Minnesota native Levi LaVallee has been called an adrenaline junkie. The man with balls-to-the-walls fearlessness. And the most versatile snowmobiler in X Games history.
Like many kids across the North, LaVallee would join his family as they took to the trails around his hometown of Longville (where today he lives with his wife, Kristen, and young daughter, Liv). Before long, he was hooked. “I had never experienced the speed and the control that you have on a snowmobile,” says the 33-year-old athlete. “And to this day, I haven’t found anything that gives me that same kind of rush.”
At age 10, he began competing in radar runs, races in which riders’ speed on a straight line is captured via radar. He gave cross-country racing a try before ultimate landing on snocross, his sport of choice. And like many kids across the North, LaVallee had aspirations of going pro. That dream came to fruition when he began making money from the sport at age 18.
His big break? In 2002, when Polaris — one of his longtime sponsors — signed him to the factory-backed snocross team. Since then, he’s garnered more than his fair share of awards, including seven gold X Games medals, two silver and one bronze. He’s secured a slew of impressive sponsors, including Loctite, Mystik Lubricants and Red Bull. And he’s been named one of the 50 most influential people in action sports by ESPN.
LaVallee became known for his daredevil stunts when he added freestyle to his repertoire. In 2009, he became the first person to attempt a double backflip on a snowmobile. (After soaring more than 60 feet in the air, he went long on the landing and was thrown from his sled upon impact.) In 2011, he set a world record for longest snowmobile jump at 361 feet and topped that in 2012, when he jumped 412 feet. He still holds that record today.
Of course, such feats don’t come easily. LaVallee’s injuries are on par with his accolades. He’s blown out both knees, separated both shoulders, dislocated his wrist, fractured his pelvis and three vertebrae, suffered multiple collapsed lungs (both at once, at one point) and multiple concussions (“too many to remember”), and broken his heel, his tibia and multiple ribs. And then there’s the time he broke off a thumb throttle in his thigh.
To the shock and dismay of the snocross world, LaVallee announced his retirement from the ISOC National series in 2014, though he still competes at select events, such as the Winter X Games and Red Bull Snow Boundaries. “I came to the conclusion that there were a lot of things I wanted to do with a snowmobile,” he says. “And a full national race schedule just wouldn’t allow me the time to attempt those ideas I have.” One such venture? Running Team LaVallee, which he started back in 2009 to mentor up-and-coming riders.
Throughout the twist and turns of his career, one thing has remained the same: LaVallee’s enthusiasm for the sport — and the season. “The first day there is snow on the ground, I instantly go into ‘Christmas morning’ mode,” he says. “I love when it snows.”
