Page 116 November 2007
Year 04 Issue 02
The Lost Art Bjorn Leines
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Written by Stan Evans
Portrait by Stan Evans
Photo Quotes by Bjorn Leines
Nowadays there are so many choices of hats out there it’s hard to find one that fits just right. There is the crisp, hip-hop inspired New Era™, the fashionista fedora, the purposeful earflap beanie or the cableknit that looks like your grandma made it. But if you had to pick just one to define yourself, how would you do it? Bjorn is a man who wears many hats. On any given day, he checks in as a professional snowboarder, Celtek co-owner, father, husband, mentor and friend to younger shreds. One might ask how he handles all those responsibilities with such crazy variables? Simple—he’s down for whatever, as long as it gives him a thrill and a challenge. Some people live life in cruise control, while others have an innate need to push themselves further. Bjorn is one of the latter; in fact he was the whole inspiration for how the “Lost Art” series of article came about. In one day, Bjorn may be out doing lines in the morning, shift over to jibs in the afternoon, take phone calls from his DC manager and still manage to make it home in time for dinner with the kids. It’s easy to see how Bjorn’s everyday life parallels the one on his shred stick. Whether it’s halfpipes, big exposed lines, backcountry booters or jibs he’s ready to handle his bizness. He doesn’t need a special hat to fit an ideal situation. He’ll just put on the neon orange Remington that he picked up on a hunting trip back in Minnesota, give a sly grin, drop in and make it look easy.
Snowboard Magazine Products, Places & Personalities
Page 117 November Issue
Page 118 November 2007
The Lost Art Bjorn Leines
Year 04 Issue 02
Get involved: snowboard-mag.com
Snowboard Magazine Products, Places & Personalities
Snowboard Magazine Products, Places & Personalities
The Tree Jib
The Line
Natural jibs like this half-fallen tree always have an exciting twist to deal with. Lots of variables play into landing a trick like this—speed, balance, and ollie timing. First, we used collapsible saws to clean off some jagged branches to make this tree rideable. The speed factor was high since you needed to ride almost all the way to the end of the tree before ollieing out over the branches and then clear a short transition landing with a fast run out through a forest. We had an amazing session with Aaron Biittner and the DC film crew. It was a combination of jibbing and “all-out-go-for-it snowboarding” to make it to the landing zone. I love it when you can get super creative in a natural setting. Once you convince yourself that it is possible to ride a feature like this then the rest is usually pretty easy. It did take a lot of commitment to lock in on the tree ride before popping to the landing. This may sound kind of cheesy but like almost anything in life, the first step is to believe that anything is possible.
This is my favorite type of shredding. I love the mental and adrenaline build-up that you experience right before you drop in for a technical line or air. This particular area is located in the Utah backcountry near Brighton and is generally rideable by Christmas. We had just received a good storm cycle and this was our first day out dropping lines in the backcountry. This slope is a super playful area but also has a lot of rocks and hazards that you have to be aware of. For me, this is when I feel the most comfortable on my board. Strapping in above a line is usually the most dangerous part, then come the yells back and forth to the filmers and crew, and finally a quick five-second countdown indicating…I’m about to drop. I’ve realized that as soon as I drop in that’s when everything else in the world just sort of fades away—it’s almost like being in a trance. I become caught in the moment and focus entirely on the route down the slope. Then comes the best part—this incredible feeling, like an overwhelming rush, as you ride out the bottom, then looking back up, so stoked on pushing yourself to overcome the fear of what could go wrong. Riding out to your friends and exchanging cheers, high fives and expressing relief on another safe and successful ride is what unites our passion for the shred. This type of riding gives me a means of expressing my spirit and love for snowboarding.
