In only a few seasons, Mathieu Schaer has climbed up the shred ladder to become one of the main riders in the Absinthe crew. In fact, you only have to watch this overtalented Swiss ripper to realise how good he is, and how naturally he evolves in the backcountry. This, plus the fact that he also goes to university at the same time leaves us speechless. Like with Jari Sorasalmi, we met Mat in Meribel during the DC Shred Days and asked him about this mystery…

This season is now nearly over for most, how did it go for you?

This season wasn’t as good as the last one for me. I’ve been injured quite a bit and this knee injury bugged me for longer than expected this winter. I guess I got back too soon, and in the end it wasn’t a great idea. It’s kind of hard in the head when you know it’s going to hurt if you don’t land correctly… I also had less time to ride because of university. It was hard to get back into it as well since I had stopped my studies last year to concentrate fully on snowboarding. But next winter I will be more free again and will have more time to shred.

We always wonder how you manage to combine snowboarding and studies. How do you find the time to succeed in both?

Good question, ahah! I don’t really know. I do work a lot, I’m very motivated and I always try to organise my stuff in advance. It’s not always easy, for sure, like trying to study after a day out riding. But the good thing is, I love to switch from one to the other. Studying offers me more perspective than just snowboarding, and shredding help me stay focussed on what I want to achieve. Plus I get to meet all kinds of different people, and I sometimes have the impression to live 2 different lives! So I take it as a privilege, even though it’s demanding sometimes.

What was your best snowboard trip this winter?

We went twice in the Dolomites in Italy, it was cool. We had a crazy amount of snow there, and the mountains are beautiful and fun to ride. The good pizzas at cheap price don’t hurt either! They also put signs everywhere to stop people riding off piste, so most people stay on the piste and the backcountry stays spotless for days! That’s the best thing about it when you compare with how it is at home!

With Standard not making a video this winter, Absinthe got a few more riders on its rooster. Who are the ones that really impressed you?

Yes, we were stoked to get to ride with those guys. For example Mathieu Crepel, Nils Arvidsson and Victor Delerue are really sick riders and I was stoked to rider with them. They are not new in the game, but just shredding the backcountry with them is so amazing!

How was it to end your season in Meribel for the Shred Days? Generally park isn’t your thing?

The Shred Days were cool, it’s nice to be there and see all this people and feel the brilliant atmosphere. For sure park isn’t really what I’m used to, so I don’t go crazy. But it was really fun to ride there with the whole team, and watch the rail machines destroy the park. But it seems the season isn’t over for me yet! At this moment, it’s snowing in Saas Fee, so I’m off there now! After a good season like this, I wonuldn’t be surprised if there’s stuff to do until like end of May, for those who don’t mind walking a bit!

I know Alaska is one of your favorite place to ride. What’s your best story from this place?

Alaska is amazing, it’s like time stops when you’re there. This one time this fisherman brought us a King Crab, alive and enormous, saying that this was the best ever and that it’s really rare to find one, especially that big. Then he explained us how to prepare it. First you go by the ocean, put your hands in the animal’s mouth and pull his head back and crack it open. The you empty it, alive… You throw all the organs into the ocean and just keep the eatable part. Then you simply boil it into sea water. The best taste ever, but it was very disgusting to do all this to this poor animal. Especially the ‘head breaking technique’ didn’t go as well as expected… It was a bit of a carnage. But the taste was amazing, best thing I ever tasted!

Read all about Mathieu in the Profile we published a while back. Also check this short edit of Mat in his hood.

To read about the previous Miniviews, click this tag.

This young Finnish rider broke out on the Euro scene a few years back when he scored one of the strongest part in the French-Swiss production ‘La Cassette’ from Ero One. Still on the path of filming, Jani have found a new family with the locals from KBR and he’s doing pretty well with them too. We met him during the DC Shred Days in Meribel, where he killed the park with both his skills and motivation. So, in the end, who’s Jani?

 First thing, how were the DC Shred Days for you?

Shred Days was a perfect event for relaxing and having fun with all the DC people after filming most of the season for the upcoming KBR movie. Even though we did a lot of parkshootings and some ads in Meribel before and during the Shred Days, it was still a lot more relaxing time than filming for a moviepart. Good parties and good people as well!

What are you up to now?

Right now I’m visiting home for a few days. After Shred Days I went to Davos for MBM magazines photoshoots and I just got back home two days ago. The season is pretty much over in Helsinki and we were supposed to go straight away to North Finland but it’s been too bad weather up there so we decided to stay a few extra days at home. Actually it’s pretty good to have a couple days break and just chill at home a little bit.

When are you finishing your season?

I think we are going to spend 2-3 weeks at North Finland for the last parkshoots and of course for Wappulounas. After that the season will be over at least for me.

I remember your sick part in Ero One’s ‘La Cassette’. Now you’re with KBR, how different is it for you?

It was really good times to film with Ero One and I learned a lot especially about backcountry riding with those guys. But for sure it’s been easier for me to be back filming with a Finnish crew. About half of the KBR crew, including one filmer, lives now around Helsinki so it’s been really easy to organize all the street sessions. And when most of the crew spend their season in Helsinki, there is no hurry to film the streetrails. At least for me it’s much better to ride at least once or twice a week just for fun in my home resort Serena to keep up the motivation.

Does it feel more natural to film for a Finnish project?

Yeah for sure. I have never learned French so pretty often I had no idea what was going on around me and for example what were the guys talking about the spots. Of course they did speak English to me but I know it’s sometimes really weird to speak English with your friends from the same country even if there is a foreigner around… Actually this season it’s been pretty much the opposite for our French filmer Jon Vital, who used to be Ero Ones filmer before. Now he even has the Finnish spring ahead, so we really have to try to speak some English too!

