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Apr 07

Telluride Wednesday? Still Garrett

By Jon Hartley2 Comments

100_0386

Wednesdays are good too. Our weekly discussion with Master Garrett continues with a discussion of skis, the ancient arts, and summertime fun.

Goals?

It feels like I’ve jumped away from the scene of the ski industry, but I feel like I’m actually building a different level for my skiing career. That’s the backup plan. I don’t know if I’ll ever become pro, and I don’t want to be pro. I don’t even like that word, it’s just a label. I want to be a master of it, a full-on ninja. I want to totally figure it out so I can do it forever, as long as I can ski.

You could be skiing’s first ninja.

My name means “warrior” and I’m out there battling the mountain, you know? It could easily take my life.

What skis are you on now that the Anthem and Elizabeth are gone?

I’m on the Mastermind now. The first couple runs I was just like, “Whoaah, edges!” I could have died, but then I just found a file and took all the edge off. Then it was fun, but just doing a noseblock felt different. They’re a little bit skinnier and it took me a second to find out where my balance point was on ‘em. Then they just felt like a regular ski, but I haven’t ridden on a ski that narrow in a long time.

I’ve got a pair of EP Pros too, I’ll mount those up as soon as I get some more bindings. Those things are like my broadsword. I’ve got my katana, and then those are my broadsword.

I love this ninja analogy, you’ve really thought it through.

I don’t know man. I love Japan, I love that culture, and it’s fun. Ninjas are dope, and they did exist.

Did you study any martial arts?

No. I got kicked out, I think. I kicked a kid. I was young and I never did very well in karate classes or anything like that. I wasn’t much of a person to follow authority. I couldn’t do teamwork either; I did terrible in soccer. I’ve never been able to do anything team oriented—basketball and baseball, I did not fit in at all.

I was kind of an outcast in middle school and high school and just found sanctuary in the mountains.

How about the summers?

Most people surf or do something like that for their escape. I like to fly fish, because it’s not extreme. You can just hang out by the river and learn the ways like Siddhartha.

Mar 30

Telluride Tuesday: Just the Tip

By Jon Hartley4 Comments

vista garrett russell telluride ninja

With a serious lack of creative jam competitions like this one, there’s very little room for quirky non-doublecorkers in skiing. Garrett Russell stands out as a member of a small club that has rejected the jock norm and carved out a separate space. We talked to him about being a badass ninja renegade, and what it’s like to do such weird tricks.

It seems like snowboarding has room for a bunch of guys who are never going to hit the big jump or do tricks you’d see in competition. What would you say has kept skiing in this mindset of correct, or better, tricks to be done on a particular rail/jump?

Its background. Coming from racing the seed is planted in there and it’s really hard to get away from it. Skiing came from racing, so you have to ski with ski poles and you have to do this or that. Growing up we were, or for me, I was watching Shane McConkey and Scot Schmidt and those guys were extreme and they stepped outside the boundary.

I think, just recently snowboarding has started that where it’s kind of like skateboarding. Like the Think Thank crew, they’re just crazy creative. I think skiing will catch on to different kinds of variations. I think Traveling Circus is a type of variation. Will we ever see Andy Parry do a doublecork? I don’t know, but maybe we’ll build a backcountry jump and he’ll try it. It will be pretty funny, but that’s just for shits and giggles.

As someone with some perspective on the industry, would you say there’s starting to be room for people who are doing it differently?

I think it’s slowly growing into that. Remember back in FREEZE, it was the same five people over and over again. I was pretty excited during this X Games because there were a whole bunch of new cats, new people. That’s pretty cool.

I think there will be room for it because at some point people are just going to want something that’s different and appeals to a different public. I read that only 3% of the US population skis. It’s so crazy and it’s such a gift that we get to live this life. Some people just don’t see it; they come from money, they ski, and they expect everybody to know who they are. You can tell there are a lot of professional skiers who came from a background of money and racing. I didn’t come from that, and I know that if I didn’t have sponsors there’s no way I’d be able to afford to ski like this. So I’m super appreciative of those guys who have helped me, and I just want to get the public stoked on skiing. That’s what will keep the sport alive.

