Photos by Volcom and Oli Gagnon
Cannon Cummins is a ripping snowboarder from the Pacific Northwest. He grew up riding at Mt. Baker, known for its steep runs and black-diamond terrain. His family includes pro snowboarder parents Barrett Christy and Temple Cummins, as well as younger sister Ayla. With his fast and smooth style, he takes cues from both parents: Barrett is an X Games gold medalist and Olympian, and Temple a Northwest legend known for swiftly charging heavy terrain.
Cannon has merged his snowboarding style with his love of skateboarding, creating his own unique approach. “Ollieing off stuff on my skateboard definitely inspires me to find hips to ollie off on my snowboard,” he says. The result is a super creative, all-mountain vibe with a focus on linking up transitions. What that looks like in the wild is Cannon dropping cliffs and airing off big snow features. He rides with a crew of friends including Max Stanford, Matteo Soltane, and Brayden Charette. “They definitely push me—riding with friends is awesome. It’s fun when it’s not so serious.”
Outside of Mt. Baker, Cannon also learned to ride at a small resort called Hurricane Ridge, with only a rope tow and a Poma lift open on weekends. He’d go up with friends and ride, then come down and skate. There are no parks or pipes at either resort, so he learned to use the mountain’s natural transitions, which is what makes him so fun to watch. Cannon says, “I like the steeper stuff—cliffs are fun to hop off, and really anything that flows together. I don’t like to hike one feature. I like to take a full run—a steep line and a cliff at the bottom.”
Cannon credits his dad with encouraging him, but says he was never pushed. “Watching him snowboard at Baker got me to where I’m at,” says Cannon. Temple can remember the moment he saw Cannon riding and knew he was onto something, “It was at Alpental when he was 16,” says Temple, “We hooked up with his friends on a great powder day, exploring terrain. We saw a few features and talked real quick about it, and I thought we were referring to the same feature. He goes first, hits a top bump that I didn’t even see, and soars over my takeoff to the pillow. That whole day blew me away.”
Cannon has sponsors who support his snowboarding, including GNU (he shares a pro model with his dad, the Banked Country), Vans, Oakley, Volcom, One Ball Jay, and Lampshade.Brotha hats. This past year he had the opportunity to film with his sponsors in Utah, with the goal of having those clips appear in Vans and Volcom movies.
Cannon also competes in banked slalom contests—basically high-speed races through big banked turns, with the fastest time winning. Cannon took the junior division at the most esteemed banked slalom, the Mt. Baker Legendary, in 2020. Last year he qualified third in the super-competitive pro division but didn’t make it to the podium—a huge accomplishment none the less. He says that making the podium in the men’s pro division is definitely one of his goals, “along with a lot of other peoples’,” he jokes. He also hopes to travel and film this winter, and maybe even get up to the big mountains of Alaska—“that would be a dream trip,” he says.