What can we expect from ‘Golden Years’ coming out this fall? What would you say are the strong points of the footage – although it’s not edited yet?

What I know is that there has been really motivated crew behind it, so there is a lot of good footage for the movie. Lots of bangers that I have seen and heard from different riders. And after seeing the teaser, I’m sure the movie is going to be great!

What was you best trip this season?

It’s really hard to say. I spent a lot of time in the Alps this season and had so good luck with the weather every time so there were for sure no bad trips on this season at all. But if I have to choose one anyway, maybe it’s our trip to Les Crosets with the KBR crew in January. We had a lot of fun there and it was the most productive backcountry trip for the movie.

What are your expectations for next winter, what would you like to achieve?

I haven’t planned next season yet at all but I hope it’s going to be at least as good as this season. Most importantly I want to stay healthy, ride a lot of powder and film a good videopart!

Everything on the DC Shred Days on this tag, and about KBR productions on this one.

Jake Blauvelt has been following his own agenda for a few seasons now, and earned the respect of all his peers for his big mountain freestyle abilities. His movie Naturally is the best example of the flawless, aesthetic style of the Vermont native. The teaser is mouth-watering enough to attest it. We caught up with him just as he was about to come to Europe and visit his Euro-brother in shred, Fredi Kalbermatten. And in case you missed the Naturally teaser, you’ll also have the opportunity to catch up on this incredible void in your snowboardistic knowledge…

You had a pretty special winter so far, can you give us an overview of what went down for you these recent months?

The First film trip of the winter was to Hokkaido, Japan. I went there with Eric Jackson to film in the deep light pillows. It’s always a nice way to start the season snowshoeing around and hitting mini golf pillows and slashes down there. Then we came back to North America and filmed at Monashee Powder Snowcats with Shayne Pospisil who I grew up with on the east coast. Next was to SIA and ISPO trade shows, and while we were at ISPO the snow started dumping so Eric Jackson and the rest of the crew and I drove to France and linked up with Fredi K. After that I was off to UltraNatural for the week, and then to Eagle Pass Heli in Revelstoke to film deep pillows in the trees. Lastly, I was north of Whistler, BC once again with E-Jack, heliing with Black Tusk. It’s been a whirlwind to say the least, but we’ve been hitting the snow real well, staying healthy for the most part, and stacking hammers!

How has shooting for Naturally been so far?

It’s been good. We’ve been lucky to hit the snow well everywhere we’ve been, and lately we’ve been able to shoot Ciniflex in British Columbia, which really gives the film a unique look into the lines we’ve been riding.

How did you manage to include such a sick crew of riders?

Luckly a lot of riders on the roster share at least one of the same sponsors as me so it’s easy in that sense. We’ve just kinda gone with the flow for the past two winters and seen who is available at the time and tried to make it work. I look up to and respect all the riders that I invite on trips, so it’s an honor to shred with them and have them be a part of the flick.

Can you name them and define the best quality for each one of them?

Terje Haakonsen- Flow and natural ability
John Jackson- Huge airs and powerful riding
Eric Jackson- Stomping ability and overall stoke for everything
Nicolas Muller- Unique lines and sick style
Shayne Pospisil- Powder surfing and sick slashes
Fredi Kalbermatten- Swiss precision and stomping bolts
Kazu- sleeping samurai… all around talent on anything in front of him

How hard is it to explore a new direction in snowboarding, like you’re doing in Naturally?

I wouldn’t say we’re exploring a new direction in snowboarding. It’s more bringing it back to it’s roots and where it all started. All the first shred films were riders ripping everything the mountain had to offer. They didn’t have the perfect parks and pipes, but were just as happy jumping off tiny bumps and cracking methods. That’s what we’re trying to show in Naturally is the pure essence of snowboarding in the mountains, on whatever they give us. It doesn’t feel difficult at all, I’d say the complete opposite. It feels natural. We’re just going with the flow of winter and trying to shred as much terrain as the mountains give us.

You also participated in the UltraNatural a few weeks ago, how was this?

It’s an amazing event with the craziest crew of riders there, both judges and competitors. I rode like shit, but still had a blast taking cat laps once the event was over. The snow wasn’t great, which made it pretty difficult landing off from the features, but all in all it was a good time. It’s not my favorite kind of riding, but it’s an honor to be invited and one of the only contests I could see myself competing in.

Is this the only kind of contest you can imagine doing for now?

Never say never, but I don’t have any desire to do the majority of freestyle contests that go on lately. It seems like style and creativity are often overlooked in the regular contest circuit, but the UltraNatural definitely takes that into consideration. It’s always hard to judge style and creativity though… I also like racing like the Banked Slalom and Dirksen Derby. There’s no argument there… Your time is your time.

To use the last sentence in the teaser: where you’re gonna go? What you’re going to do next?

Well, we’re up here in Norther B.C at Last Frontier Heli waiting for some snow so we can rip some bigger, more AK looking lines, and then we’ll be heading to Saas Fee with Fredi K to ride up on the glacier. I’ve never been to Saas Fee so it should be good to check out a new place.

Check Jake’s website for all the updates on Naturally, and to follow his blog!

To check back on all the Miniviews, click this link.

