Joe Sexton

Joe Sexton stands in the salt-strewn parking lot of Buck Hill in Burnsville, MN. It’s February 2025 and his arms are around two other snowboard legends for a photo: Todd Richards and Chris Grenier. The park groomers grumble off frame, and the freeway leading south to Iowa hums behind them. They’re here to squeeze in a quick session before emceeing the Red Bull Heavy Metal Local Qualifier, a day before the main event at the Minnesota State Capitol in St. Paul. But really, Grenier and Richards are there because of Joe, who moonlights as contest director for the wildly successful reboot of Heavy Metal, now in its fourth year.

Twenty-five years earlier, in this very parking lot, a 12-year-old Joe Sexton awkwardly lugged a too-big, borrowed snowboard toward the ticket booth, trying to keep up with an older junior high friend. “I remember this kid asking me if I wanted to go snowboarding, and I didn’t even really know what snowboarding was,” Joe recalls. “For whatever reason, we went. I remember strapping in, feeling oddly comfortable right away, and then ended up going off a tiny jump. I remember looking down, thinking I was 20 feet in the air—I was probably four. But it felt insane. I was hooked.” 

Between these two moments, a lot has happened. Joe has left an indelible scrape down the handrail of both the sport and its community. Over the years, he’s built an iconic career spanning every corner of snowboarding—competitor, rider, brand owner and now, contest director for the Red Bull Heavy Metal Series. He’s left the world around him a little more authentic and inclusive than it was before. He gives back everything snowboarding has given him. 

Subscribe for access to this article plus the entire archive of The Snowboarder's Journal content—and receive a discount on all products. Subscribe Now