Matt Philippi

Nickname: Garmisch
Sponsors: Marker/Volkl, DNA outerwear, Bollé, Surefoot, POC protection, JHMR
Other activities: surfing, mountain biking, cameras, guitar

click for an interview with Matt about The Full Circle Project

My skiing career has taken me to amazing locations across the globe. However, few of these places can compare to Jackson Hole. It is beautiful here, but it is dangerous… while driving around town, I often find myself focused on the beautiful landscape and not you walking across the road.

I am honored to be a part of the JHMR team. The mountain we call home is inspiring and humbling and pushes me to become a better skier. Whether it is the people who ski here or the terrain we enjoy together, I learn something new everyday.

The first decade of my ski career was focused on the halfpipe and slopestyle competition circuit. My focus has since shifted to bigger mountains and deeper snow. JHMR is the ultimate training ground for this transformation.

During the summers, when the snow has finally melted, I focus in on The FullCircle Project. This project is a chance for pro skiers to give back to mountain communities that we have the privilege to visit. In 2010, we traveled to the Bío Bío region of Chile and spent two weeks building a kindergarten and playground for those who were displaced by the massive earthquake and tsunami of February of the same year. In 2011, we were in the rural highlands near Cusco, Peru, where we worked on a sustainable agriculture project. We were in the town of Maras which has just recently completed an aqueduct and has new agricultural potential, but this town is quite poor and it is hard for the community to afford plants and tools. With sponsor and donor support, we were able to buy plants, tools, make donation to the community and provide almost two weeks of manual labor. We are looking forward to our third summer project!

Nearly 3 years ago, Matt came up with The FullCircle Project as a way to give back to some the regions he has gotten to travel to as a pro skier. Here, he talks about how the project got started and his goals.

The FullCircle Project Peru: Episode 2 - Digging Deeper

The FullCircle Project: Peru Episode 1 - The Arrival.

Jackson Hole: What is the FullCircle Project and how did the FullCircle Project come about?
Matt Philippi: The FullCircle Project is a community service and skiing trip put together by a group of skiers and snowboarders. We travel down to South America each summer to work on a community service project for two weeks, and then go skiing for two weeks. We bring down a cinematographer to capture the experience. We have six ‘webisodes’ from the last two trips and we also have content on Outside Television.

The FullCircle Project rose out of my desire to give back to the amazing places that I, as a pro skier, have had the privilege to visit. The FullCircle Project is an effort to give back to, and to connect with, these places. We have set our focus on the Andes for our summer projects. The Andes have some great skiing, but they also have a lot of poverty stricken areas that can use some help.

JH: How are you picking your locations to do volunteer work?
MP: Our first project was in Chile in the summer of 2010. An 8.8 magnitude earthquake and a ninety-foot tsunami ravaged the area near Concepcion (a 5 hour drive south of Santiago). I had skied around Concepcion in years past and made a good friend in the area. I spoke with him after the quake and learned that the tsunami had swept his house into the ocean. He was staying with his family further inland and he wanted to help out in the recovery. We joined forces and he found us a project we could do. Most of the people whose houses were destroyed were staying in secondary temporary housing communities, consisting of small wooden shacks. The FullCircle Project helped to build a kindergarten and a playground in one of these temporary housing communities. It was an unreal experience seeing the devastation, hearing stories from people who had experienced the quake and tsunami and are still dealing with the repercussions… it was really a life changing experience.

Our 2011 summer project came to us through our Project Director, Caleb Braley. Caleb has worked on volunteer projects in many impoverished communities along the Andes. His personal connections led us to a project in the community of Maras, Peru. Maras is a small and mostly indigenous community on the outskirts of Cusco, Peru. We were there to plant an apple tree orchard as part of a sustainable agriculture project.

The community of Maras, like many indigenous communities, has been marginalized for centuries. It is a legacy that began during the colonization of the region by the Spanish and has carried on through a lack of interest by the central government of Peru, the exploitation of poor farmers by land owners (the hacienda system) and the exploitation of natural resources by foreign companies, specifically a salt mine in Maras. Maras has been fighting for decades for its rights to the land, the salt mine, and for funding to deal with a lack of a reliable water source. Just recently an aqueduct was completed.

The aqueduct is the first part of a large-scale sustainable agriculture and reforestation project. The FullCircle Project came in, made a $1000 donation to this greater project, and worked in the field helping to plant the first community apple tree orchard, the first of many. The fruit from this orchard will help feed the community as well as provide food to sell at market. The money earned will go back into the community’s sustainable agriculture efforts.

JH: I'm sure it must a lot of hard work, but what's the best part of volunteering?
MP: I really enjoy the cultural exchange between our group and the people we are helping. There is no better way to get to know a people in a couple of weeks than by working along side them. It always feels good to help out and give people your time, but I feel as though I get more in return. I get to know a different culture and a different way of life. This knowledge is invaluable, and I find it helps me understand what is really important to me.

JH: This year's project begins on August 1 in Penipe, Ecuador. What's going on there?
This summer’s project begins on August 1st, in Penipe, Ecuador.
MP: In Penipe, the recent eruption of the Tungurahua Volcano has covered the region in ash, severely impacting the already poor rural farmers and their families. Many had to abandon their homes and are just recently returning. Their livestock and crops have been significantly damaged.

The FullCircle Project will help develop a community farm based on a self-sufficient comprehensive farm model (referred to as a ‘granja integral’ in Spanish). Working with several Ecuadorian agricultural engineers, we will construct a one-hectare (100m x 100m) model farm plot including crops for human and animal consumption, and produce to sell at market.
A diverse range of crops is central to the model that will support the people of Penipe long term. This farm will serve as a template for sustainable agriculture in the broader area traumatized by the recent volcanic eruption.
As well as spending two weeks working on the farm and living in the community, we will fund the $3000 cost of the plot construction itself.

JH: How can people support The FullCircle Project’s volunteer efforts?
MP: You can donate online at www.TheFullCircleProject.com. As always, your donation will go directly to our volunteer efforts. We are grateful for the continued support of our ski industry sponsors who facilitate the skiing portion of our adventures. We are amazingly fortunate to be able to combine our talents as professional skiers with this community service. We hope to inspire our audience to take action in their own way. We sincerely thank you for your continued support.

Please check out www.TheFullCircleProject.com for more videos, photos, and articles about our projects abroad and how to get involved.