Sage Kotsenburg. Photo: Thomas Copsey

When he wasn’t snapping epic selfies or follow-camming homie Eric Willett at last week’s GoPro Snowcamp in Laax, we fount the time to sit down with US ripper Sage Kotsenburg to chinwag about contests, style and why Halldor Helgason is a big influence on his approach to snowboarding…

I guess, seeing as they’ve fed us super well, that we should begin by talking about this GoPro Snowcamp…

Yeah, we’ve been in Laax for the GoPro camp and it’s been crazy all week. Just super sick weather apart from one day, sunset shoots, the whole crew cruising together, it’s been fun. Some of the guys and the chicks I don’t usually get to hang out with so it’s been fun to hang out with them and we’ve been filming each other and stuff, riding with each other and just getting to use the camera. I mean me and Eric [Willett] use the cameras like almost every day so me and him had a bunch of fun because it was just like another day, you know, and some people found out how to use them more. It was just a sick experience because it was the first thing like it; everyone got to goof around, get some sick shots too, we filmed a little – most of the time it’s just you filming or taking photos of you or someone else so it makes it that much more personal. It’s just so fun, you can make your own stuff like so easily. We used to use it like 4 or 5 years ago, when the first one was out or something, and it’s come a long way. It’s pretty rad.

I did good in some contests, got a bunch of shots – some shots for the movie – and now it’s just about filming for edits and filming a lot with GoPro in the spring.

And I guess you’ve been hitting the contest pretty hard all winter. Is it a nice change for you to just come here and have it be a bit more chilled?

Yeah, my winter’s been hectic too. I’ve also gone on a couple of trips with Nike for the movie they’re doing, so it’s been an insane winter for me. I haven’t been home at all, I’ve been filming in between all the contests, but it’s been the most fun I’ve had. It’s kinda crazy, I mean I don’t know how dudes like Lago for instance do it – he’s been doing it for a while – it’s certainly something I want to get into doing both [contests and filming] and it’s pretty crazy. But it’s been really sick to get to hang here and not be filming and stressing out for a movie part and doing contests and getting results. I did good in some contests, got a bunch of shots – some shots for the movie – and now it’s just about filming for edits and filming a lot with GoPro in the spring. We’re gonna be doing some stuff, so it’s just been so nice to come here and film with the GoPro crew and just… It’s been like vacation, you know? Euro X is done, there’s pretty much like park shoots and stuff left so it’s just all fun from here on out.

You mentioned edits. I was wondering about Lick The Cat that we’ve seen a bit of over here. What’s that all about?

Lick The Cat is pretty much a bunch of dudes having fun, riding the park and this year it’s been tough to film because everyone’s been gone or got hurt so we’ve made two or three edits this year and normally we’d have like twice as many so far, so it’s been tough to film this year but we’re gonna go to Big Bear, get some Tahoe action, and some Park City for Spring Break The Movie II – it’s just like a stupid 10 minute movie that we make just having fun snowboarding, we’re gonna go to the beach, we’re just gonna film it all and make a movie and people seem to like it and people seem to like our edits. It’s just good fun.

I just think sometimes you need to chill out on just spinning and flipping with the same grab. Not even doing more spins but just doing the same spins that you’ve been doing for 5 years with the same grab… it’s just so boring to watch for me.

The level of snowboarding is pretty mental right now. There’s this small contest coming up in Sochi next year so how much gnarlier do you think it’s going to get leading up to that?

This year it’s been like a lot of kids have been, in between contest, going and learning tricks and learning triples and stuff – I put one to my feet but I haven’t landed one yet so in the spring I’m definitely going to learn one, got a couple of shoots lined up just to learn some new tricks. For me all season in between contests I was filming so I wasn’t trying any new tricks, I was learning about contests and stuff so it’s been hectic – for other guys too but on my side it’s just been so crazy all year and so it’s going to be nice to sit back in the spring and learn triples and learn double 12s with different grabs because that’s kinda like my style – just doing doubles and 12s and stuff with different grabs and not just doing tricks with like one grab which I think is so wack. I try to do like back double 10 Japans or front double 10 truckdriver, and I’ve got some other ones I want to start trying. It’ll be fun to start doing that stuff and keep it creative instead of just adding more spins and flips, which I think is cool, I’m definitely down – I’ve done 1440s and stuff and I think it’s rad – but I just think sometimes you need to chill out on just spinning and flipping with the same grab. Not even doing more spins but just doing the same spins that you’ve been doing for 5 years with the same grab… it’s just so boring to watch for me. It’s like if you’re that good at snowboarding you should be trying different grabs and stuff making it entertaining to watch, I think.

I think that’s part of why I hear a lot of people dissing contests or even where snowboarding’s going because they think it’s spin to win, looks ugly and they just want to see front 3s, Methods, back 5s…

Yeah, there’s a balance somewhere in between. Obviously you have to spin and flip a ton to win a contest now but I do think there’s a nice in between. Like if you did a couple double 10s and 12s with insane grabs… I think that should equal a triple for sure, if you did like a double 9, a double 10 and a triple it doesn’t make sense that if you’re mixing up crazy grabs and progressing it that way that should kind of equal out I think. I think it’s rad that people… like Halldor is super sick, doing like the Lobster Flip and doing double barrel rolls and stuff. Judges give the double barrel roll no love just because it’s not spinning…

Wait, really?

Yeah, it’s been kinda crazy. He didn’t make the final at Freestyle.CH with it I think and we were all like “Whaat? No one’s ever done that before!”

That’s the second sickest trick I’ve seen Halldor do. The sickest is that super inverted front 3.

The front 3 RODEO?! He’s so mad it’s awesome, I guess that’s where my inspiration for doing like different grabs with doubles kinda came from was from him doing crazy stuff. It’s definitely rad.

