In Conversation with Ross Rebagliati

Few Canadians have lived a life quite like Ross Rebagliati. Best known as Canada's first Olympic gold medalist in snowboarding, Ross has spent the last three decades building businesses, raising a family, pursuing his passion for the mountains, and helping shape Canada's cannabis industry. Today, his products can be found in stores across British Columbia, but his journey has taken him from Whistler's early snowboard scene to Kelowna and eventually Penticton, where he now calls home.

For this edition of Movers & Shakers, we spoke with Ross about buying a cabin at 19, moving for family, surviving stressful relocations, and why home means something very different today than it did when he was a young snowboarder.

TSM: Where do you call home these days?

Ross Rebagliati:

"Now I'm living in Penticton. We've been there for three years and prior to that we were in a little village called Naramata. And that's only 15 minutes away."

Ross and his family arrived during the pandemic.

"We moved in during lockdown. My mom lives there and we had a family cottage that was empty. Then about three years ago we bought a place in Penticton."

TSM: What happened with Ross' Gold after legalization?

Ross Rebagliati:

"Pre-legalization, we had a brick-and-mortar store in Kelowna."

Like many entrepreneurs, Ross discovered that legalization changed the industry dramatically.

"After things went legal, we closed the store down and then we didn't get re-entered into the market until three years after legalization."

The economics changed overnight.

"There wasn't as much money floating around as there was pre-legalization. So the best thing I could do was just get the brand into stores. So that's what we've done."

Opening retail locations again isn't necessarily part of the plan.

"I don't know if we're going to go retail. That's pretty tricky and there's a lot of red tape."

TSM: What's the first place you ever lived on your own?

Ross Rebagliati:

"I rented a room in a house in Whistler with some friends in 1990."

Ross had only been out of high school for a year.

"I was snowboarding and I had just gotten out of high school the year before."

College didn't last long.

"I was in college for a couple weeks and then when my parents went on vacation, I dropped out and moved to Whistler."

At the time, snowboarding wasn't exactly a safe career choice.

"I was already deep into the snowboarding scene around then and so I thought here was my chance to pursue snowboarding."

TSM: Was there anything in that first place you'd be embarrassed about now?

Ross Rebagliati:

"Probably just the pile of dishes in the sink that no one ever did."

Like many shared houses, cleanliness wasn't exactly a priority.

"I don't even remember eating in 1990."

There were three roommates sharing the house and apparently nobody felt responsible for the dishes.

TSM: Who was the worst roommate you ever had?

Ross Rebagliati:

"Later in 1990, I actually bought my first cabin and moved out of that first house."

Buying a property at 19 years old sounds impossible today, but Ross was already thinking ahead.

"At the time it was an astronomical price and you could have bought a whole block of houses in Saskatchewan for that much. I paid 200 grand when I was 19 for a cabin in Whistler."

Over the years, plenty of roommates came and went.

"I guess the worst roommate was this one guy that wasn't from Canada. He was from Europe — I won't say which country."

The arrangement got complicated quickly.

"He showed up to Whistler already broke. Right away in the first month he couldn't make rent."

Ross tried to solve the problem himself.

"In the second month I confiscated his mountain bike and he went to the cops."

The police were not impressed.

"The cops said I wasn't allowed to do that."

TSM: Is there something you've kept through almost every move?

Ross Rebagliati:

"Yeah, I do still have some furniture from those years."

One piece has followed him almost everywhere.

"One thing in particular is this massive leather couch I keep dragging around."

The couch has its own story.

"The unit above me flooded and damaged my unit and the insurance gave me ten grand for these two leather couches that I had gotten for free from a ski shop that was getting rid of them."

Ross used the payout to have a custom couch built.

"I ended up getting a custom-made leather couch for ten grand."

Today it's showing its age.

"It's ripped to shreds now from the dogs."

TSM: How many dogs do you have now?

Ross Rebagliati:

"We just have the one dog now. It's a Cane Corso."

The family dog shares the house with Ross, his wife, and their three children.

"My oldest boy is 17 and my youngest is 11. My daughter is 13."

TSM: How's life with three almost-teenagers?

Ross Rebagliati:

"It's fun. They're good kids."

Ross doesn't hesitate when talking about his children.

