This past summer we caught up with the “King of the Kang” to discuss the past and future of filming, fashion, skiing, skiboarding, and the Orage Masters. Those of you who’ve been around awhile can enjoy the nostalgia, and you younger dudes who were born into a pre-existing freeski culture, please take a second to learn where it all came from.

Filming:

BroBomb: We’ll start with the gossip first; so you didn’t end up filming with Meatheads this year, right? What happened?

Mike Nick – I’ll tell you what happened… my job happened, my family happened, my kids happened, all my other responsibilities happened.  Basically the real world snuck its way into my life and taught me that when I used to think skiing for money and traveling to ski was the real world… I was actually living a dream.  And what a dream it was.  Shhhh… I’m trying to fall back to sleep to see if the dream will come back.  But I hear it’s impossible to put a dream on pause, or come back in where you left off.

So is filming again out of the question?

-You never know, I’d love to put some time in with a camera again… it won’t be the most progressive thing you’ve ever seen but I don’t think that would be the intent.  I’d like to just do it for myself.  It’s been about 8 years since I’ve been on film.  It would just be cool to see myself in action again… I think the goal would be to show what the pro skier afterlife looks like, just doing it for the fun, not the progression or the fame or the money.

Looking back, what was your favorite season filming and for what movie?

- Hands down, Stereotype.  That was the year that I put everything else aside and went after the best, most well rounded film segment I could pump out.  We had locations that hadn’t been shot before, we had an awesome crew or riders, and we had Iberg.  Eric wanted to offer something different and I think he accomplished what he set out to do.  Kids still watch that film, they still get stoked on it and just this past winter I got an email from Orage Spanish rider Jaime P who said he had just finished watching it with a few of today’s big names… to hear that was cool.  To think that something I did way back in ‘02 is on some level still relevant is an honor… as corny as that sounds, it’s the truth.

Groundbreaking steeze, circa 2003.

Fashion:

So seriously, what happened to Siver Cartel? And will it ever return?

-What happened is that Siver was running side by side with Orage and unintentionally the two brands began to compete with one another.  With the benefit of hindsight, maybe some steps could have been taken to insure the success of both brands but at that stage in the game the owners of the company felt it was a smarter move to put the Siver project on hold to focus and move forward with the larger of the two brands.  At that point they offered me a position at Orage and the rest is history.  And I’m OK with that, Siver is still a part of my legacy but I have no hard feelings about the decision… that’s business and the bottom line is that if I didn’t believe in the Orage brand and the people who were running it at that time I wouldn’t still be here today.

As far as Siver making a comeback, you never know.  I’d love to see it happen and I’m sure it would be successful.  I can’t even begin to tell you how many random stories from random people I hear on a regular basis about Siver and where it went and how cool it was and will it ever come back.  It’s cool to know that the brand made an impact and still remains relevant.  This past winter I saw someone wearing Siver every day I was on the hill.  Everywhere from Stowe to Aspen to Whistler to France.  It was crazy.

What about a Siver Cartel collection from Orage?

- I’d personally shy away from that.  The brand can stand alone and should stand alone if it does make a comeback.  Orage is Orage and Siver is Siver.  Brands have the ability to coexist; there are plenty of companies who have proven that.  We’ll just have to wait and see.

Where do you see skiing outerwear/fashion moving over the next couple years (without revealing secrets) because Tall Tees and bright blocks of color can’t last forever?

- To be honest, I have no idea and I won’t even attempt to know what’s coming next.  I’ll leave the progression up to guys like Phil Casabon, JP Auclair and Kaya Turski… they know what’s coming next because they’re still in the middle of it.  For me personally, being a 34 year old dude who grew up during the ground breaking stage of what skiing is today… I just want quality gear that fits and supports my style of riding… with some flavor added in.  Orage provides that.  We can push the envelope with some of the stuff Phil requests and we can also walk the line with some of our higher end gear found in our Black Box collection.  That’s the cool thing about Orage, we represent skiing… the whole thing.  And we do it the way we think it should be done, not the way everyone wants it to be done.

What goes into the process of designing and physically making skiing outerwear?  I’m sure tons of kids would be interested in this since it seems outerwear companies are popping up every month.

- For starters, Orage has the benefit of working off of 20 years of experience.  We’ve been around for two decades so for the most part, we don’t need to start from scratch.  We can build off what we did last year and make minor tweaks and adjustments to improve.  That’s not to say we don’t start with a fresh slate and get crazy.  We do that all the time but we know what’s worked and what’s failed and we’re able to move forward instead of sitting idle trying to figure out where to start.

