Name: Dominique Vallee
Born: Montreal, Quebec
Hometown: Montreal, Quebec
Currently living in: Squamish, BC
Years riding: 8 years
Sponsors: Powder Room, Elan Snowboards, Phiten Energy, Oakley Eyewear
 
 
Describe how you first got interested in snowboarding: I was one of those ski racers on the hill for Mont-Tremblant. I was getting pretty sick of it and I knew I didn't want to go further with it. The riding crew at the mountain looked so much fun and so did snowboarding. I tried it once during the Spring and that was the end of it. I hung-up my skis that day and it's all I was able to think about. Met so many amazing people and had way more fun then skiing.
 
What keeps you snowboarding today? I have some goals that I set for myself a few years ago that I want to accomplish and I have as much fun today as I did when I first started but now I'm making a life out of it and love where I'm living and traveling because of riding. It's so different from all my friends that I grew-up with, it's another world really and I think I'm so lucky.
 
What do you get up to when you aren't snowboarding? My favorite thing to go do is a surf trip with friends. I like hanging out at home fixing my house and playing tennis, golf or just hiking around to different lakes. I also spend lots of time in Quebec with my old friends and family. I play piano from time to time but there's not to many pianos kicking around these days.
 
Describe the perfect day:
Winter: Wake-up early on a powder day with nothing else to do then go meet-up with your friends in the line-up for the first chair. Do as many runs as you can till your legs feel like they might fall off. Go back home to hangout and have a good diner with my girl friends and watch a movie and fall asleep on it.
Summer: Wake-up and chill with a cup of coffee looking at the lake. Go out and do as many sports as possible before it's to hot. Then hang-out at the lake with friends all day swimming around of jumping off rocks till the sun goes down.
 
Have you had any injuries or situations that have made you re-think your lifestyle? Injuries really suck and I've had my fare share. Everytime I get injured I always think it would have hurt more then it actually did so that's kind of incouraging. Re-hab is sometimes tedius it's getting back on snow and having to get over your fear of that trick or how ever you got injured that I think is sometimes trickier. I find that confidense is harder to rebuild then my body parts. I've done or seen pretty stupid things that I hope to never have to do again. I'd like to think that I'm wiser now but anything can happen really.

Last but not least:
Last trip: Montreal for my summer vacation.
Last party: My brother's wedding last night.
Last car: Mazda 3 Sport
Last phone call: My ex-boyfriend
Last words: Don't waste your time.