Method Mag Issue 21.2

21.2

A public service announcement from

R E A L

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

We’d planned to run this photo of Max Zebe in the Moon Park feature inside this issue, but he was a bad boy and posted it on his Instagram, so we relegated him to the back of the mag to think about what he’s done. Don’t worry Max, we still like you, and a photo on the back cover of our magazine is still so much sicker than a photo on the internet.

FREE

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A BOOT WITH EVERYTHING YOU NEED SO YOU CAN RIDE IN ANY MOUNTAIN CONDITIONS WORRY-FREE. JUST LIKE ARTHUR.

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A BOOT WITH EVERYTHING YOU NEED SO YOU CAN RIDE IN ANY MOUNTAIN CONDITIONS WORRY-FREE. JUST LIKE ARTHUR.

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For more than 17 years, Bataleon has led the industry in 3D shape technology. We’ve perfected our patented Triple Base Technology™, producing boards with traditional camber and lifted contact points, making snowboarding more enjoyable for all.

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Bataleon.com

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@torlundstrom tweaking the Goliath x Beyond Medals Absolut Park, Austria. Photo: Cyril Müller

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“Ultimate Board Diversity”

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P H OTO :

P E R LY

RIDER:

SEBBE DE BUCK

S P O T:

LA PLAG N E, FRANCE

TRICK:

DOU B LE BACKSI DE RODEO

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P H OTO :

OLI GAG NON

RIDER:

M I K E R AV

S P O T:

M I N N E S O TA , U S A

TRICK:

SH I FTY TO FI RECRACKER

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P H OTO :

BLOTTO

RIDER:

N EI LS SCHACK

S P O T:

M I N N E S O TA , U S A

TRICK:

S H AV I N G

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EDITORIAL

21.2

H

ey folks, welcome to issue 2! You probably won’t know this, but producing the previous issue was a bit more stressful than we would have hoped. Among other things, our talented Art Director actually had Coronavirus and was working with a fever while finalising and exporting the mag. What a machine. I’d hoped that the production of this issue would be a bit simpler, but guess what? It hasn’t been! As I type these words, I’m deep in the English countryside and far away from the mountains. Since arriving here at the end of October, the UK has gone into another lockdown, along with most countries in Europe, including Austria, the country I’m supposed to be returning to in a few days. I’m pretty sure my flight won’t be cancelled, but in these crazy times, you never know what tomorrow will bring. At least that orange lunatic lost the US election. Besides the almost unusably slow internet, being stuck here isn’t the worst prospect. I’m perfectly content to be shut away from the world and sat next to an open fire, but my grandmother keeps distracting me with tea and scones, and this isn’t really the most productive location to try and make a magazine. Anyway, I’m rambling and just talking about myself. I should probably bring things back to snowboarding. Guess who shot the cover of this issue? Me! Ha! I always wanted a Method cover, but I felt it was a bit rude to ask for one before I worked here. Luckily I’m now the editor, so I can do what I want. Well, I still had to get approval from the rest of the Method team, but they gave it, and here we are. Joking aside, I’m seriously psyched. I agonised a bit over the morality of using my own photo as the cover, but I love this magazine and couldn’t be more honoured to have a shot on the front for the first time. Of course, this would have been nice if it had been the total out-the-blue surprise I’d dreamed it would be, but I guess you can’t have it all. With all the internet appliances and electronic mail being used these days, someone probably would have blown the surprise anyway. Oh yeah, I got the back cover too.

Perhaps next I’ll try running for president.

Theo. x

TRY-HARD WRITER: Theo Acworth theo@methodmag.com AUSTRALIAN: Chris McAlpine chriso@methodmag.com MOODY ARTIST: Maciej Przężak @pwee3000 DATA FIEND: Will Radula-Scott will@methodmag.com NORTHERN INTERN: Caitlin Murray caitlin@methodmag.com CONTRIBUTING SOUL STEALERS: Igor Swieczak, Mike Dawsy, Mann See Jain, Alex Roberts, Josh Nisbet, Evan Pierce, Peter Limberg, Patrick Steiner, Perly, Oli Gagnon, Blotto, Chris Burkard, Theo Acworth, Erik Hoffman, Tim Schiphorst, Alex Owen, Ponchikz, Francesco Petardi, Matt Georges, Toni Kerkela, Stephan Jende, Evan Pierce, Ryan Creary, Hannah Bailey, Marco Morandi, Dominic ‘Howzee’ Zimmermann

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This photo is of my friend Benny Urban, it was shot almost exactly a year ago, but we’d just missed the last publication date of the mag for Volume 20, so I’ve been sitting on it since then. I didn’t know for sure that we’d use it as a cover, but I was quietly hopeful, and I’m so stoked to see it become a reality. In this photo you can see Benny jumping over the tube, and his board is going through it. You might have seen this trick before, they call it a hippy jump. I have no idea why. I Googled it and found out that it was apparently invented by Mark Gonzalez, but I couldn’t find anything else about it. To be honest, I didn’t search very hard.

Rider: Benny Urban Photo: Theo Acworth Location: Moon Park

CONTRIBUTING WORD MERCHANTS: Dominic ‘not a vegan nazi’ Wagner, Peter Harvieux, Alex Kirkland, Marco Morandi, David Vladyka BLAME THESE GUYS: Method Media Ltd CEO: Chris McAlpine CTO: Steve Dowle FINANCE DIRECTOR: Steve Dowle ADVERTISING: Chris McAlpine chriso@methodmag.com Skype: chrisomcalpine +46 729 338 556 DISTRIBUTION: Steve Dowle steve@methodmag.com PRINTERS: Buxton Press Palace Road Buxton SK17 6AE United Kingdom

DISTRIBUTION: Spatial Global Ltd Spatial House Willow FarmBusiness Park Castle Donington Derby - DE742TW United Kingdom METHOD MEDIA LTD Method Media Pantiles Chambers 85 High St Royal Tunbridge Wells TN1 1XP England Tel:(+44) (0) 871-218-9978

Copyright 2019 Method Media Ltd. No liability is accepted for the accuracy of the information contained herein, nor are any guarantees given by the magazine. Copyright worldwide of the original material is held by Method Media Ltd and permission must be arsebiscuits obtained for any use, transmission, storage or reproduction.

Opinions expressed in this magazine are not necessarily shared by the publisher. Method Media Ltd assumes no responsibility for the loss or damage of unsolicited material. Thanks for choosing Method Mag. We sure hope you like it!

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We usually give this section to other people, but this time we thought we’d take it for ourselves! Call us self-centred, but it’s damn hard work making a magazine, and we felt like our vibrant-ish personalities needed more of a chance to shine. Next month we’ll put someone here that you actually care about, but for the next few glorious moments, it’s all about us. xoxo Method

* PHOTO: JOSH NISBET

MINI 5 THINGS WITH THE METHOD STAFF.

Theo Acworth - Editor in Chief

Will Radula-Scott - Online Editor

5 jobs you had before working at Method Farmer (tractors are awesome) Iglu builder (not joking) Mystery shopper (went to Harry Potter World, on my own) Chauffeur (arrived late, dropped people at the wrong hotel, then drove off) Voiceover artist (still do this, hire me)

5 jobs you had before working at Method Barman.

Ski technician.

Lawn mower.

Snowboard buyer.

Snowboard team manager.

5 things that are totally overrated Group chats.

Riding switch.

G handshakes.

Wearing beanies over hoodies.

Social media (sorry Will).

5 things you think are awesome The countryside of the British Isles.

Standing sideways and moving forwards.

Pwee 3000.

Good manners.

A nice shirt.

5 things you love about Method The heritage.

I get to put my friends in a magazine.

All of my favourite photographers send me their photos.

It’s the only trick I can do besides a backflip and a 180.

Even if you don’t think my ideas are funny, I still get to publish them.

5 things that are totally overrated TikTok. Skiing.

Harry Potter.

Conspiracy theories.

Supreme.

5 things you think are awesome Snowboarding.

Skateboarding.

Surfing.

Everyone I meet while participating in these activities.

Dogs.

5 things you love about Method Going snowboarding for a living.

Watching snowboarding for a living.

Meeting amazing people from all over the world.

Working from anywhere in the world.

Getting free proddy from awesome brands.

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RIDER

STÅLE SANDBECH PHOTO

FRODE SANDBECH BOARD

STALE CREWZER BINDING

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PHOTO: ALEX ROBERTS

Chris McAlpine - Publisher/CEO

MINI 5 THINGS WITH THE METHOD STAFF.

5 jobs you had before working at Method Dish pig.

Butcher.

Chef.

Picked up golf balls on a golf course.

Editor of Australian & NZ Snowboard mag.

5 things that are totally overrated Social media.

Electric scooters.

Haircuts.

Down jackets.

Influencers.

5 things you think are awesome Snowboarding.

Surfing.

Liverpool FC. Beer.

My Family.

5 things you love about Method Real Snowboarding.

Stoking out kids who love the mag.

Being a part of a rad industry.

Always making new and creative ways to promote snowboarding.

The history.

Pwee 3000 - Art Director 5 jobs you had before working at Method Lucky or doomed to be a freelance designer since finishing art school.

5 things that are totally overrated Internet.

Plastic.

5 things you think are awesome Internet.

Snowboarding/skateboarding/surfing.

Nature.

Aphex Twin.

Blueberries.

Movies.

5 things you love about Method That you can’t kill it.

Watching Chriso watching Liverpool games.

Taking skate breaks while working.

Photoshopping graffiti tags into the background of snowboard photos.

That it Holds Fast & Tweaks Hard.

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@DEELUXEBOOTS —— DEELUXE.COM

BRAND0N COCARD

TEAM FAVORITE

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ID M 12.11.2020 12:07

21.2

* Dimi Shubin @truzt__

* Margot Rozies @missa.art.tattoo

* Niels Schack @niels_schack

* Fabian F Fuchs @thefandfandf

* Will Smith @trillsmithh

*Maciej Jerzy Walenty @pwee3000

S

tickers. We love them, and we know that you love them. And you know that we know that… you… whatever. We haven’t made any new stickers for quite a while, so we reached out to a few of our favourite snowboarding artists and this is what they were nice enough to send back to us. Thanks! You folks are the best.

We’ll pay you in stickers.

These fine illustrations are available as a pack from our webshop, or they can be found in the pockets of our staff as they lurk around the mountains this winter. If you start seeing these stuck in places that they shouldn’t be, don’t blame us. * Elena Könz @jibberleni

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WE DIDN’T SET OUT TO REINVENT THE BINDING— WE SET OUT TO PERFECT IT. Introducing the all-new aluminum A-Series & composite C-Series RIDE binding collections.

