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Height: 5-7
Weight: 176
Birthday: Feb. 25, 1968
Birthplace: Junction City, KS
Hometown: Whitefish, MT

Maybe when you fight forest fires for a (seasonal) living, maybe when you jump out of a plane to get to those flames, maybe you don't make long-range plans and just learn to take things as they come your way.

So, meet smoke-eater, smoke-jumper, and gate-running snowboarder Rob Berney, who moves up a notch this season to the A Team and looks for continued improvement. A year ago, he, uh, jumped from top-15s in '95 to top-threes.

Berney reached the podium twice before Christmas before an ankle injury (he hooked a tip in LaBresse, France) sidelined him through the middle of the winter, costing him a chance to compete in the 1996 World Snowboard Championships. "Rob rode well all summer, so I think if we keep him healthy, he should have a great winter," said Coach Peter Foley.

Comment: "I never imagined any of this. I did well enough every year to say, 'Well, maybe I'll stick with this for one more year.' None of it was a goal for me and I'm not dead-set on any of it. I just love snowboarding and traveling. As long as it continues like this, I'll just keep going with it."

Start-up: When the family took ski trips to Colorado, Berney would go along and he even followed his mother into ski instructing. Seven years ago, Berney shifted to snowboarding and became an instructor with teammate Steve Persons at Big Mountain.

The first major contest he entered outside of Montana was the notoriously crazy Mt. Baker Banked Slalom, in the amateur division. He won - and was hooked on racing. "Craig Kelly and all of the rad dads were there. That got me stoked on it and made me stick with it," he said.

He competed for fun for several years before getting serious three years ago when Persons talked him into really competing. "When Steve made the [first] U.S. Snowboard Team [for the '95 season], I decided to go for it also, just to see what would happen."

Credit: Berney credits Coach Mike Shaw of Big Mountain, who also was instrumental in making Persons, Tom Lyman and Manuel Mendoza A Team riders, too. "He was one of those guys that's fully certified in everything. We all worked with him for a few years. He was a big part of getting all of us to where we're at."

Fun time: Hiking, biking, kayaking and river rafting, for starters. "Snowboard, work and anything outdoors are my hobbies," Berney said.

Why(tefish): His hometown "is a super playground. Any sport you want to do is here."

Fave raves: Mom's meals, Marley's tunes

Firefighting: For seven years, he was a "hotshot," sent to battle fires which get away from smoke jumpers. This past summer was his second as a smoke jumper.

Nickname: "Burn Dog"