OCTOBER 2014

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S N O W B O A R D I N G // 9.1

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photo: Vernon deck jake blauvelt

hana beaman

sebastien toutant

yuki kadono

@ridesnowboards

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10-11 - OPENING ACT 16 - COVER STORY: BRANDON HAMMID 18 - SCOTT STEVENS: D.O.A 2 20 - HISTORY 801: GRIZZLY GULCH 22-24 - CHARACTERS: SEAN K. SULLIVAN 28-30 - ORIGINS: ASHBURY 32 - LITTLE LABELS: SPRING BREAK SNOWBOARDS 34 - THE GRAPHIC STORY: RYAN BESCH 36-37 - THIS IS THE NEW SH!T 40-43 - AFTERLIFE: ERIK LEINES 46-54 - OZZY HENNING 56 - GNARTOGRAPHY 59-68 - SHOOTING GALLERY 72 - HOLY BOWLY 76 - HI THERE: GRACE MAYERNIK 78 - HI THERE: CODY LEE 80 - INSTAHAMS: THE LADIES

[R: FORREST SHEARER, P: ANDREW MILLER L: BRIGHTON]

I LOVE SALT LAKE CITY WORDS & PHOTO BY SEAN BLACK

2

00 words are not enough to explain why I love and what I love about Salt Lake City. All my best friends live here. Most of my best memories do too. Moving to Salt Lake City after high school was the best decision I ever made. The snowboarding community here is so strong.

From my very first days riding at Brighton, I knew I had stumbled into something that doesn’t exist anywhere else. The opportunities and relationships that I’ve built through that community have shaped my life and influenced every decision I’ve made in the past decade; insofar as influencing my decision to move out of Salt Lake City last fall. Until I return to SLC permanently, I’ll be thinking about early morning drives up Cottonwood Canyon, bottomless powder days on Milli, early season days spent building and sessioning the Bone Zone, urban missions all over the valley, scoping and hitting street new spots, hanging at Milosport, eating at Molca Salsa (because that’s what it really is), going out during premier season, getting my ass kicked up Grizzly Gulch, riding spring days at Park City with all of our friends, and in general…being a part of something that’s more powerful than 200 words can describe.

MASTHEAD EDITOR & DESIGN Paul Bundy paul@arkadesnowboarding.com

EDITOR & ADVERTISING Cory Llewelyn cory@arkadesnowboarding.com

CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS Andy Wright, Andrew Miller, Rob Mathis, Steven Stone, E-Stone, Joel Fraser, Dean Blotto Gray, Cole Atencio, Ben Girardi, Sean Black, Kealan Shilling, Erik Hoffman, Grady Skelton, Markus Rohrbacher, Kyle Beckmann, Matt Finelli

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Daniel Cochrane, Mark Seguin, Josh Ruggles, Joseph Shaner, Sean Black, Andy Wright, Scott Stevens

DISTRIBUTION Landon Llewelyn, Cooper Llewelyn, The Norm, Marcus Patterson, Cael Campbell, Laramie Patrick

ARKADE MAGAZINE

127 South 800 East STE #37 SLC, UT 84102 www.arkadesnowboarding.com info@arkadesnowboarding.com Facebook.com/arkadesnowboarding Twitter.com/arkadesnow Instagram @arkadesnowboarding

[R: SETH HUOT, P: E-STONE L: RETALLIC LODGE, BC]

COVER: BRANDON HAMMID PHOTO: MARKUS ROHRBACHER

COVER STORY

E

mploying the written word to describe a photograph can be difficult, especially when it comes to a cover shot where the photo need not rely on words for its message and story to be conveyed.

However, beyond even what the photo itself has to say, there is almost always a back story to be told; and that is where the written word comes in.

There is a saying something along the lines of ‘sometimes being lucky is better than being good’; but I think it is best when you are both, as in the case of both photographer Markus Rohrbacher and rider Brandon Hammid with this photo. Markus described the setting, “The photo was taken at the first spot on our trip though Russia in Nischni Nowgorod. We didn't know the city at all and didn't have a clue if there would be any good spots at all, but our Russian guide took us to this park which was a rail paradise with an awesome view over the whole city. [This] was one of the last shots I took. My main angle was the rail with an overview of the city in the background. But when I was done with that I just started walking around and looking for more angles.

When Brandon dropped in, I pressed the button.

Only afterwards I saw all the birds in background and I was pretty stoked about the lucky coincidence!”

Brandon was equally as stoked on the outcome, “I never saw this photo till I got an email from Markus that included all of the photos from our Russia trip.

There was a second angle I saw that was just as sick.

It was more of a silhouette with the city and river in the background. Anyways when I ended up seeing the photo for the first time I was stoked. Markus took the photo at the same time that a bunch of birds were flying over, which made a nice addition to the photo.”

Getting the sickest shot doing the toughest trick on the most exotic feature may be what helps elevate snowboarding to new levels, yet it is the “staple” tricks that keep it grounded and real. Hammid knows this, “I'm so grateful [to be on the cover]. I've always wanted to get a cover. I feel like most snow magazine covers are pow shots or gnarly street gaps. I'm stoked that Arkade chose a photo of a downrail. I feel like most kids can relate to a front lip on a rail. Not everything you do on a snowboard needs to be the biggest or the most terrifying.

Sometimes all you need to do is a good lipslide and you're stoked!”

WORDS BY MARK SEGUIN

PHOTO BY MARKUS ROHRBACHER

@ A R B O R SNO WB O AR D S P: Alex Mertz

SCOTT STEVENS

I

think my most memorable moment of the year filming with Capita was our trip to Vermont and Canada. The crew was Cale Zima, Jon stark, Joel Fraser, Mike Rav, Skylar Brent, Brendan Gerard, and I think that was it; the mission was street footage.

It was probably our last opportunity to get any street riding for our parts and it was kind of stressful because the snow was melting and as a rider you can never have enough snow or footy. So the SLC portion of the crew took a red eye and met up with the east coast guys. Extremely exhausted, we end up finding ourselves in Burlington, Vermont. Great city, but the snowboard spots these days are few and far between. Luckily, we have a pretty diverse riding crew and we are all pretty down to jump on most obstacles!

We also have, in my opinion, our secret weapon. Although he’s been killing it for many years so maybe he's no secret, but without further introduction, Brendan Gerard! I come to find out I love snowboarding with him! His energy and style and gnar is exactly why! He's my total opposite but I have lots of respect! So anyway, Brendan finds probably the sketchiest thing I've ever seen in my life, a fifty foot bomb drop to a foot and a half wide concrete pillar; sketchy at best! Cale, Brendan and I scraped a

narrow sliver of snow for a landing. We literally scraped every piece of snow in the vicinity for this landing. So now the fifty foot bomb drop is complete concrete below, except for the concrete pillar. Brendan is fully confident; he is honestly isn't shook one bit.

The next day he finds that getting on the roof is a whole new challenge. He has to wait for an apartment tenant to let him in and then he has to break through a window, walk a three story I-beam just to get a chance to put his life in danger again for the trick! Personally I think everyone was extremely nervous except for Brendan. Not only is the bomb drop crazy but he realizes the pillar is too steep to jump standing up so he decides to sit on the buildings edge and bomb drop from a sitting position! I was not trying to stop him but I had a feeling he could break every bone in his body or possibly die‌ Anyhow he yells to everyone that he is ready, and he pushed off dropped onto the pillar and almost rode away! It was a huge weight off our shoulders to see he could do it. Adrenaline was high and we were all so stoked! However, the law and the building owner were not. After two more attempts I found myself hiding behind our fifteen passenger van and Brendan and a few others received trespassing violations from the cops.

