Telephone Service

Technically, AT&T produced this commercial to show their (monetary) support for the Olympic games and their rider Gretchen Bleiler, but let’s be honest, they were banking on it “going viral.” That’s this new marketing strategy where you make a video and then tell people it’s viral, and then everyone watches it, and you make millions, right? They certainly had the formula right: hot chick, hip sport, and space! It’s brilliant, but what would have been more brilliant is if they really figured out how to make zero gravity for the women’s pipe contest. Here’s to the possibilities.

Credit Cards

This Lindsey Jacobellis Visa commercial was another Olympic-support spot, and it makes sense they would take advantage. After all, they pay Lindsey fat stacks, but the Games is the only time boardercross can sell anything. Good things credit cards really sell themselves: free money!

Sandwiches

The five dollar foot long campaign may be one of the most brilliant marketing campaigns ever to hit the sandwich industry, which is why at this point they’re basically phoning it in on the commercials. The meeting about what to include in the latest Subway spot probably went something like this: Ad dude 1: “Man, that red headed snowboard kid is good, but I can’t believe they listen to their headphones during the Olympics!” Ad dude 2: “Yeah, it’s not the Olympics we grew up with, but I did notice how those snowboards they ride look like sandwiches!” Ad dude 1: “It’s perfect.” One green screen and random (but flexible, so he can really tweak that suitcase method) dude later: I’m feeling like a five dollar foot long myself.

Insurance

The subtle brilliance of a snowboarding duck to hock insurance is so subtle it actually doesn’t make any sense. At least with this one they are selling a product that snowboarding may make you need more. And it’s at least more entertaining than the cheesy Steve Fisher Powerbar ad I thankfully haven’t seen since the Dew Tour ended.

Travel

It’s official, snowboarding is a tourist attraction. Why else would California include it in their tourism advertisements. In California’s “Find Yourself Here” spots, snowboarding makes not one, but two appearances (and one right before P-rod no less.) Ironically, the British Columbia “You Gotta Be here” ad shows the rich winter sporting possibilities with skiers, but I forgive them, ’cause they’re Canadian. However when it comes to choosing my vacation spot, I am basing it solely on these ads so, California, here I come!

Honorable mention:

Ok, they aren’t snowboarding in this gem of a commercial from Sprint, but the fact that three of them are chillin’ on a chairlift, on their cell phones really points out the absurdity of that Frozen movie in the current age. It’s also proof that while snowboarding may be the flavor of the month, furry hats and tight leggings on ski bunnies will never go out of style!

Every since I moved to Portland, I’ve had a basic understanding of the snowboard scene. You ride Meadows in the winter and Timerberline in the summer. As it turns out, I was grossly misinformed, as if you want to ride sweet jib lines, Tline is the spot. Thankfully, my new friend Jeff cleared it up for me. Jeff, Mike, Brad, Nate and Charlie do Timerberline.

Dave takes a hands on approach. He’s actually whittling a snowboard out of that snow bank.

Amidst a sea of giant ski brands and influx of corporate culture, there are still plenty of small snowboard brands, run by snowboarders. Monument may be out of Washington DC, not exactly a snowboard epicenter, and Dave Tran may be Oriental Asian, which is only relevant as I like to make fun of him about it, but MNMNT is about as true to snowboarding as you can get. Run out of Dave’s DC apartment, the brand is one of the few to stay true to the East Coast, and not deserting the ice for softer, steeper pastures, and for that, reason, not to mention some of the best graphics in the biz, we decided to track down Dave and find out more.

Do you go snowboarding on Christmas?

Nah, I don’t feel like playing Frogger on Christmas or any holiday weekend. It’s hell on earth.

Did you make the honor roll in school?

Only in my last quarter of my senior year I made honor roll. I got to wear the National Honor Society Sash. Then I proceeded to graduate from college with a 2.1.

What’s your highest Mortal Combat (or other more relevant video game) score of all time?