"My oldest boy is a straight-A student and he's an amazing athlete."

His daughter and youngest son are equally busy.

"My daughter is also great at school and my youngest son is a protege hockey player."

The whole family stays active.

"They all ski and snowboard."

As for teenage drama?

"We don't have any teenager problems or anything like that."

TSM: Is there something you left behind in a move that you wish you hadn't?

Ross Rebagliati:

"Yeah. My house in Whistler."

Ross still lights up talking about the property.

"I had this incredible house."

Over time he transformed it into something remarkable.

"I finished it and then put this huge addition on it."

The final result was enormous.

"It had five floors on it. There were two suites in the basement and another suite on the main floor."

"Our master bedroom was bigger than our house is now."

Eventually, however, family came first.

TSM: Have you ever moved because of a relationship?

Ross Rebagliati:

"Yeah, that was the move I did because of a relationship and it was basically my relationship with my son."

Following a divorce, Ross made a decision that would change everything.

"When he was around two or three we moved from Whistler to Kelowna."

The goal was simple.

"I wanted to make sure I kept that strong."

The move also gave him something he hadn't had in years.

"It was nice because it was a return to anonymity."

Life in Whistler had become surprisingly public.

"Everyone knew me and what truck I'd drive around in."

"They had these trolley buses that would take the tourists around and they would stop in front of my house and take pictures."

TSM: Did you ever have a move where everything went wrong?

Ross Rebagliati:

"When we moved to Kelowna initially, we just moved."

No jobs.

No furniture.

Two small children.

"We didn't have jobs there. We didn't have anything. We had two kids."

Ross figured they'd sort things out once they arrived.

"I thought everything would be fine and we'd pick up furniture the next day."

His wife had a different reaction.

"My wife had a meltdown and I wasn't expecting that."

Looking back, he understands why.

"No furniture, moving with a baby, a three-year-old, no jobs... yeah, it was stressful."

Oddly enough, the moving itself wasn't the problem.

"I've always been pretty good at that part."

Ross has developed his own moving system.

"When I move, I order a 20-foot sea can and I take my time packing my entire house into it."

One move was particularly memorable.

"The last time I did that, I had a Porsche inside the sea can."

Not only was the car inside.

"I had everything I owned piled on top of the Porsche."

TSM: What place has felt most like home?

Ross Rebagliati:

"Penticton is great."

While Whistler shaped much of his life, Penticton offers the lifestyle he wants now.

"You've got lakes, ski resorts and everything else that Whistler has but there's elbow room and there's no traffic."

Whistler itself has changed dramatically.

"In the 90s nobody even went there."

Now it's crowded year-round.

"It's fun, but you're not living in reality."

Penticton feels different.

"It's super casual."

TSM: Is there a city you ran away from?

Ross Rebagliati:

"I'd say Vancouver."

As beautiful as the city is, it never matched his lifestyle.

"My lifestyle is in the mountains. The big cities aren't really for me."

TSM: Is there a city you're still running from?

Ross Rebagliati:

"When we moved from Kelowna we were pretty happy to get away and settle in Penticton."

Ross still loves Kelowna, but prefers a slower pace.

"I even heard a guy say he moved to Vancouver from Kelowna to get away from the traffic."

His verdict?

"Kelowna is awesome. I just like the more quiet pace where it's chill."

TSM: If you had ten minutes to pack one box that represented your whole life, what's going in it?

Ross Rebagliati:

"I guess the first thing I'd throw in there would be my gold medal."

After that?

"A bunch of kid stuff."

Then a few personal treasures.

"My vintage collection of snowboard magazines."

"A big bag of weed."

"Dog food."

He pauses and laughs.

"To be honest, I don't have a lot of valuable possessions."

The important things aren't possessions at all.

"It's just the kids that are most important, and my wife and the dog."

TSM: What does home mean to you now compared to when you were 20?

Ross Rebagliati:

"When I was 20, home was centered around the ski resort and my buddies."

These days the answer comes much faster.

"Now, it's wherever my kids are."

After decades of competition, business ventures, and moves across British Columbia, Ross has found a simpler definition.

"We're pretty entrenched in the family life and we're loving it."

Like they say:

"Home is where the heart is."