11.1 English Method Snowboard Magazine

Rider: Wolfgang Nyvelt Spot: Whistler, British Columbia Trick: Toeside burner Photographer: Oli Gagnon

EDITORIAL

COVERSTORY BY: JÉRôME TANON

We were deep in the woods with the Pirates crew shooting for “HOOKED”, it had been snowing nonstop for days and Tyler Chorlton just couldn’t seem to find hits big enough for his taste.

I like magazines. Actually, scratch that, I LOVE magazines. I still have copies of Thrasher from the late 80’s and Blunt from the early 90’s lying around the house. Take a second to think about that, I’ve been lugging these things around with me across the world and back for the last 20 years I love them so much!

Okay, so maybe I care a little too much about magazines, but then again there is a reason why I have my job, n’est ce pas?

I know I’m not alone in my obsessive ways about these portable little works of art, there are mag nerds from all walks of life. These kindred souls also appreciate the sensory smorgasbord that magazines afford beyond just the content: the texture of the paper, the crispness and visual impact of a photo bleeding right off the edges of a double page spread, the smell of ink on paper and even the heft. It is something that, no matter how advanced and intuitively interactive technology becomes, no tablet reader will ever be able to reproduce. A magazine is tangible, it exists on a physical plane, whereas binary code does not.

It is REAL. Mag nerds appreciate this. It’s what makes magazines special to us, quality of the content notwithstanding. Print may be taking a beating right now, as the digital onslaught continues unabated, but thanks to mag nerds the world over it will never completely disappear. There will always be those who crave that sense of realness that no blog could ever hope to attain and it is for them that we continue on our noble, if somewhat foolish, quest to create the best snowboard magazine in the world.

That said, we aren’t delusional and we realize that very few people, especially kids who’ve never experienced life without the Internet, actually fork over their hard-earned money for a magazine these days. Now that the internet has spoiled us all with a seemingly never-ending deluge of free content, even die-hard nerds like me find themselves buying less magazines. So, after months of discussion, we decided the best way to reach both the veteran and neophyte mag nerds out there was to make METHOD free. Yes, from now on the best snowboard magazine in the world is completely free, which means there is no excuse for not adding them to your own (hopefully) ever-growing collection. Throw it on the pile, kid!

TAG

While Tyler was hiking way up into the soupy clouds to get as much speed as possible, I took out my camera, found my focus and within five seconds the lens was completely fogged up. Damn it!

Everything in Avoriaz, our clothes, our gear, was damp and moisture-clogged, it’s like were in some remote rainforest instead of the Alps.

It was so wet the “hand trick” just wasn’t cutting it, so I had to wipe the lens off on my boxers and let it dry for a few minutes. All I could do was hope it would work ! Tyler’s voice crackled on the radio, “drop in ten”, I screwed the lens on the camera, checked the focus again and suddenly there was Tyler in my viewfinder! He tweaks a massive stalefish, I snap my single (!) frame, and Tyler lands a meter to my right. It’s in the can!

Camera:

Nikkormat FT Film:

Ilford XP2 400 iso

Editor-IN-Chief: Thomaz Autran Garcia thomaz@method.tv SENIOR EDITOR: Alexis de Tarade alexis@method.tv Art Director: Carlos B. Aranda carlos@method.tv Asst art Director: Maria Ferrés Amat maria@method.tv French editor & translator: Gabriel Bessy German editor & translator: Oliver Kraus Italian editor & translator: Davide Compagnoni Senior photographers: Daniel Blom, Oli Gagnon, Carlos Blanchard Contributing Photographers: Vanessa Andrieux, Mike Basich, Ryan Boyes, Vernon Deck, Mikkel Fykse, Liam Gallagher, Corey Grove, Tommy Larsen, Dave Lehl, Gabe L’Heureux, Julien Petry, Bob Plumb, Andres Quintana, Frode Sandbech, Jérôme Tanon, Oli Croteau Contributing writers: Billy Anderson, Piers Baron, Jake Blauvelt, Vernon Deck, Joaquin Francisco, Nick Francke, Jesse Grandkoski, Evan LeFebvre, Gabe L’Heureux, Tom Lenartowicz, Gigi Rüf, Jérôme Tanon Contributing ILLUSTRATORS: Bizmut, Cristian Toro Borland, Danny Larsen, Friedemann Zschiedrich

WWW.METHOD.TV

PRODUCER: Marc Vaudroz marc@method.tv

Lens:

Nikon 24-80 2.8 Aperture:

Couldn’t remember if my life depended on it!

Speed:

1/1000 s Rider:

Tyler Chorlton/PMP - HOOKED Trick:

Stalefish Spot:

Avoriaz, France.

Date:

Feb 21, 2010

WWW.METHODMAG.COM

Web editor: Alexis de Tarade alexis@method.tv Web reporter: Edgar Lanting edgar@method.tv Web Programmer: Laurie Barker laurie@method.tv

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5 things you should not do with your snowboard career: 1. Waste it 2. Wear protection 3. Lose your style 4. Spin/flip more 5. Stay on groomed trails 5 things that make you a man/ establish manhood: 1. Losing your virginity 2. Waking up at the police station 3. Moving out of your parents’ house at 14 4. Getting somewhere to live 5. Falling in love 5 things you wasted money on: 1. Cars 2. Houses 3. Champagne (actually everything you can buy to get confused) 4. Food 5. Overall bullshit stuff

5 things things not to do in Japan: 1.Duck ropes 2. Crash cars 3. Call the locals Chinese 4. Ride groomed trails 5. Ride in denim 5 things not to do on a snowmobile: 1. Pin it into the trees 2. Get it stuck in a creek at 6 AM trying to beat everyone to the hill 3. Use a friend’s 4. Loan yours to a friend 5. Put diesel in the tank

5 things you don’t really want to do again: 1. Go to Mammoth 2. Wake up before 6 in the morning 3. Get drunk 4. Meet old people 5. Fuck up 5 things snowboarders need to get better at: 1. Fashion 2. Riding their boards 3. Hating on people less 4. Party more 5. Enjoy every moment on their boards 5 things you really wish you had never lost: 1. My front tooth 2. My friend’s car key when it was full of alcohol 3. My bag with 12,000€ (which I found 30 minutes later at the airport) 4. My senses 5. My key to my own house

5 things in history you would have liked to witness: 1. Dinosaurs 2. Hitler 3. The first dude that tried acid and drank a cup of it 4. The Motley Crue/Ozzy tour 5. The hippie era

5 things you tried to get a refund for: 1. Tickets 2. iPhone 3. Snowboard boots 4. Food 5. Skate shoes 5 things you would never partake in: 1. Paradise Hotel 2. Demonstrations 3. A robbery 4. A war 5. A beer drinking contest

Hampysnus blindside melon to fakie floater in NZ. Photo: Daniel Blom

22. My Cameras I ever met! Whatever happens from here on out, even if I get bored of snowboarding someday (let’s hope not!), I know I’ll be making my living from taking photos.

PHOTO:Celine Rodellar ILLUSTRATION: Friedemann Zschiedrich

Tell us how you found photography and what part it plays in your life.

I was cutting school all the time to go shred and take photos of my friends, as well as my own expeditions in the mountains, hiking around and riding down, stuff like that.

