See that jacket on Mr. Pollard? Doesn’t it look an awful lot like the Holden Banks jacket (below)? Now, remember that the Causwell deal suspiciously sadly fell through, and that Eric is exactly the type of dude that could bridge that “gap” between skiers and snowboarders. All signs are pointing to Eric Pollard being a Holden skier, aren’t they?
Josh Dirksen hurt my feelings. For those of you who don’t know who he is, Josh is a snowboarder and he appeared in my favorite snow film of all time- Robot Food’s Afterlame. If I’m remembering correctly he gives a little speech about how he doesn’t “spin the 900” anymore, unless sponsors are watching or there’s some contest. What a ridiculously cool guy. He couldn’t be among the ski-hating snomophobes that seem to be hiding behind every blog these days, could he?
Well he recently put on a banked slalom event at Mt. Bachelor to benefit an injured friend. You can read a description of the event here, and let me tell you it’s a real honest feel good story. Just the kind of thing I’d expect from one of my snow heroes. But, then I asked if I could run a couple photos of Eric Pollard and Chris Benchetler, who competed in the event, and I was told that Josh specifically requested I mention that it was a snowboard event with a “token skier division.” That’s just hurtful. Haven’t all these years of bigotry taught us anything?
Well here are the pics of Eric and Chris supporting a great cause, and I have a dream, brothers and sisters, that Josh Dirksen and I will slide down the hill on our respective snow devices holding hands in perfect harmony. In fact, I have that dream quite often. Call me.
Photos brought to you by Abe Blair- Blindman Photos
EP on his way to being the first token skier to finish.
Benchetler, just another token in the crowd.
I remember ski movies before Nimbus Independent’s Idea came out. I know that to think of aesthetics in a ski film was like worrying about global warming at a monster truck rally, a misplaced affectation. There were no videos in “crew” format, and nobody dared upset the accepted ratio of park : powder : contest footage : urban. It was a really good film in its own right, but compared to what had come before, it’s a classic.
Given their position as a breath of fresh air in the ski industry, I was willing to forgive some of Hunting Yeti’s faults. Sure they felt the need to include quasi-intellectual reflections on style, war, peace, and everything else your favorite college pothead would want to talk to you about. They had to tell us that they’re a crew who finds nirvana in the mountains, and they don’t like the daily grind of other lifestyles. It was repetitive, but they were such a departure from the norm that it made sense for them to hammer the point home with a bit too much force. Continue reading this entry »
