Ben Ferguson makes snowboarding look easy. Maybe that’s because he’s had a lot of practice.
The 17-year-old Bend native first hit the slopes at Mt. Bachelor at the age of 6. Ferguson began competing seriously in 2003 and has since made the podium at national and international competitions, including the 2012 Winter Olympic Youth Games in Austria, where he took gold in the half-pipe and silver in the slope style. The young athlete says he thinks of snowboarding as his full-time job. When he’s not in training mode, Ferguson loves to ride Mt. Bachelor’s bumps and jumps with his friends. He’s got his sights set on the Olympics, but he’s still having a good time. “It is a relief to be able to come home and free-ride at Bachelor, just cruising with my buddies after training,” he says.