When I realized I didn’t have the skills to be a pro snowboarder, I figured I could make my two biggest passions into my job. It took years until I could make a sort of living off it but now I’m fully in the game and it’s a HUGE part of my life. Shooting snowboarding helped me discover analog photography, which opened my eyes to a complete new world. For this I have to give a big thanks to Matt Georges, the first film freak

So what makes a photo great? What makes a photographer great?

For me a photo is great when you see it and think “wow, I’d love to put this up on my wall” or “that’s what snowboarding means to me”. A sick photo has to transcend snowboarding. It has to showcase snowboarding at its best of course, but with a little something extra. That something extra can be composition, textures, light and, the best of all, emotions. Just snowboarding, even if the trick is amazing in and of itself, is not enough to make a great photo.

You might as well watch the video instead.

What makes a photographer great is feeling comfortable taking risks to get that little something extra in every frame.

You shoot mostly with film, which gives us a boner! What are the reasons why you prefer to shoot with film instead of digi?

I started with digi, like everyone else nowadays I guess. I kind of got bored when I got to the point where I had to Photoshop a lot my pictures to make them look “personal” and “different”. I was turning color into black & white, adding cross process filters and whatnot until one day I realized I could do all this myself in the darkroom. I shot my first roll of film with my grandpa’s Brownie Starlett and the feeling of pressing the shutter, winding the film, not knowing how the photo would turn out, it was AMAAAAZING. Of course that first roll turned out shitty, but it was too late, I had been bitten

by the film bug. Matt Georges showed me it was possible to shoot film in snowboarding, even nowdays, so I jumped into it headfirst! I basically did the opposite of most photographers, I went from digi to film and had to learn everything from scratch. I’m still learning every day... There are so many different cameras, formats, films and processes, there’s no way you’ll get bored. Right now I don’t want to shoot digi ever again!

Plus, when you shoot analog you REALLY think before pressing the shutter, which means that when you come home after a trip instead of having 400 “okay” to “cool” digi shots, you have 20 bangers on film.

Why are still photos better than movies, what do they have that a moving image never will?

I love movies, but you can’t hang them on the wall over the fireplace... Seriously though, I think still and motion cameras need each other, they are complementary.

Every movie needs a cover shot that sums up the spirit of the film, for example. That’s why photography is great, it has the capacity of summing up the atmosphere of a whole movie in one single still. A photo stops time at an ideal moment, the trick and style (or lifestyle) frozen for ever. It’s like stealing a tiny little bit of truth from something and saving it for you and others. When time is stopped, you can analyze everything that surrounds the trick itself, the sky, the atmosphere, the light, sometimes even the look in the rider’s eyes, all the things the photographer wanted to show besides the trick itself. Just like movies, a photograph has a soul.

How would you describe your style of photography?

It’s hard to say because my “style” evolves very quickly, when I look at photos I took 3 months ago I think “man, I sucked so hard back then!”... I still have so much to learn, and so many themes to create series’ of photos. I know that next season my photos will look a lot different, even if they are definitely going to be mainly B&W and grainy.

I think a bunch of people might not like my photos at all, they might think they look too “old” or “unsharp”, or think “what’s up with the composition, I have no idea what this guy is doing?”. It’s a bit like trying to make modern art by finger-painting with mammoth blood in a cave. I hope someday I can shoot snowboarding as well as classic photojournalists from back in the day.

Where would you like to take your photography in the future?

Any where adventure is. First I want to try to capture snowboarding’s soul on film and then we’ll see. It may well take a lifetime... But after that I’d like to be a photojournalist, maybe... I don’t know... But there’s one thing I’m sure of: I will never be a studio fashion photographer. Oh, no.

24. Little Labels temporary art and progressive culture.

I also love late 60’s counterculture visuals and dark, psychedelic/occult imagery.

Obviously much of our type and design is inspired by Swiss type, Bauhaus, minimalism and overall efficiency.

What is something you would like to throw down a black hole?

People who choose to be close-minded and willfully ignorant.

C

orey Smith is a very talented individual. He paints, sculpts, shoots photos, designs clothing, runs a company and he gets pretty radical on the stunt plastic too. Not too long ago, Corey and a few of his friends decided to start a brand called COMUNE, which is based on carefree idealism and the people who choose to live their lives with complete disregard of the consequences. We picked Corey’s brain to see what makes one of the coolest little labels we’ve seen in a long time tick.

When did you have a brain sparkler and decide to start COMUNE? It definitely wasn’t just me. COMUNE is a collective of artists, designers, snowboarders, skateboarders and freethinkers. I suppose it was just over a year ago when we all decided to start our own brand based on our ideologies and passions.

What are your influences for your identity?

We glean inspiration from a variety of places. The biggest for me would be con

What is an invisible force that you are sure exists that is not scientifically proven?

Quantum interconnectedness and historical resonances of the time wave.

What grows on the garden of the moon?

New ideas and infinite freedom.

Have you ever and when did you approach infinite freedom?

Anytime I ride my snowboard or do anything I’m passionate about. I achieve a small taste of infinite freedom anytime I have an original idea or experience, feel love, understand a new concept. Sometimes if can be self-destructive too, like getting real fucked up. I suppose I’ll also experience it when my body dies.

Do you like the way snowboarding “looks” now compared to 10 years ago?

Yeah, it looks amazing. People’s style and board control have progressed tremendously. If you mean “fashion”-wise, I mean, it’s gotten pretty weird but to each their own.

thecomune.com highpoweredstreetdrugs.com coreysmithtimetravel.com

26. 5x5

The set up at the Boite Noire Gallery BY: THRILLY TOM PHOTOS: METHOD

5x5= 25 yEArs of

sNoWboarD pHoTogrAPhY

D

on’t you just hate it when some patronizing know-it-all says to you, “you’re probably too young to remember this...”?

That’s unless, of course, you’re the old school codger who says those sorts of things. But anyway, as the young office gremlin at Method, I learned of plans for an exhibition of snowboard photography which was going to be called 5 x 5 and would tour around Europe for a year.

Hmm...what could 5 x 5 mean? It’s got an “X” in it, so maybe it has something to do with that dreaded word. You know, the one that starts with an “E” and ends with an “E”. But nah, I know from experience that we stay way clear of that one here at Method. 5 x 5... shit, it looks like something I saw at school one time. PE? Geography? Fuck it, I give up.

Kiwi & Pacôme in the house

Pitschi

Terje signature cupcake

I’ve seen snowboard photos, I read the magazines and I go on all the websites.

I’ve been snowboarding for a while now, I check out the events and I totally know what I’m talking about. I’m down with it. So like I was saying, I find out there’s going to be an opening party for the 5 x 5 thing, right on the same street as the Method office! I even hear that Terje Haakonsen — the man, the myth, the legend who did that gargantuan 9.8 meter air at the Arctic Challenge a couple of years ago — is going to be in attendance. “Well, I might as well go,” I think to myself. So I put on my skinny ass jeans and my kneelength gangsta gown tall hoody (because that’s cool) and turn up to the 5 x 5 snowboard photography exhibition.

lery. But how could this be? They were all ancient, like... 30!? I took a closer look at these alien-like snaps taken by photographers with weird sounding names such as Calle Eriksson, Frode Sandbech, Vincent Skoglund, Bud Fawcett and Mark Gallup.

This was some crazed shit. I asked around, only to receive reactions of bemusement and laughter. What’s so funny? Maybe I should be laughing at you. “You don’t know who Anders Hagman is?”, one of the 30-somethings asks me. Uhm... no. “Ah, you’re probably too young.”

