Do you remember snowboard photographer Liam Gallagher’s film project The Mad Ones? Him and a select crew of thinking snowboarders created a web series inspired by the writings of the Beat generation. With their new project ‘Search for a Cool Place‘ they pick up where they left of: Art school meets pow slashing meets beat poetry. Not sure if as many family members will ask me about this as they did about Art of Flight, but it has a great vibe to it, and offers some unique perspectives on snowboarders’ lives on the road.

After Jack Kerouac and The Beats came Ken Kesey and his Merry Band of Pranksters. Kesey was a best-selling author turned acid-freak, who was largely responsible for the psychedelic revolution of the 1960s. But, before Kesey and crew started frying the masses, they took a trip across the country in a 1938 International school bus. They dubbed the rig Further and their mission was simple: they were searching for a cool place. Just like us…

Search for a Cool Place is an exploration of snowboarding, mind-expansion, adrenaline freaks, the trips they take and where they’ve ended up. Look for the full-length snowboard flick next Fall.

Featuring: Mark Landvik, Patrick McCarthy, Wyatt Stasinos, Cory Stasinos, Nick Russell, Forrest Burki, Ryland Bell, Shaun McKay, Lucas Debari, Kael Martin, Alex Yoder, Blake Paul, Nick Dirks, Jake Olson Elm, Harry Kearny, Luke Thorington, Brendan Keenan, Jason Robinson, Ralph Backstrom and many more…

Supported by: Jones Snowboards, Drink Water, Anon, The Mount Baker Snowboard Shop.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, surely a washed out digital polaroid of a rider’s eye view of the rockstar life you wish you were living has got to be worth a quick butchers. If you fancy stalking some famous dudes, you could do worse than to download yourself  the instagram and see them the way their iPhone sees them (other handsets are available). You could even stalk us @onboardmag while you’re at it.

Everybody imagines that their heroes live in a rose tinted world of free flowing beers and bottomless pillows, which is fortunate since nobody can resist the temptation to insta-age their life with filters, blurs and borders until it looks like you’re back in the 60s, and snowboarders are no different. What’s that you say? It’s waist deep in junk out there on the internets, possibly more than you can manage to wade through whilst waiting for a gondola, however nifty you are with the Google. Well have no fear, we’re here to help lighten the load. We’ve compiled a who’s who of snowboarders stroking their egos with the knowledge we’d rather procrastinate in their virtual company than with the real people sat around us, so you don’t have to do the legwork yourselves. Phew.

10. Kicking things off is Jamie Anderson at number ten, setting the standard pretty high for vast snowscapes and fluffy pillows we all want to get stuck into. But frankly we don’t need to know what beetroot dinner you’re eating or what colour tea you’re drinking. In fact if it weren’t for the  delicious selfies and lady-yoga shots peppered between the all the self help slogans and your dietary requirements, you wouldn’t have gotten anywhere near this list. And we know you live by Lake Tahoe, we don’t need to see the view again. I’m wondering now if this should have been a ‘top 9′ instead…

@JME_ANDERSON

9. In at 9 is the affable Gigi Rüf, an Austrian unfamiliar with this end of any competition. ‘Shred Dad’ is still keeping it real in between his trophy collecting trips in far off fluffy places as well as producing his own planks to do it on. This guy knows his way around an instafeed, mixing life on the hill with artwork, landmarks, and his mates standing by adverts of themselves on busses. What Gigi lacks in rock and roll he makes up for in stoke, which it’s immediately clear his kiddies have inherited.

@GIGIRUEF

8. Next at 8 is Kevin Pearce, the second coolest Kevin of the week. That dude’s grin must have a lot to do with why he has 9931 followers lapping up his every instamove. As our man on the ground in the FRENDS house, he’s pretty handy with the camera. After hard months of rehab pics it’s great to see some riding creeping back into this guy’s feed.

@KEVINPEARCE

7. Number 7 is Frank April, whose online persona is just what you’d expect from someone who in real life spends his days gliding down handrails like a boss and his nights necking Grand Marnier. His feed is a one stop shop for gnarly places to sleep, beer bongs on wakeboards and empty booze collections. The man’s got plenty of rockstar in him and mayhem around him – get your glimpse here.

@FRANKAPRIL

6. The top Kevin of the internet is Kevin Bäckström, our 6th Favourite instasnapper. A healthy portion of his 15,000 followers are swedish girls who seem to like nothing better than to scrawl his initials on their perfectly hemispherical buttocks in order to qualify his status as Scandinavia’s favourite rebel son to hate. In between tattoos, parties, and moody portraits, there’s snaps of lines and from events as well as plenty of reminders of his initials.

@KEVINBACKSTROM

5. Shaun White is like Marmite in whatever he does, and it’s no different here at number 5 in our oh so crucial list. No doubt he’ll be devastated with most likely his worst result of the new WST year. Those of you outraged by what he choses to dress himself in each day will get no end of amusement here, where bare chests, hawaiian shirts and cravats are just the start of it. If dog beauty pageants are more your thing or you want to know what he’ll look like in 25 years time before your man crush goes head over heels for him, you’ll be well catered for. And If you can’t remember what Lake Tahoe looks like since Jamie last reminded us, he’s got that covered too. 

@SHAUNWHITE

4. Mark Landvik is actually quite good at taking pictures which, combined with being privvy to some banger action most every time he goes riding bags him spot number 4. Silhouettes, tilt shift, double frames, you name the settings and Landvik’s all over them. If it’s too long since you were last out there getting after it, let Landvik lend you a glimpse from his drop in for you to dream a line down. Cats have been winning the internet since before it was dial-up, and mark’s is one ridiculously hairy feline. Shaun’s bulldog’s never had a chance.