Brendan is actually planning on going back in the future to get it. Bottom line, look out for Gerard the dude has huge balls and is going to do some big things in the future. He will be defending awesome to the fullest!

WORDS BY SCOTT STEVENS

PHOTO BY JOEL FRASER

Scott Stevens in the Uniorm SE shot by Mark Welsh coalheadwear.com @coalheadwear

HISTORY 801

GRIZZYLY GULCH

I

t seems like every year there is a new urban feature around Salt Lake that is "discovered" and seen in almost every video. The spot has a short shelf life, in that either it becomes a bust or every damn trick imaginable gets done. Or both. Backcountry jumps in Utah are a completely different story. There's about a half dozen that come to mind that have been getting sessioned for well over a decade. Classic jumps are few and far between, so it's no wonder that they tend to stand the test of time. But this is also what makes seeing a new backcountry spot so exciting. Looking through some old photos recently, I came up on this gap over Grizzly Gulch that I had nearly forgotten about. To the best of the memory, I don't think I've seen anything shot on this before this session back in 2001 with Mikey LeBlanc and Andrew Crawford. This is surprising because there are about 10x as many snowboarders now on the hunt for anything to film on. And it's located basically in the run out of one of the most popular (and played out) jumping spots in all of Utah snowboarding.

180's both backside and frontside is what went down that day, leaving the list of tricks to be done wide open. It definitely takes at least an average snow year for this to form properly, and some oversized shovels to put in the work.

But it would be great to see this jump brought back to life and give some variety to the video clips coming out of the Utah backcountry.

- MIKEY LEBLANC

WORDS AND PHOTO BY ANDY WRIGHT

I N STO R ES NOW ! !

WWW.CAPiTASNOWBOARDING.COM

CHARACTERS

SEAN K. SULLIVAN WORDS BY DANIEL COCHRANE

PHOTOS BY STEVEN STONE

“I

believe you have to keep hustling if you want to make it. So I always am,” explains Sean Kerrick Sullivan (SKS) as he putters around his garage. It’s an early fall evening in Salt Lake and like everyone else associated with the snow industry SKS is getting ready for the season, ready for the hustle. As a professional photographer Sean has to constantly be on his grind either out getting the shot or making plans to do so. The hustle is part of the draw for Sean who sees photography as a crucial companion to the experience of travel. “To me half the fun is the journey, the travel; but the other half is coming back and relating that journey to someone. Whether that is someone who has been there or someone who has wanted to go their whole lives, just being able to share those stories and relate to those people is so fun. Sharing is such a human thing, and photography is just an extension of that, a way to capture and share those moments. Snowboarding and being in the mountains is my favorite thing on earth, every time you go out you come back with stories.”

For SKS sharing those moments in earnest began years ago at the age of nineteen when a late season knee injury took him out of commission. After surgery Sean still wanted to be on snow, and that is where the camera came into play. “I had toted the camera around the mountain a little bit, but my primary focus was always on shredding. When the knee happened I was stuck with nothing to do and I got a ride up to the park just to hang out. Luckily it was late season spring weather and I was able to hang, BBQ, and chill comfortably. That first day I realized I should have brought my camera. The next day I did, and the next day and the next. From there on out it just became that thing where if we went to a spot or whatever and it was too wild for me I’d just shoot photos. It was a way for me to be there and enjoy myself.”

Just like the countless kids who come to SLC with dreams of pushing their snowboarding Sean found himself moving to Utah to pursue dreams of making it as a photographer. “I just wanted to ride as much as possible and shoot as much as possible. I always looked up to the FODT crew, and Love/Hate was also one of my favorite movies at the time. I just thought, wow so many of those guys either lived in Salt Lake or spent most of their winter here, there’s gotta be a reason, in all my travels I had never even went riding in Utah. That’s where everyone was so I just decided to go and give it a shot.” With a few years under his belt now in the Salt Lake scene Sean still cringes when I ask him about “making it.” “I don’t feel like I’m

anywhere near that yet, but I do remember towards the end of my first season in Utah when Bob (Plumb) approached me about using one of my shots as a two page spread in the Shooting Gallery section of Arkade. I had some random photos published here and there in the years leading up to this, which was cool, but never anything like this. When that photo got published in there I think Andy Wright had the cover on the mag, E-Stone, Rob Mathis, and Bob Plumb had pics in there too. I was just like holy crap this is so sick.”

Even with that quick recognition Sean realized he had a long way to go before calling himself a success and that's where it all comes back to hustling and work ethic. Just as there are dozens of hopefuls riding the streets and mountains of Salt Lake there are many young photographers documenting it with each one trying to get a piece of the pie. Sean recognizes this but doesn't use the competition as any excuse, “It’s not like it is me vs. all these other photographers. It’s me vs. how productive I can be in a season and how I can try to make sure I am in the right place at the right time. Whether that is a last minute road trip or staying up on the mountain hoping you can get a sunset shot even though you want to leave. Other photographers should only push you to want to be better, and to work harder. I have good relationships with guys like E-Stone, Ryan “Huggy” Hughes, Darcy Bacha, and Kyle Beckman, and we share knowledge because it helps us progress. There is so much value in sharing your knowledge with other photographers, and straight up taking notes if they do the same.” Ultimately for Sean it just comes down to desire and drive to succeed. “Whether it’s a rider, photographer, videographer, or even just a human, you can see it in their eyes when someone wants something AND they enjoy doing it at the same time. It just comes out; they don't even have to say it because it is just obvious.” To Sean and others of that ilk that is what makes the hustle so worth it, and that is why they keep on the grind. “The more you think you know the less you know.

Have an open mind, eyes, and ears. Put your time in. I have a long way to go to become the photographer I want to be. Currently I am nothing. I haven’t even made a dent in the world. You have to put your time into anything. If you think you’ve put enough in you haven’t. You can’t let anything stop you if you love something and you want something, never stop.”

Sean would like to give a special thanks to all the people that have been there along the way; The whole FODT familia, especially Cole Taylor, E-Stone, and Dylan Thompson thanks for believing in me and bringing me out; the Absinthe posse, Shane, Bode, Cale, Cocard you guys fucking rule; everyone at Volcom, The Warp Wave boys and all the Tahoe kids, Snowshoe Thompson, Messier, Scwoobat Curtis Woodman, yeeeeeew!, the entire Celtek Clan for sure, Bjorn, Bittner, Grenier, Simon, and the Davester, you guys are rad. I want to thank Snowboarder Mag big time, Snowboard mag, and all the photogs and filmers out there for keeping me inspired, and all the people who love snowboarding for keeping me busy.

P.BIRK

SMOKINSNOWBOARDS.COM

WILL BATE MAN P.BECKMANN

PHOTO: MARK WELSH

AUSTIN SMITH

See Austin’s Ninja moves in Discover the Airblaster + Poler Merino Ninja Suit at www.myairblaster.com

ORIGINS

WRITTEN BY JOSH RUGGLES PHOTOS B Y MATT FINELLI

S

tarting a brand means research. It means demographics, analytics, and a slue of other highbrow terms. Forget about passion. It’s about the numbers, and something called trend analysis, right?