When those little kids are my age then I’ll let them do the progressing that we’re doing now and they can chose the way that they want to do it, whether they want to do a pentacork 18000 or a double thing with a Rocket air, you know? [laughs]

Have you ever considered how gnarly it must be for the groms these days who have dreams of becoming pro snowboarders? I mean there’s 13-year-olds doing triple corks…

I feel so bad for the kids! I feel so horrible for, not for where snowbarding’s going, but for the kids that have to do what we’re doing younger. Because when those kids are my age I’m going to be well into filming hopefully, I’ll be out of contest you know? I’ll be trying to just Cherokee fade at that point. When those little kids are my age then I’ll let them do the progressing that we’re doing now and they can chose the way that they want to do it, whether they want to do a pentacork 18000 or a double thing with a Rocket air, you know? [laughs]. I feel so bad for those kids because they’re going to be doing the gnarliest stuff. It’s cool to see though, those kids are killing it. I remember like watching people that I looked up to when I was young and trying to do the tricks that they were doing but I never even got close, and now those kids are having to look at what we’re doing…

Who were those guys you looked up to?

When I was probably 12 to 13 it was like Danny Kass, Travis Parker a ton on the filming side, David Benedek – he was always crushing it, doing so many doubles and stuff and he was progressing crazy spins and corks and it was so rad to see, and the guys like Travis Parker and stuff were just cruising around killing it doing single cork back Rodeo 10s, which I think is almost probably gnarlier than a double cork rodeo 10. Those guys are pretty rad, I think.

Going back to what you touched on earlier. Do you enjoy doing contests? Or is it just a necessary thing you have to do to establish yourself?

I like contests a ton, It’s what I grew up doing. I live off of… like if we’re playing a contest here for who can get the best photo of the week I’m like ‘man I hope I win that contest!’ It’s just cool to have something to aim for, but it’s definitely not the end all for me. If I don’t want to do contests any more then I’m gonna go film, but I love doing both. I think it’s so rad if you can do both it’s so sick because you can go film and do that stuff and then come back to a contest and kill it… I think it’s like the sickest feeling.

Last question: how does it feel to be always asked how you feel about stuff?

[Laughs] It’s interesting, because usually when people ask me that I feel like crap. Really sore, tired, jetlagged and I’m like ‘Yeah, we’re at this sick contest, it’s so much fun,’ when the course probably is like a sub-par Olympic qualifier event and I’m jetlagged from travelling and stuff and pretty much just putting a smile on my face. Yeah, it’s pretty funny I guess [laughs]. Sometimes you make the best of being tired and sore, but it’s what we do and I have so much fun being tired and sore [laughs].

Torstein Horgmo. Photo: Youri Barneoud

The Winter X Games Europe in Tignes has kicked off and so we caught up with one of the Slopestyle favorites to ask him about his season, contests, the filming, and a bit more…

How’s the season been so far for you, you must be pretty happy about the contst side of things right?

It’s been really good so far, quite different because I did quite a lot of contests. And the results for sure helps your motivation for it! I was actually planning to go straight to filming after the last Olympic FIS qualifier in Czech Republic but now I’m here in Tignes for the Euro X Games. It’s my first time here, and this is probably the last contest I’ll do this season before I start filming – I’m going to Whistler straight after this. But yeah lots of new stuff happening so it’s been pretty cool so far. Better than expected actually. Last year I focused a lot more on filming, so the contest side of things didn’t go so well. You know, when your head was more into getting shots for the movie. This is why I didn’t have much expectations on how I could do on contests this winter.

We loved Horgasm, A Love Story, and I’m sure you had a lot of good feedback about it, right?

Thank you! Yeah, it’s been a trip for sure. I got obviously a lot more feedback when we put it out for free. We ran it on iTunes first, and it didn’t really reached out as much as we had hoped, which I kind of thought it could happen. I wanted to put it for free straight away, went back and forth thinking about it… Now it’s still on iTunes in full HD, and also online [watch Horgasm here]. And people seems to be pretty hyped on it, so I’m stoked about it. It’s 2 years of my life, and it turned out to be a little different from what was there before, so I’m really pleased.

So now after this winter, even though it’s not finished yet, is it not too hard to do contest and filming quite intensively all in the same season?

I’m kind of used to it now! I just had to skip a bit the street stuff. It was a bit of a late start as far as powder goes, but I want to catch up on this, maybe do some heli and discover some new terrain.

A couple of questions on the X Games now. Mark McMorris was saying yesterday that the slopestyle course is pretty mellow compared to what you guys are used to these days, would you agree?

We had practice yesterday, the sun was shining and the conditions were perfect. Mark said that and it’s pretty much true, it’s very straight forward, quite a simple course as far as features go, but still pretty creative, you have lot of options, and the jumps are really fun. They are not the biggest, for sure, but you still have a lot of air time and it will possible to throw the big tricks. This is the kind of stuff I’m actually looking for: more air time for less impact. For me it’s perfect to end my contest season that way. I’ll have a smile on my face no matter what happen on the results.

Do you think this kind of mellow course opens up possibilities for other riders that would not generally have much chance for a podium?

It’s really tough to say, you never know what’s going to happen. This season we’ve seen a lot of new faces on podiums. Somebody does something new every time. The overall level has been pushed real hard this season, and it’s really exciting to be a part of that. Practice yesterday was pretty mellow compared to a lot of practices this year, so it’s even hard to say at this time.

Last question, who’s your favorite for the pipe Gold for this coming Friday?

That’s a tough one because you’re missing a couple of big players. Iouri [Podladtchikov] has got a good shot, Luke [Mitrani] as well, maybe Louie [Vito] too. I might put my card on Iouri though.

This is what Eero was up to yesterday. Pic by: @raibishkeletor.