@MARKLANDVIK

3. Eric Jackson takes home the bronze medal today, albeit with a little help from his friends. It’ll not surprise anyone that the man who apparently never stays still has done a few things recently that might blow your mind. Luckily for us, he had the good grace to share the stoke from along the way. He’s got fish on hooks, ridiculous lines and heaving barrels up in his page there, and a beard to be proud of too.

@EJACKSHREDS

2. Second place goes to the man with the most pets and guns in the industry, Scotty Lago. Man’s got style for days in the pipe, and he’s none too shabby behind the camera either. Also, his was the only page with a horse’s head mask, always a winner. What more could you want?

@SCOTTYLAGO

1. The biggest of the instadogs of snowboarding right now is Xavier De Le Rue. It was always going to be tough for anyone to compete considering what the Frenchman’s been up to. Then he went and dropped the ‘waterslide with a penguin’. There was no looking back from that really, was there? Big lines, big hair, and big animals are a winning combination even in real life, and right here they’re all that mattered. Hats off to you Xavier, we wish we could’ve been there.

@XAVIERDELERUE

Here’s the full flick. Enjoy 53 minutes of madness from the Winter of 2011-2012.

The Mad Ones is a a web-based video project by Liam Gallagher. Inspired by the Beat Generation and specifically the writings of Jack Kerouac, The Mad Ones followed the freaks, all winter long. This is a movie about snowboarding and some Beatniks.

Riders:

Forest Bailey, Forrest Burki, Patrick McCarthy, Shaun McKay, Wyatt Stasinos, Nick Russell, Kael Martin, Bryan Fox, Mark Landvik, Lucas Debari, Nick Ennen, Scott Blum, Dan Liedahl, Alex Beebe, Will Lavigne, Jamie Lynn, Sebi Geiger, Marco Feichtner, Atsushi Hasegawa, Kohei Kudo, Austin Hironaka and many more.

For those who haven’t found the time to watch the entire Red Bull Supernatural Show yet here’s the definite highlight of the event: Travis Rice’s winning run, shot with a Contour cam.

Bonus for comparison and procrastination: Mark Landvik’s first and John Jackson’s final run.

Went to Juneau with Mark Landvik in March. It was a homecoming of sorts for him. Real big news in that little town. One local reporter even wrangled him for a story during his stay. Here’s an excerpt of the interview and a few visuals from around Lando’s hometown. 

The Mad Ones is a a web-based video project by Liam Gallagher. Inspired by the Beat Generation and specifically the writings of Jack Kerouac, The Mad Ones will follow the freaks, all winter long. Web flicks will be released every Monday through May. Some will be action edits, others about odd balls or oddities seen, weird experiences or whatever else happens to happen. Then, next September it’ll all be mashed into a free-for-download movie.

Supported by: K2 Snowboarding, Drink Water and 686.

This is a compilation of some POV moments at the Red Bull Supernatural competition at Baldface/BC featuring Gigi Rüf, John Jackson, Terje Haakonsen, Mark McMorris, Mark Landvik and Travis Rice. Filmed entirely on Contour cameras. But what’s really astonishing is the last Shazam-bit. It blew us out of our muddy European water!

Remember the artsy teaser for The Mad Ones? Here’s episode 1 of Liam Gallgher’s video project featuring a ton of amazing snowboarders…

It’s all happening now. Here’s a few from the last three days at Mt. Baker. Dig the present.

The Mad Ones is a a web-based video project by Liam Gallagher. Inspired by the Beat Generation and specifically the writings of Jack Kerouac, The Mad Ones will follow the freaks, all winter long. Web flicks will be released every Monday through May. Some will be action edits, others about odd balls or oddities seen, weird experiences or whatever else happens to happen. Then, next September it’ll all be mashed into a free-for-download movie. 

Featuring: Forest Bailey, Forrest Burki, Patrick McCarthy, Shaun McKay, Wyatt Stasinos, Nick Russell, Scotty Wittlake, Bryan Fox, Austin Smith, Keegan Valaika, Mark Landvik, Blair Habenicht, Nick Ennen, Lucas Debari, Matt Edgers, Skylar Thornton, Alex Yoder, Kael Martin and many more. 

Supported by: K2 Snowboarding and Drink Water.

This is art and snowboarding combined. Mind-blowing.

“They danced down the streets like dingledodies, and I shambled after as I’ve been doing all my life after people who interest me, because the only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes “Awww!”

-Jack Kerouac, “On The Road”

The Mad Ones is a a web-based video project by Liam Gallagher. Inspired by the Beat Generation and specifically the writings of Jack Kerouac, The Mad Ones will follow the freaks, all winter long. Web flicks will be released every Monday through May. Some will be action edits, others about odd balls or oddities seen, weird experiences or whatever else happens to happen. Then, next September it’ll all be mashed into a free-for-download movie.

Featuring: Forest Bailey, Forrest Burki, Patrick McCarthy, Shaun McKay, Wyatt Stasinos, Nick Russell, Scotty Wittlake, Bryan Fox, Austin Smith, Keegan Valaika, Mark Landvik, Blair Habenicht, Lucas Debari, Matt Edgers, Kael Martin and many more.

Vans sat down with Mark Landvik at his home in Bellingham, Washington to get his perspective on shooting for The Art of Flight, and see what occupies his time after a nasty knee injury. Contains some banging footage, woodwork and insight into being part of the biggest snowboard film in the history of ever.

To say that this Frends crew part is a little crazy would be an understatement. But to say it is fucking hilarious isn’t one.

“This Frends edit was intened to be in the new Givin “ONE”. Unfortunately, Jack send the wrong hard drive to the Givin Crew and now there is not enough time to slot it in the movie. Fortunately for youTube viewers, it is at your convenience just one click away. Enjoy!”