Not to everyone.

Rounding the corner toward a decade in business, Ashbury eyewear has created a cult-like following in the snowboard industry by doing less of what everyone else has already done. Some love them, others can’t figure out the hype—and just like any cult classic, it’s difficult to describe what makes them so good—they just feel right. But their abilities can’t be denied, and they’re doing things on their terms.

Co-founders Nima Jalali, and brothers Mike and Lance Stakker started making goggles because everyone else was failing to meet their needs, and they wanted to do it better. "I initially had eyewear in mind. I didn't see anyone in that category that was doing what we wanted, so we decided goggles were a perfect fit," says Nima. Even before Ashbury was a concept and eyewear was their product, they had always intended to build a brand. After many discussions on the topic, it took a blown out knee to pull the words from the air and put them in motion. “We had always talked about starting something--then I got hurt. You can't really do much when you hurt your ACL," says Nima. "I think it really started, when I was talking with Lance, and said, 'I'm serious, let''s do this. It's time to get this going.' And so we just went for it." Soon after, Mike and Lance left their jobs, moved to LA, and Ashbury started taking shape.

With their sights fixed on the goggle industry, they started defining who they were as a company—starting with the name. Ashbury didn’t come from focus group results, but from a famous bay area street. "Nima’s girlfriend at the time had a book on San Francisco and Haight and Ashbury. She suggested Ashbury, and we thought that sounded cool," tells Lance. "We mulled it over for a few days and threw around a bunch of other names. But we just kept going back to Ashbury. It just felt right."

Just as the development of their name came organically, their original word mark came from their tastes in music. "The first logo was the 60's font with the Lennon glasses over it. There is a Beatles album cover with the same font, I took it and made a couple changes to it, and we liked it," Mike notes. Even though the original logo is still in use, and can be found stamped on kids’ domes anywhere snow touches down—Ashbury dropped an alternate logo not long ago, and it stands as testament to the

idea of less is more. "As we developed the brand we started doing a lot of psychedelic stuff, and we used the all-seeing eye in a lot of our art. So, I did a bunch of different variations,” he says. “We decided to do the triangle with the eye, I did the triangle circle at the same time, and I really liked it so we eventually went with that later on."

When they started on the first product drafts, the flashy frames, and glittery bands were out of the question. They opted for a different direction of goggle design. One of subtle lines, earthy tones, and a refusal to follow suit with what others were doing. Ashbury is a brand that refuses to compromise their beliefs for sales or market share. While the industry is continually over-saturated with the newest technology, color ways, and patterns—Nima, Mike, and Lance could care less about the current hype. They stay true to what they set out to do, and they make what they want to wear, period. "I mean, everything we make is something that we can stand behind. If it isn’t something that we are all into, and would wear, we won’t do it,” Nima states.

As Ashbury started shifting from sketches, and concepts to tangible products, they started enlisting some of the most talented riders in the business. In most cases, it was as easy as making a phone call, explains Nima. “Getting our team just happened for us. I mean, LNP was only on a rep sponsorship with Dragon, and he was already one of the best snowboarders in the world,” he notes. “It was crazy. When we called him up, he just said he needed to call his rep, and let him know that he’s doing something else. I don’t think any of our team had to really leave a major sponsor to ride for us.” While most goggle brands didn’t really have an interest in hiring dudes that don’t wear goggles, Nima mentions that he saw talented dudes, who had the right outlook on snowboarding, and no goggle sponsors. “For us, it was about getting the right guys in place, instead of getting ‘that guy’ for each specific area. We were never like, ‘we need a hip-hop guy, or we need this rock-and-roll guy.’ It was just a crazy crew of dudes that we're already there, and we just brought them together, and it just made sense,” he says.

To be inducted into the ranks of Ashbury, it’s less about the snowboard stats someone has, but what kind of person they are, and what they add to snowboarding. “We wanted a team who we could get a long with, and most importantly a bunch of dudes who were interesting outside of just snowboarding,” says Lance. “Just cool people who made sense with what we were trying to do.” As a result, Ashbury has one of the strongest

[LANCE HAKKER, NIMA JALALI, MIKE HAKKER]

[KEVIN “SPANKY” LONG]

teams assembled, and have created a culture behind their brand that would have most brand managers celebrating themselves to a stupor. But Ashbury was never meant for just snow. “Sunglasses were always in the plan from the get-go. It just took a little longer to get them going than with the goggles,” Nima states. “We just wanted to wait until we had the goggles on lock before we moved onto glasses, so we could do it right.” In doing so, Ashbury has created followings in both the skate and snow world, and they are currently setting their aim on their first storefront. As part of their new headquarters in downtown LA, they are taking their time, and per the norm—letting it happen organically. “We’re probably going to call it Ashbury Emporium, and we’ll carry all of our stuff, as well as brands that we support or think are cool,” explains Nima. “We have always wanted to have a storefront, so were pretty excited to get it going. It’s a good way for us to show people what we’re about.”

- NIMA JALALI

Now in their seventh year, the dudes at Ashbury have done what crowds of other start-ups can only hope for. Their first year was at the height of the recession, and action industries, including snowboarding were sent reeling from sales bottoming out, leaving most people in the fetal position, scared to make a wrong move. Meanwhile, Nima, Mike and Lance were tuning them out, taking their time—and making it happen. As Lance mentions, “For a long time, even before I started Ashbury, I had a saying that I’d use for myself or other people who are considering taking a leap of faith and a risk on a new venture, and that’s, ‘the worst that can happen is that you completely and utterly fail,’ and if you accept that, then boom. Do what you want. Figure it out. Have some fun.”

LITTLE LABELS

SPRING BREAK SNOWBOARDS

T

[COREY SMITH, KHARMA VELLA, BEN RICE]

o define Spring Break Snowboards in traditional terms you would obviously label them a “company” or possibly the more hip term “brand”. However Spring Break is anything but traditional, and in fact it might be better to think of them more as a movement than any other sort of normal industry categorization. Spring Break is a throwback to the surfing slashing roots of snowboarding but also simultaneously a bold leap forward from the confines that modern snowboarding has imposed upon itself.

- COREY SMITH

“I started Spring Break as a fictional snowboard company and art project so I could have unlimited creative freedom with board design. This was at the height of twin popsicle stick snowboard design and I felt that something needed to change” says Corey Smith, the visionary behind the concept. Over the past four years Corey has made boards pretty much anywhere he was able. Garages, parking lots and living rooms from Southern California to Tahoe have all been enlisted at one time or another as makeshift workspaces, but in July of this year Spring Break found a formal home with a new workshop in Portland, Oregon.

The first Spring Break model, a black and white stripped reverse camber/reverse side cut board dubbed “The Beetlejuice” set the tone early for Corey’s vision. Since then he has created boards with a wide variety of shapes and details from coffins to swallow tails. For Corey it is this unique approach that defines Spring Break “Spring Break is and always will be an experimental project. Yes we offer some limited edition product for people supporting our cause, but our main focus and vision is to create the most unique powder shapes and artistic snowboard artifacts in the world. Our goal is to elevate and promote snowboarding as an art form and physical expression of creativity.”

WORDS BY DANIEL COCHRANE PHOTO BY KEALAN SHILLING

.