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21.2

POSSE PAGE

Interview with Dan Pergrin [The guy on the car] Photo: Evan Pierce Who are the Onlookers?

The original crew was Jamal Awadallah, Alex Kirkland, Brandon Kirkland, Evan Pierce, and myself. The Minnesota natives, Alex and Brandon, have been hitting spots since they were 12 and 14 years old. Evan and I grew up boarding together in Pennsylvania, then moved to the Twin Cities.

With the two of us behind the lens, Onlookers was born.

What’s up with the name?

Onlookers came from all the random people you encounter while you’re out and about filming. It’s also how we feel going around finding spots and filming.

Where is Onlooker HQ and what’s it like there?

It’s jokingly called Onlookers Mansion, it’s in St. Paul, located right in the heart of the Twin Cities, 20 minutes from everything. Evan Pierce and I live here with a couple other people, but it’s definitely the hangout spot. Skate 3 is always on the tv, and it’s an aspiring snowboard museum.

What’s up with your latest movie?

Our latest movie coming out is called Double Vision.

There’s some familiar faces and there’s some new ones.

Boarding from Alex Kirkland, Jamal Awadallah, Brandon Kirkland, Ryan Collins, Calvin Green, Casey Pflipsen, Peter

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Limberg, Gavin Matson, and Jeffy Gabrick.

Standout moment from filming?

Finishing up filming and convincing the whole crew to come back to the Mansion and watch Baker 4. Shoutout Baker 4.

Tell us something we don’t know about The Onlookers.

Our drop-in ramp was the one Mack Dawg Productions would use when they filmed in Minnesota. One of our push shovels was used to film the Videograss movies.

What’s the perfect Sunday for the Onlookers?

Spots all day, Culver’s for dinner, Hyland laps at night.

Best Onlooker technique to avoid being kicked?

There’s no technique, you always get kicked out. Just try to get it done quick, in and out, guerrilla warfare style.

Plans for this season?

Nothing’s ironed out yet, but we’ll definitely be filming every chance we get.

Last words are yours: Stay tuned for the online release of Double Vision on Method Mag soon.

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in contact with Michael Stroudinsky and Lola Bastard through a music festival I helped out with. They said I should come over to London and see what we can do together. From then on I had a carte blanche to improvise, produce and record with people who do this stuff like it’s second nature. I was definitely not at ease at first, but it was great fun to dive into this new producing world.

You released your new EP ‘Blue Kenzo’ this year. To me, it has a real nostalgic feel to it and reminds me of those nice hazy afternoons hanging with my pals in the city back in the day. What inspires your tracks and does each track take inspiration from different things, people or places?

Definitely, I mean I had just moved back to Europe and was kind of in a weird state of constant blues romantically.

While at the same time, I was spending time with close friends that I hadn’t seen in so long. So these ups and downs made it quite an erratic year. However, when it comes to the tracks it was also just the process of trying to find a sound that I felt most comfortable in. All the songs are very different and it was fun to jump around styles and be quite free in a creative sense.

You snowboard, skate, paint, and make music. Do you find all of these things serve each other creatively or do you see them all as separate entities?

I think mostly this arrangement came from being at university. I used to have summer classes, fall classes and then online classes in the winter, so when I graduated I had so much free time. I had to invest in something. So painting has always been around but in a light sort of way, and with all the time I had it just became the thing I do every day. But I think music has just always been the thing I prefer to do cause it has that intimate feeling to it. So whenever, or wherever I lived it’s the way I made friends and spend time with them. I guess the process of doing something makes you meet people that do it too, and then you share things, teach and push each other in a natural way. It’s a nice feeling.

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Interview: Caitlin Murray Photos: Mann See Jain

What has been the general reaction to the music you’ve created. Do you have any plans to take it further?

I’m not really sure. Music, in general, some people fuck with it, while others think nothing of it and move on. I kind of like that idea, there’s a lot of room to try things and make mistakes, while at the same time it’s just a song.

So on that note, I’ve been grounding myself in making a sound that comes from trying things out. Experimenting with ideas and then trusting yourself, and also, more importantly, trusting the people around you. Same with the music videos, it’s just collaboration with people I love and we put an idea together. It’s obvious that there is a lot of DIY but it’s with people that are so committed and talented that they are magical to make. There is so much freedom and space for ideas that it’s a great world to enjoy the process of making something. In the end, it’s just another form of spending time with the people you love.

Was there a particular time when you decided you were going to start making music, or was there a more gradual progression into it?

I guess gradual in its own way. I’ve been playing guitar since I was a kid, and been in all sorts of bands. We had this funky blues/soul one when we were 13, called Milkshakes, which was fun. Then I did a bit of punk rock and metal stuff in that whole Blink era.

It’s only when I moved to Montreal for university that I met a lot more musicians and it started to be more of an everyday thing. We had this hip-hop band called Ojiwawi with 4 other friends and we played improvised shows, mostly to party and spend time together. There was no producing or recording involved though, it was just for fun.

Finally, when I came back to France after all this, I got

Describe your music to us.

A two-scoop pistachio and chocolate ice cream in a waffle cone that has tragically fallen on the floor, while a distant merry go round is playing an Elton John song that only a guy from Sussex on vacation recognizes, humming away the tune to his newly married French wife, and they don’t notice that their tourist boat tour is leaving because he hadn’t changed the timezone of his watch.

Tell us about December 4th.

The new EP is going to be released. A 7 piece collection of songs entitled ‘JADE’

Last words are yours.

This world has room for love and peace. So be kind to people and to yourself.

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It’s not easy travelling on a plant-based diet, each country has its own pros and cons, with some offering better options in a gas station than others do in their restaurants. We reached out to our friend Dominic Wagner for a few tips and tricks to keep you well-fed, no matter where you are in the world.

in Otaru, Hokkaido, called Shin’s Ramen, where you could ask the guy, and he’ll make you vegan ramen. So we went there, and in the bathroom, we found a photo wall covered in photos from our friends. Danimals, The Brown Cinema guys and loads more. I went there pretty much every day to eat dinner.

Countries on a plant-based friendliness scale of 1-10 Finland: 10 USA: 8 Switzerland: 6 Italy: 5 Austria: 3 Japan: 1

Finland They have a vegan burger at McDonald’s.

Supermarket shopping tips.

PLANT-BASED 101

Japan Before I went to Japan, I was checking all of these travel videos about vegan food and found out so much stuff.

For example, some of those little onigiri rice triangles you can get in 7-Eleven are vegan, but they’re the same everywhere. So you might have two stores with the exact same product, and one is vegan but the other isn’t.

Finland Every supermarket in Finland has a bunch of vegan/ vegetarian food, and even vegan candy.

Switzerland Coop supermarkets always have good vegan fast food like spring rolls, salads and other stuff you can eat without cooking or warming up. A good example is the gas station at the roundabout in Laax; they have everything mentioned above and is also the cheapest option compared to the restaurants up there.

I always get myself a rösti in the supermarket or gas station. They need to be heated up, but they’re vacuumsealed and don’t need to be kept in the fridge, so they are always good to bring on a trip.

Austria You can always find potato salad that’s vegan; you just have to check the ingredients to be sure. There’s even some in glass jars from the brand “Felix” that don’t need to be kept in the fridge.

Another good snack you’ll find all over Austria is rice wrapped in wine leaves, and of course all kinds of canned beans. There are also some products from the brand “Alnatura” like vegan ravioli or potato lentil stew, but they are pricy for what they are.

Restaurant tips.

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Japan Japan is one of the most challenging places to eat a plantbased diet. I read one Google review about a ramen place

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USA You will find plenty of restaurants that either are fully plant-based or have plant based options.

Italy You can ask for vegan pasta, pizza and gnocchi almost everywhere.

USA Supermarkets usually offer a large variety of plant-based foods.

Austria Make sure to be very persistent and repeatedly explain what it is that you don’t eat. Ask if there is egg in the pasta or remind them that mozzarella and parmesan are also a form of cheese and you don’t want them on top of your food. Austrians also like to go crazy with cream as a topping or in the food, so be conscious about that.

General tips.

Start cooking and buy a lunch box.

If you’re in a country where you don’t speak the language, have a translated text on your phone that says you don’t eat meat, dairy, fish or animal products in any form.

Get the “Happy Cow” app on your phone; it shows you plant-based restaurants all around the world.

Be prepared to skip dinners with the homies and not eat at the restaurant with them.

Indian food is often a good go-to, as they have lots of vegan options.

Beer can be a lifesaver and keep you going for a little longer if there is no food in sight.

Don’t be picky and be ready to eat plain potatoes, rice and pasta for days.

Oats with peanut butter, jam and fresh fruits are always a good source of energy.

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Interview with Ethan Morgan | Photos: Igor Swieczak In your new movie there’s a group hotbox session in the Gaper-69. Did your dad hotbox with you?

Unfortunately Billy Morgan did not hotbox the van with me. He’s strictly against weed and any kind of drugs. He drinks alcohol though, so beer is fine.

Are you high right now?

Actually no. I’ve been completely sober for about 6 weeks. There’s probably going to be another lockdown so there’s going to be no parties anyway, so I might as well stop with everything and try to feel healthy.

We can see that you rode the Gaper while wearing your boots, did you ride your boots while wearing the Gaper?

Yes. Who would win in a fight, the boots or the Gaper?

They are one and the same, so they would never fight. They’d probably make out or something like that.

How many people can fit inside your Gaper?

I think the maximum was 9 people, including a winch and shovels.

How much did you pay for the number plate? €10. I had no idea a licence plate cost so little in Germany, I was given the option when registering it and my dirty mind had to come up with something as quickly as possible. There was no planning involved with the Gaper 69, it was a 30 second brain meltdown.

Would you recommend wearing these boots during an actual 69?

Most definitely. These boots are very handy for a lot of different situations. In general the boots should be worn at fashion shows, and porn shoots.

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Last words are yours.

Buy the boot, it’s pretty awesome. And it reflects my awesome car.

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2020_Arb

MARIE-FRANCE ROY F T. V E D A S N O W B O A R D B Y + SEQUOIA MARIE-FRANCE ROY EDITION BINDINGS

P : M A R C U S

F I S C H E R

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HOLD FAST, TWEAK HARD

21.2

Triple threat at Hood. Zeb Powell cranking, Dylan Tyrone on the lip, and Dawsy on the trigger.

Photo: Mike Dawsy

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How did you first come into contact with Method?