In a nutshell it’s a lot of back and forth between athletes and designers, designers and marketing and sales.  We try to address the needs of ski retailers, skiers and marketing in order to pump out good product.  As a result we focus on keeping everyone in the loop.  Aside from that, going skiing helps… we make sure our crew gets out on the hill, spends time with the team and practices what we sell.  After all, if you asked me to make a new golf club, I’d start by getting out on the golf course.

Aside from that, it’s a lot of technical work with fabric sourcing, lab testing, quality control, designing, outsourcing, tracking makers, pattern work, customs, quotas and so on.  To be honest, it’s way too deep… I’d bore you to death.  Just know that Orage takes a ton of pride in putting out gear that represents skiing as a whole and supports every type of skier.  That, in my mind, is the most important aspect of what Orage does.

Favorite Siver item?

- Wow, good question.  From the collectors standpoint the first t shirt I screened with my own two hands and a belt.  Not sure what the name of it used to be but I have a couple kick ass belts that I still rock on a regular basis.

From a milestone standpoint, the original Raven jacket. That was the first jacket Siver ever designed and I still have one.

The Raven

Favorite Orage item?

- The Kevlar jacket and pant kit from a few seasons ago… I forget the name…aaaahhh, the Conn.  That was a kick ass kit.  The pants fit amazingly.  Perfect bagginess and hand without needing a XXXL.  The jacket was rock solid, a rad design, technical and just looked bad ass.

Skiboarding:

Do you ever get on skiboards once in awhile?

- Nope… I’ve gotten back on my snowboard more than skiboards actually… and that’s only been twice.

I’m sure you’ve seen Henrik Harlaut’s E’dollo blade edit. Did that make you want to get on your skiboards again? And did you think that those tricks were possible on skiboards?

I have seen it, and to be honest with you, when I watched it I thought he just had a crazy fish eye lens on his camera… it took a minute for me to even realize he was shredding on the fruit boots.  But my man threw down like it was 1999 and I give him props.

Since we’re talking skiboards, the single greatest moment of this past winter was at the Orage Masters.  We had a concept to do a side show event called the Half Time Hoedown during halftime at the event.  We went through a bunch of ideas that hit snags with insurance and liquor laws.  We knew we wanted to do something wild and with our backs against the wall and the clock ticking someone suggested a best trick contest on snowboards… we figured it’d be a junk show so the comedy factor would be high; then we took it one step further.  I threw out the idea for a skiboard chinese downhill with Snowmie the snowman helmets on.  It was priceless.  I don’t think I’ve ever laughed so hard in my life.  Banks killed it and the Halftime Hoedown will live on at future Masters for sure.

Masters Chinese downhill.

Remind us all, what were the main reasons you went back to skiing?

- The big reason is because Winter X decided not to come back for a 4^th year of skiboard events.  It was going to be all ski from that year on.  ESPN decided that since I had podiumed at all three skiboard events they’d extend me an invite to the Big Air event in 2001 to compete on skis.  I spent a week at Mammoth and about a month on snow getting all my tricks back.  The biggest difference was rotation speed, but aside from that it was the same deal.  The only trick I hadn’t tried before the day of the event was my cab 9.  I had cab 7’d but that was it.  So when I threw that cab 9 in the event was the first time I had done it on skis… I was pumped to throw it on the spot like that.

Aside from that, let’s face it, skiboards were cool for trying new stuff and what we did on them played a major role in the advancement of what can now done on skis, due to the short length they forced you to stomp landings which proved to be a huge benefit, but ultimately they have limitations.  For freeriding around resorts and parks they’re all good but if you want to move off the resort, shred some pow, ride backcountry, you won’t have the best time.  For me, riding skiboards was a part of the big picture but it’ll be skis from here on out.

Axis/Level 1 shoot ’03-’04

Skiing:

In one of the latest edits, Dark Ages, Will Wesson throws down some liu kangs off almost every feature he hit. As the king of the kang, do you foresee a comeback for the lui kang?

- It’s all cyclical, what’s old will be new again someday and what goes out comes back in.  I’m stoked to see the kangs coming back out and it’s funny to think about the things I’ve done that at the time just seemed normal but are now looked at as my stamp on skiing.  I like that title, King of the Kang.  I took pride in those bad boys, I always held ‘em straight out and as long as possible. Pokes don’t count.

“Pokes don’t count.”

Who are the skiers you love to watch right now?