THE GRAPHIC STORY

RYAN BESCH I

n some ways, it feels like the world of snowboarding is in a state of flux. Each new year brings bigger or better tricks, new or reinvented spots, new camber profiles and board shapes… the list goes on. However, with as much change that happens year to year, there are something parts of snowboarding that never really change; the anticipation of first snowfall and resorts opening, the stoked look of someone stomping a trick they have been trying to bag, high fives and bro-hugs after a knee deep pow run, hearing you-shoulda-been-here-yesterday stories on the lift, and if we are being honest, this topic could fill the page. There are, however, several constants that are paramount in snowboarding: creativity, style and art.

First of all, snowboarding would not exist without creativity, it would be boring without individual style and art essentially spans the entire galaxy of snowboarding; from cover shots to base graphics, art is about as close to all-encompassing as it gets in snowboarding.

Nitro Snowboards fully embraces the impact that art has in snowboarding, and the graphics on their 14/15 snowboard lineup reflect that. This year’s Cinema is definitely one of their best graphics in recent years. Buffalo, New York artist Ryan Besch is the mastermind behind the art. His influences are, in a nutshell, punk rock. He describes them fondly, “I got into art through reading underground comics, digging through my uncle’s LPs and looking through back pages of

Thrasher. Jim Philips’ Screaming Hand illustration for Santa Cruz and the cover to The Rolling Stones Some Girls LP are some of the earliest images that I remember having an impact on me.” Besch appreciates the canvas that snowboards provide for his art, “Snowboards are great because of the oversized format and the freedom to incorporate more of my own personality into the art, as long as it doesn’t clash with the company’s brand.”

From a distance, the Cinema is eye catching. The choice of colors complements each different character flawlessly. Each of the five boards in the series conveys a provocative and nostalgic message at first glance. Upon closer review, it becomes apparent that the details are truly what make this graphic memorable. Besch had a clear direction he wanted to go with the art, “I was aiming for the vibe of going to the porn theaters or peepshows of Times Square in the late 70’s or the aesthetics of the old XXX marquees. I love mining the look of that stuff in my work, I think it’s great”. After some tweaking, the final product captures the combination of grit and allure well; from old school marquee lights on the base, to the subtle inclusions of prosthetic limbs and the intricately detailed tattoo work on the girls.

This is one of those boards that, sometime down the road, will be sought after by collectors who appreciate a memorable piece of art that happens to double as a classic snowboard graphic.

WORDS BY MARK SEGUIN

IMAGES COURTESY OF NITRO SNOWBOARDS

THIS IS THE NEW SH!T

Flux

TT $189 Flux-bindings.com

Thirty-Two

Team Two (Scott Stevens) $280 thirty-two.com

L1 Outerwear Five-Panel $25 L1outerwear.com

I.N.I Cooperative Mellow Marsh $219.99 Inicooperative.com

Dakine

DLX Cargo Pack 55L $110 Dakine.com

Ride Snowboards Buck Up $550 Ridesnowboards.com

Electric

EG3 $220 Electriccalifornia.com

Howl Outdoor Technology The Big Turtle Shell $229.95 Outdoortechnolgy.com

Keegan Mitt $79 Howlsupply.com

AFTERLIFE

ERIK LEINES INTERVIEW BY JOSEPH SHANER

Sometimes you give your all to this cold sport only to bomb out in obscurity and find yourself drinking store-bought rum in the Jackalope bathroom.

Sometimes the fight for longevity in this industry leads you in a different direction—one with far less shame and/or vomit.

Since sidelining his board, Erik Leines has been pouring his efforts into Celtek, and alongside cofounder/older brother Bjorn, he’s been quietly building a finger warming empire. Blending art and design with Star Trek tech, their products have come a long way since the early iterations found on the racks at Milosport.

The mission, however, remains the same: inspire creativity, express individuality, and ride every chance you get.

After a solid decade ripping lines on behalf of Volcom, Nixon, Vans, and the like, Erik gave up the trade trips to Japan in search of shred for trips to Japan in search of manufacturers. Here’s what the mitten kingpin had to say about it.

Let’s start with some basics. Celtek’s been around since 2003, how were you balancing it with your pro career?

It was definitely just a hobby. Back then Celtek was basically out of my basement at the bottom of Little Cottonwood Canyon. Milo was our first dealer along with a few others in the US, we had 3 styles and the gloves were pretty bad [laughs]. But Milo and those guys backed us because they liked Bjorn and I. So we would do as much as we could at night, and we'd go to SIA and show up at the trade shows, but we weren’t full time with it. And 2003 is right when I started hitting my stride, producing video parts, getting coverage, going to the X Games—making a solid run. So Celtek stayed in that stage from 2003-2009.

Then what?

The last movie I filmed for was My Own Two Feet in 2008. And at that point I probably could have transitioned into that full backcountry mode; I’d had some really great trips with Forrest Shearer that year. But I wasn't totally gravitating towards it, y’know? It was fun for sure, but I thought, “I really want to do this Celtek thing. We have something really cool going on, and I want to switch gears.” So I made a decision not to continue to pursue it. I was just kind of ready. Scaling those ridges in the middle of nowhere, it's pretty freakin’ scary [laughs]. Some people are really cut out for the super mountaineering crap…Bjorn’s totally comfortable out there, and I'm just looking at the valley floor thinking I'm gonna fall off this thing.

So that’s it? Clean switch?

Not exactly. January 2009 was the last month I got a paycheck as a pro rider, and at that point we were shoveling money into Celtek. What I was making from snowboarding and what Bjorn was making was going into a big negative hole. I hadn't ever been paid from Celtek starting in 2003, now we're in 2009 and it's super expensive to have a company [laughs].

My wife was pregnant and was due with our first kid in May, but saw that Celtek needed additional help, quit her job, and was basically filling in working there for free. Two or three houses, a kid on the way, and no income, it was pretty classic.

F*ck.

Yeah, 2009 was real. House on the line, everything in the company. It was literally like Vegas, everything on black. I was betting the farm, and I had

to be ready to fail. To make extra money I did a little snowboard school that winter. I called it Mule’s Boarding School. I was doing Celtek Monday-Friday and on Saturday and Sunday I’d have Sam Taxwood who was 14-years old and Griffin Siebert who was 14-years old show up at my house at 6 a.m. I’d take them to handrails in SLC and make jumps in Grizzly Gulch and we’d cover things like why a photo editor would choose to put your photo in a magazine over somebody else’s. It was really cool to work with them for a few months and see their video parts come out, but at the end of the day I was just trying to piece together my financial situation. But we basically bridged the gap. We started to make a little bit of money in May of 2009 at Celtek, and it was enough, y’know?

That was kind of the mentality. It was like, okay this isn’t working out perfect yet, but let's make it happen and here we are in 2014. It's been super challenging, but… Celtek is doing great. Our sales are growing every year, we're sold in 24 countries going into this season. We got kids in Russia wearing Celtek. It's freakin’ sick.

Has Bjorn’s role changed since you decided to make Celtek your primary focus?

Bjorn’s on our Board of Directors. His title is basically Vice President, and then he’s kind of in charge of content and team relationships—talking to all the team riders and making sure they’re all dialed. He's really involved with the team, which is cool because I'm in the office. He may not know that an invoice didn't get out to a dealer yesterday, that's not what his brain is thinking about. But with Nothing To Prove…Bjorn took that thing by the horns. It wouldn't have happened without him at the helm of it. It's sick that he's in the field.