Alexis de Tarade [Ex Method Editor in Chief and general enigma] knew the Euro scene pretty well and got in touch with me after I did some drawings for the mag, from trip I took was on as a mediocre yet aspiring rider.

COMING CLEAN PWEE3000

Tell us the story behind you getting the job as our Art Director.

So this was way back and all a bit blurry after a couple of concussions but.. one year the previous art director had some personal problems and needed help with the mag, Alexis approached me and asked if I’d ever worked in print and designed anything for publications. I said yes right away, which wasn’t the truth… I was so psyched on snowboarding and Method that I lied to him and told him I was gonna send examples of my work, but I had it on a hard drive that I had stored somewhere else and wouldn’t be able to get my hands on for a week. That pretty much got me 7 days to sharpen up my Indesign skills, I made a few pages of a fake “magazine I worked on with friends for our local scene and we plan to release it next year”. The crew liked and I started to design a few features.

The first year was still overseen by the old art director, and all the final checkouts and export was handled by him. The second year was when I took over mag and I did it solo, so it was a different story *laughs* When Chriso [Current Method Bossman] reads this, it will be the first time he’s heard this story, right?

I think so, yes.

Excellent. How did you feel when you got the first issue that you worked on through the mail?

Waiting on it was a mix of anxiety and random panic attacks. We were chilling in Biarritz a few thousand kilometres from the printers and had no pre prints or proofs etc. But once Chriso came in with the mag in the post, I was only psyched. I always wanted to get a photo of myself snowboarding in the mag, but I managed to get into the mag through the backdoor instead.

What’s the biggest fuck up you’ve been responsible for with the mag?

To be honest nothing major, there were some close calls through the last 5 or 6 volumes, but everything ended up good. So far there is a photo on the front of the mag - always.

How many secret dicks have you photoshopped into images in the mag?

Dicks - zero, but there were a couple of easter eggs here and there.

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Last words are yours: Big thank you to all the people I’ve had the chance to work with through the years on the mag so far, Chriso, Alexis, TAG, Mike, Theo.

You are all legends, and all of this was fun even when designing the last feature 4 in morning and sending to printers at 5.

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JAH HARRIS & PATRICK CAMENZIND [ SNOWPARK L A A X ]

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21.2 * PHOTO: PATRICK STEINER

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rant Giller sent us this photo but he wasn’t 100% stoked on it. He was worried that it looked smaller than it was, because you can’t really see the kicker he’s just hit and it looks like he’s airing off something on the higher slope. Don’t be so hard on yourself Gilz, your style is great and we like the photo, but we decided to improve it for you by filling it with things that you do like. In case you didn’t know, Grant likes kebabs, he likes aeroplanes, and he likes his cat. We don’t know if he likes explosions, sharks and cheerleaders, but he’s American, so he probably does.

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PHOTO: RYAN CREARY

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heep are usually the only occupants of this small piece of land in the hills above Innsbruck, until last winter when a new group of tennants moved in, led by Benny Urban. This interview was conducted during a car journey between Switzerland and Austria.

Photos & Interview: Theo Acworth So Benny, what is the Moon Park?

Since moving to Innsbruck last year I felt that something like this was missing from my life. I just wanted to create a place where my friends and I can have a good time snowboarding away from the masses. Somewhere you can think about tricks, think about features, mainly just a place to play and snowboard creatively.

What was the inspiration for it?

Well, I’d spent two winters in Salt Lake and had the opportunity and privilege to ride the Bone Zone and also sometimes The Spot, so those were definitely a big

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inspiration. It was a perfect start to the winter season, just get the legs going and get into some tricks as early as possible instead of standing in lines on the glaciers just to get a few runs a day. That can be fun sometimes, but it’s just so inaccessible. You have to drive and then take three gondolas and stand in line with a million people while you just want to ride. You would never do that if you just went skating. I mean you still have to drive up to where Moon Park is, but you park your car and walk 5 minutes to the spot, and when you’re there you can just chill.

What’s up with the features, where did you get them made?

We got a connection through Sebi Springeth to a really good welder called Max Vieider who used to work for F-Tech. He knows what he’s doing and really helped us out.

Talk us through the process of finding the land and getting that all sorted out.

I think I got really lucky with that. Me and Alex Tank were

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KAS LEMMENS, SKETCHY SETUP BUT PRECISE RIDING.

driving around looking for a suitable piece of land, we were exploring this semi-private road and all of a sudden we run into someone driving the opposite way, and the road was one way with no way for us to pass. So the guy steps out and starts walking towards us, and we think we’re in trouble, and then he just says ‘Hold up guys, I’m going to pull back so you can pass me’, which was pretty mellow. So I thought I should take advantage of the interaction, and I asked if he knew who owned the land we were on. So he says ‘Well there’s only really two people that it could be.

Hold on, I’ll call someone’. So he calls a guy, and says ‘Yep, that’s him, you want to talk to him?’

Nice!

So I take the phone and talk to the guy very briefly, then a few days later I called him again and gave him a rundown of what we wanted to do. He was pretty overwhelmed, I think, like no idea what I was talking about. So I put together a pdf with photos from the Bone Zone and other videos so he could sort of get an idea about what we were

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going to do. Two weeks go by and I didn’t hear anything from him, so I give him another call, and he said that he thought it looked interesting, but he’d have to talk to a few other people who manage the local area and present the idea before it could be approved. So another two weeks go by, and he calls me and says that we’re good to go! Kind of unbelievable. I thought it would be so much harder and more time consuming to get approval.

I had no idea it happened that easily. Were there any conditions to the use of the land?

The only condition was that it was private use only. I pitched it to him as a private space that only a few of us from Innsbruck would use. So he said that as long as it’s only private and there’s not too many of us at a time, then it’s fine. Just don’t make any commercial use of it, don’t leave trash and take care of the land, basic stuff like that.

I also had to pay a small deposit in order to get the usage between Oct-May, and that was it.

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Did you ever intend it to be something more open to the public, like the Bone Zone?

To be honest, I wasn’t sure where it was headed, we just really wanted a place to hike a few creative features. I also wasn’t really sure what it would take to make it accessible for more people. I knew that making it fully public would mean that it’s going to be an actual job for me - like Ted Borland with the Bonezone - to manage the space, make sure everything is in order, taking responsibility for everyone there, because if something ever happened or someone got hurt then I would be the one who had to deal with it, and that’s not something I wanted straight away. So as of now, it is what it is, just friends and friends of friends.

Moon Park is located in an area highly populated with snowboarders, and it’s very visible from the road. I did hear a few noises that people felt it was sort of an exclusive thing. Anything you want to say about that?

That definitely wasn’t my intention. We just wanted to keep it quiet for the first weeks while we were filming so the first edit would be sort of a surprise. I don’t know if it was, but I hoped it would be. So we were kind of strict at first, and I guess some people got the wrong vibe from that. I’m happy to have an extended group of people there, despite people thinking that it’s only for ‘my’ close friends. If someone is in the area and wants to check it out then just hit me up on Insta and ask, if we’re there then you can come by. I just don’t want people to think that it’s something crazy exclusive that they can never use, because it’s not. In the spring we had a much wider group of riders up there. Michi Schatz [Ed. DON IBK] approached it perfectly. He wrote to me, asked what was up and if he could come and ride. Right from the start, he was there with his shovel, he brought a bbq, it was cool to ride with him.

MARC SWOBODA WORKING WITH THE LANDSCAPE AND THREADING A 50-50 TO FRONTBOARD. MASTER WELDER AND DELIVERYMAN MAX VIEIDER, AND RAFFI KOSSMANN’S HAND.

I heard that during the first weeks, a few people got turned around or something like that?

There was one day that a car came blasting over the dam road - that you’re not obviously not supposed to drive on - and pulled up at the spot. I’d told everyone to never drive over it, or we’ll for sure get kicked out. I wasn’t there, but Max was, with Sebi Springeth and Ethan Morgan, and Max is a pretty straight-up, no-bullshit sort of guy, and I think he exchanged some strong words with them. And I think those guys now hate me because they think that I sent them away because I didn’t like them. That wasn’t my intention. There’s just a right way to approach something and a wrong way.

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DOMINIC WAGNER BREAKING IN HIS NEW BOOTS.

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Sounds like a combination of a few different factors leading to a wrong impression. How would you like people to behave when they do come to ride?

Well first of all, definitely try to reach out to me before showing up. Everyone should also bring a shovel and somehow contribute to the place, like putting a bit of time in to shape when they arrive to make it rideable. Snow has to be moved and features set in place by hand, it’s not a resort. So if you don’t bring a shovel, you can pretty much turn around. I mean if someone built a DIY skate spot there’s no way I would just turn up and say ‘Yo what’s up, can I skate?’ It’s just really frustrating that people can feel like we’re making it some exclusive thing because of that.

Dominic Wagner has just woken up in the back of the car and joins the conversation.

D. I just know how Austrians work. We can be really protective of our scene/spots/region. And along comes this German guy, professional snowboarder everyone thinks he makes loads of money and that he thinks he’s the shit - and then he builds his own park and excludes the whole snowboard scene. At least that’s how I think they see it.

B. But I’m pretty sure that if you would done this in Schladming and you didn’t let everyone shred straight away, then you would have had the exact same reaction. It’s not even about me being German.

D. I know, but you come in from out of town and straight away have your own place. You work your ass off to make it happen, and then people hate on it because they didn’t do it themselves.

B. I’m not trying to be an asshole, but I also didn’t create this place to try and please everybody, we just wanted a place to snowboard. I was really surprised that there wasn’t anything like this in Innsbruck.

HALLDOR HELGASON DOING HALLDOR HELGASON THINGS.

The SANE! guys had something similar with their park in Rinn, but it’s been a couple of years since that was running. If you wanted to, I guess an easy way to criticise Moon Park, and which people have done, is to say that you only got it because you’re sponsored, or because someone else paid for it.

I can speak openly about that. All the steel cost €400, and Max took €500 for the welding. So altogether that’s €900 for a pretty cool set of features. Yes, my sponsors helped out with the costs, but if a crew of 9 people who really want a snowboard park can get together and contribute a hundred euros each, then they can do it.

JOSCHA AICHER RIPS ON SNOW AS WELL AS CONCRETE!

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SIGNATURE STEEZE FROM CHRISTOPH SCHWARZ.

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BENNY, BLUNT ABOVE THE BUILDERS. THEY WERE CLEARLY CONFUSED BY THE RIDING, BUT ALSO STOKED ON IT.