I sucked at Mortal Kombat. I think I only played Streetfighter. Who keeps high score anyways? You just beat the crap out of the next dude with the quarters on the machine.

Are you a bad driver?

I’m Asian and I live near DC. Of course, I’m an awesome driver.

What was it like kissing Scotty Lago’s medal?

He kept lowering it and lowering it and next thing you know my picture is pasted on all the tabloids. It’s embarrassing!

Can you eat Chinese food without getting the runs?

That’s a good question. If the place has pictures on the wall of the food and they scoop it in front of you, then yes you will get the runs. The best places are the ones white people are scared to walk in.

Don’t they know you are Vietnamese when you go in those? Or is there just a general camaraderie between all Asians?

I went to a Vietnamese restaurant in Richmond last weekend that was run by Koreans with a Chinese cook. I went to another Sushi place owned by Koreans and they tried to talk in Korean, but with a Japanese accent. They get scared when I roll up because they know I’ll start bitching about how crappy the food is. It’s cutthroat being Asian.

MNMNT Team rider Jared Jordan changed his name from Jared Johnson because he said it was a white man’s name. True Story.

Haha, enough of that. Why would anyone, Asian or not, that lives in DC think to start a snowboard company?

Back when I started Monument, a lot of the smaller companies were going out of business. It was back in 1998-2000, they were getting eaten up alive, but I wanted to start a company because I didn’t believe in anything the other companies were offering at the time. As far as staying in DC… it’s like starting a company overseas, it’s so foreign. I grew up riding around here and a lot of good riders have come from our region. I wanted something riders around here could be proud of, especially a brand they can call their own. I think that is pretty important

Where do you snowboard and how often do you get to go?

I usually only get in 35-40 days in a year around the South East. I ride Timberline, Massanutten, Wisp, Seven Springs. This year I didn’t get to go out as much… I’ve only been like 15 times so far and it’s already March. Shoot me.

Is there a good snowboard scene there? What’s it like?

DC is a pretty transient city. There are pockets, but the diehards all hang out by the core shops. Massanutten has an awesome scene. I’ve never seen a bunch of kids just chill, hang out and support each other anywhere else like they do there. It’s awesome. Lots of history at Massanutten as far as snowboarding around here goes.

Any desire to move somewhere potentially more awesome?

Like where, Portland? The Mecca of all snowboard companies?

Haha, perhaps.

It’s a possibility. I don’t want to get distracted by moving to a resort town, which is why I haven’t yet, to be honest. I don’t want to get caught up in the scene, or any scene, and not get work done. I’ve been thinking about it, but haven’t picked a spot yet. I want to make Monument a success from this area first before moving anywhere. We’re an east coast-based company. This is where we’re at, so I may stay here permanently, who knows.

How many boards do you make a year?

We finished last season with one rep left. Now we have five reps now and talking to some new distribution internationally, so our numbers should go up a bit. Ask me in a month, I’ll tell you an actual number.

Why do you think someone should “support the little guy” vs. buying a potentially cheaper board from one of the giants?

We’ve lowered our pricing, they are now between $320-$399, but the quality is still the same — the manufacturing quality is absurd. If they want something different, they’ll get a Monument. People like the underdogs, the little guys. Our boards are just as good, we just aren’t mass marketing our product. We have our niche. Plus when you buy from a corporate company you’re helping some 50-year-old buy his Maserati. When you buy from us you’re helping keep me from eating Ramen noodles.

What’s the worst part about running a snowboard company? The best?

For a company that doesn’t have venture capital, or funding, the toughest part is making a brand like ours stand out with basically a minuscule fraction of what the corporations use for marketing dollars. The best part is seeing people’s faces when they see our decks and especially after they ride them. At the demo the only complaint we had about our decks was that our reverse camber deck had too much pop.

Dave, hard at work.

Do you have a “day job”?

I push buttons like Homer Simpson every day for the government. I get to slug in to work and carpool with weird random people, and then at night I put on my cape and work on Monument. I had a mask, but I lost it.

