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Rufus Tangen is becoming a big name in the urban scene. Known for his flawlessness when it comes to the rails. Making it all look easy is the most important thing according to the man himself. TWO went to Lillehammer with Rufus to do a couple of shoots and getting to know him better. He has been pretty busy this winter working on his season edit for 2016.
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TWO visited the triple kink rail in Mysen along with this months featured rider Rufus Tangen. The rail is located in Indre østfold close to the town hall in the central of Mysen. The first rider known to hit this feature is Alexander Klerud of Stillmaking Productions back in 2009. The rail itself is quite steep with soft kinks. Its recommended to go slow as the rail has a “anklebreaker” at the end. The location is fairly public, but not many issues with cops or security has been reported from our sources. CCTV is installed at the town hall, but the spot is out of sight.
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WHATS GOING ON RUFUS? I’m home in Sarpsborg to get ready for the next season. There is a lot of running, strength, cycling and of course railsessions. Im working as much as I can to afford to travel around next winter. Im currently planning the coming season. This season has been my best so far with 172 days in the boots. I started my season with a trip to Zermatt to get a early start, after I came home from Switzerland I went on a tour in Norway, I remained mostly in the Lillehammer area before travelig to America. We got lucky with a lot of powder in Norway so that was pretty cool. After America I went straight to Åre and after that to Fonna. Wish I was there a little earlier as the conditions were so sick. After Fonna I finished my season with a second trip to Zermatt for 2 weeks, got only one week on skis because my luggage got stuck at the airport for a week, so sad.
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THE FUTURE OF URBAN With such a fast progressing sport, it can be hard to foresee the progression. If we look at the ski movie industry, more and more of the typical park and freeride footage is being replaced with urbans shots. It seems like the audience as well as the athletes are tired of the same old perfection that has been the standard of edits and movies for a good amount of years now. Many argue that skiing has turned to a money machine and lost its old purpose of truly being free, no rules or standards. With todays comeptitive athletes skiing for a living, the sport has definitely gained more awareness in the media. Sponsorship might be one of the big reasons the sport has changed so rapidly, but at the same time helped with the fast progression. It is nice to see that it is slowly going back towards the true purpose. That skiers are tired of future spins and quad corks. Its time to focus on style and pushing the urban scene even more. Only creativity can set the limits.
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OFF SEASON We all know how important the off season training really is. We talked to some of the locals in Sarpsborg to figure out their off season routines. The Tangen brothers took us to a football pitch called “Dumpa� which basically means the hill or the bump in norwegian. What met us was a pretty decent setup consisting of a 7 meter long pvc pipe and a tiny kicker built out of a pallet. They had made a innrun as well with some leftover snow and a bit of shaved ice from the indoor icehockey rink close to the football pitch. According to Tomas they get the preppers at the ice rink to dump of the snow so they can use it. The preppers seemd more than happy to help out the boys with their sketchy little innrun. Which is a nice thing to see as we know that many look at skiing as some sort of vandalism. As soon as the setup is ready, Rufus and Tomas quickly give it a couple of straight runs to get the feel and a bit warm in the boots. Soon enough they go through their routines of tricks. A good tip is to always try to pull off all 8 as some sort of base layer, then you can go for the more advanced and experimental.
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SCAN FOR VIDEO OR WATCH AT: https://vimeo.com/165845570
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In Norway, film company Field Productions has started promoting skiing videos on the mass market. Tens of thousands of people went to watch Supervention, a film that features urban skiing, after it was released in cinemas across the country late last year.The job may seem glamorous, but it can also be demanding.First, the skiers have to scout out features on which they can perform an original trick.
Officials in the US are seen as being stricter about urban skiing than their counterparts in Scandinavia though the police in St Paul seemed unusually relaxed. At one site, they responded to a complaint from a resident only to suggest an alternative spot to the skiers. When the skiers returned a couple of days later, another police car arrived, but the policeman sat in his car watching for more than 20 minutes before finally encouraging the skiers to move on.
“We usually start with high schools and parks and that sort of area because the architecture’s usually conducive - there are stairs and railings and balconies,” says Logan Imlach, another of the skiers in St Paul. “But you branch out to really anywhere in cities - wherever there’s concrete and metal there’s a good chance that you can ski on it.”