What the...?? Where was I? Where were all the cool kids who looked like me? And what happened to the bloody photos? Is that snowboarding? As I looked around, there seemed to be a lot of people who knew what they were talking about when over-hearing their comments on the large pieces hanging from the wall of the gal-

I think long and hard and think to myself, “I guess I should have read the rest of what it says on the event flyer...”. I pick one up off the counter. 5 x 5 it says, = 25 Years of Snowboard Photography. Now I get it!

I venture back into the exhibit with a new air of confidence. I at least know

Frode our senior photog

what this is all about now, unlike some of the other fools in attendance. So I go up to the nearest person I see, who happens to be checking out a shot of a guy dropping a cliff. The description underneath it explains that it is a shot of Shawn Farmer taken in 1993. I make a point of not saying anything and just nod my head in appreciation as the other onlooker does the same. This is actually pretty cool. And to top it all off, I’ve even learned something new today: don’t be such a fucking know-it-all.

BY: ADT PHOTO: OLI GAGNON

...the present doesn’t exist. It’s so immeasurably small you will end up exhausted in the past if you try catch it. The time that stands behind the brackets of the present is immense and the size inside is so small you can’t see it. By the time you process what is in front of you it’s already happened, technically. You can’t think in the present. You can only smell the present and when you are in a quiet place you can hear it too. Like the silence that snow creates. It can erase an entire city into the night and drop the present at your feet. So don’t stand around too long trying to find the present or it will whizz right past you. The future is later, the past was then.

The two points can blur so much that moving forward can seem like you’re moving backwards...

Here’s Chris Grenier chasing down the future after a sling from homies that wait in the past.

30. PRODUCTION VALUES

Where the hell did y’all come from?

All over the place, Colorado, New York, Jersey, Minnesota, Mass, Cali, Nevada, Utah.

Best & worst things about Colorado?

Best thing: probably the keef. Worst thing: this one is a toss up between dubstep and rock stacking hippies.

5 adjectives that describe the Bang Show project?

Moose, Snake, Beaver, Camel, Rhino. (Ed note: C’mon guys, those are nouns.)

What is your relationship with girls?

We all live vicariously through Sproat’s sex life. For a good time, call 610-329-1425.

Have you considered asking Mikkel to join the crew?

Yah, we tried… but I think he blocked us on facebook. Plus he dogged out a friend of ours so we’re all homies now. Right?

Did you get your deposit back on that house you destroyed?

Deposit? No one expects to get those back anyway. At the original Bang Show house aka the Boneyard we didn’t get shit back.

We even spent a few days trying to fix all the holes in the walls and cig burns on the floor but didn’t get shit back in the end. It’s worth it just to have fun and beat the fuck out of your place. Do some calculations and factor that into the rent. Or have Billy Mackey crash on your sofa, steal his cigs and sell ‘em to teenagers to help pay for it.

Biggest spin in the movie?

I heard somebody landed a 666. Har. Har. God, we’re so hesh.

Are you guys gonna be rich?

Why else would you snowboard?

Projects that you guys respect?

Project Pat, Project Runway.

Something people need to stop putting in their shredits?

Nothing, if you are stoked on your edit then it’s a good one. Stop hatin’.

bang-show.com themotherfuckingboneyard.com

32. GETTING THE MOST FROM THE...

Most Amazing Benedikt Nadig jumping the Avoriaz road gap for the first time with a cab 9 attempt!

- Nicolas Droz

T

PHOTOS: JULIEN PETRY

his infamous crew is coming through for their third lap under the Homies flag and like a terminally ill patient, they just keep getting sicker and sicker.

Last season the squad advanced beyond French borders and corraled up some talent from foreign hills far and wide, including Niels , Wojtek, Kuba, and Benedikt Nadig. We don’t have the time or space for the whole story so you’ll have to get yourself a copy of Homies III or hit up one of the premieres for the full lowdown. We just wanted to know the “bestest, most specialest, memorablest” moments of this epic shred journey. We sat down with some of the Homies to pick their brains and get the most from their memories of last season.

Most Miraculous Last year I was caught in an avalanche and luckily a tree stopped me, otherwise I would have slid off the side of the cliff BASE jump-style.

- Aymeric Tonin Funniest Fred Couderc’s face when he heard the song for his video part!

- Pierre Rue Most Painful I missed the Sweden trip cuz I hurt my knee on the Avoriaz road gap, took me out a whole month.

- Fred Couderc Drunkest Nico at the première for Homies 2 at The Safari (club in Hossegor), he was a totally different person, no shirt on, fucking wasted, he lost his video camera and basically everything else he had on him, good times!

- Morgan Lafaucheur Most Frustrating Riders being hurt and not being able to shred with their Homies.

- Nico Droz The premiere tour is coming real soon to a city near you, make sure you come up for the throwdown. Homies, always a good time, always a good movie!

PREMIERE DATES 17/09/2010 Annecy (FRA) @ the POP Plage Club Featuring Kool Shen (NTM) + DJ James and DJ Naughty J 02/10/2010 Seignosse (FRA) @ the Safari Beach Club Featuring DJ Naughty J 08/10/2010 Paris (FRA) @ the 1979 Club Featuring DJ Naughty J, DJ Poska + DJ Weedim 15/10/2010 Bienne (CH) Featuring DJ Naughty J 23/10/2010 Les 2 Alpes (FRA) @ Les Bleuets Featuring DJ Naughty J 28/10/2010 Geneva (CH) @ Le Chat Noir Club Featuring DJ Marc Hype More info @ homiesgrounds.com

PHOTO: OLI GAGNON

Welcome to the first BONER!® of the season. We hope you get many boners this season all winter long. The point of this section is to provide you, the reader, with visual stimuli containing levels of tweak and boneage so high you will be feeling that familiar throbbing sensation in your groin every time you catch a glimpse of said visual stimuli.

That’s why we call it a... BONER!® This month we have Benoit Bilocq launching off this Whistler drop like a grenade. This shot is a BONER!® for so many reasons, all of them good: cornice boner, first track boner and of course that lovely indy tail boner.

Does this shot make you want to go jump off a cliff or what? It’s okay, I also feel the joy in my pants!

36. FLASHBACK

I

t started out as just another ordinary spring day on Mt. Hood Meadows. I was riding by myself as usual, enjoying the wind lip and gully runs under the Mt. Hood Express and Cascade lifts. There wasn’t much powder to be had that day, when suddenly my friend Carlos Valdez, a shaper at Meadows and Windells, buzzed up to me on a sled and pointed out a jump into Elevator they were filming off of.

The film crews seldom called me, but of course took advantage when I was around and they needed some extra riders. The jump was pretty epic, Elevator is a deep gully with a long, steep landing which drops out quite a distance, hence the name Elevator. There were 2 takeoffs built with a cat and there was a nice layer of windblown powder on the landing.

I was riding it with Joey McGuire, Ross Steffey was filming, and Corey Grove and Ian Ruhter were shooting photos. For some reason I was unsuccessful at hitting it regular, so I started doing some switch tricks. I got a few switch 5 flat spins and rodeos, and a smooth switch backside misty 540 that made the cut for Mack Dawg’s Decade.