What are you guys doing different than other brands?

Besides casting spells on our decks and making them super awesome? I guess we are known for our graphics. We don’t follow trends, and we don’t just toss up a design in illustrator and slap our logo on it and say hey this is a Monument. Our art direction stands out from the rest, and Chris Glancy (art director and business partner) picks artists to work with us based on his vision for the overall line each season. Our boards handle way better than other decks, but that’s just me.

Yeah, I feel like you might be a bit biased on that last statement

No way. I don’t know what you are talking about

Does it bother that you don’t always get credit for your sweet artist collabos, and then when other brands use the same artist two years later everyone is pumped?

Well, our decks aren’t collaborations. We curate the lines and for collaborations you’re doing a crossover between two companies. Our artist network is amazing, we’re so lucky to work with the artists that we do, to put stuff that you see in galleries or on your wall on the mountain. We strive to set trends instead of follow them. Other companies have worked with some of our artists, and it’s cool that we worked with them first.

Who is your favorite artist you’ve gotten to work with?

The best one I think is Rammellzee. I didn’t work with him directly, but Chris did. He is such an interesting guy; one of the forefathers of hip hop and graffiti… gothic futurist. I loved his graphic the best and I would love to have a conversation with him.

Dave Tran, an artists rendering. Drawing: Wiebke

Are you worried what moms might think of your boards that say “fuck?” You don’t feel bad about potentially corrupting little kids?

We just wanted to see how many kids get kicked off of mountains. Haha. Honestly it’s an art thing. Raif Adelberg, the fashion designer who came up with the concept for that 777 series, expresses himself by using the word “Fuck” a lot. We didn’t do it for shock value like, “Oh hey, let’s put the word FUCK on it and be super extreme, brah!” Not all of our decks are PG, but 80% of the other ones are. But it’s art. You can’t censor it. These artists are expressing themselves and creating their interpretation of their art onto a snowboard. That’s what makes our stuff stand out.

Who is riding for MNMNT now?

Ethan Deiss, Robby Balharry (he’s Canadian but it’s okay, he kills it,) The Geisen twins, Jared Jordan, Krister Ralles, Dillon James, Mike Fink, and Jeremy Cline.

Not to take away from the other guys, but you really scored with Ethan, where did you find him?

Ethan is an awesome kid. Smart beyond his years, but he loses his cell phone too much. Our team manager Connor Stohlgren found him. Went up to visit him I think. I forgot exactly how, but I just heard there was this awesome kid from the Midwest two years ago that was killing it.

And the rest was history!

Yessss!

Ok last question, there are a million snowboard companies out there, why should people ride MNMNT snowboards?

1) The boards have superb manufacturing quality.
2) The boards look like no others on the mountain.
3) The boards are engineered to really handle an edge and be fun and snappy without being stiff
4) The boards are light as fuck
5) You won’t burn a hole in your wallet - $319-$399
6) You want to support the little guy
7) They make you ride 10 times better

Check out MNMNT’s Full 2011 Line

BlackBlack

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For more info http://www.monumentsnowboards.com/

Two titans of snowboarding’s culinary community met, but only one could emerge victorious. Party Time Nate and Peter Line set out once and for all to determine who was the superior chef by cooking what else, but hot dogs!

Appetizers
	Peter Line’s Hot Dog and Pork Rillette Full Recipe
	Party Time Nate’s Deconstructed Hot Dog Full Recipe
Entrees
	Peter Line’s Beef Hot Dog and Pork Bolognese on Parppadelle Full Recipe
	Party Time Nate’s Hot Dog Risotto Full Recipe
Desserts
	Peter Line’s Cream Cheese Hot Dog ice cream with sriracha caramel sauce Full Recipe
	Party Time Nate’s Hot Dog Foster Full Recipe

Check out the gallery of what went down behind the scenes:

Party Time Nate's classic ingredients

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Super rep Dustin Anderson gave the east coast kids a run for their money

Given the recent outrage over snowboarders enjoying themselves while representing their country at the Olympics, it’s pretty clear everyone else in the world hates fun. No one, however, seems to hate fun more than Mother Nature, who has now tried twice, unsuccessfully to stop the Holy Oly Revival, basically the most fun contest one could do. Last year a mudslide sent the usual venue careening down the hill, and this year, it really hasn’t snowed, at all.

