Two Oregon Pros Return Home for Adventure Rally

Meet two extraordinary local chargers who make the adventure playground that is Bend, Oregon, their home. While these seasoned snowboarders have traveled to the ends of the earth, exploring the empty peaks of Antarctica together, there’s always a reason for them to keep pushing when it comes time to return home. With the help of the all-new 2024 Toyota Tacoma Trailhunter, we nudged them even further, daring this duo to stack multiple high-action activities on back-to-back days of deep powder and wooly winter swell. Can they line up the conditions for an all-time wild Oregon rally? It’s time to Return to Sender.

Meet Austin Smith

Austin Smith is drawn to a certain kind of exploration. Call them sufferfests if you will, but don’t discount the intent behind a winter camp mission in the Cascades or a season spent in a converted 1953 fire truck parked at Mount Bachelor. Even a sleepless trudge through a four-day Oregon wilderness race reflects a drive beyond discomfort and around norms.

“I’m most comfortable in these uncomfortable circumstances,” Smith says of the uncertain outcomes on trips that factor new experiences and “require intentional decisions and solving problems.”

For nearly two decades, that hard-nosed approach to adventure has vaulted Smith to the forefront of professional snowboarding, both for his award-winning video segments and his off-mountain ventures. In 2021, he launched Season Eqpt. on the idea that ski and snowboard gear should not be purchased annually. When it comes to standard sales expectations for a hardgoods brand, that can be a contrarian stance.

But that’s Smith: idealistic yet pragmatic, taking uncommon paths, and always with a metered dose of blunt humor. Last summer, Smith and Curtis Ciszek traveled to Antarctica to film Endurance II, an all-analog movie with a release limited to in-person interactive events. Oh, and they wore penguin suits to blend in (briefly) with the locals—just another atypical adventure that’s always worth the sometimes uncomfortable effort.

Meet Curtis Ciszek 

At age 12, Curtis Ciszek had sponsors; by junior high, his first coverage in a snowboarding magazine. What’s even more of a testament to his natural ability in the mountains? He was raised on a sailboat through grade school.

“I guess we’re all creatures of our environment,” he says, “and my parents made my environment the outdoors.” Only two seasons after his family took to the mainland, Ciszek entered the pro leagues—and he’s stayed there ever since. Credit an effortless style backed by propulsive power that’s evident in more than a dozen celebrated video parts. In summer, he moonlights as a fly-fishing guide, having co-founded Lower Deschutes River outfitter Jet Boat Fly Guides. Whatever the season, Ciszek accelerates toward ambitious, perhaps semi-quixotic challenges.

Fortunately, he brings others along for the ride while casting the unconventional into relief: sailing from Oregon to Alaska with snowboards and fly rods in tow or exploring the southernmost continent by splitboard. Earlier this season, K2 Snowboards awarded Ciszek his first pro model, acknowledging his steadfast forward momentum. When the road opens, Ciszek knows how to drive. His lightning-fast wit helps, but there’s also the innate guidance earned from a life of adventure that values an unknown journey ahead.

“It’s all about the people you surround yourself with,” says Ciszek. “Why go on an amazing adventure if you don’t have anyone to share it with?”

The all-new 2024 Toyota Tacoma delivers trail-dominating power, legendary capability and captivating style. Time to make all your off-roading dreams come true.