The first episode of Cooking With Gas 2013  dropped a short while back and was a masterclass in nocturnal urban jibbing. But before you watch this gem again, we caught up with the man, the myth, the legend that is Mr Eero Ettala to ask him about this season 2 of this web series centred on himself, Heikki Sorsa and Lauri Heiskari… 

The first episode was, like last year, pretty street heavy in Helsinki, but also pretty mouth watering too. What’s is the next one all about and when is it out?

Yeah man, it ended up snowing a ton in Helsinki, so filming the first episode was pretty convenient for us. But for the 2nd webisode we were forced to drive out of town to find the snow, so we ended up going to Jyväskylä and Kuopio in Finland and then taking the boat over to Tallinn, Estonia. And I feel like that worked pretty good, since we ended up hitting only new spots and got some new inspiration along the way. The next webisode is coming out on the Onboard site next Wednesday!

How many episode are you aiming at for season two?

We are going to make 6 action packed webisodes again this season, but also behind the scenes webisodes out of each action webisode with Red Bull. So basically 12 in total, plus full parts in the end and maybe slam sections, haha.

Are you going to shoot in the Alps this season? What are your plans for the coming weeks?

We are in the USA right now, filming for our 4th webisode for 3 weeks and after this trip we are planning on going to France, actually in Meribel, for some radical park shredding!

Lauri is gonna be shooting with you all season this time, what does it change now the crew’s more of a trio?

He was already shooting with us a bit last season and felt like a natural pick to bring along for the whole season – me and Heikki really enjoy riding and filming with him. But of course also having the 3rd rider around all the time makes the crew more productive and we are getting more shots than last year.

We saw the ‘Kill Bill’ reference in Episode One… But who the hell is Black Mamba?

Hahaha, calling the first webisode Black Mamba didn’t really make any sense… But this season we figured that we would give each webisode a name. A hashtag name, that people could go on Instagram and type #blackmamba and see photos from the film shoot of the first webisode. The second webisode is going to be called Fart Margarita – #fartmargarita – so you get the idea, that these names don’t really mean anything. And the 3rd one is #makebananacry.

Last year you said in 2013 you might be boiling with oil. Is it not disappointing to see you’re still cooking with gas? Or did you just change your mind?

Hahaha, yeah we figured that cooking with gas was working pretty good, so why change it? But we are always keeping our options open for next season…Be might be cooking with something else than gas, you never know. We are going one year at the time and seeing if kids are stoked on what we are doing.

This season, who’s the ‘Sahara’ person?

It seems like the Sahara person is always the main filmer, so this year it is Mikael Ahtikari. He is definitely the guy on the crew that is picked on the most!

What’s the best story from the sessions so far this season?

Loads of stories, but I think this is a funny one. You know when you are in your full snowboarding kit and fart on the hill and the smell comes out of your jacket straight to your own nose? We started calling that El Klassiko, so that’s why the 4th webisode is going to be called #elklassiko. Loads of El Klassikos have gone down this season!

If you haven’t done it yet, sit down and fix your eyes on the First Ep of Cooking With Gas Season 2: 

Nico by Jeff Curtes.

We catched Nico on his way to Baldface for Trice’s well expected Ultra Natural this week-end, and right after he got voted Rider of the Year at the TWS Rider’s Poll Awards. A well deserved prize, after too banging parts in one season, with Absinthe and with the Pirates. That’s already a few questions to ask him right there…

Nico, Rider of the Year at the TWS awards: is it the first time, and what does this mean to you?

This is the first time I got the award indeed, and it feel good of course. My personal goal has always been to have as much fun as possible so it’s rad to see all my fellow snowboarders vote that kind of riding. It’s an honour and pretty huge deal over here in the States. People high 5 me left and right, it’s funny.

You also recently rode the Mt Baker Banked Slalom, what did you think of this experience?

Best experience in a long time. I think every pro snowboarder should at some point do that event. The amount of different people that come together from Pioneers, Legends and young riders is incredible. The Mt.Baker Banked Slalom stands for riding, no matter who you are let’s see how you turn your snowboard and may the fastest win.

We’ve recently seen more and more snowboarding legends participate to contests – not only Mt Baker but also at Air & Style etc. How do you see that yourself?

It’s great, I see these events more like festivals. Like cultural snowboard gatherings and it’s always best when generations clash.

Another trend at the moment is splitboarding. Have you tried personally?

I just got one and I feel like once I really go for a mission I won’t want to do anything else anymore…

Next for you is the Ultra Natural. What do you remember from last year’s edition, and what do you expect this time?

My memories from last year are nothing but an amazing time up in one the most beautiful lodges in BC with a roster of legendary snowboard friends. It’s like the dream event. And for the next few days to come I don’t expect anything else. It’ll be lots of fun in the pow and for sure some adrenalin once it’s on and time to drop in.

On this event, what is you tactics: do you pick a line and decide all the tricks in advance, or you more keen to let your instinct do it for you?

I will know what I’ll do once I drop in but at this point I can’t even think about it. It’ll drive me crazy. You wanna stay calm untill you see the course from the side on the warm up day. It’s a long run so there will be moments of improvision for sure. The strategy has got to be to just enjoy yourself and go with the flow.

If you still haven’t seen Nico’s part in the latest Absinthe flick Resonance and want to find out why and how Nico got his Rider of the year Award, just watch this:

Saari does geometry.

 [All portraits: Tim Zimmerman.]

