Words: Nick Russell 2018-01-04 16:40:15
There is a paradigm shift going on within snowboarding’s current sophomore generation. These early-20-somethings have grown up on the changing tides of a digitized world. But one rule has held true since the beginning: like a fine piece of art, creative snowboarding combines inspiration from our forefathers with a fresh outlook. And from an early age, Griffin Siebert has taken his own path.
Doubling down on both skis and a board as a child, at 9-years-old, he committed to a sideways direction after trying out for the local ski racing team and hating the rigidity of the program. Now 23, Griffin has been entrenched in the core SLC snowboard community ever since. His older brother, Zach, was a staple in the Park City scene and Technine videos of the 2000s. Zach turned Griffin into “a snowboard nerd” through his vast collection of snow videos and magazines, which they both consumed daily.
Griffin landed a job at Milosport right after high school. There, he heard shop stories from Utah heroes like Noah Brandon, Brandon Ruff, Josh Roberts, Benny Pellegrino, Jeremy Jones, the Leines brothers, Seth Huot and Tonino Copene. And they took him riding. “Getting shown around to all the classic hits and terrain at Brighton by these older shredders changed my view of snowboarding forever,” Griffin says.
He also began to ride it all, becoming equally at home on the skintrack in Little Cottonwood Canyon and jibbing a bench in the local park with the eclectic Lick The Cat crew. Then two years ago, Griffin had a lightbulb moment while on a trip to Japan with Forrest Shearer and Andrew Miller. Witnessing the snow surf revolution firsthand from people like Kazushi “Orange Man” Yamauchi, Kazumasa Yamada, Osamu Okada, Rip Zinger, Yuta Watanabe and the rest of the Gentemstick family left a mark. “It was eye opening to watch those guys turn,” Griffin says. “I began to really focus my energy on turning. It’s a painting that is never finished. I am always trying to better my turn, and always will be from here on out.”
A recent addition to the Quiksilver snow team, industry heads have clearly taken notice of Griffin’s unique style. But there’s more to Griffin than his on-snow prowess—he’s also a recent graduate from the University of Utah with a major in Environmental Geoscience. Griffin spent this past summer interning with a hydrogeology company in Park City, saving money for the winter while satisfying his curiosities. “I basically get to help out all of these brilliant hydrogeologists in all of their numerous projects of mapping groundwater, oversight on water well-drilling, water rights issues, water sampling, public drinking water protection plans and so on,” Griffin says.
In the winter months, Griffin has plenty of time to study water in its frozen form. And he does it with a distinct aesthetic beyond his years. He has made a noticeable mark on the SLC scene already—Nobody Does It Like Griff bumper stickers are a frequent sight around the Milosport periphery. “Griffin’s got a classic riding style,” LTC conspirator Blake Paul says. “Everything he does seems timeless.”
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