How did your experience as a rider shape the way you guys decided to set up and manage the Celtek Team?

You see companies that want management making the decisions and that's the way they think it should be. But when it came to Celtek we decided to immediately integrate our team like Nixon. When I got asked to be on the Nixon team by Dave Downing, Nixon was just an idea—they didn’t have a product, they didn’t have an image. It was really educational to work with those guys from phase one of their brand. You probably think of them as a product driven rather than team driven, but the reality is they’re really structured about having meetings with their team frequently and going through the design cycles with their team and making sure that what they're doing speaks to the message of their team.

[PHOTO: KYLE BECKMANN]

That was a huge influence on me to make sure we get some pizza and get around a little table at Celtek and go, “What do you guys think? What do you think of this? Is this lame? Or is this cool?” Some of the best ideas we have in our line are from our team or artists. It's mission critical in my opinion to have the team at the epicenter of what we do.

Is Nixon what got you interested in product design?

You know if I think back to it was probably 2000 or 2001. I wasn't even 19 and I was already in my notebook sketching it out. What kind of product could I make, y’know? What kind of brand could I make? I'd see guys like Peter Line filming his Mack Dawg part, but then he was literally sitting at his computer at night designing Foursquare outerwear while we were in Sweden.

You know as a pro rider you’re always on the chopping block. And of course you're working as hard as you can to produce your content, your video part, your next contest result to make sure that you're hitting the requirements with your sponsors to not get a pay cut or to get more money, but the reality is that day is gonna come. I knew snowboarding as a paycheck would have an expiration date at some point. But I had made the decision that I wanted to be in this industry for life.

I had that passion with products and I could see people wanted my input. With Vans I was working with them on developing a boot called the Hi-Standard and I would work with all the designers to make the tweaks, and then we'd see it sell and see what did well and what didn’t. Bjorn and I rode for Volcom before they had an outerwear program, they just had t-shirts and shorts and windbreakers. They were like, "Hey guys, we want to develop technical snowboard outerwear, and we want you to help us launch it." So really from the absolute first catalog of Volcom snowboarding Bjorn and I were there developing those first pieces.

Is it hard being office bound and focusing on the business while Bjorn continues to ride?

I think if we hadn’t been as strategic form the beginning it would have been a lot harder. I got a lot of satisfaction from riding as a professional. I got to fly all over the world and snowboard at all these crazy places and other people paid for it. I went to Sweden when I was 17, I went to Chamonix when I was 15, and I'm travelling the world with no parents at such a young age. But I feel like just having gotten out there, and done all those fun trips I don’t now sit here when I see my friends shredding Baldface thinking, "God those guys suck. I'm so bummed I have to go do my job today." And I definitely don't look at my brother that way. I get stoked for him.

It was difficult to learn how to create a business and try and make that into actual real money for my family, but I’m getting that satisfaction running Celtek that I got getting a shot in a magazine in years past. That sounds kind of crazy, but there's a lot of truth to it because this is really rewarding. The things I get stoked during the day have just changed. I'm in a position where I love what I do and that’s what’s so cool about this. I also bike to Trestles everyday to surf before I come into the office…that’s how I’m gettin’ it.

Not totally handcuffed to your desk, then? What’s a typical day like?

I like to get up pretty early just so I can get that fun in…We'll bike down around 5:30 a.m. and go surf for maybe an hour and a half. I like to get in the office as close to 8 as possible. I’ll work with our sales reps. We have 12 of the best sales reps throughout the US and Canada, and we have other distributors in 20+ other countries so I'll check in with those guys see if they need anything.

I hit the email pretty hard…My typical day is just a ton of email, it's a lot of phone calls. That's pretty much it.

Sometimes I’ll surf again at lunch. We're only 10 minutes from the closest surf spot so that’s super easy. And you know we have the mini ramp so we may take a skate break. I'm usually minimum 10 hours in the office, and these days more like 12. I would go nuts, if I lived here at the ocean and just came to work every day, I'd frickin’ [pauses] it uh [pauses] it wouldn't be good. Doing something is definitely something that I'm always going to be doing. Right?

Does that mean you’ll be making a cameo in the upcoming Celtek flick?

I do have one shot in Nothing To Prove so my name’s on it [laughs], which is kind of funny. They use like one whole line of text on y’know, “also in the movie: Erik Leines,” and I have one shot. But in our new movie, it's a different format and Baldface Lodge is sponsoring it and so you know I'ma be up on that trip, you know I'm gonna be at Baldface. So I'm already slating myself into the next one.

[PHOTO: ROB MATHIS]

Totally. Any shout outs? Who’s helped you guys most in getting here?

Dave Doman. Bjorn and I stated working with Dave in the third year. I really wanted the brand to be art driven and we'd seen a bunch of Dave's work on the Technine stuff. We hit him up to do a logo and it just turned into so much more.

He's definitely been a huge influence on Celtek, big shout out to Doman, he's @thedavestersfk on Instagram. Our Japanese distributor, Shige. He helped us so much the first few years with manufacturing, and 10 years later he's selling Celtek in Japan. David Carter helped us take the company to the next level and got a lot of the bugs out. Richard Woolcott of Volcom and Jason Steris of Volcom, those guys gave me a lot of guidance. Dave Downing, Chad DiNenna, and Andy Laats from Nixon. Skullcandy-Stance squad who we currently share offices with: Rick Alden, Jeff Kearl, John Wilson. Bjorn, my other brother Torsten, the parents, the wifey, father-in-law Bill, all the family.

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GRADY SKELTON

HENNING INTERVIEW BY DANIEL COCHRANE PHOTOS BY ROB MATHIS & GRADY SKELTON

These days you may say Ozzy Henning is living the dream, but only three shorts years ago dreams were all he had. Virtually unknown a few seasons ago outside the Park City area Ozzy has come a long way in just a few years. We sat down with him to discuss his path from local unknown to iRideParkCity edits and eventually to his emergence as a full on riding sensation. What made the difference? Was it hard work, luck, friends, the Internet, or a healthy dose of all four? Come with us now as Ozzy discusses all of these factors as well as his role in the new Rome video series and Absinth’s Heavy Mental. Not bad subject matter for a kid no one knew about three years ago.

Arkade: In 2011 I joined a Facebook group “Why isn’t Ozzy sponsored yet?” and here we are only three years later not only do you have sponsorship on every level but you are in a major film, Absinthe’s Heavy Mental, and featured in the first installment of the Rome series “In search of …” Obviously a lot has happened in the last three seasons.

Ozzy: Yeah, it was definitely a crazy three years. Slow at some points and then everything hits at once. Then it will slow down again only to get crazy again you know.

Arkade: How did it go from making local park edits to Absinthe movie/trip to Kazakhstan in just a few seasons?

Ozzy: Honestly I don’t even know 100% how it all happened. I just think most of it was Theo making me look good even when I wasn’t doing that sick of shit. A lot of people were interested so I think once Rome saw that there were so many people down for me and I was already on their product it became easy for them. I don’t even know if that was really the case but I damn sure know it wasn’t all my riding it was more Theo’s camera work.

Arkade: Well for the few people that may not know can you tell us whom this Theo is that you are speaking of.