Snowboarding often remembers and praises its action heroes – the riders – but it’s altogether rarer that the guys behind the great machine that is the snowboard industry get a look in. Pete Saari is one of these ‘Deus Ex Machina’, cofounder of one of the most prominent and innovative snowboard factories in history: Mervin Manufacturing. Mervin have been producing boards for over two decades: starting with Lib Tech, Gnu, and Bent Metal bindings, they’ve expanded to also make Roxy’s boards, some outerwear as well as a skateboards and even a their own surfboards – or as they call them , ‘waterboards’ – now. For this latest Tech Heads, we sat down with Pete to get into the brain and veins of the iconic snowboard factory from Washington State.

You are currently VP of marketing at Mervin if I’m right, but I guess it’s a lot more than this considering you’re one of the founders, together with Mike Olson, so what exactly are you involved with in the company today?

My current title is VP of Creativity. I end up doing a lot of different things and work with Ryan Hollis, Dan McNamara and the management team to help with general direction. One of my primary responsibilities is to work with Steven Cobb our CAD master on our snowboard lines and geometries. We work with riders and experiment with new shapes, bottom contours, etc. Steven and I ride every new shape or tweak we make to see how they go and fit into our program. Mike Olson gets involved with this too but, these days he is pretty wrapped up in surf. I also work with our graphic design/marketing department to sort out the board graphics, print material, ads, etc. for everything we do; surf, skate, snow.

What do you deal with on a daily basis?

Day to day I answer e-mails, try to do as much cool stuff as possible, write some words, look at pretty pictures and art and attend the Endless Meeting.

Can you tell us about the origins of Mervin, and the genesis of the brands that compose it?

The Mervin phase of our deal started in the late 80′s. Mike Olson started with “Delbert Pumpernickle Gravity Harness No Guarantee” snowboards, then it morphed into Gnu snowboards around 1984, about the time I started building boards in the horse barn with him. Mervin Winston Leslie III was our surfer friend (at that time there were almost no surfers where we live in Washington State). He was the first of us to fall for a girl and get married. Everyone else called him Win but we liked the sound of Mervin, so when we needed a company name for our factory we named it after him.

We needed a new name because our distributor decided not to pay what they owed us and start the brand Nitro instead… but that is another story. We were bummed, owed the bank a lot of money, so we decided to start Liberace Technologies (Lib Tech) and make and sell every board ourselves again. We put hesh skeleton graphics on every board at a time when hesh graphics were completely dead in skateboarding. We sold to one shop per town and sponsored Matt Cummins and Jamie Lynn.

A year later we got Gnu back from the lawyers and money grubbers when they realized Gnu wasn’t worth much if you didn’t want to work hard, so we ended up with two brands. We tried to make Gnu the price point brand, but nobody wanted cheap boards from us so we have been having an internal technology race between the brands ever since.

Quik bought us in the late 90’s, and at some point we thought it might be cool to build some Roxy snowboards so that got started, and we have been working on those boards for over a decade as well…It has been good… Kjersti [Buaas] and Erin Comstock challenged us to build them exactly what they wanted in a board, and Torah [Bright] is an incredible rider who always has great input and a big smile.

Some Lib Tech oldies but goodies.

You guys introduced a lot of industry premieres when it comes to technology: metal edges, metal heel cups, Magne-Traction, Banana, and much more. Do you remember them all? And how they came to reality?

I remember metal edges because it was more than adding metal edges, it was the removal of fins… Actually we were probably not the first to do metal edges or finless (snowboarding evolved in a bunch of places around the world at the same time). But we were on the forefront of finless as snowboarding transitioned from being powder only backcountry to resort chair lift acceptance. When we left the backcountry suddenly we had to deal with ice, moguls, hardpack, etc., so there was some work to be done getting the geometries right. We borrowed technology/geometries from skiing and blended it with curves from surfing. We really were the first company to push deeper carving sidecuts which allowed the boards to have “fin-like hold” when you put them on edge. Our sidecuts were much deeper than what was being used on skis at the time. Eventually skiing sorted it out and also went to the deeper sidecuts in their Parabolic shape ski revolution.

Let’s take MagneTraction for example: could you go in details and tell us how, with who, why it all started?

Magne-Traction the story can be told multiple ways, I am going to tell it this way this time… Mike Olson is a surfboard shaper so wings, bumps and reverse curves on the rail of a board are nothing new in the surf world. Mike Olson always used to ride a 200cm Dough Boy Shredder snowboard. The board worked great with the length, it really bent into a carving arc well, and floated in powder, so much tip and tail that even a wide stance on that board is relatively narrow. Mike’s frustration with the board was that with the sidecut he wanted it had to be too narrow at the waist to for his size 12.5 boots. He always talked about doing a board with three sidecuts; one that went to the front foot, one that was between the feet and one from the back foot to the back contact. We all kind of laughed at the idea and didn’t ever have time to build it.

At the same time Mervin is a freestyle company, but once a year for about two or three months we become a race board company because of the Mt. Baker Banked Slalom… (it’s a good exercise that usually results in some sort of design progress). At the time Temple Cummins had never won the event and was pretty hell bent on sorting it out… he was loving his board’s toe side but felt there was something we could do to improve heelside turns. We all felt like snowboards worked pretty well, but surfboard and skateboards seemed to work better in their worlds. We always felt like the “dead un-pressurable area” between the feet was a snowboard design flaw acquired when ski cambers intended for one pressure point were applied to snowboardings sideways stance with two pressure (feet) points inputing control into the board.

