Industry News
Harley Ruffle has already recorded six straight 100-day seasons at just eight years old. It’s a feat that many skiers and riders never accomplish, and something he plans on doing every season. This season, Ruffle was shredding the slopes and hitting the terrain park for a whopping 151 days. He started snowboarding when he was two years old, immediately fell in love with it, and hasn’t stopped since. Ruffle lives just outside of Killington, Vermont, with his parents, and that’s where he mostly hits the slopes.
This season was different for the Ruffle family, who typically take road trips during the season, traveling to different ski resorts. They got rid of their RV at the end of the 2024-25 season, which forced Harley and his parents to stay local this year. Being able to stay in an RV helps the Ruffles save on costs such as lodging, which adds up quickly when they’re on the mountain over 100 times a season. “This season without the RV was hard because I was home while he was riding.” Jill Ruffle said in a phone interview with SnowBrains. “People would call saying, ‘Get out here, he’s killing it,’ and I’d be stuck in meetings.” The Ruffles are currently building a school bus conversion — a “skoolie” which will make next season much easier for them to travel more.
It was still a productive season in which Ruffle hit Killington, Sugarbush, Loon Mountain, and Stratton Mountain this season, and he attended one of his favorite events of the season, Homesick. It’s a three-day event that features the culture and community of snowboarding at Stratton Mountain, where snowboarders and fans get to watch, meet, and ride with legends, pros, and up-and-comers. That’s basically the Super Bowl of snowboarding for him, Ruffle’s mother said. He looks forward to Homesick because that’s when he gets to spend time with Zeb Powell, whom he has known since he was two years old. Powell is a professional snowboarder, and they have a blast together at the event. Ruffle also attended Killington’s Slash-And-Berm and Loon’s Bomb-Hole Beat Down events this season.
Since he began riding six years ago, Ruffle has been progressing every single season, working on becoming a better rider. His favorite trick that he likes to do is a “Cab 270 Pull Back,” which is an advanced park and rail trick where a rider approaches a jib feature switch (riding backwards), spins a frontside 270 degrees° onto the rail (Cab 270) into a frontside board-slide or blunt position, and then counter-rotates their legs 180° back the way they came to ride away regular.
Although Ruffle’s advanced riding abilities allow him to keep up with older kids and even adults on the mountain, he still misses riding with his parents. “He gets sad sometimes because he misses riding with mommy, but he’s growing up now and likes riding with the older guys,” Jill Ruffle said.
With his high riding level at an early age, some may think that he’s destined to start doing competitions. However, this is not the case at all. Ensuring that Ruffle has a happy childhood and enjoys being on the mountain is what is most important to his parents. Competitions can be intense, and the pressure put on children by their parents to win and do well can be tough on a young child. This is not what the Ruffles want for their son. “Here’s the thing with Harley — we always said we wouldn’t let him compete unless he asked to compete,” Jill Ruffle said. “Harley just rides because he loves it; we never yell at him to land tricks or force progression, and if you push him too hard, he won’t enjoy it anymore.”
Progressing at his own pace is what’s paramount to Harley’s parents and to himself. Doing what’s best for their child is what the Ruffles are doing, and they want to ensure that he still loves to ride for many years in the future. This season, Ruffle worked with the Killington Mountain School coaches and slowly built tricks piece by piece until he landed them. Ruffle wants to ride with consistency and to land tricks cleanly over and over. He’s incredibly comfortable on a snowboard for his age, and has very good edge control and carving skills.
Besides snowboarding, Ruffle is involved in other activities such as baseball, and he just started to learn to skateboard and mountain bike. However, he’s still very much a beginner at those. He’s a healthy eight-year-old who likes to go out and be active and hang out with his friends. Keeping up with everything he does, being on the mountain for 151 days this season, is a lot for any parent to juggle. “Please stop. I don’t have enough time in the day for all this,” Harley’s mother said with a laugh.
While he is a very gifted young snowboarder, what Ruffle’s future holds is still unknown, but it will be his decision to make. Will he start competing in the next few years? “My only competition is myself, to be better than I was the day before,” Ruffle says — so for now, he just loves being out there with his friends, hitting and shredding the slopes and parks.
