looked at how to learn something – how to become a professional at something”

Yep, for this episode I headed to Heart Roasters to speak to the great Wille Yli-Luoma. Back in the late 90s and early 00s, Wille was one of the most progressive snowboarders in the world. And, as a member of the celebrated Forum 8, he was a member of the heaviest and most progressive teams in snowboarding history. Go and watch The Resistance to get some measure of how they defined freestyle snowboarding for a generation.

Photo: Tozer

Wille was a key part of the team and for a decade bestrode the snowboarding world like the backcountry freestyle colossus he was. As his career wound down, he turned his attention to a new venture, and set about establishing Heart Roasters – despite having zero experience in the coffee industry.

Today, Heart is a Portland institution, and Wille’s rapidly expanding wholesale business means it is about to go global.

Photo: Tozer

SO many layers to this conversation. Sure, it’s about coffee – geekily so. But it’s also about the choices an athlete has to make a critical point in their career, and how the same tools that worked in one area of life can also serve you just as well in other areas.

As inspiring off the hill as he was on it at the height of his career, this is a brilliant, all encompassing conversation with a true snowboarding legend. The coffee wasn’t bad either.

Listen to the episode here:

HUGE thanks to Travel Portland, Hertz and Black Diamond for their help in pulling this entire Portland trip together.