I don’t remember the year right (95ish?) now but, all this was stacking up and we were working on boards for the next year and Mike put the challenge to Steven Cobb (who was then our new CAD guy) to draw up a reverse curve design that would have two extra wide points at the toes to experiment with accommodate bigger feet. Mike thought the high points at the toes would work like little hockey blades (he likes hockey). Steven sat on the idea for a few weeks thinking it would be difficult to make it actually work and then in some late night french fry induced epiphany drew up a serrated edge that ran from tip to tail and presented it to me as a concept he wanted to try. The serrations were all equal sized and it looked a bit strange but I okayed the project thinking it was a bit wack but maybe something might come of it. I gave it some thought and realized that if we toned down the bumps in front of the font foot and had the bigger teeth between the feet we would be solving one of the design problems and bring focus and control to the formerly dead zone between your feet. Steven tested the original stick and loved it and agreed that we need to tone down the outside teeth. We then built about five boards with the new 7 bump Magne-Traction featuring three bumps between the feet that were larger and more aggressive and smaller bumps outside the feet to the contact and got our in house crew together for a weekend test at Mt. Baker… the rest is history.

Well almost… it took a few years to convince people that it really worked. We loved it and knew it made significant difference and was a design improvement but it looked weird and it was change. We started to get competitive results with it with Danny Kass and then a couple years later when Travis Rice got on it he loved it that really pushed it forward as an accepted design. Basically it happened because we are an oversized prototype shop and if we get ideas we are set up to just build them no matter how strange they might look. That ability to actually build your dream boards gets everyone in the shop and all our team riders fired up and thinking so we always have way more board design ideas than we actually have time to build.

Gnu range 2013/14.

In general, would you say that innovation comes first from R&D ideas, or from the input/demands of the riders?

We do a lot of our initial R&D internally (Steven, Mike, Hendo, Pos and myself) so we have a solid base line on what we are making and the feels/performances each board has. Our internal crew thinks about board design 24 / 7 so we come up with some things. At the same time we also have riders who live in the NW (near the factory) like, Jamie Lynn, Matt Cummins, Blair Habenicht, Temple, Barrett that work very closely with the design crew and always seem to have some sort of tweak or new board in the works. Travis always has something cooking and we are starting to work more with Forest Bailey. Most pros are highly skilled, technical, fit and are looking for a board that is very specific to their size or riding needs or something they want to accomplish. Our internal crew is a bit less skilled, and fit (ha) but, equally technical and we are looking for boards that make snowboarding easier or more fun as well as pushing the high end performance limits. A combination of pro or rider input and our own internal team working together is what gets it done. Banana Tech (rocker between the feet) was one that our internal team worked on initially and then once I rode it and knew it was a go we immediately had Jesse Burtner (freestyle jib monster) and Temple Cummins one of the worlds best carvers on it to get their input…both loved it and we knew we were onto something.

If you’d have to highlight one moment of working for Mervin, what would it be? And what would you say you’re the most proud of so far?

There are a lot of highlights, I feel really lucky to have been a part of some good stuff. I think Mike would agree we are proudest of Banana Tech and Magne-Traction because both were significant improvements in snowboard design and made snowboarding easier and more fun for everyone from first timers to pros. There are a lot of other things that made or make me happy along the way…mostly relationships with incredible people that worked with us or still work with us. The riders are always inspiring some obvious ones are: Jamie Lynn, Travis, Danny Kass, Amy Howat, Barrett Christy, Temp and Matt Cummins… it could go on. Forest Bailey, Jesse Burtner, Zach Leach etc. Math Crepel, Jacob Wilhelmson, Hampus, Jasper Sanders, Martin Cernic, Markku, etc. Tommy Brunner, Jamie Pierre, Scott Stamnes, David Bowers were all greats at what they did and have now passed on but, it was a gift to get some time with them. It really feels like the highlights are the little moments with a stupid board of some sort out in nature with friends and family trying to have fun and working out design things or ideas at the same time. I really have been enjoying snowboarding lately… love riding with my 13 yr old son Paavo and his friends or any inspiring riders, feeling their stoke or challenges and absorbing what they are doing with their boards and bodies.

Pete at work.

Jamie Lynn has been a long time rider and graphics contributor. How did it all start with him as a rider, and as an artist?

Jamie was a hesh skater kid from Auburn, Washington. He was introduced to us by Paul Ferrel who rode and worked with us in the 80’s and now runs our binding program these days. Jamie started out riding with a pack of 3 friends in what they called the FGHC Ford Grenada Hardcore as kind of a joke… Craig, Ranquet and the MBHC were not adding any new members and these guys had to fight for respect with the established Baker crew. They had a Grenada and I don’t think they had drivers licenses, or money for lift tickets but, they were on it. All of them ended up working or riding for us at one time – Apostolos Karabotsos “Pos” is still here and he builds all the custom tooling and boards for team and general prototypes or new tooling. The FGHC crew all ripped and in ridiculously close formation at wide open speeds and Jamie started to stand out by going bigger than the rest and landing almost everything. All of them have insane methods to this day. Jamie had a raw fast powerful skate style and was an artist from the beginning. We still have his high school art project painting hanging in our shop, it is a giant painting of a surfer on a purple wave. He started out riding the Litigator and Matt Cummins model and then when he blew up, it was time to build him his own model. He always did his own art or collaborated with artists he liked. Over the years he has continued to develop as an artist, person and rider and is still going stronger than ever. The year after this one will be the 20th year he has had a pro model with us. Jamie has his own style and look which is what really defines an artist. Where ever his art is always looks better because of it. I get a method and front three clinic from him and Pos every year but, I still need work.

The Roxy boards range 2013/14, as seen on ISPO 13.

Mervin always have had, and still today, a strong image of core, tech, snowboard company. Probably the most identifiable to all the snowboarders out there. What is the secret? And how do you manage to always keep in touch with the needs and aspirations of today’s snowboarding?