- Will and Andy are my favorite by far in terms of where their motivation is at.  Those guys represent everything that skiing was intended to be… FUN.  Dale Talkington is a young kid who gets me stoked.  The kid attacks the park like he’s been in the game forever.  Phil Casabon and Tom Wallisch, by far the two best park slayers in the game.  Tom for being the full package, Phil for doing it on his own terms.  Eric Pollard for continuing to blur the lines between park and big mountain and Xavier and Kevin (Rolland) for representing the new regime of pipe slayers.

What do you think of the progression of skiing since you’ve been away from the pro scene?

- It amazes me.  It’s absolutely ridiculous.  I’ve always loved the sport and even though I’m way behind the curve at this stage in my life I’m just as happy watching kids push the limits as I was when I was the one doing it.  It’s a whole new world and I can’t wait to see what happens this coming season.  Sammy’s already throwing triple flips, doubles are super clean and stylish, what’s next?

And I can’t wait to for 2014.  I’ve always wanted a reason to go to Russia and to think that I may have had something to do with laying a brick or two in the foundation that helped get our sport into the Olympics is amazing.  So stoked for that.

Loving the “afterlife.”

What skis have you been riding the last couple seasons?

- Line all the way baby. EP Pros, the Bacon and the single greatest all around freeride ski: the Chronic Kryptonite.  Talk about sponsorship loyalty, since day 1 of riding on Line Skis there was only one time I stepped into another brands skis and that was only because J (Levinthal) asked me to test a pair of 1080’s back in the day to give him my thoughts.  It didn’t feel right.

Orage Masters:

Where did the idea come from and briefly let us know how the event has progressed over the years?

- The Masters started in 2001 as an individual event.  Every skier for themselves so from that standpoint it was fairly standard.  But where we shook it up was by getting rid of start lists, mandatory helmets, bibs, judges and everything that makes an event like every other event.

After that we started running team events with captains.  8 captains would choose their squad and do battle head to head.  It was a total success, the fact that we tried to break all the rules of what a typical event was like at that time made it stand out and fun for the riders.  From that point on, the athletes have been stoked and now 8 years later it remains known as the “anti comp” and is still the most unique event in the industry.

What makes the Masters unique is what the athletes have brought to it over the years.  They’ve taken the event over and put their own twist on it with skits, costumes, madness and debauchery.  When you strip it all down, we brought a new concept to the table with a no rules format, and the athletes took it over from there.

Mike displays the coveted Master’s jacket.

This years Masters looked like an insane time.  How much time and effort do you guys put into the event? And do you guys really have as much fun as it seems?

- The event is outrageous, it really is, nothing but fun… No smoke and mirrors there and as a testimonial to how unique the Masters is… Sean Petitt competes in three events all year, two big mountain events for RedBull and the Orage Masters.  That says a lot, and he’s the one out there having the most fun.

Internally, we live for the event.  As a brand we feel the Masters represents everything Orage stands for and it’s by far and away the highlight of our year. This year was a challenge with the Olympics wrapping up 6 weeks before our event.  Whistler was on Olympic lockdown and literally had no time to work on anything else.  We had to cram once the games wrapped up to get our entire program banged out in about 5 weeks but we got it done and it was in my mind, the best event yet… but that’s the funny thing about the Masters, just when you think it can’t get better, it does.

The past two years we’ve had the world’s worst weather and as a testament to the fact that the event cannot be broken, the fact that 40 athletes come out dressed in costume to ski in the rain says it all.

Has JOSS put a dent in the rider pool and attention the Masters gets in recent years?

- Not at all, the majority of the athletes who compete at JOSS don’t compete at the Masters and to be honest with you, the two are so different they can coexist well.  Jon and I worked to offset the dates last year but there were too many factors working against us.  We’ll be in touch earlier this year, and the Olympics won’t have such an impact on Whistler and the Masters next season.

Have you ever thought of expanding Orage anti comps to some other events or more stops of the Masters? East Coast Orage Masters????

- Hell yes, without making any promises, stay tuned… I’ve got an idea for an event that would rival the Masters but before I let any cats out of the bag I still need to pitch the idea internally.  I’ll keep you posted.

Shout Outs?

- Just a simple thanks to everyone we work closely with who supports Orage, Phil and the Retallack Crew, all our athletes, Felix for shooting amazing imagery with us last season, Level 1, Traveling Circus, Freeskier, Powder, The Ski Journal, SBC Skier, NS.com, Brobomb for offering a different perspective, all our retail partners who get our product out to skiers and everyone out there who supports Orage and speaks our message to their friends.

See you on the hill.

Now that you’re all super pumped (or really bummed) on that news, check out all the Day 2 photos on our Facebook.