BY: NICK FRANCKE PHOTO: COREY GROVE

It was one of the most fun filming days I ever had at Meadows, and Joey got some sick shots as well. I believe he even pulled a nice switch 1080, which was almost unheard of in those days. I love looking back at these pictures and remembering my college days and riding Mt. Hood with my friends. Big shout out to all those I left behind, I miss you all. Come to Europe and visit anytime, I’m pretty easy to find if you just look. Peace.

38. R.Y.E

R

espect Your Elders is a movie project by a new company called Resourceful Gnome Productions. The founders? None other than Travis Parker (artist, snowboard legend) and Jesse Grandkoski (cofounder of such companies as Cobra Dogs and Airblaster).

The purpose of the movie? Put together some of the most talented young pros and ams on the planet with some of snowboarding’s most respected elder shredsmen. The formula? Travel to North America’s best mountainous regions in search of powder, air time, and adventure. Turn on the camera. Let the good times roll.

BY: JESSE GRANDKOSKI PHOTO: MIKE BASICH

sich. Basich is a lifelong pro snowboarder and an experience-hardened road warrior who’s made the drive up to AK 9 out of the last 10 years. Not many snowboarders can claim to have attempted, much less survived, 18 winter/spring traverses of the notorious Al-Can Highway.

And keep in mind, the drive up is the least sketchy part...

At the top of the list of North America’s most extreme snowy zones is Alaska. A wild and untamed place —in both the natural and human sense of the word— Alaska is an anythinggoes type of place. And the 3,000+ mile drive up to Alaska is an anything-can-go-wrong type of road trip.

Luckily for Skylar Thornton, Ben Lynch, Aaron Robinson and Brandon Cocard, they got plenty of travel tips, advice and guidance from living legend Mike Ba-

The Catch? The majority of time spent in Alaska is down time. Waiting for decent snow conditions, light conditions, transportation, and human dynamics to come together to create the types of amazing shots that you see in movies. So what to do during all that down time? Try to keep from going crazy. In this case, Mr. Basich, the wisest of the group, spawned an idea to try some tow-in river boarding on an ice-cold snow-fed river. After a traditional AK breakfast of bacon, eggs, bacon and bacon, Skylar Thorton stepped up to the plate. Mikey strapped a tow rope to the back of his custom made AK-shred-sledhauler/camper/home. Skylar set his board down on some slick river rocks, strapped in, and gave ‘er the thumbs up. Mikey used a radio-controlled camera trigger to snap this shot while pulling Skylar ‘round the bend. Normal stuff. Just another day at the Resourceful Gnome office. resourcefulgnome.com

40. PONEY SESSION

T

his is a story about a hurricane. A hurricane named Ed. Hurricanes usually wind down like a sleepy camp fire once they make landfall (or not...) but a slight swerve in the jet stream carried Ed over the Bermuda Triangle. Ed literally dissipated and vanished within seconds to the great consternation of meteorologists and hurricane aficionados, reappearing over the Pyrenees as if the back door of a black hole had been left wide open. This incredible anomaly of the spacetime continuum happened to occur during the annual Shredi Knight gathering in St. Lary, France known as the Poney Session.

The ponies stomped and stampeded before the storm even showed.

They could taste the saltiness in the air. The humans tried everything they could to redirect Hurricane Ed. They even tried shooting state of the art dehydrating lasers at the eye of the storm but all efforts were in vain. Many were swallowed and their blood and bones rained over the mountains. The Shredis tried to slice through the storm with their shred sabers but none seemed able to conquer this furious cloud.

BY: ADT ILLUSTRATION: BIZMUT

When Master Yoda saw his disciples succumb to the storm the disturbance in the Force was so great he immediately donned his viking helmet and hurled himself against Ed. He spun massive brain waves of telekinesis between the horns of his helmet, firing his chi counter- clockwise at the storm, soaking up Ed like a sponge. A deep silence settled over the lands like God had pressed pause‌The snowboarding was a bit of a lost cause at this point, so all the surviving Shredis celebrated their survival, sippin’ on meteor juice and blasting lines of star dust till the 3rd moon rose high in the sky. poneysession.com

42. SOAP BOX

Where would you like to take your snowboarding as your meat ages?

To some deep pow with my bros.

PHOTOS: FR ODE SAND BECH

What is your favorite kind of meat?

The last one I ate.

What’s the last kind of meat you ate?

At the Thai restaurant.

Please introduce yourself.

Hey, I’m Kevin Bäckström, 18 years old from Ulricehamn, Sweden. I’ve been snowboarding since I was 4 years old and its still the best thing i know, :)

What meat would you not eat?

Green meat.

Which sauce do like on your meat?

Sweet & sour.

Where does your meat come from?

Fresh out of Sweden, bro.

3 reasons why your meat is fresher than the rest?

Haha, don’t know what to answer to this one...

What is your favorite kind of obstacle to throw your meat off?

Probably a perfect kicker with a slushy landing?

Who are your favorite meats to shred with?

Tor Lundström, Gjermund Bråten, Ludwig Lejkner and all my other friends.

Stratospheric BS air in Folgefonna

How do you like your meat cooked?

Well done.

What do you think about vegetarians?

They are confusing.

Anything you’d like to say about actual snowboarding instead of meat?

Snowboarding Is all about having fun.

Who are your sponsors?

Nike 6.0, Junkyard.se, Skullcandy, Hoppipolla

Please introduce yourself.

Weellp! My name is Johnny Lazz, 19 years young at the moment!

Nice to meet you!

Where does your meat come from?

Beautiful North Lake Tahoe.

3 reasons why your meat is fresher than the rest?

It’s medium-rare, with some pop sauce and spiced up with pepper.

What is your favorite kind of obstacle to throw your meat off?

25-foot down bar.

Who are your favorite meats to shred with?

No meatheads over here, just an alien we like to call Dylan Alito and a wizard named Forrest Bailey (aka BABBBBY, shout out to Big Dave for that one, get wid it), who came here from beyond time ‘n space to honor us with their phenomenal stunts and personalities!

Where would you like to take your snowboarding as your meat ages?

I wanna wrap my meat with eve-

Nasty tailpresser all the way through the donkey dick

PORTRAIT BY: RY AN BOYES ACTION BY: ANDR ÉS QUINTANA

rything I got into it and in the years ahead of me I’d love to travel, laugh and snowboard in some rad places with some rad people.

Most of all I want to try to understand how to jump around on my snowboard completely.

And try to get my meat to be the last entree of the movie, if you know what I mean.

What is your favorite kind of meat?

Steak, cuz that’s men’s stuff.

What’s the last kind of meat you ate?

Steak, this is what men do.

What meat would you not eat?

That dirty roastbeef, kid.

Which sauce do like on your meat?

Cuban garlic lime marinade, comes in a lil’ bottle, you can get it everywhere, peep game, you will not be disappointed.

How do you like your meat cooked?

Medium rare!

What do you think about vegetarians?

More power to them! I’m jealous, honestly, they are healthy as SHIT! Anything you’d like to say about actual snowboarding instead of meat?

It’s all mental, just think about it.

Who are your sponsors?

Volcom, Rome, 32, Electric, Celtek gloves, Neff, Skullcandy.

That kicker is a beast! Superman-sized aerial at Superpark.

part of it is fun. I’m really into competing right now so I’ll probably do that as much as I can, then hopefully start to film a bit and get into that a little more.

What is your favorite kind of meat?

I really like steak, or a nice cheeseburger.

PHOTOS: OLI GAGNON

Please introduce yourself.