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Mar 26

Level 1′s Freedle Coty Talks “Superunknown”

By Jon HartleyNo Comments

superunknown 7

Each year the ski internet buzzes with predictions for who will win Level 1′s Superunknown competition. As each wave of finalist edits are released, the speculation only increases. This year, Alaska native Logan Imlach took the honors by mixing backcountry with some creative and burly urban. Level 1′s Freedle Coty was kind enough to answer a few questions about judging, past winners, and Logan’s future with the crew.

This is the seventh year of Superunknown– has the contest changed now that most of the contestants are already minor celebs with edits all over the internet?

Not necessarily, first off there’s plenty of people we haven’t heard of as we don’t have time to sit and watch every edit, all day. Every year a few kids come out of the woodwork that are unknowns even in the internet edit culture. This year I personally had heard of, or knew, 5 of the top selections. Kids who watch edits religiously definitely have a better tab on this kind of stuff on a day to day basis.

How aware were you of Logan prior to the contest?

Not aware. I had never heard of him.

When the edits are submitted, what does the judging process look like?

We go through all the videos one by one when they come in, that’s the mind numbing part. This year Berman did all that himself because no one else was around; he has a good eye for that. Sometimes you can tell right away what will make it or not and from there we select a top tier, and watch those more closely. Now with the amount, and the level of talent, it comes down to two tiers, and that’s what we released on Vimeo. The top tier we show as many people who are close to or in our crew and try to come to a consensus. It’s not democratic necessarily, nor is it a “best edit” contest which I think a lot of people confuse for. We look for an overall impression of talent and personality primarily, with potential being the biggest factor. It’s not easy. The last two years we struggled on choosing the winner, but this year I think it was slightly easier.

Does it ever get like a draft, where you’re looking to fill a particular hole in your “team”?

Yeah, I guess that can be a factor, but it’s not really the deciding one. There isn’t a rulebook for it, we want diversity. It definitely helps to choose somebody who adds to our crew and movie in some way.

Freedle keeping his opinions to himself.

Freedle keeping his opinions to himself.

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Mar 23

Telluride Tuesday: Garrett on Style

By Jon Hartley1 Comment

garrett ninja

Since Garrett moved to Telluride, Nimbus probably won’t let him into their chamber of monologues to pontificate on the finer points of style and friendship. This would obviously be a massive loss, so we’ve cleared some space on the internet for Garrett’s ideas on aesthetics, fun, tricks, and style.

I think kids want to know about your approach to selection of terrain. Actually, terrain isn’t the right word, but when watching a Garrett Russell edit it would be hard not to know its you. We all have access to a hundred edits a day, and there’s a lot of sameness, but there’s usually something different about yours. How would you explain your approach that makes it so different?

First of all, thanks man, that’s a great compliment. You’ve got originality and style, and what is style, it’s hard to even explain. I feel that my style of skiing is just creativity and trying to have fun; you know? That’s what it all comes down to, because if you’re not having fun then what’s the point? I used to do a bunch of competitions, but it was just frustrating so I kind of turned my attention away from it and let style create itself and become what it is today.

I’m completely inspired by snowboarding, skateboarding, music, and art. Bruce Lee said, “style is a crystallization.” If you have one style you can’t grow, so I’m constantly trying to intertwine my style with the feelings of the day, the terrain, or the park and just trying to make the best out of it. Life is too short to be salty.

You also do a lot of stuff that requires crazy control of your tips and tails like butters and noseblocks and stuff like that. You still don’t see a ton of guys doing that stuff.

Yeah man, tech mob. In Mammoth, I lived there for six years, and it was sweet because I would watch guys like Pat Bridges, the editor of Snowboard Magazine. I’d be watching him cruise around, and everyone is acting like you have to hit the big jump to work on spins and stuff, but there’d be certain days where I’d just want to do what Pat’s doing. So I’d just fuck around and do noseblocks, and just have fun. Knuckle tricks are really fun, and I just learned a lot by just messing around. The entire tip and tail thing is definitely different now, you can do so much with it and I hope to create new tricks. There’s no names for them, I find ‘em and try them out.

I’m trying to express that you don’t have to do doublecorks and extreme stuff. You can just cruise around and…I don’t know, creativity is hard.