Ozzy: Theo Muse or Theo Sir Lancelot Waterhouse Muse was once an instructor at Park City and that is how we met. He is from New Mexico and he came here really trying to do the snowboarding thing too. Like he would hit King’s Crown throwing front sevens on the big jump, but one season he broke his arm opening week and after that he was like “fuck this” and bought a camera. Then he

bought better cameras and then one year he stayed in this really old shitty house in PC that was infested with mold but he didn’t know it. He stayed in that basement for days watching tutorials on how to edit and learned everything, but also ended up with some kind of mold poisoning as well. Eventually I helped him get a job with Dave Reynolds coaching the Park City Snowboard Team and when Rome came to me about sponsorship they asked about who had been making my edits as well. So it was kind of like me and Theo joined Rome at the same time.

Arkade: That must help a ton having someone you’re already close with start that journey with you.

Ozzy: Dude it was next level. It was like instead waking up in PC and going to film we were in Denver with a rental ruck meeting Jonah Owen all these new people and filming for the Rome Twelve month project, but still with my homie.

Arkade: Did you just ever look at each other and be like WTF how is this happening?

Ozzy: I do all the time but Theo plays it off like it is no big deal. I’m always just blown away though. Theo and me work out so well. He can just tell me I could probably get something cleaner or bigger or I can tell him to try another angle and we don’t really get bummed on each other’s criticisms you know.

Arkade: Since you both came up together do you ever catch each other fanning out on people you grew up watching in videos?

Ozzy: Well I met a lot of those dudes during the “The Shred Remains” premiere in Park City because I was just getting involved with Rome at that point. I kind of fanned out then but we all clicked right away so after that it was more like a homie scenario you know. I still think about that a bit because I look up to those guys, like I watch LNP’s part in No Correct Way all the time. Same with Scott Arnold you know he was my favorite snowboarder when I first saw Lame because he was skating in the intro of his part, and I’m a skateboarder and a snowboarder. Now he’s in PC and we hang out all the time. It’s sick! It’s funny how that works.

Arkade: That Scotty, he’s a rascal.

Ozzy: Yeah he is a rascal.

Arkade: Have you had people come up to you yet and be like “oh man you’re Ozzy Henning” and all of that commotion?

Ozzy: Yeah. It is weird you know where some random person comes up and is like “oh man iRideParkCity edits” or they just start asking about Twelve Month Project you know. People you don’t even know and they start talking to you like you’re best friends from way back.

Arkade: Is that something that makes you more aware of yourself in public even at this early stage in your career?

Ozzy: I’m not necessarily on my toes all the time but I do try to be cool to everyone at the skate park or whatever you know. Except little scooter kids, I’ll be harsh to them sometimes. Just be a rad dude and everyone else should be rad back you know what I mean?

Arkade: For sure. So now that you’ve been “discovered” and all that are there any nerves going into this season especially with the movie parts, and pressures that come from expectations?

Ozzy: I’m more anxious than nervous. I just want to get back out there you know. Especially when you think you did pretty well, but then you get to the end of the season and you are seeing everything you did and you’re like “ok next year is going to be much better.

I got to go a lot harder”.

Arkade: What went as expected and what surprised you when filming this season?

Ozzy: What you expect is the good times, building features, and hitting them but what you don’t expect is what actually ends up happening. You kind of go into it like “oh yeah I want to try this on this” but on the trip it never happens the way you envision it. That is what’s so funny about it. You just end up hitting features you never thought of.

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ROB MATHIS

Arkade: Let’s start with Absinthe. What trips were you able to take with the Absinthe crew this season?

Ozzy: Pretty much just one trip to Minnesota, but Shane (Charlebois) is in SLC so we met up a bunch here and there. I went out with Bode a good bit.

He was nice enough to let me tag along, and then I did some filming with Scott Arnold too. I tried to get on more Absinthe trips but after breaking my arm in Kazakhstan it was hard. By then they were all in the backcountry and I didn’t know if I’d be able to ride a sled or help build a jump. I probably could have but at that point I’d have probably been more of a hassle than help. Plus I’m not good at it to begin with because I never do backcountry. So even 100% I’d feel like I was holding them back you know.

Arkade: So is that a goal for this upcoming season?

Ozzy: Yeah. That was the goal last season but my arm kind of put me in a position where I didn’t want to hold the crew back. My goal this year is to get as much backcountry in as possible.

Arkade: What about the Rome trip to Kazakhstan? There cant be too many people out there with “snowboarding in Kazakhstan” stories.

Ozzy: Right?! Kazakhstan was one to not even try to think about pre-planning. You just really tried to learn things about the country not even involving snowboarding. Just their lifestyle and how they do things just so you can kind of go into with an idea of how to blend in if that makes any sense. That was the one thing about the trip to Kazakhstan: snowboarding was definitely the main goal but it was also just making sure the experience was one of the best we could do.

Arkade: Was that your first time over seas?

Ozzy: No. I’ve been to Austria and France.

Arkade: Kazakhstan was a bit more cultural shift than those places I assume?

Ozzy: Oh yeah obviously it’s insane. Compared to the “over seas” that most snowboarders do this one was way out there. There was just so much to do just to get on the plane you know. Mail your passport to the embassy in NYC to have them slap a visa on it so they can send it back to you the night before you leave. Just real intense stuff like that before you even get on the plane.

Arkade: So how was the actual snowboarding?

Ozzy: The snowboarding itself was sick it was just kind of hard because, and I don’t know why, but all they do in Kazakhstan is shovel. It would be nuking out and they were still trying to shovel. So we would set features up and they would get all bummed out because they had just shoveled everything we put snow on. Then they have the absolute worst shovels I have ever seen.

The worst.

Arkade: Maybe you could retire there as an artisan shovel maker.

Ozzy: I was thinking that. Like for real some of the shovels we saw would be bent Masonite bolted to a shitty wooden handle. Buying shovels was next level though. They had this huge out door flea market with hundreds of these tiny cubicles just filled with all sorts of power tools. Like they all had the same stuff, but some would have more. So you just walk down this alleyway with dudes trying to hustle you because they see you are interested in their shovels. They are on you like flies you know. It is just crazy.

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Arkade: What about that great cultural divider, the food? I mean that is always a struggle even going to most similar foreign places. I cant imagine in Kazakhstan you were able to run down to the corner McDonalds if need be.

Ozzy: Yeah for sure. It got to that point where you were like “ok where is a McDonalds”. We’d go to the mall and they would have some classic American style food places but we ended up going to some very local places with our two homies we met over there. Like places where we wouldn’t have even been able to read the menu. Some places had English on the menu, but the places that didn’t because they were so local those were super cool. Those were the places where we tried the weirdest food like horse. All in all it is pretty good it is just different.

Arkade: So what is on tap for this upcoming season? I know it’s early but are things starting to fall into place?

Ozzy: Honestly there is nothing to share yet. We are just kind of wrapping up everything from last season and then we will move on to think about this year.

I’d love to film with Absinthe again, go harder and better than last year. I don’t feel like I did as well as I could have even though I am satisfied somewhat with what I got. You never get totally satisfied.

Arkade: Well yeah that is the trick isn’t it? Never being satisfied.

Ozzy: Exactly Arkade: Stay Hungry Ozzy: Exactly Arkade: Were you able to get some time over the summer to just tune out?

Ozzy: Summer time was really fun. Me and my lady ended up renting out a zone in Hood River for a month and just did some hiking, camping, and I shredded Hood one day. Then I came home and went back out for the Merrill Mini Pipe Invitational. Since then I’ve just been home.

Arkade: Resting?