My name’s Eric Willett, I’m 22 years old and I love to snowboard! Oh yea, and I’m not a vegetarian!

Where does your meat come from?

I usually get it from Safeway.

3 reasons why your meat is fresher than the rest?

One, because I live really close to the grocery store so I can cook it fast. Two, I live in the Rocky Mountains so you know it’s fresh. And three, I get nothing but the freshest.

What’s the last kind of meat you ate?

I ate a spicy chicken sandwich at Wendy’s yesterday that was pretty good.

What meat would you not eat?

Probably dog, that’s just messed up.

Which sauce do like on your meat?

I’m more of a spicy kinda guy, so anything that’s a little hot.

How do you like your meat cooked?

I hate watching my meat bleed so I always go with medium-well.

What is your favorite kind of obstacle to throw your meat off?

I try not to throw my meat.

What do you think about vegetarians?

Their life sucks. Who would torture themselves like that?

Who are your favorite meats to shred with?

Ohhh, you’re not talking about actual meat here, you’re talking about me, aren’t you? Man, that’s tricky. Well, my favorite people to shred with are my brother Chris Willett, my buddy Zak Selhamer, a bunch of my other friends from Breck and anyone who wants to have fun.

Anything you’d like to say about actual snowboarding instead of meat?

Snowboarding’s awesome, make sure you always have fun and don’t get caught up in all the crap. Don’t let people take advantage of you and never give up because it will work out sooner or later!

Where would you like to take your snowboarding as your meat ages?

I don’t know. I love snowboarding so any

Who are your sponsors?

O’Neill, Omatic, Smith, Vans, Flux, Breckenridge Resort, Celtek, Boa lacing system, Me.Glad Brand

PORTRAIT BY: MIKKEL FYKSE ACTION BY: TOMMY LARSEN

Please introduce yourself.

Straight out of Florida, but I moved to Norway when I was five years old.

Been shredding since I was about 8, a bit too cold here but yeah, fun anyways, nahmean?

Where does your meat come from?

Hmm, not sure, maybe cuz I live by myself, I know how to make the best chicken ever, and one time at this party a girl thought I was cute.

What is your favorite kind of obstacle to throw your meat off?

Everything shreddable like a boat or something.

Who are your favorite meats to shred with?

Everyone from Next and the locals from Kirkerudbakken (my local resort). But my two favorite people to shred with are Eirik Nesse and Øivind Fykse.

Where would you like to take your snowboarding as your meat ages?

Shred a lot, have fun with my friends and film with good people. When I’m done with school I want to move to Big Bear for a season and have the best time of my life.

What is your favorite kind of meat?

CHICKEN!!! All day, errrday.

What’s the last kind of meat you ate?

Haha, I just ate chicken and noodles.

What meat would you not eat?

Underage meat.

Which sauce do like on your meat?

Jessi Alfredo sauce.

How do you like your meat cooked?

I don’t like it cooked cuz baby I like it raw (Ol’ Dirty Bastard style).

What do you think about vegetarians?

I think they should start eating meat. But I have a friend who is a vegetarian so I can’t say how I really feel about them.

Anything you’d like to say about actual snowboarding instead of meat?

This whole magazine is about snowboarding, so kids can read about it there...haha but no. Snowboarding is the best ever, I love snowboarding with all my heart, I want to always have fun and never take it too seriously.

Who are your sponsors?

Mookai, Whitewater, Rome and of course, Mom and Dad.

Jessi making sure his ghetto gown doesn’t get caught by his edge on this front board transfer.

by

PHOTOS: OLI GAGNON

PILLOW DROP TO FS 180

The most important part of the trick is to have good speed built up so you can power through the deep snow of the second take off and glide out easily in the landing.

Keep your weight on your back leg when you hit the shelf so you don’t go over you nose.

Pop out of the shelf and do a simple front 180 into the landing.

Shift your weight from your back leg to your front leg, because now your front leg is your back leg.

Hold firm in the landing and don’t let the pow pull you down.

Make sure to get another face shot on the ride out!

Simple as that!

Wintertime in Sweden is pretty crazy, this photo was taken at 4 pm, we’re not even kidding. Front lip on a skinny Stockholm rail. Photo: Oli Gagnon

Hailing from the hot-bed of snowboarding known as Los Angeles, Harrison Gordon began honing his skills on a snowboard at the tender age of six, shredding nearby resorts Bear Mountain, Snow Summit and Mountain High.

Harry then moved to Mammoth at fourteen, finished school via correspondence and lapped Main and South parks day in, day out. Now a young man in his early twenties, Harrison is really coming into his own. He’s working harder than ever, riding with the best snowboarders in the game and has the right companies backing him, enabling him to do his thing. The proof is in the pudding. Want to see for yourself? Go pick up a copy of the latest offering from the Videograss crew, Pudding Proof… actually it’s called Bon Voyage, but Pudding Proof would have been cool too, I think. Maybe next year? Harrison Gordon is a beast. He has the juice and he’s just getting started. Don’t sleep.

BY: EVan LEFEBVRE

What is the worst representation of snowboarding to the public? How about the best?

The worst is probably when people think it’s a job or actually act like it’s something they have to do in order to make money.

Then it looks ugly from an outsider’s perspective. The best representation of snowboarding is through movies, for sure, they show how creative and aesthetic the whole thing is.

Would you boycott the Olympics with fellow riders to help get the FIS out of power?

NO, never, I think that’s bullshit, the FIS doesn’t influence snowboarding at all.

The riders make it what it is.

What do you expect from the Olympic slopestyle course in Socchi?

I don’t know if there will be one, but if there is I am stoked to see it and compete! I think it will be good for sure, but pipe will always be the star of the show, I guess.

What do you think about snowboarding’s image after the last Olympics?

I think the last Olympics were cool, with the night event and all. It was amazing and the reactions from spectators were too, it made a lot of new people get stoked to go ride for sure, and that’s important. I think snowboarding’s image didn’t change that much, actually.

You have dual Swiss/Russian citizenship, would you compete for Russia at Socchi 2014?

I don’t snowboard to represent any one country, I snowboard because I like doing it.

I don’t care about flags, I care for the people behind snowboarding and around me, that’s about it.

What kind of mentality does it take to win a major halfpipe contest in this day and age?

Same as 10 years ago, you have to be self-confident and competitive. Some tricks today are pretty heavy but once you have them in the bag, you have ‘em on lock like any other trick, so I think it’s all about calculating your run right. It’s also about experience.

Do you ever want to leave competitive snowboarding?

Hmm, I think I will always be a competitive snowboarder, you make it sound like it’s a job or something... It’s one of the greatest things ever to me! Maybe after I win everything I still have on my list I’ll actually answer “yes” to that question. But I don’t like being a one-trick pony, I always want to do as many things as possible, so I would never want to “only” film exclusively.

How do you feel about SLS, the new scoring system implemented by the TTR? I think it needs a few changes still but in the end it’s all the same for us, you just need to rip it, all the riders know what it takes to win. For the spectators it’s probably better with SLS though, and I think that’s cool.

What comes after double corks and double McTwists?

Variation, creativity but also just a lot of mixing it all up cuz it’s just so much fun.

At first you’re scared to do them, but nowadays if I walk off the hill without doing some of those crazy tricks I don’t feel satisfied!

Define style.

Individuality and skill combined. What makes style “good” or not is if it jibes with the aesthetic taste of the person who is watching or judging.