This is going to be a ridiculous question, but what would you say the difference is between what you see when you look at a park and the what the average pro skier sees?

When I look at a park, what do I see? I try to look for stuff that is not there. I try to create something out of what is not there and that’s hard to even explain. I see a jump and I think, “Well, can I do something off that knuckle over to this tranny?” It’s a lot of tranny finding and looking outside the box.

Otherwise…rainbows?

Mar 16

Telluride Tuesday with Garrett

By Jon Hartley5 Comments

Garrett Russell is a man with something to say. We sat down with him and didn’t stand up until we had way too much content to print in one shot. For the next few weeks we’ll break it down and give you a segment. This week Garrett talks about his pilgrimage from Mammoth to his ancestral home in the Telluride backcountry, and what life is like as a BC cabin operator.

rootsy garrett

Where are you living?

This year I just moved back to Telluride, Colorado. I’m running the backcountry cabin my dad built in the 70’s. He just got hip surgery so I had to move back, away from Mammoth, which is hard because they just got a bunch of snow. I miss Mammoth and my crew of skiers out there. But I’ve just been living in the backcountry getting rootsy.

Have you been getting backcountry footage this year?

Yeah, I’ve been skiing with my brother. He pretty much inspired me to ski and got me stoked on skiing when I was a kid. So we go out and ski the gnarly shit man; like the other day we did this shit with two repels. Scary. It was crazy, usually there’s only one repel, but we had to drop in and then anchor off a tree that was buried in the snow kinda. You couldn’t huck it because you’re just in this slot that goes for 600-700ft, just as wide as my skis.

Geez.

Yeah man, it’s usually only one, but this one took two. So, I don’t know, just extreme stuff like that. Hopefully get some friends, build some jumps, and get some people out there.

Have you had anybody come out?

Andy was here for a day. I got to take one ride with him and I lost him. I didn’t know where he went, I was just like, “I’ll take you to the good spots.” But who knows what he does, he just does it.

We’ve got a little park; it’s fun to ride, but it used to be a lot better. It used to have bigger jumps, and that’s where Gus Kenworthy got his ninja skills from. He kills it now, and that’s cool to see.

Other than Traveling Circus, what film projects are you doing this year?

Nimbus sent me a GoPro, so I’m trying to get artsy with that. I’m not going to be able to travel much this year because I’m just so busy running the cabin. At some point I want to get people like Nimbus to come over here, but when and whenever. March is usually good weather there.

So give us a snapshot of your day to day as a backcountry lodge operator.

Well, there are variables, if I have friends then we pretty much have to go out there and ski cut it and read the snow to make sure it’s safe. There’s times when I’m up there by myself and I’m scared to go outside and ski Hans Solo and get killed right in my backyard just because of stupid slough, you know? So, younger me, I used to go out there more by myself and just get spiritual with the mountains. It’s really intense out there, because you’re all the sudden in the mountains and life has a different perspective.

So, wake up, bust out the snowmobile on the trail for 20 minutes, and load water because now we’re out of water. I have to haul water and melt snow. The cabin actually has electricity, which is nice. I make beds for the people, then go ski powder laps with my friends.

Usually I have parties that come in, like my friends and my brother’s friends. We go out and just yahoo-ski powder all night; full moon skiing. We ski really gnarly couloirs, it’s all there. It just depends on who is there and that determines how I’m going to ski that day—either build a jump or hike up a couloir.

It’s beautiful out there. Telluride’s amazing, you guys should come check it out sometime if you ever get a chance.

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Mar 02

Noseblocks with Garrett Russell

By Jon Hartley5 Comments

The noseblock is a tricky maneuver. It’s fun and simple, but there’s significant risk of breaking your precious skis if you’re not doing it right. We went straight to the source for a trick tip to end all trick tips. Garrett has more variations on the noseblock than anyone in the game, and has probably forgotten more quirky tricks than we’ve even dreamed of. Scroll down for animation or check out Wild Life and the latest TC webisode to see him in action.

noseblock imageAll photos: Ed

BroBomb: Let’s go into trick tip mode. We’re going to talk noseblocks, mostly because I try to noseblock all the time and I suck at them. So I’m going to be completely self-serving and try to get some pointers from the master.

