Athlete Profile

Pat Fava Family Values: Snowboarding

By Colin Bane

Watching X Games together has long been a family tradition for the Favas.

Pat Fava grew up riding with his dad Vinnie “Papa” Fava, sisters Morgan and Lauren, and brothers Vinnie Jr. and Joey, and following X Games was part of their routine.

In the X Games Aspen 2024 Snowboard Street Style demo contest, Pat Fava started a new tradition: competing at X Games...and winning. “To get the invitation was pretty surreal,” Pat says. “Winning it was just icing on the cake. Dream come true.”

Snowboarding is a family affair for the Favas. “My dad, he’s a frickin’ boss,” Pat says of the family patriarch, who is a featured rider alongside Pat and Joey in their 2022 film, Aboom. “I remember being 3 years old, seeing him go snowboarding every weekend with my aunts, uncle and cousins, and always wanting to try it just because he was super into it.

“He does contract work, and one year he did all the flooring for the snowboard shop at our local hill,” Pat continues. “Instead of getting paid, he said, ‘I’d rather just get gear for my kids.’ So that’s how my brothers and sisters and I got our first snowboards and became a family of shredders.”

Fava, now 27, says as a teenager he was particularly inspired by the X Games Snowboard Street event, which ran from 2011-2013 with gold medalists Nic Suave, Forest Bailey and Louis-Felix Paradis. “X Games became the dream back then after watching that, and as primarily a street and rail rider that’s the only way I really saw myself being in X Games,” Fava says. “And now it’s back more than 10 years later.”

And Fava will be a favorite. He’s already invited to X Games Aspen 2025, when Street Style will be a formal medal event. But that’s not stopping Pat from competing in the Street Style Pro contest at Copper Mountain on December 20-21 that doubles as an XG Aspen 2025 qualifier. Look for Papa Fava and the rest of the family in the crowd, going wild.

Camper Helmet Steez

Image ©Trevor Brown, Jr./X Games

Pat memorably placed first at Aspen 2024 while wearing a bike helmet, a last-minute decision that became emblematic of the light-hearted vibes of both Pat’s style and the contest itself, which he regards as a fun progression session with some of his closest friends.

“The vibe around that whole event was so sick -- I was just having fun the whole time and was so pumped on everything, from getting haircuts and getting my moustache shaped up in the athlete lounge to cruising Buttermilk with the homies,” Pat says. “It was my first time in Aspen, and Buttermilk, Snowmass, all those places were fun to ride, and the town was really cool. Everything I’d ever dreamed X Games was about, Aspen delivered.”

And about that helmet… “Full disclosure, I did have friends trying to lend me their snowboard helmets, but they felt big and bulky and not as comfy. And wearing the bike helmet was sort of a tribute to my days working as a summer camp skate counselor at Mount Hood,” Pat says. “We’d have kids out there rocking bike helmets, which I always thought was hilarious, so I just kinda stole the campers’ steez on that one.”

This year’s helmet plan is still up in the air, but one thing’s for sure: Fava is coming in hot. In addition to his Aspen victory, Pat took jib wins last season at DIYX in Innsbruck, Austria, and the Bomb Hole’s Dust Bomb Rail Jam in Park City, Utah. He won Red Bull’s Heavy Metal event in Detroit the previous season.

“These events have been so much fun because they’re super accessible for viewers: Thousands of people can see snowboarding up close in a way that’s much harder with something like slopestyle,” Pat says. “As riders, we’re fueled by that chaos and crowd energy! It’s so cool to experience.”

Building at Brighton

Though he’s best known as an urban street slayer in video parts like his ender to the ThirtyTwo film Bonecrusher (2023), Pat has deep resort riding roots.

“Brighton is one of the meccas in Utah, if not the mecca of snowboarding,” says Pat, who grew up in Cedar City, Utah. “It's just where a lot of the scene is at, and that energy pushes me a little harder. Seeing all the tricks that people are doing makes me progress faster than normal.”

Fava says Brighton’s famed terrain parks are the secret to his success in the streets. “I'd like to give a special shoutout to the Brighton diggers,” he says. “I was on the dig squad for a few years with my brother Joey, and I feel like they set up the parks so good every year. They make it possible for everybody to keep progressing.”

Follow the Gold Brick Road

At the Copper Mountain Street Style Pro event, Pat will ride the main event with the likes of X Games gold medalists Darcy Sharpe, Dusty Henricksen and Liam Brearley. They’ll be joined by the top riders from the Next X Street Style contest the day before, all vying for the right to compete in Aspen.

The Next X field also is stacked with heavy hitters, including previous X Games competitors and, thanks to a new X Games partnership with US Ski & Snowboard, Rev Tour athletes Liam Johnson, Flynn Bullock-Womble and Hayden Tyler.

“I think it’s huge that X Games made this an X Games qualifier,” Pat says. “There are so many talented riders out there who don't get to shine -- who might not be invited to these big contests -- and now have a chance to fight their way in and become a big name in snowboarding. Get ready for some surprises, because these dudes are hungry!”

Pat Fava Bio Blast

DOB: July 27, 1997. Age: 27
X Games Aspen 2024 Men’s Snowboard Street Style winner. Held as a demonstration event in 2024, Street Style will return as a full medal event at X Games Aspen 2025.
In September 2024, Pat joined the YES Snowboards team stacked with X Games gold medalists including Halldor Helgason, Frank Bourgeois, Fridtjof "Fridge" Sæther Tischendorf and Liam Brearley. He also has a signature boot with ThirtyTwo.
He loves making music (house and techno are his specialties), plays the drums and is active on Soundcloud, where he releases original singles and remix projects.
He grew up in Cedar City, Utah, and learned to snowboard at nearby Brian Head Resort. Now lives in Salt Lake City and considers himself a Brighton Resort local.