Krush Kuleza and the crew at Sno Boy Productions weren’t going to let a little thing like lack of snow stop the event though, and for ten days snow was trucked to Hyak from the other side of the mountain. The Holy Oly was to be held on the remnants of the mudslide, whether Mother Nature wanted it to or not.

Hiking didn’t dissuade many

Of course, the lifts were still out of commission, which meant everyone who wanted to participate in, or just watch, the event, had to undertake a bit of an endurance test. For the average person, it was a mellow walk up a gentle slope. For me, dreadfully out of shape, with 40 pounds of camera gear on my back, it was a serious feat. I would have failed had the promise of free beer and Cobra Dogs not been coaxing me along.

When I got to the top, I was rewarded with two half-racks of Olympia, courtesy of the Summit at Snoqualmie. Call it a bribe to get a positive review if you want, but I see no conflict of interesting in accepting pay offs if it quells my alcoholism for the day.

Danny Garrity knows how to do methods.

The sun was shining bright, and the set up, though slightly smaller than in years past, saw all the requisite airtime, methods, and Northwest legends we’ve come to expect. The only “schedule” was riding would last as long as the play list did, and when Van Halen came on, it was time to go home. The early part of the day saw impressive stunting from Peter Line, but a freak thumb dislocation took him out early, leaving room for the young guns to really shine.

It was a bit of an east vs. west battle, with a heavy New England contingent – Danny Garrity, Nate Farrell and Forest Bailey – holding up against the local shreds such as Austin Hironaka, Austin Sweetin, Pat McCarthy and more. In an especially impressive showing for the Y chromosome, Jess Kimura absolutely shredded all day, taking a few serious diggers in the process. And of course, a few out-of-the-woodwork riders were in attendance, most notably Russell Winfield.

Winner!

The riding lasted longer than the sun, and even though the temperature dropped, most hung out to watch the crowning of the Holiest of the Holy (and all the other awards.) It was no easy decision, by the crack team of secret judges rewarded Austin Hironaka’s hi-yah shredding with a half pallet of Olympia. The rest of the awards went something like this:

The Northwest Method Award: Danny Garrity
Beserker Award: Nate Farrell
Highest air/ Best Facial Expression: Bryce Neibuhr
Hardest Charging Industry Dude: Sean Tedore
Jeff Brushie Russell Winfield Award: Russell Winfield
Y Chromosome/ Best Crash: Jess Kimura
The Official Mayor of Tube City: Forest Bailey
We don’t need no stinkin’ binders award: Jake Tomlinsin
Billy Goat’s Gruff Award (most creative line): Blair Habenicht

Now check out the gallery:

Austin Sweetin may be little, but he goes big

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Over the past few days, the Vancouver Olympics have taught me a lot. I’ve learned various languages, thanks to the sketchy Euro streams I opted to watch rather than NBC (ok, I only really understood when they called the tricks and even then…) I’ve learned that you can make an Olympic-sized halfpipe without any snow fall (but don’t expect it to be quite as good as if the temps were appropriate) and most importantly, I learned you should always let the girls go first.

Historically women have always gotten the short end of the stick, having to bear children, do the cooking and cleaning, etc., and the 2010 Games were no exception. As a wise man succinctly put it, watching the women’s halfpipe event today was sort of like trying to get psyched on a little league game after you just finished watching the world series. It’s not that the girls aren’t good, it’s just, they aren’t as good as the guys.