Garrett: Cool. It’s all about timing and waiting for your apex. It’s crazy because I see some kids do it, and I’m like, “Oh my god, they’re going to break their skis!” Don’t do it like that, I hate for kids to break their skis. I know a couple people who have and I’m sorry, but it’s super fun. It’s all about having the right snow, and you’ll learn that if you go into something icy you’ll die. But if it’s too soft your skis are just going to punch through.

Been there.

Yeah. It can work out though, it’s all about reading the snow and waiting for that one point where you come up to a point where the hill goes like this (makes a hill with his arm) and there’s a little bit of tranny where you slow down. You wait until you slow down, and that’s when you lean forward and bring your heels up to your butt. Then you kind of lean back and do any grab you want, like you’ve got the “backpacker” now.

It’s all about patience and waiting and finding that balance on the tips. Other than that just practice, I guess. But it all depends on where you do it. Like, when we’re going skiing I’ll do it in one spot and then I’ll keep going back to that one spot. Then I can slowly dig out these little tip steps in the side of jumps and it’s pretty cool.

So that’s noseblocks, and tailblocks…I don’t know.

The tail block?

Yeah, it’s a hard one. I feel like I’m going to throw out my back trying it.

Sounds dangerous. Are you working on the tailblock?

Well, if I have the time and the place to do it, and somebody inspires me maybe it can happen. There can be so many variations. You can do the screamin-semen noseblock and you step over to the other ski. I don’t know man. I’m thinking about it, it’s interesting.

Do you sit at home and dream up tricks to do?

There used to be days when I couldn’t sleep, you know, where I just had the greatest idea and I’m like “I’m going to do that!” It’s been years and I can’t do it still. I don’t even know what I was thinking about. Skiing is just constantly in my brain.

garrettr

Feb 15

The Jiberish Interview

By Jon Hartley1 Comment

Gabe Anderson’s business card says he’s the Managing Director of Jiberish Clothing. As far as we could tell, he’s just the man. Gabe, Dave Boger and Pete Drago are the owners of the cut-and-sew Jiberish clothing label. I asked someone what “cut and sew” actually means and I was told that they get a fabric and a fit that they want, and have it made from scratch rather than ordering a stock piece from a wholesaler. I figured I’d pass that little nugget of knowledge on to you.

jiberish store

BroBomb got the chance to bother Gabe with a few questions at the Jiberish store party in the LoHi section of Denver. I’m not bullshitting you when I say we were really impressed by the styling and design that goes way beyond the iconic tall hoodies we’ve all seen. Be sure to check out their new spring line dropping in the next month and enjoy:

BroBomb: Did you originally make Jiberish clothing specifically for snowsports kids, or was it just embraced by them?

Gabe: Well myself, Dave, and Pete Drago all ski and snowboard. Me and Pete ski and Dave snowboards. We just saw a void for street wear in the ski market. We saw that skiers were repping skate and snowboard brands, but there’s this absolute sense of identity with skiing, or with any sport, where when you’re off the mountain you want to wear something that says “I’m a skier.” There wasn’t a loungewear or street wear company that was doing it. Siver Cartel had been doing it, but unfortunately they went away.

R.I.P.

Yeah, I have to say they were a big inspiration for what we did.

Where there seems to be a difference between you guys and Sublux, Siver, etc. is design. You guys go beyond printing a logo on a t-shirt and actually sew this stuff right?

Back when we started, when there were about twelve hoodies associated with Jiberish, it was that wholesale sweatshirt with a logo printed on. But when you put it on, and it’s a crop top and it doesn’t fit like you want it to, it’s no good. Especially in the skiing market where a taller fit is a little nicer, and it’s generally just a baggier fit. The stock sweatshirt didn’t work for what we wanted to do and what we envisioned we could do. So then we started working with pattern makers and working with fabrics to make something that fit exactly how we wanted and just made it from scratch.

I don't think we were supposed to touch stuff.

I don't think we were supposed to touch stuff.

So I’m pretty familiar with a lot of your stuff, but some of these new pieces I haven’t seen before. I’m seeing some new materials that are starting to look like outerwear. Is the end game that Jiberish will jump into the outerwear market?