People probably spend that amount on weed and beer every couple of weeks, doesn’t seem like too much of a stretch to put it towards something else. What would your advice be to someone wanting to do something similar to Moon Park?

Just go for it and don’t hold back. I was just experimenting with the whole idea and was slowly feeling it out, and within four weeks we had it set up. If you have ideas about features you like to ride, then spend a day at a hardware store and try to build something, bring it up to the snow and session it. It’s not that hard, but it’s not going to happen if you just wait for someone else to do it.

I think we’re going to see more things like this popping up around here. You’re definitely getting people fired up.

For me that’s cool feedback, to know that this is in some way inspiring people. I think that’s rad.

Last words?

Thanks to anyone involved in the process, especially Max Vieider who helped with the welding and brought up the rails, Sebi Springeth, all the homies who came up and rode, Alex Pfeffer and yourself for shooting and helping out. And Hubert Leitner from Heiminger Forst!

It already turned into something bigger than I thought. I’m not sure what’s going to happen in the future, I just want to keep it alive, add a few more features and see where it goes.

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BENY, TAILGRAB TO FAKIE.

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LAUREN MACCALLUM THE ACCIDENTAL ACTIVIST

I

t’s about time I was asked to write an intro about my friend and partner on powder, Lauren MacCallum.

Lauren really cares about the scene, and has always wanted to progress it be better and more accessible for all, but also to think beyond what we know and see in front of us. Basically, to think big, like the mountains and nature which surround us. Managing POW UK, she’s finally able to empower us all to be active in realising our rights, our opinions, and lead us in the fight against climate change. So listen up! - Hannah Bailey Interview: Theo Acworth Portrait: Hannah Bailey Video Frames: WRKSHRT - Right to Roam & Accidental Activism So Lauren, to start things off, who are you?

I’ve been snowboarding for ten years, I live in Aviemore in the Scottish Highlands, and I’m the general manager of Protect Our Winters UK. I hate to use the word activist, but that’s what I get called.

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Our content doesn’t often deviate from ‘cool snowboarding’, and that’s something that we’d like to try and change a bit. A few people I like talking to have told me that you’re someone I need to talk to.

So, where should we start?

Well, what I can do is help be the translator to the bigger and more systemic issues around climate breakdown and sustainability and that sort of thing. Correct me if I’m wrong, but maybe some of your readership thinks that protecting the environment is a nerdy thing that means wearing Gore Tex and splitboarding? And it totally doesn’t need to be.

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I think there are a lot of snowboarders who understand that this is a serious issue, but for sure there are a lot more who just want to go ride and film and don’t put too much thought into it.

If we’re talking about a subject snowboarders should really care about and get behind, I don’t really see a more suited topic than climate change to match the culture, or sub-culture that is snowboarding. If you want to talk about divesting from big banks and alternative energies, give me another topic that’s more ‘fuck the system’ than climate change. So maybe this can be a small call to arms for the Method readership. Everyone has a part to play, this isn’t some small nerdy thing, mainstream, and everyone should have a voice and an opinion on this because there won’t be snowboarding in 40 or 50 years if we carry on the way that we are.

Not being able to ride street in Helsinki or Oslo probably

isn’t high on most people’s priority list, but I’m pretty sure our audience is seeing what’s going on with climate change and massively inconsistent weather, and are worried.

Street snowboarding already requires an alternative mindset and approach to the world, and that exact

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LAUREN MACCALLUM THE ACCIDENTAL ACTIVIST

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mindset is needed to fix mainstream problems. That’s quite unique. We can use that voice and power and the alternative thinking of our culture to help tackle a global problem. And as much as I like seeing sick stuff down massive rails and kickers, for me, it’s getting boring. If we just take the same crews to the same spots with the same photographers and filmers, where is that evolving?

I just want to see more space created for those alternative stories, those alternative people, those alternative faces. Right to Roam [Ed. 2016 film from Patagonia and WRKSHRT. If you haven’t seen it, go watch it] was something quite fresh, and I know that sounds like I’m up my own arse, and I don’t mean to be, but it was a piece of content that used snowboarding as a medium, but wasn’t really about snowboarding, you know what I mean?

engage in those decision-making processes so we can hold people accountable who are making the decisions.

I think that’s a very nice way to put it. I loved that film and the message it communicated.

There are a thousand stories like that waiting to be told within snowboarding. It’s getting those alternative stories about where we’re at and where we’re going, and just creating space for others to come through that’s important.

I remember reading about that. Have you ever come up against any problems or reluctance from the media about your work?

Most journalists we work with have been pretty up for helping us get our work out there. There is, however, some really, really unhelpful reporting that goes on when discussing the climate crisis in general, and this is when it’s reported as an individual problem. What we need now with the time we have left is systemic action that is going to have huge impacts on carbon reduction.

Individual lifestyle and mindset changes are important, but we really need to get to the big and systemic changes around energy production and put in legislation around multinationals who are big polluters. The top 100

Broad question, but what are you seeing and hearing at the moment through your work with POW? What we’re seeing at an international government level is a complete lack of ambition and urgency to adequately tackle the global climate crisis. The Paris agreement, which I guess most people have heard of, is the global agreement to keep warming to 1.5 degrees. The current commitment from all the countries involved means we’re sitting between a 3 to 4-degree rise in warming, and this means we’ll start seeing catastrophic events. When we talk about catastrophic, we mean seriously interfering with human life on earth. It can’t be said any more frankly than that. So that leaves it up to us to try and hurry along the solutions and investment to solve it, sooner rather than later.

How you find the experience of dealing with people in power?

The experiences really vary from day-to-day. People are generally happy that we’re putting in the time to help them and their community. Sometimes I speak to my local representatives as the general manager of a climate change charity. But more often I go and speak to them as Lauren MacCallum, a snowboarder from Aviemore, and I tell them I’m scared about what it will mean for my local community and economy if the winter disappears from

the Cairngorm mountains. If you can frame it in that way and make it more personal, politicians are generally more receptive. The business community have got their heads in the sand, but a lot of them have been proactive but just don’t know how to start. That’s why we created the POW Pledge in collaboration with Surfdome, which is eight steps that companies can take to help them get to Net-Zero.

A lot of people don’t realise that you don’t have to go out of business to get to Net Zero, these sustainable practices actually save money. It’s cool when you empower someone to create their own actions and massively rewarding to experience. There are definitely hard days at the office when the UK government puts in some ridiculous policy or overrides an environmental protection, but that’s just part of the parcel of caring. It’s important to realise that if we don’t look after politics, politics will look after us. And I mean that in a collective sense. Snowboarding doesn’t exist in a vacuum. It’s influenced by the decisions that people make for us and around us. And it’s crucial that we

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It seems like there’s often a big gap between what people say and what they do.

The incoherence is quite startling at times. For example, there’s a policy in the UK government right now to maximise economic recovery from the North Sea, which completely contradicts their own laws and legislation about getting to Net Zero by 2045. POW exists to educate our community and address these issues with politicians and get them to sort it out because they leave themselves open for civil law cases as we saw in Holland, where the Dutch government was successfully sued by a climate group.

companies are responsible for 71% of global emissions. So some journalists and media have an absolute wet dream when they jump on these individual lifestyle changes like ‘Eat less red meat’ or ‘Cycle to work once a week’ because it takes the heat off them and the focus off big polluters, and puts it on the individual.

So we all need to try and be better, but also put and keep the pressure on those who can make massive changes that are far further reaching than those made by individuals.

Yes. It’s important to remember that the individual lifestyle narrative is something that’s been very well thought out and corroborated by fossil fuel and plastic lobbies to keep things the same and maintain the status quo. I like asking people this, when do you think US Congress first voted on the plastic crisis?

I would guess some time in the 2000s, but now I’m thinking it might be earlier..?

The 1970s.

Wow, I didn’t think it was that long ago.

Yeah, they’ve known about the plastics crisis for 50 fucking years, and instead of discussing switching to a different material, what the plastics lobbies did was come up with a really clever idea to shift the blame from the corporation to the individual. That was done by running really well-executed recycling campaigns. The fossil fuel lobby is doing the exact same thing through focussing on personal lifestyle choices like ‘There’s a climate crisis because you flew to Geneva to go snowboarding. Because you don’t cycle to work. Because you don’t do meat-free Mondays.’ This is a very careful narrative to make you feel guilty and to make you silent. And it’s fucking working. I get so frustrated when I see our community arguing with each other about ‘you flew there’ or ‘you flew there’. It’s all

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bullshit, Through the lockdown, we pretty much grounded global aviation, and global emissions were still at 95%. So of course flying is an issue, but emissions only dropped 5%. I flew to Whistler last summer for a wedding, and my return flight from Edinburgh emitted just over 1 metric tonne of carbon. The UK grid emits 57 million tonnes a year. There’s the problem. Sure, I can stop flying and save one metric tonne of carbon, but here’s a better idea, why don’t we all campaign to move to renewable energy and save 57 million tonnes of carbon emissions. Let’s keep our conversations around the solutions to these systemic issues. We have the solutions to move to green energy.

We’re about to go into a global job crisis due to the slump from Corona, but we have another crisis that needs solving, and we can do that with good green jobs. These solutions already exist, but they need to be prioritised and championed so we can use them to kickstart our economies and tackle these issues.

LAUREN MACCALLUM THE ACCIDENTAL ACTIVIST

I’d never thought about the psychological side of recycling. That’s gnarly.

It’s super gnarly. I think where people make mistakes early in what I’ll call their ‘activist journey’ is that they tend to focus on individual choices, and you can almost see them becoming paralysed with the idea that they’re not perfect.

So that’s what POW is here to do. We’re not trying to create an imperfect system with perfect people existing within it. What we’re trying to do is create a perfect system with imperfect people existing within it. We need the help and passion and influence of the community to help us realise what that new system looks like and how we make it. We have to come up with the solutions ourselves because let’s be honest, no one is going to do it for us. Having the door shut and slammed in your face and being told no, you’ve just got to pick yourself up and dust yourself off and support each other to create change. That’s where that real life-affirming and community-building experience can come from.

Actually feeling you’re connected to your community and your neighbours instead of just connected to Instagram. I guess we don’t have that too often anymore.

Grassroots campaigning is some of the most rewarding work you can do around any issue. At the end of last year and after a lot of campaigning we had a win with POW UK’s first-ever political campaign called ‘Get Radical’. We joined the wider climate movement and brought the voice of the outdoor and snowboard community to the mainstream climate table with a lot of other big NGOs like Oxfam and Greenpeace. We were putting pressure on the Scottish government to up their climate ambition and getting them to legally commit to a 2045 target of Net-Zero. We were really stoked on that win and want to continue to up that ambition.