But since the IOC and NBC blew just about everything else at this Olympics, why would they get this right, anyway? On this 7th day of Olympic competition, it seems even NBC might be figuring out that not providing a live stream, and showing the event live on one coast but not the other, might not build the hype like they expected, rather just annoy people. Even Brian Williams made sure to announce “spoiler alert” before flashing results of bygone, but not-yet-aired events on the Nightly News screen. Perhaps #nbcsucks hash tags did something after all.

Oh right, this was going to be a story about the Women’s halfpipe, which while it had highlights, such as the Chinese boy with good style and Benny Bright’s soccer coach uniform, for the most part it was a somewhat anti-climactic watch. There were a lot of falls and scores in the single digits. Torah thew an solid and stylish run including a bs3, switch bs7, and cab 7 to bring the gold back down under, but there was no promised double cork. Poor Kelly Clark didn’t have Jesus’s support on her snowboard (he wasn’t an Olympic sponsor) so she was forced to sing, loudly, to hype herself up. It was only enough for bronze. In silver was Hannah Teter, who is going to sell plenty of panties for Haiti, now that she’s allowed to endorse them.

So now, we can all go back to concentrating on important things, such as mocking press releases and posting homey edits. Hopefully Preston will even write some more poetry. And oh yeah, (SPOILER ALERT) the full final results from women’s halfpipe:

1 BRIGHT Torah 45.0
2 TETER Hannah 42.4
3 CLARK Kelly 42.2
4 LIU Jiayu 39.3
5 RODRIGUEZ Sophie 34.4
6 NICOLL Mercedes 34.3
7 SUN Zhifeng 33.0
8 CRAWFORD Holly 30.3
9 HALLER Ursina 27.9
10 HIGHT Elena 24.6
11 BLEILER Gretchen 14.7
12 CASTELLET Queralt DNS

The top of the podium is a nice place to be.

Despite boyish good looks and solid snowboard skills, JJ Thomas has never been a Danny Kass or Shaun White type. He’s always been good, but just lacking that hype that creates true snowboard sensations. Maybe that’s why when JJ ended up in a 3-way tie for the 4th US Olympic team slot this year, it was labeled as a comeback. Of course, he’d spent the past few seasons filming, not pipe jocking, but if you’re not at every Burton-sponsored pipe fest every year, you must be washed up right? Over the years though, one place JJ tops the charts in snowboarding, is being a good sport. After all, some ten years ago he kicked off my snowboard journalism career by going on a “dream date” with me for my Snowboarder Magazine internship. And ten years later, he’s still winning contests and having fun snowboarding, even if he didn’t quite get the chance to go for gold in Vancouver.

So, you just won the Dew Tour and the Aspen Open… how does victory taste?

It tastes like Coors Light and filet mignon.

Did winning the Dew Cup make not quite making the Olympic team any better?

Yes it helped… it was a nice band aid.

How much did you win? What are you gonna spend the money on?

I think I won 40k that night. I think I’ll buy a summer’s supply of pizza and ice cream with it.

Triple overhead. Photo Seth Hill

Are you pissed they picked a no-name kid over you for this year’s Olympics? Why do you think the reasoning behind it was?

I was mad for a day or so, but I’m over it. He rode well and out tricked me, so he deserves it.

Given the sorry state of the Olympic pipe, any predictions on what might go down? Are you a little glad you don’t have to try and ride it?

Yeah, when you have a pipe that is kind of crappy it evens the playing field a lot. I’d say anything could happen. I still think it’s Shaun’s to lose, but I could see Kazu doing well, or maybe some Euro dudes sneaking in and doing well, especially if the pipe is shitty.

You’re still an Olympian though… Are there any perks to the title? Did you ever get laid, or treated to anything nice because of your bronze medal?

HA! Yeah it’s cool. I mean I get free entry fees to the Grand Prix and yes, I still get lucky sometimes and manage to get laid.

Even pipe jocks have fans! JJ’s Stepdad Bob and YeaNice teamrider Gabe.