No need for double McT’s when it’s in the bag, am I right? FS tuck knee on the best victory lap we’ve seen. Photo: Dave Lehl

This is about as far away from the X Games as you can get. From double gold to double drop, Retallack backcountry. Photo: Vanessa Andrieux

Have you done any freaky Scotty Lago-like things with your X Games gold medals?

Hahaha, no nothing freaky but I did sleep with it on the night I won and woke up with it imprinted between my boobs.

Did you film for any movies this year?

Is the there a sequel to Stance?

Sadly I did not, as I would have liked to have had a film part. I have a tiny bit of footage in one of the Oakley podcasts from a week catboarding in Canada, it was fantastic powder. I had such a fun week riding with everyone, maybe I didn’t focus enough on filming but I enjoyed the snow lots.

Which rider is raising the bar in women’s snowboarding the most right now?

Who knows? Let’s just get on and ride, enjoy what you see but ride more than just watch.

Newest fancy stunt you are working on?

Getting off this race bike with fixed clip-in shoes and not eating shit.

Would you ride the Air & Style Innsbruck quarterpipe if they let girls drop?

No, because I can’t ride quarters, however if it was a jump I would like to try it.

desires which makes you happy?

I say ask the monks as apparently they are the happiest people on earth, shown in some scientific study of the brain.

Pick one: become a professional snowblader or ride dryslope for the rest of your shred life?

Professional dryslope snowblader, please.

Have you ever met the American news reporter Jenny Jones and asked her to give back your name?

No. Marmite or mint sauce?

I like both but I guess mint sauce on a nice Sunday roast with Yorkshire pudding, mmmmm...

Hugs or kisses?

Cock. Sorry, did I say that out loud? I meant to say hugs.

What is the last thing you saw in your dreams?

A week ago I dreamt I was making out with a vampire, it was a bit saucy and weird, ha. But my most recent was a flying dream that was amazing.

Is having no desires the definition of true happiness or is it actually fulfilling your

Do what you love do or love what you do?

Surely this is a trick question, no?

Milk or sugar?

Sugar.

Do you fancy a fancy dress party with fancy people?

I would fancy a fancy dress party for sure. What’s the fancy dress? And when is this fancy dress party? I do hope it’s rather fancy.

pthe world. O from around crew is h d an n media circus au chartered Sh Opthe Olymp rah Winfrey was go time. . it ed d lv an he run-up to t vo je in e te n u d we in yo an m an er r st uv fo la a p in Vanco orld u w s ous business u d d ar . It ke bo ic ow p ow the sn rah’s jet for her sh For a season out the ht to Chicago dab ig en ch ra p u st m im d ’s as de n re ea au seemed to ca racers. In the 3 years h to be the first stop on Sh ld ou w s i as op sk w St owOlympics as , e media tour. ipe event, sn ilan, Salzburg ing worldwid lympic halfp O st n la ai e rk, London, M al was to m th Yo e th ew since in N E de G u U cl go H in The gotten A. and Tokyo. rgest media boarding had fter the Burton New ZeaFrankfurt, L. la ’s A ld . ia or e w ed th e m at th e. stream many of hich was, as w es as possibl it st h gu am u G A e e st n non after th te, everyo co so , da p land Open la as to ee s sl st et e tl te tl n ou lit viest co is meant very about snowanged fortime, the hea For Shaun, th riding was ch e ip e fp bl u al being asked h do ed realiz corks t jet-lag and ad the new h an rs st de ri p s and double to e the Olympic ne had on ore TV, ever. All the g, yo m n e er di er ev ar w d e bo an er lock a day. Th es m ti s an you cork tricks on e Olympics. All of a sudth ou s er num pearance th ap n d: er ai in tr ap e m sp er in w ew goal riders wondering radio and n ld’s best pipe ake up daily w e. I d on e’ al W t t. n en u den the wor ev ntries in to could co try we were in. Nine cou y-out for one n ing day-in, da arders weren’t supposed u co at bo out wh that to you. thought snow nd of thing? Well, turns 18 days will do ki ais ep th t pr d best care abou aining an ay were the hen all this tr gold medal s along the w se ri n we do, and w er rp io h su sh ot e fa an Th like ates in , who doesn’t wn an Austrian r a holiday ration culmin part, I mean ld be time fo do g ou n w di it k ed sl in , t? n th ht or you’d hem, righ s in Mila ay ow m sh e th dle of the nig id om m againside in the and a break fr m ta e n on ou St m g ium cover of Rollin ture, indeed! ok to the pod being on the en ter Shaun to ld af rs go ic ou p h Excellent Adv m ’s w A fe second Oly ne? Shaun is zi h d de e ar th and was aw zvous with time to rende medal it was BE L’HEUREUX OTOS BY: GA WORDS & PH ics was seri-

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BY: JOAQUÍN FRANCISCO PHOTOS: OLI GAGNON, LIAM GALLAGHER

& BOB PLUMB ILLUSTRATION: CRISTIAN TORO BORLAND

Jed lights up these stairs like the 4th of July, nose tap to firecracker in Prague. Photo: Oli Gagnon

If you thought Jed only rode metal pipes, think again.

Put that in your half pipe and smoke it! Early season FS in Hintertux. Photo: Oli Gagnon

been willing to ces, not until recently have people Let’s talk about snowboard stan even try different stances. like 21 inches now. s it was pretty narrow for a bit but it’s Mine’s pretty normal right now, I gues a narrow stance?

Is it easier to do certain things with so it’s easier stuff, your feet are closer together and rails of off Yea, it’s easier to do spins to twist your body.

Does any of that stem from how you stand on your skateboard?

Kind of. I don’t really think they relate that much because I feel a lot of people who ride skinny stance don’t even skate, or at least they don’t skate enough to claim that’s why they do it. The reason I don’t really have a super crazy one right now is because I think it looks weird if you aren’t the right person for it. Still, it’s definitely more fun than having a normal or wide stance. Grabs are cooler, tweaks.

Fire in the hole! Street slappy in Omaha.

Photo: Liam Gallagher

Sneaking in a cheeky tuck knee before the front lip, Calgary. Photo: Oli Gagnon

You’re almost 19, is it weird to go to Mt. Hood and see a ton of kids who are dressed like you and clearly influenced by what you’re doing?

I don’t get weirded out but I do think it’s weird. I don’t really pay attention to it though, I just think it’s funny. It’s not even weird, it’s just funny.

Are you flattered when you meet kids who are influenced by you?

Hell yea, it’s sick. It feels great for kids to like what you’re doing and get good feedback from them. It’s kinda crazy, hard to believe that I’m an influence to all these kids.

The first-eve r recorded se ismec movem Prague occu ent in rred millisec onds after Je this FS 3 50-5 d stomped 0. Bossy! Phot os: Oli Gagno n

Do you like riding powder?

For sure! I just don’t like sledding, I like resort powder. I don’t really like going into the backcountry, cuz it’s scary and I don’t want to die snowboarding. I’m not really trained enough to go out there.

I just watched all your footage from this year and, not to be a dork, but it just looks like you are having so much fun. Is it because your confidence level is so high or have you just done it so much at this point that your level of fear and anxiety is always low?

