Shaun White Says Justin Bieber Is ‘Awesome’ at Snowboarding and Reveals Route He ‘Loves’ to Rip (Exclusive)

Justin Bieber's snowboarding skills are Shaun White approved.

The three-time Olympic snowboarding gold medalist spoke with PEOPLE about his life as a retired athlete, particularly getting to enjoy the slopes with friends like the Canadian superstar singer.

"Oh, he's awesome," White, 37, tells PEOPLE exclusively of Bieber's board abilities at CVS Pharmacy's launch of Well Market snacks, the athlete's latest partnership unveiled in New York City on Thursday.

The professional athlete and the singer memorably hit the slopes together this winter when Bieber posted a group photo to his Instagram Story in December 2023. The shot featured several well-known faces, including Kendall Jenner, White and his girlfriend Nina Dobrev.

While Bieber didn’t indicate exactly where the photo was taken, he and his wife Hailey — who recently announced she's pregnant with their first baby — were photographed earlier that week in Aspen, Colorado. The Olympian was amused by Bieber on the mountain and recalls a memorable story of their time together.

"It was so funny. When you go ride with people, everybody has something they prefer more — and he just loves the trees," White notes of Bieber. "Going in the trees, just getting lost in the woods. Literally I'm like, ‘Where is he? Is he okay?' "

White jokes, "We should have put an AirTag on him because he was just gone in the woods!"

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

As for whether White is a fan of the tree routes himself? "Oh, I love it," he says without hesitation. "So now I'll rip a really crazy tree run, film it and just text it to him once in a while. I'll be like, ‘It’s calling you, bud!' "

While spending more time snowboarding with "new friends" has been "fun" for White, he also tells PEOPLE he's been "a lot kinder" to himself since retiring from the extreme sport professionally after the Beijing Winter Olympics in 2022.

"It was tough. There's always this expectation to perform," White says. "The only way I could describe it is when you're a kid and you were out playing and you knew you had to do homework... in the back of your mind, there's still something lingering."

He admits, "I was kind of hard on myself about things — and now I'm like, ‘Oh, we're good!' "

White recalled one of the first trips he and Dobrev went on after he stepped away from competing, pinpointing a specific moment that his retirement truly felt real. "My girlfriend and I were walking by a bar and the music was bumping," he begins to explain.

"I remember being like, ‘Oh, we can just go. We can stay there all night. We can shut it down if we want,' " continues White. "It was just that cool liberating feeling to be like, ‘Alright, yeah, whatever we want to do is kind of open.’ "

Now, White's looking forward to going to the Olympics — but for a different reason! He said he and Dobrev have plans to attend the 2024 Summer Games in Paris, telling PEOPLE he's "going to go hang for sure."

"I'm excited," he continues. "My girlfriend speaks French and her mom lives in France, so I've got a translator built in. So I'm excited to go hang, just spectate and be a part of it."

Surely ahead of his travels, Shaun will be making a pit-stop at CVS for his flight and snacking needs. "I love CVS," he says when speaking about his latest partnership with the stores' new Well Market brand that brings 40 new snacks, beverages and groceries to shelves.

"It's always that one-stop shop for everything... It's become my travel go-to," says White, who notes the "trail mix bites are my favorite." He adds, "It's really innovative, fun and cool new stuff, so I was really hyped to partner up with them."