How do you feel about being labeled a pipe jock?

I embrace it.

Do tight pants might it harder to ride halfpipe?

No, it makes you more faster. I think in the future we will all be wearing racing suits to get more speed.

You’ve had a fairly long career, and this year it seems like you’ve proved it’s not over yet. Why do you think companies don’t seem to realize you are amazingly marketable?

I like snowboarding and I still like to compete so that’s why I choose to keep doing it. I think getting written off in snowboarding is a common thing. Situations like that can also breed success. At the end of the day it’s just how you choose to take it and deal with it. You can use it to fuel your fire or you can let it bring you down.

Couldn’t you sell snowboards on your good looks alone? I mean, Zach Leach did it for years.

I’m not sure what sells boards anymore. I think it’s all about coming out with a sweet gimmick and then marketing the hell out of it.

Getting Xtreme. Photo Zach Hooper

How long did it take to live down being named the “cutest boy in snowboarding” in 1999?

I think I shook that in ‘02 or so.

Why do you think having people call you Jarrett didn’t catch on?

JJ it is. Unless my Mom is yelling at me.

Why did it take you so long to start concentrating on filming video parts?

I got into filming when I was burnt out on contests. Then I got burnt out on filming, so now I like competing again. Let’s be honest though, filming doesn’t really pay the bills, unless you’re Travis Rice.

Anything video-wise in the works for this season?

Bluebird movie!

JJ knows famous people like Jeff Brushie, Tim Windell and his coach Ben Boyd.

Do you have a “retirement plan?” Perhaps get into boardercross?

No Boarder x for this guy.

How can you stand living in Summit County? Do you still summer in SoCal?

Summit County is great! I stay in Breck when I’m up there and then on days off I stay with my parents down in Golden. It’s a good winter set up. And yes, I still live in Southern California. I still live in the same town where we went out on that awkward date 10 years ago.

If you could be a pro surfer, but would never be allowed to snowboard again, would you do it?

No way. I like snowboarding way too much.

What about a pro golfer? (No guarantees your career wouldn’t pull a Tiger Woods either, and no more snowboarding, ever.)

Now this is a tough one… Golf is too hard though. I’d make myself go crazy and then I would probably pull a “Tiger Woods” too. I mean If I had millions riding on my golf swing, I’d do some stupid shit too.

Flying high in the Colorado sky. Photo Zach Hooper

How is your music career going? Are you super famous in the free internet download world these days?

Yes , we rule the world or free downloads! Who pays for music these days anyways.

Thanks, shout outs, sponsor plugs?

Thanks to my sponsors. Oakley,Vitamin Water ,YeaNice, Tactics, Unity, Breckenridge, Celtek, Bluebird.  Thanks to anyone who reads this, and thanks to you Brooke for continuing to write about snowboarding for a very, very long time. Peace and love to all !!!!

Check out all of JJ’s projects:

www.yeanice.com
www.milehisound.com
www.celtekclan.com

FuelTV and Exit Real World have been hosting little events called Fuel Fridays every week — giving suburban kids a chance to hang out watch snowboard videos at the Bridgeport shop. The basic gist is, Tigard, OR just got Verizon Fios and doing this will help promote the fact that FUELtv is one of the available channels with this amazing new service! But all cynicism aside, they are paying our friend Jeremy to put them on, and are not a bad way for the neighborhood kids to spend a Friday evening.

In the most questionable move yet, however, someone decided it would be a good idea to give our own Nick Lipton a night. Nick’s Night was born. Like you probably are thinking right now, we weren’t sure who would turn out to check out Nick Lipton’s favorite video parts, and that answer is: mostly his friends and family. There were however, a few randoms there, and after the final hammer was dropped in Nick’s seemingly homemade video, almost everyone there got stoked out with YoBeat shirts. One lucky brat even walked away with an Ipod Touch provided by FUEL.