I don’t think there is any secret we just try and do what feels right. We have always been surfers, skateboarders and snowboarders and built our own equipment. These days we have a big shop that is like a candy store, we have the tools and materials to do whatever we want, so it feels like we need to take advantage of that as much as possible. I think Mike and I never felt like we got enough surfing, skating or snowboarding time so we are as hungry as ever to get out and ride and play with equipment. Over the years we have been lucky enough to attract some really great people to Mervin and that helps keep it fun and keep us on point. Quiksilver has been incredibly good to us, they keep us accountable of course but, in many ways they also let us be completely independent and free to do what we think will work. The best way to keep in touch with where snowboarding is to going is to participate in it as much as possible, ride with good riders, wear tight pants, and if all else fails work harder than anyone else is willing too.

Can you give us a few hints on what the R&D department is working on at the moment? 

We always seem to have more ideas than we have time to build. We have been working on fine tuning a new C2 variation that is called XC2 and the C3 camber dominant Banana tech…both those have been keeping the aggressive full tip to tail railing freeride/freestyle crew stoked. Mike is really wrapped up in the Lib Tech Waterboards surf project and there are a bunch of interesting materials and processes that will also apply to snowboarding spinning out of that world. The snow has been pretty good for the past month here so our R&D department is really into riding pow… we have been building a bunch of different twin pow shapes. Travis has one called the Speedodeeps that’s really fun.

Olson and Saari on the cover of SBC Business Winter 2013 issue.

 Find out all the latest innovations info from Mervin with some very explanatory videos right here.

To read the previous Tech Heads articles: Burton’s Greg Dacyshyn and CAPiTA’s Ephraim Chui.

We are continuing our Miniview series with another very talented and outgoing ripper, coming from Poland and by the name of Wojtek Pawlusiak. Born in 1986 in Bielsko Biala, Poland, Wojtek rapidly overtook the borders of his native country to become one of the most respected jibbers in Europe – although just like ordinary people, he can take some beatings sometimes from sliding on metal, like the picture shows. Sponsored by Burton, Analog, Red Bull, Anon and Nixon, Wojtek is not only an amazing rider, but also a damn funny character. Here’s his Miniview…

So where are you at and what are you up to?

WP: I’m in Sweden now in Sundsvall. Filming for new Isenseven project, it’s been 4 days already and except the last session it’s going good .

Where was your first shred of 2013?

WP: My first shred of 2013 was actually here in Sweden ! 25 stair downrail !

What would be your best wish for yourself in 2013?

WP: My only wish in 2013 is to stay helthly, without any injuries !

What is the next trip you’re really looking forward to?

WP: I would like to organize a trip to Canada with Burton riders Ludde Lejkner and Niels Schack, i’m so looking forward to hit all the spots I see in the movies with the best crew under the sun !

Where would you recommend to go riding in Poland?

WP: The whole Poland is amazing and good for street riding but if you wanna go ride some mountains, the only decent place is Zakopane in Tatras Mountains.

And because I know you’re good at it: your best recent joke?

WP:A: Doctor, will I be able to play the piano after the operation?
B: Yes, of course.
A: Great! I never could before!

While you’re here, you might as well check Wojtek’s full part in Kaleidoscope if you haven’t seen it yet.

The Polish shreddinator is our third Miniview subject, and if you want to read the previous ones, click here for Kazu Kokubo’s, and here for Dan Brisse’s. Oh and if you want to find out more on Wojtek and follow his blog, just go there.

 Portrait by Yarrek.

“Look into my eyes and tell me where your spots are…” Photo: Sami Tuoriniemi

Eero Ettala and Fredu Sirvio buddied up with a bunch of clever coding and design-types to create Spot Digger – a location based app that allows users to find, rate and check out the hammers from shred spots across the globe. With the iOS version set to drop today, we hit up Eero to get the lowdown…

First up, we were wondering why such a location-based app popped into your head as something you’d want to devote your time to?

Well, I’ve been on a spot hunt for a long time and just been storing random spot photos on my laptop… but one beautiful day my hard drive broke and all the images were gone. Figured it was gonna be nice to be able to store to spots on the cyberspace and most importantly on your own cellphone! And of course I am curious on what kind of spots others will add and happy to stoke others out showing my spots.

How much involvement did you and Fredu have in developing the app?

From the beginning to this day we have been working on it on daily basis, so there is nothing on it that me and Fredu didn’t approve. We tried to make it as user friendly as possible and still have the core feel to it, since it comes from the riders!

Are you not concerned that you’ll rock up to your favourite spot and there will be 5 crews there already? Or do you have a clause in the app that says ‘If Eero, Fredu, or any of the Spot Digger team show up then everyone else has to scram or at least go buy us a beer and a kebab’?

Haha, we were never really concerned about that. If someone wants to keep his spots secret, he shouldn’t add em on the app. But once the movies are out and kids see the footage, they will find out anyways where the spot is – with or without our app. I don’t think this is gonna change anything, maybe just speed up the process a bit. And I feel like it’s rad for the pros to share their spots, that kids can also ride the best urban spots out there!

What do you foresee will stoke kids out most about Spot Digger, and also what do you think will stoke YOU out most about it?

I feel like kids will be stoked on the feed feature: they can check where their friends are snowboarding or skateboarding and add new photos to spots and so on! And of course the fact that if someone travels into a new city, he won’t need to spend any time scoping the spots cause they’re already on his phone! I’ll be most stoked when kids add spots, too, so I can actually be snowboarding and skateboarding rad new spots in the future!

Finally, the app’s been out on Android a while and you’re just releasing the iOS version. Any new things added since the first app came out, or any new features planned for the iOS one?

We will have some share functions for Facebook etc, but we have a lot of other things in mind too once we get the ball rolling. There is no end to this, hehe.