Congrats! What other positive things are you seeing from your work with POW? TSA have taken our Pledge, and of course Surfdome too, who helped us set it up. They’re more retail, but they have buying power. Surfdome has actually asked all the brands they work with to take the POW Pledge.

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That’s cool to hear.

Yeah, that’s awesome. They work with 1500 brands, and they want to start seeing the brands they buy from taking

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some sort of commitment that matches their own values.

It’s that sort of power that really helps us along and is massively important. Burton donated their sales from Black Friday to us and have committed a lot of funding across all POW European chapters, which has been gamechanging in actually setting up POW EU and helping us sustain the work that we’re doing, as well as increasing our capacity. Nidecker have also been great at giving financial support for POW EU. This is so important when we’re talking about small NGOs. We could be doing a lot more, but in order to do that, we need the funding so we can employ more people. Patagonia gives POW UK a lot of support, they’ve been flying this flag for a long time and are looked at as being leaders in this field. Their whole business mission is to save the Home Planet, you know?

Absolutely. What positives can you tell us about that are going on with the production side of snowboarding?

I’m not so clued up with board sustainability, so apologies if this is a bit off, but off the top of my head I know that Nidecker, Burton, Jones and Mervyn and Capita aren’t using, or are reducing, harmful toxins and fluorocarbons in their boards and are using lots of recycled materials.

They’re using sustainable products in sustainable methods, and the sustainability managers are starting to share their knowledge and progress with each other and other brands.

This is definitely the sort of topic where ideas should be shared for everyone’s benefit, rather than hoarded for profit. Nice to hear that the snowboard community are doing good things.

Definitely. I’ve spoken about the snowboard community pretty positively so far, but I’ve got to say that in some respects it also needs to take a long hard look at itself and fucking grow up. We need to join the adult conversations that are happening around us. We’ve seen a few good diversity pieces coming out recently about race and gay rights, but some of the comment sections have just exploded, not in a good way. Reading them made me think that snowboarding has never felt so redundant.

Where is it in the wider conversations? We get the scene that we make, and we have to be accountable for the community we foster and create. If we don’t own the good parts and the bad, if we don’t challenge misogyny, if we don’t challenge homophobia, if we don’t challenge climate denial, then what we’ll get is a racist, homophobic, narrow-minded, inward-looking scene. I think we need to get better at having these conversations around what I’ll call this ‘big stuff’. It’s up to us to make sure that our scene is doing what it can to become accessible, to become accommodating, to become champions for something that gives us so much. No one is going to come and save snowboarding for us, and if snowboarders can’t save it, then we’re absolutely fucked.

I’ve seen people arguing that snowboarding is their ‘escape’ and these larger issues should be kept out of it, what would you say in response to them?

Snowboarding is an escape for me too. I deal with heavy conversations about our planet being fucked up, but I don’t talk about this stuff all the time. I go and hang out with my friends or go splitboarding and just switch off.

So if you say something ‘doesn’t belong in snowboarding because it’s my escape’, then I would challenge that point of view as a massively privileged standpoint. I would urge anyone who says that to think about what is actually triggering that reaction in them. What’s the big deal about making snowboarding more inclusive?

Or caring about something like climate change that will ultimately be the end of snowboarding if we don’t get our arses into gear? If we sow those seeds into the foundation and don’t go out of our way to stand up for the climate or confront homophobia then those seeds will grow into something that isn’t forward-thinking, isn’t diverse and isn’t a progressive space. And I thought that’s what snowboarding was all about?

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Words: David Vladyka Photos: Perly

W

hen Absinthe first visited this region they found a quiet valley with a single supermarket and some livestock. 13 years and one Winter Olympics later, what they returned to was something very different.

The story started in 2007 when I went to the KrasnayaPolyana Valley for the first time. The crew was composed of Matt Georges, Nico Droz, Sylvain Bourbousson and Alex Evequoz. It was a pretty bad year for snow in Europe, and we were looking for exotic spots to visit elsewhere. I’d heard and seen stuff from that area and got in contact with a French company doing heliskiing there (that company is now out of business). The trip was crazy, and the heli was real, maybe too real. Most of the time, they would drop us without a guide and pick us up at the bottom a few hours later. We could see the potential, these mountains were crazy and really featured. A few days before we got back home, I met Michi Albin and Reto Lamm on the heliport.

They were there invited by the OIC (Olympic mafia) to check the potential for the Sochi 2012 Olympics. I can tell you one thing, that valley was empty, there was one hotel with internet and one supermarket. A really rural area.

13 years later, it was about time to get back and check the evolution of the area through the Olympics. We decided to visit the Rosa-Khutor resort in the Sochi region. When I say we, I mean the crew with Perly, Joon Ivanov, Wolle Nyvelt, Roope Tonteri and Tom Tramnitz. The resort is celebrating its 10th anniversary this upcoming December. It’s situated 40 min from Sochi Airport and the black sea in the Krasnadar Region of Russia. The first thing that shocked me was the airport, I had a vivid memory of how crappy it was when I came there before, but now it was a full “Tax Free” heaven type of place. It just shows how much the Russians have worked to step up their country. It was impressive, and that was just the fucking airport. On the way there the semi-dirt road from 2007 had been replaced by a 4 lane highway. The changes were just astonishing, but that was nothing in comparison to the village at the bottom of the slopes, or should I say the Las Vegas-ish city that just popped up in the middle of nowhere. It was jawdropping. Not only had they built 3 resorts but they also erected casinos, boutiques and there were nightlife bars and restaurants everywhere. You have to understand that 13 years ago at that same spot there was nothing… just a river and some cows. Again, a major “tour de force” from the Russians, really impressive.

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WOLLE NYVELT DRAWING LINES IN DREAM TERRAIN, RIGHT OFF THE LIFT.

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TOM TRAMNITZ TAKING THE LEAP FROM THE ZILLERTAL INTO RUSSIA.

We stayed at the Rider’s Lodge, which is inspired by the Rider’s Hotel in Laax. It’s a place dedicated to young people and boardsports afficionados with playstations everywhere in the entry floor, and bars and restaurants that Innsbruck hipsters would love. It just didn’t feel like Russia.

The first few days of riding were terrible, and it snowed like no tomorrow. Probably due to the proximity of the Black Sea, the snow is really sticky and humid. The amount was definitely impressive and got us hyped and worried at the same time. Riding the trees there was a delight, mostly due to that type of tree having a lot of space between them. One thing we noticed is that when the sun comes out it’s really warm and the snow would change in a matter of minutes.

then you are mistaken big time. The only thing locals care about is shredding the pow non-stop, no matter the level of snowboarding or skiing. They are just really wild. We witnessed some pretty unreal moments while going down the freeride route, which starts with a big and pretty steep couloir. I could tell some of these people had only a few days of riding in their life. Well that didn’t matter much.

That’s when it all struck us that we were in Russia and yes it’s still a pretty damn wild country with wild people! A white gold rush frenzy was happening everywhere around us. The good old saying “Don’t follow the tracks if you don’t know the spot” has no value here, and Russians have probably never heard of it. In a way, it’s pretty refreshing to see how popular snowboarding is there, the ratio of snowboarders to skiers is way higher than in Europe. You could compare the enthusiasm towards snowboarding to the end of the ‘90s in the USA and Europe.

The locals are insane, I mean really insane... they just don’t give a shit about anything. They do ride everywhere, if you think you go to Russia to find some hidden gem resort with just a few people riding pow,

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WOLLE POPS INTO THE SUN BEFORE DIVING BACK INTO THE SAFTEY OF THE SHADE.

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ROOPE TONTERI SHOWING HE CAN RIDE POWDER JUST AS WELL AS ICE.

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JOON IVANOV SHOWING THE VISITORS HOW IT’S DONE.

After 3 days of bad weather and a heavy techno party where I almost lost the use of my right ear, we finally saw the sun. It was so worth it. The mountains are just so steep, and the potential is endless. There is stuff to do for everyone, natural step downs, mini-golf lines, big lines. It really looks like Alaska, just smaller and with lifts everywhere. The spots I’d done while heliskiing 13 years ago were now accessible by lifts and you can just keep on walking on the ridge to get to further bowls, and everything was within reach of the base of the resort afterwards. The security is pretty high, for good reason.

There are more gazex’s [Ed. avalanche control] system) here than in whole Swiss resorts combined. The ski patrol is not kidding either, we did get our tickets taken for riding a bit out of bounds, ony to get them back a few hours later.

Shit happens.

The good thing with this type of humid snow and being close from the sea is that the snow in the north-facing aspect just keep on getting better by losing humidity through the cold nights and that gave us a few days of pow, even though the temperatures were pretty high. A lot of the freeride runs were still holding really good snow a week after the last snowfall. The south-sides were soup, but that didn’t really matter.

Rosa-Khutor is a really interesting place for shooting, we scored some good stuff in the powder days and didn’t see any scary avalanches. Most of the time, the snowpack was really solid. It was also time to get more technical and find a feature we could all work on, like a hip. Part of the resort is facing south-west, and you see the sun basically melting into the Black Sea, so this was something we really wanted to take advantage of.

After a day of looking around the south-facing aspects, we found a wind lip that could hold a big hip/quarterpipe session. It was not an easy task, and locals came helping us out with park shovels and rakes. We spent the entire day shaping and also part of the next one to get it done, but man was it worth it to put in the time (the Russian sauna or Banyos helped a lot.) The two sunset sessions we had there were epic. You just don’t get that kind of background every day, and all the riders really pushed the level.

ROOPE.

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ANDREY MOSKVIN KICKING A SERIOUS ONEFOOTER OVER THE BLACK SEA.

The resort had a few surprises for us in the last days of the trip, the Skypark with a 220m bungee jump. Only one of us had the courage to throw himself down the bridge. Tramnitz pulled it off, but you could tell he was tense all the way to the last second of the countdown, it’s still Russia, right?

The second part of the day was the Sochi F1 track where Roope and Wolle could compete against each other, it was a bit unreal to be hanging out at the F1 track, to be honest.

Then we visited the beach of Sochi, which has a bunch of surf during the winter. This place has it all, no wonder it’s so popular amongst young people.

might seem like small details for some, but for me says a lot: Primo, this was my first trip cashless, meaning I did not have to deal with cash once during the stay. Every single place allows you to pay with a card. We Europeans all expect to pay cash if we have a bill of less than 20 euros, right? It’s just so nice not having to deal with bills when the conversion is so complicated.