If you live in the Portland area, Fuel Fridays are going on every week and there is always free stuff there. We recommend you check them out as it’s the least we could do seeing as they made Nick feel cool for a night.

Nick’s burned DVD didn’t work on the DVD player. Some adjustments had to be made.

These kids are arm wresting for a skate deck. But look at Nick’s face!

Woohoo! Who doesn’t love free stuff!?

All this for a YoBeat shirt!

Nick wanted to keep this for himself, but he didn’t.

In fact, he gave it to this kid, and made a new friend in the process!

He also used YoBeat shirts to hit on other dude’s girlfriends.

We swear there is nothing inappropriate going on here.

Everyone wins!

If you were wondering, Nick’s list of favorite video parts goes like this:

1. Scotty Wittlake - Happy Hour
2. Darrell Mathes - Love/Hate
3. Nick Dirks - These Days
4. Travis Parker- Afterbang
5. Mark Frank Montoya- Burning Bridges
6. Eero Ettala- Follow Me Around
7. Mikey LeBlanc- Burning Bridges
8. Pat Moore- Forever Forum
9. Forgash + Scotty - Burning Bridges
10. Corey Smith - Neo Proto
11. Jarad Hadi- Gold Country
12. Matty Ryan + Jusin Bennee - Burning Bridges
13. Nima Jalali- We’re People Too
14. Scotty Wittlake- Brainstorm
Special Ender, ender: Jeff Anderson - Back in Black

Snowboarding has seen many trends come and go: low backs, big pants, tight pants, bigger pants, neon, baseless bindings, etc., and Todd Richards is old enough to have seen them all. So what does Todd think about current tread of big clothes and bad attitudes? Surely he has some sage old wisdom to share, just for fun.

What’s your take on the current “snow gangster” movement in snowboarding?

What is sno thug? huge pants ? I did that once. Listen to Wu tang and Snoop ? I did that once. Roll in a pack and never get more than 6 inches off the ground all day? I did that… I did all that in ‘92 and ‘93. Tarquin and MFM were the shit, and as far as I’m concerned MFM is really the only OG that there is. He would come to the skatepark in Denver with thugs thuggy thug thugs. I was scared, but then I met his homey Big Gene, and he’s awesome. Any-hoe, I think slope gangsta is no better than kids dressing like they are in The Cure back in the day, or dressing like they are following the dead, or wearing a neon skittle outfit now. It’s just a scene that you are in that will eventually embarrass the shit out of you when someone shows you a photo in 10 years.

Do you think kids from the east coast are more justified in pretending to be “hard” then say, kids from Summit County, because there are real cities nearby?

Well, what the hell is hard anyhow? Hard like MTV ganstah bullshit? Fuck that. Hard is having a rough home and having to fend for yourself at an early age and finding snowboarding and that saves you from a life of bad shit. Those dudes are hard and it doesn’t matter if you are from SLC, Breck, VT, NY, NJ or Aspen. If your home is fucked when you are coming up, you deal with fucked up shit, see fucked up shit and it scars and scares you, you can be hard.

Do you think Tall T’s and giant pants in any way affect your ability to snowboard?

No, but they definitely effect the way you photograph. As in: ” Dude that was such a sick drop off that 20 foot cliff, too bad your Tall T was caked in ice or we would run that in the mag.”

Who is you favorite tall-t wearing snowboarder and why?

Who is my favorite tall t-er. Easy, Lane Knaack

Really, more favorite than the tiny dancer?

The tiny dancer doesnt really wear tall t’s on the hill. Lane does, usually over tall sweatshirts. Lane Knaack is the most underrated Grenerd ever.

Which snowboarders would do the best if they were thrown into a Detroit ghetto? Who would fare the worst?

Oh man, well obviously Marco. Hmm, if you threw Gooner in there he could mumble to himself and then spit in his own hair to confuse the bangers that were coming to rob him. Hmmm, yeah I’ll go with none, final answer. 8 mile smile.