Photograph by Stan Evans
Photograph by Stan Evans
Page 119 November Issue
Page 120 November 2007
Year 04 Issue 02
The Lost Art Bjorn Leines
The Cliff Drop Jumping off cliffs or over rocks is perhaps one of the most technical and scary aspects of riding. Besides jumping, it’s the closest to flying like a bird that I have experienced. The main factor is usually the distance that you need to clear over the rocks to the landing and the trajectory to get you right into that sweet spot. With almost every cliff that you find, the landings are generally small steep trannies that form up right at the bottom of the cliff. Most of the time the sweet spot is actually a pile of rocks covered with a layer of snow. So, generally when we are out filming, we will play paper, rock, scissors to see who is going first. That’s usually the scary part, trying to pick a spot to start from and get up to that exact speed so you land where you want. It’s a funny thing jumping cliffs, the landings are usually 10 times flatter from the top than they appear from the bottom or from the photographer’s angle. On this cliff, after successfully landing my first few tricks, I went for one last move and felt really on it in the air, ready to stomp out the landing. But on impact I sunk through the fragile sweet spot snow shelf right onto a rock, which catapulted me tumbling out of control into about seven or eight cartwheels. That’s when you put yourself at extreme risk of hitting a hidden rock or even a frozen chunk of snow and getting injured. After a backcountry shred day, it’s a given that my board will have some serious scrapes, dents, divots, cracks or p-tex missing. Photograph by Stan Evans
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Page 121 November Issue
Page 122 November 2007
The Lost Art Bjorn Leines
Year 04 Issue 02
Get involved: snowboard-mag.com
Snowboard Magazine Products, Places & Personalities
Snowboard Magazine Products, Places & Personalities
The Park Feature
The Pipe Air
Anytime I slide, jib, or ride metal, I can’t help but think about skateboarders. My brothers and I first started snowboarding on our skateboard decks with shoelaces for bindings. Skateboarding was my first love but snowboarding allowed me to almost pretend that I was a good skater. Jibbing is about as close to that skating sensation as you can get on a snowboard. With this particular bus jib, we were up at Brighton shooting for Rome’s ANY MEANS video, and Randy, the resort manager, actually came up and built us a little quarter pipe so we could jib it. It was a quick tranny up to the ollie on top of the bus, then you could lock out a stall trick on the edge of the roof. Unique jibs like this are always a fun session. I just try to get a clear picture in my mind of a pro skater like Eric Koston or someone with sick style, then I tell myself how easy it will be since my board is strapped to my feet and I don’t have to think about falling off a skate. It seems to me that jibbing is the hub of snowboarding right now. I guess it’s because kids don’t need to have a mountain to ride—all you need is some snow and an obstacle to shred. Jib on lil’ homies.
There are numerous factors that come into play when riding a half pipe. Timing, speed, edge control, strength, composure, style, amplitude, tweak, rotation and landing. With pipe riding, you really have to be on your game mentally and physically to handle the compression of the transition. Halfpipe was always a way for me to imagine being a really good ramp skateboarder. Before droppin’ in I usually mentally visualize my line down and the tricks that I want to do. On this day, Shaun White just happened to be in the Park City pipe doing a private shoot, so the MULE (a.k.a. my brother Erik) and I got to have a sick session with arguably the best pipe rider ever. With each run we would try to push it faster and higher than the previous one. And if you get the opportunity to ride with someone as powerful and stylish as Shaun it somehow tends to rub off on you. It seems that your progression in the halfpipe can relate directly to your level of commitment to hold a solid edge and stance towards the ever-faster approaching wall. I always enjoy pipe riding—it just reminds me of those early snowboarding days when I felt like a snow skater. You have this freedom to go for it on each air or simply chill out and flow something smooth. Never underestimate a pipe jock, because they have insane board control and precision pop when they ride.
Photograph by Stan Evans
Photograph by Stan Evans
Page 123 November Issue
Page 124 November 2007
The Backcountry Jump Hitting jumps in the backcountry is the best. Usually the hardest part of the whole equation is finding good terrain. Lucky for us, you don’t have to look very far when you are up in the Canadian backcountry near Whistler. In my opinion, combining freestyle tricks with natural terrain seems to be the evolution of progression in snowboarding right now. With all the insane parks available for riding and learn tricks, the next step is bringing that bag of tricks to the backcountry. After a quick inspection, we built a kicker off of this fun cornice line. On this jump, the tricky part was landing in the right place. Any time that you are jumping, the main factor for success, besides speed and trajectory, is putting your landing gear down. The key is to always spot the landing with your eyes before touchdown. For some reason, the landings almost always look longer in photos or from the bottom of the jump. 95 percent of the time it is a small “sweet spot” of transition that takes a lot of accuracy to pinpoint. After a game of paper, rock, scissors, it was my turn to drop in first. I remember thinking to myself, “Don’t go too fast, or you’ll land at the bottom and blow out.” Luckily for me and my knees, that didn’t happen. Photograph by Nate Christenson
The Lost Art Bjorn Leines
Year 04 Issue 02
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