Ozzy: Not even. I’ve been trying to film a skate part with Scotty.

Arkade: See I told you that guy was a rascal! He just has those persuasive skills.

Ozzy: I know! I’ll be trying something and in my head I’ll be like “man there is no way” then Scotty will be like “dude you got this... don’t be a vahgent” and I’m just like “dammit I can’t be a vahgent.”

Arkade: So did you miss the summer shred or was it nice to get the downtime to recharge?

Ozzy: I love it honestly. I wouldn’t be bummed if I “had” to spend all summer up there. I would definitely enjoy it, but it is also good to stop myself and take that break because sometimes you don’t even realize you are burned out even though you are. This year was nice because obviously working there you only get a small bit of ride time, but I went free of worries and stuff. No camper responsibilities and all of that.

Arkade: I think a lot of kids that haven’t experienced camp life think it is

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ROB MATHIS

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just this amazing job, which it is, but it is also one hell of a grind.

Ozzy: Oh man people have no idea. You could do a whole documentary on just that. Day one they are hyped but by session five they are so over it. It is brutal.

Arkade: We talked a bit at Holy Bowly and your back had gone out. Did you get that under control?

Ozzy: Yeah man. That was harsh. I had never had anything like that. Luckily the chiropractor was able to fix me up. I haven’t had any issues since then.

Arkade: Since we are on the subject that Holy Bowly was pretty amazing huh?

Ozzy: Oh man so amazing!

Arkade: I’d like to see more things in snowboarding like that.

Ozzy: I totally agree. Jam sessions with everyone in town. How awesome!

Arkade: You were ripping on that new Gang Plank pretty hard. That board is new from Rome this season correct?

Ozzy: Yeah. It is fun, flat between the feet and reverse on the tips. It is perfect for jibbing, but I am still an Artifact man at heart. I love that positive camber.

Arkade: So when you test out a new board like that are you all about the technology and the materials or are you just like “give to me and let me put it on the snow” kind of guy?

Ozzy: Haha oh man I am such a “just give it to me” kind of guy. I don’t get too techie. I don’t know the names of all the materials I’ll just be like “hey take that orange thing out, or put that bar back in that you took out. I don’t know what it was but I can tell it’s gone.” I definitely just want to get it in hand and shred it. Honestly

ROB MATHIS

I’ll be more into the aesthetics of it than the construction. I don’t want to ride something I don’t like to look at. I just ride it until it breaks and then I need a new one.

Arkade: Well I think we’ve kind of hit everything. Summing up what would be one stand out memory from this past season?

Ozzy: Probably the whole Minnesota trip with Absinthe. It was a three week trip with myself, Bode, Austin Sweetin, Scot Brown, and Johnnie Paxson. Somehow all five of us got clipped up.

Arkade: Was that with Shane?

Ozzy: Yeah and Hostynek was there too.

Arkade: That Hostynek is a class dude.

Ozzy: Yeah he is rad! Obviously Kazakhstan was amazing too, just being able to soak up that experience. If I could choose two things that would be the second choice.

Arkade: Well in many ways that is snowboarding in a nutshell. You get these memories and sometimes they are the actual act of snowboarding like in Minnesota and sometimes it’s just the experiences that snowboarding allows us to enjoy. Like traveling around the world to buy crappy shovels and eat horse.

Ozzy: Exactly. The snowboarding in Minnesota was amazing and just everything about going to Kazakhstan was insane.

Arkade: Well good luck going into this next season and why don’t you tell everyone who finally sponsored you.

Ozzy: Shout out to Rome Snowboards, Dakine outerwear, Smith Optics, Milosport, and DVS. You’re all the shit thank you!!

T

here is a special relationship between a rider and a photographer, and it is this relationship that Rossignol wanted to explore with their inaugural Gnartography Contest. The Park City based company wanted to do more for snowboarding than just the typical “shoot and vote” contest scenario, and with the help of collaborators The-House.com, iRideParkCity, and Arkade Magazine an amazing event was conceived. The idea was to put out the call for photo submissions from crews all over the country, have the public choose three pairs as finalists, and then have the finalists come to Park City, all expenses paid, for three days of shooting and riding at Park City Mountain Resort. At Park City the finalists would preview the upcoming line of 2014 Rossignol product, tour the companies facilities, and then head out to Park City Mountain Resort and “get the shot” to win it all.

The winning team would be highlighted in winter ad campaigns for both Rossignol and The-House.com.

When the dust settled the three pairs of finalists were as follows: Tyler May (r) with Dominic Palarchio (ph) of Michigan, Tony Yimbo (r) with Jared Levine (ph) of Minnesota, and Christian Matilla (r) with Jake Sporn (ph) of New York. All six finalists set out to explore PC in hopes of capturing the winning shot and we went along for the ride. The three days were truly a test of skill for both the riders and photographers as temperatures, lighting, and snow conditions fluctuated wildly. Factor in the limited time frame and the pressure was definitely on. Each pair went their separate ways with an adjoining entourage of filmers, photographers, and industry personnel in tow who helped document the experience.

Being Mid-West and East Coast riders each group initially gravitated towards the world famous iRideParkCity parks. The guys hit it all from King’s Crown and Neff Land to the Merrill Mini Pipe and Three Kings racking up tons of footage. Then each group set out to explore the rest of the resort to find some unique scenery to try and set themselves apart. Constantly alternating between being a tourist taking in the vistas and trying to handle business proved to be a challenge, but ultimately it is what made the experience so amazing for everyone involved.

At the end of the weekend each photographer turned in their footage and the teams headed home. Throughout the summer the footage has been reviewed and digested, sifted and assessed ultimately crowning Minnesota’s Tony Yimbo and Jared Levine the victors of the first Gnartography contest. To view the winning shot check out the winning photo in this issue or head to Gnartography.com. You can also see updates and videos recapping the event as well as information on how you can participate in Gnartography 2 this winter.

Special thanks to everyone involved including Tom at Rossignol, all the guys from The-House.com, Jeremy and the crew at Park City Mountain Resort, Lance at Bazookas for keeping the gear tuned, and Shane “Croshane” Hillyard for helping document the weekend and exchanging Star Wars jokes.

[ Rider: Tony Yimbo - Photographer: Jared Levine ]

[ Rider: Tyler May - Photographer: Dominic Palarchio ]

[ Rider: Christian Mattila - Photographer: Jake Sporn ]

[ Rider: Christian Mattila - Photographer: Jake Sporn ]

[ Photographer: Shane Hillyard ]

[ Rider: Tyler May - Photographer: Dominic Palarchio ]

[ Rider: Tony Yimbo - Photographer: Jared Levine ]

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HOLY BOWLY

[BLAKE PAUL]

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t’s late January and the Arkade crew is in Denver for the annual SIA tradeshow. Emerging from an unnamed booth that was full of alcohol and “entertainment” we stumble around (some more than others) eventually moving through the Mervin booth. I catch a glimpse of Mervin event coordinator and all around badass Krush Kulesza (actually there seems to be three Krush’s in front of me). All three beckon me over with a sly smile, and let me in on the biggest news in the history of Utah Snowboarding events. Krush pulls me over to the side of the LibTech booth. “I don’t want to say anything since we haven’t sent out the official word, but come look over here” Krush says. Tucked away to the side of the booth is one of the rare Jamie Lynn Holy Bowly “cat boards”. He gives me a little head nod and my eyes fall to the tail of the board where there sits a solitary decal: “iRideParkCity”.