Barrett Christy and her many fans

I’ve covered a few events in my day. And by a few I mean, I’ve been schlepping my camera bag, voice recorder and a notebook and pen, to everything from USASA events to the Winter X Games for too many years. When you write about snowboarding, it’s almost unavoidable, as this weekend alone there was the final Dew Tour, the Canadian Open and the Legendary Banked Slalom to choose from.

For me, it was an easy pick. Not only was the Banked Slalom the only event that didn’t require air travel, but much like riding in the event, covering it is an actual pleasurable experience.  There are no badge checks (or badges for that matter). The “media pit” is literally anywhere on the course you want to stand (as long as you’re not too close or touching the timing wire) and if you wanna do an interview, there’s no over anxious PR girl to go through. Basically anything goes.

Of course those PR girls can be nice when you need a start list (I had to bribe the customer service girl with a T-shirt to get a photo copy of one made) but walking up to Mt. Baker owner Gwyn Howatt to do an interview and having her agree, no questions asked, is a trade off I’ll take any day.

Rob Kingwill gets extra extreme (though there is no bonus for air time)

But enough about me, this is a story about the Legendary Banked Slalom, and the silver anniversary of the event is a wrap. For the women Canada’s best Olympic SBX hope Maelle Ricker topped the rest of the field by a full second, and that duct tape sure would look nice next to an Olympic medal! The women’s race was decided with the first run, but in the men’s race it wasn’t over ‘til it was over. Thanks to the Olympics, last year’s champ Nate Holland was missing, but his younger brother Pat was there to pick up where he left off, posting the fastest first run time with a 1:44.06. But at the awards, Pat’s name was called in third. The top two had posted 1:43s. In second it was Rob Fagan and in first to no one’s surprise was Temple Cummins.

Temple is sort of good at this thing

Winning is cool and all, it comes with a nifty duct tape trophy, local art and a guitar, but the LBS is only a little bit about who wins. It’s a truly pure snowboard contest, which, especially this Olympic year, is refreshing. Double corks are not required. Stamina, and the ability to use your edges however, are.

“The challenge of the Legendary Banked Slalom has always been to keep the elements that everyone likes, so it’s still the Banked Slalom, but change it up just enough so it doesn’t get stale,” Gwyn Howatt said. “This year it’s the most turns I’ve ever set in the Banked Slalom – it’s 38 or 39 turns, and usually it’s 28 or 29, so it’s a leg burner.”

If you tackle the “gravitron” turn you’re almost there.

The usual suspects were there—Dirksen, Temple Cummins, Lucas Debari, and as expected they went fast. There were also some new faces in the pro men’s mix – Forest Bailey, Tuckers Andrews and Shayne Pospisil. Well technically, Shayne did the event ten years ago or so, but the choice between doing the Dew or the Banked for him was easy.

“All my team managers, all my friends and people I don’t get to see all through the winter gather in one place,” Shayne said. “And it’s fun.”

Temple Cummins, Rob Fagan and Pat Holland and the spoils of victory

Results

Pro Men
1. Temple Cummins 143.08
2. Rob Fagan 143.621
3. Pat Holland 144.06
4. Rob Kingwell (plus impromptu fakie race winner, $75 purse)
5. Josh Dirksen

Pro Women

1. Maelle Ricker 149
2. Marni Yamada 150.98
3. Maria Debari 1:54
4. Kelsey Galt 1:58.05
5. Megan Pischke 1:58.63

 

Next Gen — Cody Warble

Juniors — Gus Warbington

Younger Amatuers — Austen Sweetin

Women Amateurs — Martina Nemacova

Older Amateurs – Craig Newbury

Womens Masters – Tanya Simpson

Masters – Jonathan Martens

Mid Masters – Gorio Bustamante

Grand Masters –  Jim Taylor

Super Masters – Bob Satushek

Pro Masters – Timmy Carlson

For full results in every category check the official LBS site.