There’s only a few things I did this year that I was scared of, even though it’s only ever scary the first time you hit it. Growing up riding sketchy rails at the resort and then trying to figure out handrails, sketchy drop in ramps, you just get comfortable doing it year after

year after year. I remember my first year doing handrails, I didn’t know anything, I was hitting the rail from the outside of the stairs cuz we didn’t know that wasn’t cool. Plus, the jump was for sure further down than the top of the rail. It was the year after Love/Hate had come out and I remember doing the sketchiest noseslide pretzels, coming off early for sure, and thinking “I’m as good as Darrell Mathes”. (Laughs) I’d watch his part, he had a noseslide pretzel and since I did it on a ten-stair with a jump halfway down the stairs, I just figured I was probably just as good as him. (Laughs) I was like, 14 or something...

It’s pretty common for someone that rides a lot of rails to get called out on it, but you never hear anybody talk about Devun Walsh or Nicolas Muller, “yea, but they only ride powder”. Why do you think that is?

Because a lot of dudes think that snowboarding on rails isn’t snowboarding, or at least not real snowboarding.

Keeping things interesting, 5-0 to 5-0 to 5-0 at a squirrelly Eastern European spot. Photo: Oli Gagnon

AK isn’t all steep faces and crazy exposure. Jed smellin’ out the sweet spot in this blind tranny finder in Anchorage. Photos: Bob Plumb

But if kids are having fun doing it then whatever, who cares. Not everyone has access to a real mountain. I’m sure if those Minnesota kids lived in Mt. Baker they’d all be ridiculous at riding powder. It’s so weird in snowboarding, how that is. I hate always comparing it to skateboarding but skaters don’t go around saying “that guy only skates tranny, I don’t like him” or “that guy only skates ledges”.

and what they believe in, they follow their values.

Not even the values that they were brought up with, just things they’ve figured out on their own. I look up to Louif a lot, he’s a fucking smart guy who’s snowboarding and also does other shit with his life but he’s always super professional about getting his job done. I look up to people who are living in the now but who also have other interests and treat their lives like a gift and aren’t just blowing it away. Anyone who is an individual, anyone who’s legitimately doing something without caring if it’s cool or not, I think that’s sick, even if it’s something I’m not down for. It’s really hard to do, especially if it isn’t accepted by society.

We’ve talked about kids who look up to you, who do you look up to?

It’s different for me, because there are people I look up to and then there are people I look up to to get psyched to go snowboarding or skating. Mainly I look up to my family, my brother and a few of my good friends. They’re just real humans who stick to their guns

How do you feel when you read super hateful comments about yourself on the internet?

I don’t really care, people are going to hate, I’m doing fine with my life and if I’m happy with how things are going then I don’t re-

ally care what people have to say. If it was one of my friends or someone who’s close to me doing the hating, it’d be a different story, I’d be bummed. But if it’s just someone random hating for no reason, screw ‘em, I don’t care.

I go to a lot of spots with a lot of different people, and you generally tend to land the most shit the quickest. I’m not trying to make you sound like a douche but does snowboarding feel easy for you?

I don’t want to sound cocky.... (pause) If it’s a 20-stair down rail, it’s... not hard, really.

How much of it is mental?

All of it, pretty much. I feel like I know my boundaries really well, I’ll know if I can’t do something and I just won’t even try it. But if I look at something and think, “this is scary but I know I can do it”, then I can. It’s just a matter of getting my head wrapped around it, you just have to try it.

What’s it like traveling the world at such a young age? Because it’s already a far-out experience for anyone, let alone right in the middle of growing up...

Sometimes, when I’ve been on the road for a long time I think “I don’t want to go there”, but it’s such a blessing that you just have to do it. Every time I think about it I realize how ridiculous it is, I can’t believe people are giving me these opportunities to go somewhere like Japan, it’s just insane. Three years ago I traveled a lot but just around North America, now people ask me all mellow-like, “we’re doing a trip to Europe, do you want to come?”. It’s such a normal thing in snowboarding to just travel all over the world, I still haven’t gotten used to that yet.

You got the last part in the new Videograss movie. Do you think about that when you’re filming, like do you consciously fo-

cus on getting last part or do you just do your thing? Does it take a focused mindset all year round to get last part?

I don’t really think about it during the year, but I always try to film the best part I can.

I make a list of tricks I want to do that year then when I go to a rail I try to remember everything I wrote down and do them. But I don’t ever think, “I’m going for last part, I’m competing with that guy for last part”, it just ends up happening that way. I know I might even regret saying this but if you’re filming for a movie that a million other kids would totally chuck themselves to be in, you better do your best.

What’s up with the Brent Meyer tribute at the beginning of your part, was that actually a tribute or a call-out?

It was a tribute. The darkslide was sick, who else would even try that, Brent Meyer is a pimp. Smooth criminal, darksliding upsidedown, back flip on, front flip off... (laughs) it’s funny, people who talk the most about creativity in snowboarding tend to be the least creative ones out there. How do you feel about all that?

I think snowboard videos are kind of boring in general, that’s just my opinion though. What gets me hyped are things that are not kooky and which I haven’t seen done before, stuff that makes me think “why didn’t I think of that”. That’s what gets me psyched.

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Jed AKA SRS One, outstanding back tail in Hintertux. Style Reigns Supreme! Photo: Oli Gagnon

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Ethan, frosty switch back 18 0 stomper.

Gjermund

Jamie Nicholls is one of those naturally gifted riders who just never seems to fall. Frontside tail boner on the hip from the MILF Hunter.

The Sprocking Cat came through for a hot minute.

Haakon with the indy transfer over the channel.

Jamie

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Things can get a little trippy shooting snowboarding on a remote glacier at 3 in the morning.

Gjermund smokes a latenight Andrecht transfer.

WORDS & PH OTOS: JÉRôME TANON

C

lement Maillet, the Pirates filmer from the land of fromage, had been telling the crew to come over his home spot Avoriaz for years. Finally, at the tail end of last February, some epic snowfall and conditions convinced Tyler Chorlton, Danny Larsen, Kalle Ohlson and myself to make the trek to this legendary French resort. We arrived, dropped off our gear in a rabbit warren of an apartment and immediately started cruising around, scoping for spots in the middle of a blizzard. What was supposed to be a backcountry kicker trip slowly evolved into an adventure deep in the woods.

The howling wind was blowing everything off the top and it just wouldn’t stop snowing, so we found shelter in the trees. It’s one of those trips where you almost never get to see the sun, difficult and painful. Squeezing some fun out of full-on blizzard conditions is not an easy thing to do.

Any other crew I know would have surrendered after a few days. Not the Pirates, though. We spent days, soaked to the bone, shredding and hiking in deserted zones. Every beautiful pine was a potential trap if you came too close, the branches creating a deadly tree well two meters deep. Hiking was tough but it was the biggest dump of the season in Europe and there was no way we were gonna let all this sweet cherry pow get tracked by random skiers!

Tyler flings a fluffy front five through frosty flurries

Avoriaz is a treasure chest of amazing spots, massive pillows are everywhere and with a bit of imagination there are never-ending combos to be had. There were massive accumulations of snow in there amongst the trees and you could huck your carcass with no fear off absolutely anything. Tyler, the Anglo-Andorran mustache ripper, immediately decided to launch the biggest pilllow gaps he could possibly find. He landed his first try on a pillow waaaay down the face, held on for the outrun and rode away clean...

NEXT!

Basically Tyler crushed every pillow gap he found, stalefishes, front 3’s and 5’s, dude was charging! Meanwhile, Danny, the super creative Norwegian Lord of Darkness, was trying to handplant this, butter that, backflip that other thing... off every and anything that crossed his path.