Sig Tveit, a Norwegian urban skier currently on tour in Sweden, says he’s seen many more people skiing and snowboarding in Scandinavian cities recently - “just friends going out in the streets and filming each other. I think there’s a lot of that.”
Snow ramps are often constructed in advance, to limit the time spent on site. When the skiers return, water and salt is sprinkled over the snow to prevent them from crumbling, or in urban skiing slang, turning into “mashed potatoes”.
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Tveit also says that some urban skiers who learnt to ski in cities without ever going to a resort have been emerging from Russia and eastern European countries. The urban skiers take some pride in the underground, amateur nature of what they do. To borrow a word from their phrasebook, it can be more “gnarly” (scary and dangerous) than skiing on a mountain, and more authentic than going to a ski park with built-in rails and jumps.
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SKIZOPHRENIA Skiing nowadays is much more than hitting the slopes for a bit of fun. For many it has become a lifestyle. Due to the incredibly fast progression of the sport. Skiers had to constantly practice and follow up. As a result of this fast progression, new ways of bringing something fresh to both competitions and filmmaking was greatly needed. Many started to develop new ways of doing old tricks. Bringing more style and flavour into the game. A new mentality that would take the sport out of its traditional perspective. One could say the art of skiing was revolutionised or reborn. Heavily influenced by the skate and snowboard sub culture, skiing found it’s way to the streets where endless opportunities would await the hungry souls. As long as there is snow, the only limitation is your own mind. It’s not about pulling off the biggest jumps, or the most flips anymore. It’s all about creativity, you have to see the streets from a whole new perspective. You’ve gotta be a little skizophrenic.
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SCAN FOR VIDEO OR WATCH AT: https://vimeo.com/165835408
Its all about doing stuff at places you are not supposed to
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WITH THE STREETS AS A CANVAS Behind a 5 minute edit there are usually hours and hours of hard work, slams, sweat and tears. Every skier knows how difficult it can be to get that perfect shot. It’s all about dedication and sacrifice. Everything has to be perfect. The weather, the setup, snow conditions, equipment and mental state.
Surely there is nothing better than the feeling you get when everything is spot on perfect. There is a lot of pride behind much of the edits people in the freeski community put out. The creative productions and ever changing flavour of skiing is what pushes us forward and really brings us all together.
When the actual skiing is done and you are happy with the session, the long journey of editing begins. Finding the perfect way to portray your riding. Spending hours to find the right soundtrack to go with and sync the clips to. Color correcting, cutting. It all boils down to patience and yet a again some more dedication.
I would consider most freeskiers as artists. The streets and the slopes are their canvas, in which they paint beautifully with their individual styles and techniques. And with such a diverse community a huge mix of minds come together and create art on a daily basis. We inspire eachother to become better, to be different and keep pushing skiing to the next level.
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“You put on your boots, click into your bindings, dust the snow off your skis, and head out for the chair, and it doesn’t matter that you failed a test, didn’t get the girl, or that your life is on a one way trip down the shitter, your world is right for the next couple of hours.”
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HAZARDS Protocol demands that snow be shovelled from concrete steps under railings, so those who slip off don’t get away with a soft landing.Tricks are then repeated again and again, until skier and cameraman are both happy. One hazard is being kicked off sites by the police or property owners, either of whom could be worried about damage or liability. When the skiers returned a couple of days later, another police car arrived, but the policeman sat in his car watching for more than 20 minutes before finally encouraging the skiers to move on.
Another hazard is injuries. The skiers have broken bones, torn ligaments, and suffered concussions on a regular basis. Logan Imlach falls It is also hard to make a living. Whilst freeskiers who compete in big competitions can strike more lucrative sponsorship deals. the urban specialists say they struggle to make it through the winter.The crew of four in St Paul were sharing two double beds in a single motel room and making their own sandwiches for lunch.
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Imagination is the fuel that drives urban skiing. As long as there is snow, you can ski it. It just a matter of how to get there, how to stay clear of police and how to stay safe.
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Imagination is what keeps the progression going stronger than ever before, its what drives our passion. The idea of being the first to ski something.
Imagination is the reason why we film. It’s the source of inspiration for the perfect cuts, the syncs, the tricks and the perfect setup.
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