Secondo: the food was so good, I mean really fucking good and that is such a huge plus when travelling. The Caucasian pizza aka Khachapuri is a must-try.

There is no comparison possible between 2007 and 2020, it’s a new place and worth checking it out for all mountain lovers. Thanks to Rosa-Khutor, Tatyana Molchanova, Joon Ivanov (for hooking us up with all the Russian crew, or should I say lifting the Iron Curtain to let us slip in), Nikita Beverly, Andrey Moskvin, Anton Zubkov, Nikita Klyukvin, Artem and Tobis Travel Solution.

To sum it up, the trip was like a slap in the face for us spoiled Euros. Not only did the resort have top-notch latest lifts and insane terrain, but all of the locals were just so friendly.

To those willing to go there and experience it, I would say you can go with your eyes closed. There are two things that

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21.2

TOM TRAMNITZ GETTING TWISTED. WE KNOW WE’VE USED A BUNCH OF PHOTOS OF THE SAME JUMP, BUT C’MON, IT’S JUST TOO GOOD NOT TO!

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21.2

L

OTR is one of snowboarding’s most unique and raw rail events, with the format closer to a headto-head tournament than a run based content. It’s also judged by the riders themselves, so whether you’re an established pro or a local amateur, the coveted title is anyone’s for the taking.

Words: Peter Harvieux Photos: Stefan Jende For the 3rd year running, a midwinter call is sent throughout the central plains of the US for “Lord of the Ropes”. This event takes place under the lights of Trollhaugen and is a gathering of many of the finest snowboarders from the region. This year - under the banner of “New Found Shores” and in cahoots with Indeed Brewing - brought on some of the newer crop of riders to help fill the 64 open spots. An additional twist was added to decide the final 4 spots; a random drawing from 24 names was implemented, titled “the Chalice of Souls”. After the final spots were drawn, we turned to the seeding of the bracket of 64 riders by drawing the matchups at random. These paired riders would then ride a head to head line, and 2 fellow contestants and a guest judge would be tasked with deciding who’s line triumphed, thus moving that rider on in the bracket. This continues until finally one rider is crowned “Lord of the Ropes” with a winner-takes-all cash purse of 2Gs for their efforts.

MANY HOPEFULS RIDERS, ONLY ONE WILL BE CROWNED >

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JEESE PAUL

This field held a mass of talent and experience including but not limited to; Joe Sexton, Jesse Paul, Benny Milam, Kyle Kennedy, Boody, Blake Lamb, Sam Klein, Casey Pflipsen, Hannah Peterson, Gracie Warner, and 56 other absolute destroyers. Many spread hype on the Internet by creating memes about the head to head match-ups, further adding to the aura and allure of LOTR. The first line allowed the most technical rail game to be brought, which helped pair the field down by half before we moved to line two.

Line two had a snow stair set with rail features on either side into an optional gap to downbar or flatbar drop to downbar. This would lead to two rounds featuring the top 8 remaining riders before heading on to the final line, featuring the “Troll Quad” to a new

30 foot downbar. After another round we were left with the top 4. This group of riders may have surprised the livestream crowd, but Grady Tank, Calvin Green, Kevin Gillespie, and Danny Sokol are more than known in their local scenes as heavy hammerwielding riders.

The finals shaped up with quiet veteran and Milwaukee head Danny Sokol vs. Troll loc Grady Tank. Grady dropped first with a backblunt to fakie on the quad, to switch frontboard on the downbar, but came off early. Danny followed up with boardslide down flat to gap to board the last down on the quad, into a

GRADY TANK

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CALVIN GREEN

frontblunt 270 on the downbar, moving him on. Roommates Kevin and Calvin came next with Kevin dropping first into the quad but coming off early with a boardslide, following into the down where he dropped a front 270 only to slide off early again.

Pressure off, Calvin threw a backlip on the quad with an early exit into a frontlip 270 on the down, but not quite to the end.

This moved Calvin on to face Danny in the final head to head for $2000. After the roshambo, Danny elected to send Calvin first. He dropped in with the same line, backlipping the quad and lining up the frontlip to 270 which he had to pull off early and revert around on the snow into a washout. This left Danny up top with

an opportunity. Danny slung off the rope with some speed, laying a solid frontboard to fakie through the quad, linking it into a cab frontboard to fakie on the downbar, landing edges and riding away with the Crown and Cash. Later up in the Skolhaugan lounge Danny Sokol was celebrated and stories of upsets, could-havebeen’s, who was that rider, and everyone’s seasons were shared.

Many thoughts certainly drifting to the next chance to ride in The Lord of the Ropes event and a chance to win a cash purse and title.

That chance is scheduled for February 19th 2021, SKOL.

JEFFY GABRICK

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Gracie Warner “Best event in the Midwest, hands down. I was really stoked to be a part of it and meet so many really great people.”

Jesse Paul “I have entered many snowboard contests in my life and won quite a few along the way, but the competing experience of LOTR is unlike any other. It’s like a game of chess. Do you go for something hard and risk giving your opponent an easy win? Or do you play it safe hoping they will try something too difficult and fail themselves? I’ve never been so nervous for such a short, non-dangerous run. The best aspect of the format is that it levels the playing field and the probability of an underdog swooping a win is much higher than a typical contest, which is a lot of fun for everyone watching. There’s nothing quite like seeing a 16 year old kid take down a veteran pro in a matter of seconds.”

Jeffy Gabrick “I love all the memes and shit talking that comes with LOTR. For two weeks, the internet is littered with a bunch of jokes about Midwest kids just tearing into each other. It creates another level of hype for the contest. In my opinion, LOTR isn’t a one night contest, it’s a two week event. And that shows with the turnout. LOTR is one of the only events where I hear people saying “I’m not missing this”.

Troll goes all out for LOTR. I’ve seen big events happen at my home hill throughout the years, and some big setups, but the love put into LOTR is different.”

Danny Sokol “Hands down best night I’ll ever have at Troll! By far the best competition around. Brings everyone together from all over the Midwest and packs them all in together. People’s choice is what makes it! Stoked for this year!”

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DANNY SOKOL TAKING THE WIN. CAN HE DO IT

CHECK THE LIVESTREAM TO FIND OUT.

AGAIN? GET YOURSELF TO TROLLHAUGEN OR

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GRACIE WARNER MAKING IT THROUGH TO THE 4TH BRACKET, NO EASY FEAT.

SIGNATURE TROLL

DANNY SOKOL ON

STEEL.

21.2

Tor Lundstrom is a beast of a snowboarder and the owner of one of the finest methods around. He’s also got a business head on his shoulders and has been grafting hard over the last few years with BYND MDLS partner Kevin Backstrom.

We got him on the phone to chat about running the brand, collabs, and what’s coming up in the future.

Interview: Theo Acworth Photos: Dominic Zimmermann & Alex Roberts

Yo Tor, how’s it going?

Good bro, good.

Where are you right now?

I’m in Verbier.

TOR LUNDSTROM INTERVIEW

Damn, fancy!

Yeah dude, I just moved here. My apartment is the same price as my one in Stockholm, but four times smaller.

And the drinks are four times as expensive. Why did you move there?

There are a lot of friends from my home town of Gothenburg who moved here around five years ago.

They started a food truck back home and now they run a restaurant and a hotel here.

Wow, that’s a step up.

Yeah it went really well and this guy offered them the chance to start a restaurant here. My girlfriend has friends here as well, and she’s freelancing, so instead of sitting in Stockholm we both moved here.

21.2

So you’re a professional snowboarder but also run the BYNDMDLS brand at the same time. What are things like for you on a day-to-day basis?

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There’s definitely been a lot of learning along the way with the brand. So we do everything we would usually do with snowboarding, but then also taking care of whatever comes up and learning as we go. Of course there’s the movie production part of it which we’ve been doing since 2012, and for the last three years we’ve also been doing clothing. Just making lots of mistakes and pushing through them. So it all runs simultaneously, dealing with the production, sending samples, designing. Then for the movie production stuff it’s coming up with a project, making proposals and talking to sponsors.

Do you and Kevin have a pretty good balance between you when it comes to the brand?

For sure. Kevin is designing and now also video editing whilst I deal with production, logistics, wholesale etc.

Although we are both involved in everything - from sitting together and designing to visiting the factory together we also have our day-to-day work areas.

How many shops are you in now?

We started about half a year ago. Working with a couple that we felt were right, pretty much snowboard and skate shops only. We haven’t been giving them lots of stock because we didn’t want them to be buying too much from us and then have it laying around or ending up on sale

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THIS IS WHAT WE LIKE. PHOTO: ALEX ROBERTS

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TOR LUNDSTROM INTERVIEW

THE TORNADO IN FULL EFFECT. 21.2

PHOTO: ALEX ROBERTS

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racks. So we’re still feeling it out and making sure the stuff sells, so we can keep doing more drops instead of just one and then the shops not being able to keep up. Then slowly they can order more with each drop if they want.

That sounds smart.

So all together around 10 physical shops and online through our own webshop.

So when’s the next drop?

Probably in the middle of January.

Any key features or pieces you’re particularly excited about?

We actually haven’t come that far with it yet *laughs* so I can’t really say. More than just hoodies and t-shirts, although we’ll have some of those too. But that’s the nice thing with doing drops. We don’t work in seasons so we don’t have any deadlines. There might be one month inbetween a drop, or there might be half a year. If we have stuff we’re stoked on that we want to put out, then we send it out and ask the stores if they want to order. Then we produce it. So there’s no stress really, it’s kind of on our schedule.

It would be too stressful to put stuff together just to put it together.

That’s cool. If the shops are down with, it then go for it. Just making clothing at the same time as everyone else does seem a bit outdated.

Yeah, and if the shops aren’t down then we’ll just do it for ourselves and sell it online. So we’re not dependant on anyone which is nice.

Have you had any major fuckups?

Definitely.

But the factory that we now work with takes responsibility if it happens. In the past we had other factories that didn’t take responsibility if they fucked up, so we got fucked over.

It happens now and then. Now it doesn’t affect us too much, it just means it takes a bit longer. We had one drop where all the prints fell off the clothes, so went sent it back and it took longer, but the factory paid for it, which is good.

Sounds like a good relationship.

Our guy has been good. He’s down to see it grow and give us high quality products, because he doesn’t have to produce too much for us, but he sees that there might be more in the future if things go well.

Nice. So you’ve done a few collabs with Bataleon, what have you got coming up with them this year?