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Feb 10

Trewly Technylish

By chrasual10 Comments

trew bus
When images of Trew Gear’s ’09-’10 line made their way online sometime last year, I wasn’t exactly blown away. I was a fan of the brilliant thumbs-up logo immediately, but nothing else struck me as particularly original. I thought the colors were fairly similar to what companies like SAGA and LDC were producing, and the fit appeared to be thugtastic. Essentially, I assumed that Trew was another fledgling outerwear startup that unabashedly placed “form” miles ahead of “function.” What I didn’t know, was that the masterminds behind Trew Gear were 100% committed to producing some of the most technical gear this side of those brands your dad swears by and that you wouldn’t be caught dead in.

TREW promised us no cheeseball ad campaigns.

TREW promised us no cheeseball ad campaigns.

Any other reservations I had about Trew were totally laid to rest upon seeing and touching the 2010-2011 line, and talking with the guys behind the wheel. While the designs and colorways of last year’s line were cool—if not exactly groundbreaking in my estimation—this year’s stuff is top notch in both style and quality. Trew appears to have set their sights on a slightly wider audience, while still retaining an undeniable freeride influence and styling. For guys looking to steer clear of skittle steeze and yet still look the part, Trew is positioning itself as a viable alternative.

Thanks to the guys at TREW for taking time out to chat with us, and be sure to check their site for updates.

Feb 08

When is Walks of Life Dropping?

By Jon Hartley3 Comments

Way back in 2008 Surface dropped a trailer to their upcoming team video- Walks of Life. The forums have been buzzing ever since. There’s been plenty of speculation, but no official word from the Surface camp as to when it will be dropping. We’re as eager as any of you, so we cornered Mike Schneider of the Surface/Causwell/JOY empire in his booth as SIA. Matt and Chris stood guard at the entrance, and I snuck up behind Mike with an audio recorder and started firing questions.

BroBomb: When is Walks of Life dropping?

(Mike tries to run away)

Mike: Come to find out, making a movie is harder than we thought. We’re going to continue filming through this winter, and try to put something out this spring that we’re proud of. We have a lot of footage gathered, but we’re not 100% satisfied with it, so we’re going to keep cracking at it and try to put something out this summer.

BB: What’s been the stumbling block so far?

Mike: You know, we need to get a camera first. We need a camera.

Rob: And with new athletes, new talent we want to get them in there.

Mike: That’s true; we’ve got to get a lot of Jeff Kiesel, Banks Gilberti, and some Anthony stuff. Blake’s on the road with the Nimbus guys now and we don’t want to make a movie without those guys. It’s going to take us a little longer to put something together that we’re proud to show the world.

BB: Are you currently filming with your grandmother’s Super 8?

Mike: No, I wish. That would be a treat. We got a nice JVC that we purchased from a friend of ours over at Fifty Fifty BMX, who made us a hell of a deal on it, so we got that. But it broke, it’s not working anymore.

BB: How broke?

Mike: It’s done. I actually threw it away. We need to invest in a camera here pretty soon. We’ve been getting filmers like Hennie. He’s been filming a bunch when he can.

Chris: Can we throw a Surface camera benefit party?

Mike: That would be amazing. Let’s do some sort of fundraiser on BroBomb where we can get a camera. But really, we’re going to get crackin’ on it again.

BB: What are we looking at for a date now?

Mike: E.T.A?

BB: We’ve pushed it back a few times so far, so what are we at?

Mike: Walks of Life E.T.A? I don’t know?

Jason: Two years!

Chris: Teddy Bear Crisis 2 is coming out before Walks?

Mike: Yeah, we wanted to bring Ostness on board…if we can find him. Nah, we’ll do something one day. But we’re going to spend a whole bunch of time up at Hood, so if we don’t have something by spring, it’ll be the middle of the summer.

surface life

This is an ambush.

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Feb 03

SIA 2010: Holden Outerwear

By Matt Barber4 Comments

Mikey Leblanc of Holden Outerwear took the time to show us the new designs for 2010-11. You’re not going to see this stuff on any of those other ski sites, so tell your friends.

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