But we had a problem: Clement and I were shooting only with film, so the riders had no way of seeing how was their tricks looked for the movie (The new Pirates flick, Hooked, go buy one now!). We had to tape Danny’s personal handicam to Clement’s 8mm so we could also film “digi” and check the shots.

Who cut the cheese? Larsen rips out a cab 5.

Danny makes like a tree and plants an Andrecht

Another challenge were foggy goggles aka “foggles”. After a couple of slams and hikes, the boys couldn’t see shit, even with extra goggles and lenses in their backpacks. This was a daily occurrence, usually by around 11 am no one could see shit...

Every night, exhausted, we would use anything we could find in the apartment to hang and dry our sopping wet gear, we even used the oven to dry out gloves and beanies. But no matter what we tried, our boots were always wet in the morning.

Kalle, our Swedish all-terrain kid, threw down some rodeos, ollies and back 3’s. Kalle was charging too but almost he ended up landing flat or on a hidden bump almost every try. On the last day, after a week of non-stop bad weather, he found a perfect pillow gap and threw one of those methods that would break anyone out of their slump and all smiley!

We were pillaging the French seas of mountain cheese, riding deep in the woods where the only sounds were falling flakes and the occasional mutterings from time to time...

“Where are youuuu?”, “FUCK!” or “Goddamnit” whenever any of us ended up stuck in the deep snow or a tree well.

It took a lot of time and energy for only a few shots, in an experience we will always remember as “hardcore” in every sense of the word. No one in their right mind would head out and ride in weather like that but by making ourselves do it, we overcame being wet and blind all day and lapped the funnest pillow runs ever. At the end of our last day in Avoriaz, we left our camera bags at a lift station and just rode for ourselves. There was so much snow it got to the point where you didn’t even care about bailing or not, you just blasted off some pillow and checked the landing once you were already in the air.

Damn, when I look back, it was hell of a good trip. Would we do it again if we had the chance? For sure! Fuck yeah!

Kalle steezy back 3 transfer from Reblochon pillow to bowl of Beaufort.

Chorlton chucks a mighty sender over chunks of Camembert.

Photo: Frode Sandbech BY: GIGI RĂœF, Billy anderson & baron photos: vernon deck & Frode sandbech cAPTIONS: VERNON DECK

her day. Whooping crane slas Shitty weather, awesome

k

in NZ. Photo: Vernon Dec

A

t first having a whole movie project revolving around me felt like quite a lot on my plate. Nonetheless I have always dreamed about making it this far in snowboarding. It’s not like I ever wanted to win a prize in competing in this sport, that’s not what pushed me further into a pro career. My outlook on snowboarding was always based on the lifestyle aspect, it’s something I learned from making videos, just committing to traveling and building a well-rounded video part showing all the facets of your riding. Once Volcom and Veeco Productions green-lighted the 9191 project it was up to Billy Anderson to actually put it into perspective for me. “Just have fun with it!” is what he told me.

The movie is an amalgamation of trips I took with different shredheads with no real agenda except ride like the wicked. Throughout this seemingly normal season I had a lot of fun because I rode as much as I could and didn’t focus on what was gonna come out in the end. I pushed the final result aside and let Jake Price, who I walked handin-hand with throughout this project, piece it together. The movie has a bit of a personal touch from things like some of my own filming and an original soundtrack, which was produced by Baron solely for our travels and motivation.

Guch knows all the nooks and crannies. Inbounds at Jackson. Photo: Vernon Deck

This was a zone in Jackson Hole that we went back to a couple of times, lots of options.

This hairy line by Gigi was the best snowboarding I’ve ever seen live. Photo: Vernon Deck

Gigi goes one better, massive natty tranny tip grab in Laax. Photo: Frode sandbech

It was a long process, but a good one. It was a group decision which we made together. After all the hard work Gigi had put in over the years we knew he was capable and deserving. He’s a very creative individual and snowboarder who made the commitment to put 100% into this project and he didn’t disappoint. At times the odds were against him, conditions weren’t the best this past winter but Gigi kept after it, chasing storms around the globe and spending an unbelievable amount of time on the road. The crew finished shooting in Chile one week before the premiere! Gigi is remarkably dedicated and it shows in the film.

Jake Price rips on a snowboard! Terje amped him up to hit this, Gnarlberg. Photo: Vernon Deck

Frode sandbech

Working on 9191 was a really cool experience, making a soundtrack specifically for one person really gives you a huge scope to make lots of music around the range of your own taste and theirs. Gigi and Jake nearly killed themselves making this movie, I thought it only apt that I did the same in the studio.

Gigi’s magic carpet ride. Photo: Vernon Deck

Wille Yli-Luoma, halfcab’n Jackson. Dude is a beast, on a board, on a sled and at the bar. Photo: Vernon Deck

Yo Jake, tell us about the movie.

The film is based on the 09/10 travels of Gigi Rüf. Volcom was trusting enough to just send Gigi and I out into the wilderness and point cameras at things, mostly snowboarding. I’d like to describe the feel of the movie as “old-school new”.

How did you come to be chosen as director/cinematographer?

9191 was the 5th film I’ve directed, filmed and edited on my own. I guess I was at the right place in my filming career at the right time. Hard work and being engulfed in snowboarding has always paid off for me in opportunities.

How’s it been spending the last 24 months having adventures with Gigs?

We came to grips with making sure we didn’t stress out about getting shots for the movie. We wanted the film to be as natural as possible. Real snowboarding in natural environments, not just doing it for the shot, there was always fun involved.

What was it like editing on the fly in Chile?

All I can say is that I powered through the editing. The 9191 DVD is packed, not only including the main feature, but over 22 bonus features. I’ve been editing all parts of the film for the past 4 months straight.

Needless to say, I think my eyeballs are melting and there is something for everyone in the final product.

One of the biggest booters I’ve ever seen. It claimed two victims this day. Gigi gigantor front 10 stomper. Photo: Vernon Deck

What does this project means to you?

Snowboarding is my #1 passion, so every movie I make, I give it my all. 9191 is the next step in where and what I want to be doing, namely enjoying life and getting as many powder days as possible.

Benji Richie falling off the edge of the Earth, front seven in Whistler. Photo: Oli Gagnon

Nick Dirks is not a jerk. Backside pole jammer in the Calgary frontcountry. Photo: Oli Gagnon

Sounds gnarly! Photo: Daniel Blom

Kareem “The Dream” El Rafie slays it in the Stockholm suburbs, tail tap FS 180. Photo: Daniel Blom

Steve Gruber scratches his itch, fully committed oververt FS invert in the Whistler backcountry.

Photo: Oli Gagnon

Have you ever heard the expression “testicular fortitude”? Eero Ettala switch blunt to fakie in Helsinki. Photo: Daniel Blom

Starring DCP as Captain Snowbeard... Photo: Oli Gagnon

Grendys ♥ baguettes. Photo: Oli Gagnon

Fuck it, just chuck it. Lucas Debari face-melter in Whistler. Photo: Oli Gagnon

Bennee blindside bones a 270 into the bank, Utah. Photo: Bob Plumb

Dr. Koski makes his first incision with this BS900 in Ă…re. Photo: Daniel Blom

Jess Kimura + 5-0 + transfer drop = RADICAL! Photo: Oli Croteau