We’ve just done our third board together, which is based off the shape of the Bataleon Goliath. This year the board is black with some kinda rainbow lightning and a little alien on it. I’ve been riding for Bataleon since forever, they were stoked to do a collab and we were stoked it worked out. So it was me and Kevin designing it together and making it a reality. We both come with ideas and he’s the one on the computer who really makes it into something.

Is it fun working with Danny and Rubby? [Brothers and Bataleon legends] Definitely. They come with ideas and they really let us do

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NO CAPTION REQUIRED. PHOTO: DOMINIC ZIMMERMANN

what we feel like. They don’t look at it from a sales point of view, which has been really great.

You need to get some shots of them in the next movie!

Yeah for sure, Danny is insane! He rips so hard. When he falls, he falls hard too, but he’s a yoga master, so it’s all good. It’s fun riding with those guys.

TOR LUNDSTROM INTERVIEW

21.2

So you’ve been shooting with Diggles again after taking a break for a few years. I hope you were all nice to each other?

Yeah it was good. We did a couple of trips this year shooting for our new movie Betty Ford. One was to Riksgränsen for 3 or 4 weeks. The weather was shitty the whole time except for maybe 4 days. Me, Kevin, Diggles and Alex Roberts sitting and waiting in a tiny apartment.

There was no one else in the resort, we were the only guys in the whole apartment building. But we got through it and got some good shots.

I’m stoked to see them. And well done for not fighting.

It was fun to shoot with Diggles again.

I was also told to ask you about influencer culture.

Anything you want to say about that?

I’m over it. In the sense that when brands use influencers for marketing, it’s going to take away budgets from the real snowboard video projects and real snowboarders who work with brands long-term. Instead of an influencer that will pose with another brand’s product next week.

I don’t think that looks good for anyone. Also when you work with the same brand for a long time, that’s when you come up with cool stuff to do together and meet awesome people. Although influencer marketing works to sell products which I understand, I think it’s important to support and work with the core. That will be better for everyone and it is the right thing to do.

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Yeah it doesn’t contribute much to snowboarding culture. It’s just someone doing their thing, which is fine, but if that takes away from people who put their whole lives into it, that’s pretty wack.

I mean it does work in some way, but as long as brands take both approaches. I guess that would cut the budget from somewhere, but as long as they do both and support the core in some way then that’s what’s important.

Fair enough. You’ve got a pretty badass method. What are your tips for anyone who wants to crank theirs like yours?

Just do a lot of them. And I do a lot of yoga. Well not a lot, but I try to do a bit each day, just stretch. So yeah, that’s the key, yoga.

Are you going to buy a fur coat now you’re living in Verbier?

I don’t know. Never say never.

What’s coming up for you this winter?

We’re doing another video project with BYNDMDLS and the whole crew, and Colden Rand just moved over here and is going to be filming. Kevin is going to edit the movie again. Just another season of getting after it and snowboarding as much as possible.

Last words are yours: Thank you Methodmag for doing a lot of good stuff for a very long time. Keep on doing it. You’ve always been great, and you’re still great.

Aww. We’re blushing.

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SIDEHIT...?

PHOTO: DOMINIC ZIMMERMANN

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“Contour” is a short film following the snowboarding of Seb Picard, Sebi Springeth, Dylan Norder, Flo Corzelius and Kiril Rikkila.

Since in the north of Europe, cities like Helsinki, Oslo and Stockholm had no snow, we decided to get ourselves a van and follow the storms and wherever they were blowing.

After 5000km on the road we ended up in Eastern Europe.

We drove from Italy to Poland, through Switzerland and Austria, searching for new street spots and unseen locations.

PHOTOS & WORDS: MARCO MORANDI

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FLO CORZELIUS WITH A VILLAINOUS TRANSFER. YEAH, WE KNOW THAT’S A CRIMINALLY BAD CAPTION. CALL THE COPS.

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SEBI SPRINGETH, SILENT ASSASIN.

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DEPENDING ON WHICH DAY YOU CATCH HIM, DYLAN NORDER CAN BE FOUND MAKING TOP QUALITY COCKTAILS BEHIND THE BAR, OR TRESPASSING ON PRIVATE PROPERTY.

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SEB PICARD, RAIL-TO-ROOF-TO-FLAT. PHOTO: FRANCESCO PETARDI

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SEB TAKES THE EXPRESS ELEVATOR FROM THE ROOFTOP TO THE GROUNDFLOOR.

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GARRETT WARNICK CRANKS ONE OVER IWANAI.

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Sitting somewhat in the shadow of the mega-resorts down the road, both figuratively and literally, sits this little podunk town right on the edge of the ocean, so this was sort of a wild experience to go and bring a talented crew there. I wanted to put this terrain into the hands of some people who could really appreciate it. And in addition to what it offers with snow, it has the potential for incredible waves too. So I had this idea in the back of my mind that you could both surf and snowboard in the same day, and I think that was the impetus of the trip, and that’s what I sort of pitched to Billabong.

I guess there aren’t too many spots in the world where you can do that, let alone within sight of each other. I’ve been there before, and everything in the town was so weatherbeaten. We sort of felt like we were at the edge of the world, just looking out over a black ocean.

Yeah, it’s a wild scenario. When storms move in, you sort of feel like you’re seeing them from the edge of the earth. It’s the first place they hit after coming overland from Russia and Sakhalin Island.

Something I find pretty interesting is the comparison between surf and snow. They’re similar, but in the ocean, everything is moving except you, whereas in the mountains you’re the one that’s moving, while everything else is (ideally) still. You shoot more surf than snow, and I was wondering if there were any significant differences or challenges for you in terms of shooting these images?

When it comes to challenges, the only big one in Japan is the weather.

It can be a blessing and a curse. Sometimes there’s just no sun, so when you do get it, you’ve got to be on it. You get free refills of snow every night but with that come dark and gloomy conditions, which can really suck. So that was the biggest challenge. The days we did have sun we tried to push it as hard as we could. The deep and dry powder is also hard to move through, to move 50 feet will take you longer than you’d ever considered it could. So it’s brutal in that regard, but the terrain isn’t so steep and is forgiving and playful, so you don’t feel as threatened as you might on big mountains. It’s an amazing playground.

One thing I try and do a lot with action sports is to try and work with the most creative people I can because I put a lot of trust in their hands to figure out what the best perspective and angle is. I never want to bring my ego to the table, and I was always wanting to know from Worm or Wolle about where the apex is, what’s gonna look best. Just trying to work with them, I love it when it’s more collaborative. And I think by doing that you foster a way better relationship and I immediately felt that there was a great relationship there, and I learned so much in the experience. I wanted to work with guys of this calibre to understand what their creative process was like. It was so rad to experience. Each person has their own definitive personality that comes through the way that they ride. And I try to create an environment where if I suggest something kooky they can tell me. I love that.

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hris Burkard grew up shooting surfing in California, and his photographs have always been influenced by the ocean. Last winter he linked up with Billabong riders Wolle Nyvelt, Bode Merrill and Garrett ‘Worm’ Warnick to shoot in Iwanai, Japan. They got hammered by the weather, but still managed to find their windows.

Read on for some insights into a surf photographer’s perspective on snow, and make sure to check the video from Elli Thor Magnusson, now playing on Methodmag. com Interview: Theo Acworth Photos: Chris Burkard.

Hi Chris, you’re more of a surf and travel photographer than a snow shooter. How did you get roped into this trip?

Well, it’s sort of the other way around actually. I’ve been travelling to Japan for the last 4 years, and I sort of fell in love. I’ve been to Japan many times for surfing and other projects, and I got tuned in to this community in Iwanai.

It’s always a sense of place that draws me somewhere.

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THE JAPANESE KANJI FOR TREE IS THE SAME SHAPE AS A TREE.

GO LOOK IT UP!

BODE SNORKELLING

Sounds like a nice vibe. I’m a big fan of shooting in stormy and snowy conditions, as long as I’m in the trees.

I totally relate. I look for the feature sets that give you a good sense of relationship with the landscape. The trees in Japan specifically, they’re so unique and special.

There’s one shot of Wolle airing off the tree on his Äsmo that was one of my favourites from your selection.

I think the guys were thrown off by me always asking them ‘Hey can you do this, can you do that?’ Just because I didn’t know what was possible, and sometimes that sparks new ideas. Things that you might think were ridiculous under normal circumstances actually end up being really fun. It was like going into something, not knowing a lot about it.

I think that’s a lot of what photography is, we get so tuned into our professional status or the way we operate that we can lose a sense of creativity, and this trip was all about creativity for me.

I’ve read that you put a lot of emphasis on the single image and want your images to tell a story or inspire a

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sense of adventure, and I was wondering if there was one shot in particular that you really liked?

Absolutely. There’s one of Wolle on a sunny day. Half the team went to this pillow zone we’d scouted while Wolle and I stayed on the mountain and explored these transitions and hips. It was a clear day and I had this shot in my head immediately. I wanted to show the proximity of this mountain to the ocean. It’s very rare to be that close. You’re around 4 miles or less from the water’s edge, it’s crazy. So coming from that traditional surf style I’ve always loved hitting a big lip that’s like a natural feature and throwing a big spray and making it look like you’re doing a turn on a surfboard. And that’s exactly what he did, there’s this pulled back shot where you have this big beautiful fan of snow that’s contrasting against the water, and that’s my favourite photo of the trip, and also Billabong’s. [Ed. You can see this photo in their ad in our previous issue] There’s just a sense of freedom and uniqueness that you feel in Japan, and in my eyes, it’s all captured in this shot. When people see images of these places, and they want to go there or find out more about

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SNOW SURFING, OR SNOW SKATING? WOLLE CONTINUES TO BLUR THE LINES WITH THIS TREEJAM 50-50.

it, I think that’s the biggest compliment that you can give a place. So if someone asked me what Iwani was like, I would show them that one photo.

When your shots first came through, I checked them on my phone, and even from a tiny thumbnail I could tell straight away that was a classic one. It just makes you want to be there.