Fast forward roughly three months and the preparations at Park City were under way. This is the first time The Holy Bowly was to grace North American shores, and I can think of no better crew to undertake the job of building the monumental course than PC’s Jeremy Cooper and his team.

This year’s build was easily the biggest and best for the event to date, and that is perfect because the invite list of professional riders was just as huge. Having the event in North America meant a lot more riders were able to enjoy this amazing event and enjoy it they did.

Despite rain forecasted on various days Mother Nature favored us each morning with sunny spring conditions. The first few days were spent finding lines and exploring the various trannies, hips, decks, and gaps, but as the event progressed tricks got bigger, combos got harder, and the riding rose to a new level.

It’s important to note that The Holy Bowly was never envisioned as a contest. Instead it is a celebration: a celebration of friends, good times,

expression, and most importantly the culture of snowboarding. It is not about who went biggest, although many went big. It is not about who tossed the most technical trick, although there were many mind blowing tricks being tossed. It is, was, and always will be about having fun, smiling after a run, catching your breath on the chair ride up, and then doing it all again. As an exhausted Ted Borland said to me at the bottom of the course as we went to get another chair up “I just can’t stop.”

The Holy Bowly is about watching legends like Jamie Lynn, Chris Roach, Wes Makepeace, Russell Winfield and Blue Montgomery ride along side the next generation of riders like Shane Wright, Zebbe Landmark, Mike Rav, Mike Wick, and Andrew Aldridge with each group stoking out the other. It’s about post ride parking lot music sessions, and seeing Seth Huot taking his son Mason through the course. It’s about remembering why you strapped in for the first time at the end of a season filled with injuries, long lay overs, crappy weather, deadlines, and everything else that makes you question why you chose to do this as a “job”. It’s about laughing, smiling, and talking shit above the course, but having everyone fall into revered silence to watch Jamie Lynn drop. It’s about Chris Roach Grassers in the same way it’s about Shane Wright laid out backflip tail grabs. It’s about snowboarding, however you choose to do it.

As the event wound down everyone had the same sentiment; that we had all just experienced something special, something that will remain with each of us forever. It was more than an event it was a moment. It was a special point in time that none of us will ever forget, and one in which all of us will be forever indebted to snowboarding for.

An inexpressible amount of thanks go out to Krush Kulesza, LibTech, and Jeremy Cooper at iRideParkCity for allowing the Arkade crew to be part of this amazing event.

WORDS BY DANIEL COCHRANE PHOTO BY ROB MATHIS

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Photo: Tim Zimmerman

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GRACE MAYERNIK

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hile moving out west is not necessarily a pre-requisite to making it in the industry, once the powder bug gets in your system, it is hard to leave places like the Wasatch Range. Thanks to her older sister Amy coaxing her to visit and snowboard in Utah, Grace has found a second home in the Beehive State, and is currently on the come up as another talented, fun loving east coast transplant who makes snowboarding look easier than it actually is; and we are glad to have her here.

From one small town community to another, the Fairfax, Virginia native has made Park City her current home, and is locking herself in as a staple in the local scene.

Riding and filming with crews like Too Hard and Lick the Cat has helped her learn some of the ins and outs of the industry and helped to progress her riding to the level it is at now, and she shows no signs of slowing down.

Name: Grace Mayernik Nick Name: Baby-G, Lil-G Age: 17 Home Mountain: Park City Mountain Resort Years Snowboarding: 4 Your style: I don’t know… I just like snowboarding how I snowboard.

Sponsors: Burton, Milo, Smith Optics Proud of: I guess, just as a whole, where I’m at for my age and all the people I’ve been able to hang out with and the opportunities I’ve had. Being able to hit a few spots with the Too Hard crew and filming with the Lick the Cat guys and having them take me in was cool. Ms. Superpark was pretty cool too. I was really scared since I hadn’t been, but I had a lot of fun. I guess I could have taken it a bit more seriously, but given the circumstances, meaning, it wasn’t really as structured as the guys’ [Superpark]; like not a lot of stuff going on, it

was more just the girls doing our own thing. It was really fun, but I’m looking forward to next year and years to come to really do some cool stuff.

Inspired By: People who ride for themselves and ride how they want, and don’t care what other people think; they just have fun doing it.

Besides Snowboarding: I like to skate, hang out with my dog, and I’m kind of getting into photography; learning how to use film and shooting a lot of lifestyle stuff. I like doing pretty much anything outside.

Goals: I definitely want to film a part this year. Hopefully it will work out that I get to film some stuff with the Knowbuddys when they come out to Salt Lake, but that’s still kind of up in the air.

Define success in the snowboarding industry: Being able to inspire other people to snowboard, just by getting on your board and doing your thing.

WORDS BY MARK SEGUIN AND PHOTO BY BEN GIRARDI

HI THERE

CODY LEE

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n an industry that has its fair share of curmudgeons, and a time when it is almost cool to be jaded, it is refreshing to speak to someone like Cody Lee. Cody’s stoke for snowboarding and generally positive outlook is contagious, even when conveyed via cell phone. The passion he has for boarding is clear; he spends his winters slaying rails, pow and secret spots at Snowbasin, and he has spent a total of eight summers at Mt Hood allowing him to shred year-round, yet a short couple weeks off snow and he is already jonesing to get back to shredding. From hucking himself off a bump at the bottom of an icy Minnesota sledding hill with the neighborhood kids, to winning back to back TransAm contests and hucking himself of insanely huge jumps in Quebec with the likes of Seb Toots, Cody Lee has seen nearly every aspect of snowboarding; and wants to see more.

Name: Cody Lee Nick Name: Cody Lee Age: 23 Home Mountain: Grand Targhee, Wyoming Years Snowboarding: 13 Your style: Calculated Sponsors: DC Snowboarding, Snowbasin Resort, Lucky Slice Pizza, Union Bindings, Crossroads Skate Shop Proud of: I won the Transworld TransAm two years in a row, and that was two of the coolest experiences, and I couldn’t believe I did it twice. That and getting to go to Quebec to try to compete against guys like Seb Toots and Yuki Kadono who were throwing triple corks on the same jump I was hitting. That was a really cool experience. I was definitely stoked to be able to do that.

Inspired By: When you watch people snowboarding and you can tell that they are genuinely having fun. Whether they are falling, or doing something progressive or just riding and having a good time. Like, when they land a trick

they don’t try to act too cool, they actually show that they are happy and stoked. Whether it’s riding with friends or watching movie parts. That is what gets me hyped.

Besides Snowboarding: I like to skate, golf and rock climb. I really enjoyed going to school actually, but I just graduated so I’m probably going to take a year off before I go back.

Goals: I definitely want to film a video part that I’m hyped on and proud to look back on. I really want to film part at Snowbasin. I feel like you could do a whole part there in like the side-country some of the natural features there that no one has really filmed on before.

Define success in the snowboarding industry: Doing what you want to do and not what others want you to do, while being able to get by; like, sticking to your own route while “making it”. Basically doing what you would want to do anyway. Like I would want to ride pow, that’s why I like to ride at ‘Basin and Targhee.

WORDS BY MARK SEGUIN AND PHOTO BY ERIK HOFFMAN

INSTAHAMS

THE LADIES CHELSEA WADELL @WADELLCHELSEA

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