Even if you’re a park rider, I think anyone who wants to be on the mountain can appreciate that. There’s a sense of fun there. No one is going to trigger a slide or break their neck. Wolle specifically seems to move in such rhythm with the landscape around him. I really appreciated how he rides, it’s incredible. It gets me fired up to watch and to witness. The one thing I love about shooting snow-based stuff is that for the most part, you’re on snow and on mountain, experiencing it with the riders. I’m not really the guy who wants to be right up in someone’s face with a fisheye, but I do love the fact that I can explore this terrain with them. It’s just fun just to go and explore. I think that’s the thing that draws me in and keeps me excited and

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entertained. I’ve been to Iwanai before so I had a bit of an understanding about what I was getting myself into, but it still provides a sense of exploration that I feel like I’m missing when shooting surfing. I’m not sure how you want to put this, but in some ways, the barrier of entry for shooting surfing is so low, because people don’t really need to bring a lot of skills to the table. You can just stand on the beach with a tripod. In this sort of terrain, you need to have an understanding of snow and know how to use your gear, and you need to know the rider you’re shooting and what they’re doing. These things demand your attention, and this is one of the reasons I love working in the snow. I think I’ve got slightly fed up with some aspects of surfing that feel so lackadaisical, it doesn’t challenge you or bring your greatest focus into view. Sorry, that’s a bit of a rant, but this is a bit of an ode to snowsports professionals, which is a bit of a lame way of putting it, but they just have this connection to the landscape which I think is really cool.

INAKA

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It’s very interesting to hear your perspective on this. I guess we take it for granted that rider and shooter are usually in pretty close proximity, and that the session runs together. Did you get the chance to try Wolle’s Äsmo?

I didn’t, sadly. I just get so stoked and psyched on shooting and documenting.

WORM TUCKS IN.

You’re still definitely participating in the session when you’re behind the camera.

To be honest as the photographer, you’re the first one going down, so you get your moment of glory, and that’s really special to me and a unique situation.

You said earlier that you learnt a lot from the riders, do you think they learnt anything from you?

How to be patient! From them, I learnt how to look at a feature and see what’s possible on a snowboard. Snowboarders are some of the most creative people out there, and what they can do in certain terrain is so unique. Maybe I taught them how to appreciate a surf perspective within these environments. I was always looking for hips and transitions and things that related to waves. We all carried that theme to the beach when we went to surf, and it became a way to connect. Our lingo wasn’t totally dialled in, it’s like we spoke slightly different languages, like Spanish and Portuguese, but our shared passion for surfing was a way for us to connect.

INAKA

So to close things out, I have to ask you what the deal was with that octopus?

Oh my god, yes, the octopus. Our hosts wanted to show us everything and make sure we had a good time. On the last day, they wanted to take us out for this traditional dinner, and on day 4 or 5 of raw fish, you’re pretty burnt out. And they took us to this restaurant in a back alley and all of a sudden they’re busting out this live octopus that they then cut up in front of us, which was pretty hardcore. We were like ‘No, please don’t do this on our accord’. I think two or three of the crew became vegetarians after that. But those are the uncomfortable situations you thrust yourself into in order to experience a place. They don’t always make a lot of sense, and they’re not always the easiest to stomach, but I think you leave with a deeper appreciation for the people and their willingness to share their lives with you. They wanted to give us an inside look into how our food was made. I think there’s an appreciation that can be given for a culture like that, that’s so close to their cycle of food and what they eat, and that’s really unique for me.

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DINNER, UNASSEMBLED.

BODE, BUSINESS MEETING.

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A

longside high school and filming parts for three consecutive years, Onlookers crew member Alex Kirkland also managed to find the time to write this feature for us. Thanks Alex! You got a rough picture of the Onlookers from the Posse Page at the start of the mag, now read on to get the full story behind the next generation grinding it out in the streets of the Midwest.

ALEX KIRKLAND NAVIGATING SAVAGE KINKS.

Words: Alex Kirkland Action Photos: Evan Pierce Lifestyle Photos: Peter Limberg

ONLOOKERS

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Dan Pergrin and I met at Cal Surf for Interior Plain Project’s ‘Shapeshifter’ premiere four years ago. My older brother, Brandon, and I filmed a movie called Clockwork that year.

It was our first movie that we ever had a premiere for and we were hyped to open up for IPP. It was such a sick night. When we were leaving, Dan and Jamal Awadallah approached us and said they were super hyped on our movie and that they had just moved here for college. I’m not really sure what happened next, but I think either Brandon exchanged phone numbers, or they just followed each other on Instagram.

When Hyland opened a few weeks later, Dan was there.

The three of us rode together all day and Dan mentioned that he wanted to hit some spots. The very next weekend we got about an inch of snow. Brandon and I wanted to hit a spot and everyone we hit up didn’t think there was enough snow. They were right. Brandon texted Dan and he was down. Brandon was super ambitious and we went to this massive curved down flat down. Dan and Jamal, who were all excited to hit a spot, volunteered to go first. They sent it down this gnarly rail without a second thought. Dan got smoked into the bushes a couple of times and was over it pretty quickly. Then on Jamal’s first go, he taco’d the rail and broke his phone. After seeing them get bodied, Brandon and I decided that it wasn’t in our best interest to hit the rail! After their “Minnesota Initiation”, Brandon and I knew we had found our crew for the winter, and we knew they would be down for anything.

PETER LIMBERG, UP AND OVER.

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However, that winter the Twin Cities had very little snow all winter. Being so motivated to make a movie, we just drove to wherever had snow. We would pack into Brandon’s minivan and drive until we found it. During all that time spent together, we were able to show Dan a lot of Minnesota. That winter we didn’t really have a crew name or anything but somehow we came up with ‘Broadcast Down’ as the name of the movie that year. At the time, I wasn’t all that involved in making the plans for what to hit as Brandon and Dan had so many spots and ideas. I would just hop in the car and be along for the adventure.

We all became such good friends over the winter that once summer came around we began skating and hanging out as a crew, and we’ve all been close friends ever since.

After filming ‘Broadcast Down’ all winter and editing it all summer, Dan really wanted to fully embrace being a filmer. He had a clear view on what he wanted to make for Onlookers. That winter Brandon and Dan had a lot of free time and went hard, hitting so many spots that he and Dan would plan out. As for me, I was just along for the ride again, developing more ideas for what I wanted to do each year. That winter, Evan Pierce moved here from Pennsylvania and he instantly clicked with the crew and on top of that he shot some pretty badass photos. Dan, Evan, and his sister Elle moved into a house together, which quickly became the new hangout spot. Most days after filming, we would end up back at their house, hang, and plan out the next day.

ALEX, BACKLIP PRETZEL.

After having so much fun making ‘The Onlookers Movie’, we all wanted to make an Onlookers II. Unfortunately Brandon and Jamal were dealing with injuries that winter, so we didn’t know what to do. Luckily, it all worked out because Pete Harvieux hit up Dan and Trevor Slattery to make a second IPP movie, ‘Retrograde’. I’m not sure how big of a role I was supposed to have in that video, but Dan and I were so motivated that we got after it early and any chance we could. At the start, it was really weird not having our original crew, especially since I had never filmed without my brother Brandon before. For me, the IPP movie was a huge opportunity and I wanted to film as much as I could. Ultimately, Dan and I got into a rhythm of filming together and the rest lined up. A lot of days started out as solo missions, just me and Dan hitting spots using a drop in ramp for speed. By that time, we had filmed together for two years and Dan knew my riding really well. At night, we’d hang out at the house, find spots and brainstorm ideas, then try them the next day. Not only were we planning spots for me, but also the whole IPP crew. It was a major shift from being along for the ride, to being a central part of planning for making the movie. Dan and I were honored to be welcomed into the IPP family and contribute to the Midwest legacy that Pete created.

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GAVIN MATSON WITH AN ELECTRIFYING BACKTAIL.

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While filming for ‘Retrograde’, Patrick Fankhauser came from Austria and stayed at the Onlookers house. The whole trip he kept telling us to come visit him back in Austria but we honestly didn’t know how serious he was.

The winter after ‘Retrograde’, Dan, Evan, Brandon, and I traveled to Zillertal Valley, Austria and it was one of the coolest experiences ever. We had no intention of filming anything there, we just wanted to have fun snowboarding and experience their culture. The day after getting back from Austria, Dan and I piled into a car with Peter Limberg and Casey Pflipsen to go to Snowboy Production’s Knob Project. Dan was filming the event’s recap video and got me an invite. The two of us spent nearly a full month traveling together. When we got back, we were fired up to film Onlookers II. This year we already had our system down for filming. I’ve been getting lazier about pushing snow for lips the past few years, so we had the idea to film a bunch of clips without making a takeoff.

NO SNOW? NO PROBLEM. ALEX TAKING IT BACK TO 2001.

The entire time we were filming ‘Double Vision’, the name of our new Onlookers flick, we had a clear idea how we wanted it to feel. We were hyped to film with Jeffy Gabrick, Peter Limberg, and Calvin Green again. It was also really cool that Ryan Collins came to town with Airblaster for Skolf and stayed to film some clips. After going to the Knob Project with Casey, he started filming us more. Although Brandon and Jamal were still dealing with injuries they both came out a lot to help and film, it was good to have our original crew back. We’re hyped to show the world Onlookers II: Double Vision. We are thankful for everyone and everything filming snowboarding has introduced us to over the years.

EVAN PIERCE, TUCKERED OUT. THANKS FOR THE PHOTOS!

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ALEX CAN DIE HAPPY HAVING STUCK THIS NOSEPRESS GAP NOSEPRESS.

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Photo: Oli Gagnon Rider: Cole Navin & Sam Taxwood Location: Trondheim, Norway Trick: Helping your friends

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Photo: Oli Gagnon Rider: Cole Navin Location: Trondheim, Norway Trick: FS Wallride

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Photo: Erik Hoffman Rider: Forest Bailey Location: Mount Baker, USA Trick: Yellow Submarine

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Photo: Erik Hoffman Rider: Forest Bailey Location: Mount Baker, USA Trick: Yellow Submarine

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Photo: Tim Schiphorst Rider: Ivika Jürgenson Location: Norway Trick: 50-50

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Photo: Alex Owen Rider: Johan Rosen Location: Sälen, Sweden Trick: Method

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Photo: Ponchikz Rider: Igor Smurov Location: Saint Petersburg, Russia Trick: Global Warming

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Photo: Francesco Petardi Rider: Adrian Smardz Location: Poland Trick: Boardslide

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Photo: Matt Georges Rider: Alek Oestreng Location: St Luc, Switzerland Trick: Making waves

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Photo: Ponchikz Rider: Toni Kerkela Location: Rovaniemi, Finland Trick: Nosepress

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Dylan Alito Photo: Toni Kerkela

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A public service announcement from

R E A L

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

We’d planned to run this photo of Max Zebe in the Moon Park feature inside this issue, but he was a bad boy and posted it on his Instagram, so we relegated him to the back of the mag to think about what he’s done. Don’t worry Max, we still like you, and a photo on the back cover of our magazine is still so much sicker than a photo on the internet.

FREE

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