Words: Ben Shanks Kindlon 2017-12-12 18:02:30
Cole grew up just outside of Worcester, MA and, like most East Coasters, spent his time at nearby resorts lapping hard-packed parks with a focus on rails. He spent warmer months skateboarding around the city, and says blending those two worlds was natural. “In the winter, we’d be looking to recreate the same energy that comes with filming skateboarding around town,” Cole says. “So we didn’t always want to go to the mountain to ride. Instead, we’d go film street.”
Worcester is Massachusetts’ second biggest city, and has the infrastructure to match. By the age of 14, Cole had tapped into it. “Maybe it’s a bit of a claim, but I think Worcester is one of the best places for street snowboarding,” he says. “Massachusetts in general is a gold mine for filming. The state is so small that I’ve been able to hit spots in Boston and Worcester in the same day.”
The area surely provided plenty of choice hits for Cole’s breakout ender in Stumped’s Root 9. Just before his junior year of high school, Cole shifted his studies online to free up time for snowboarding. He then dove headfirst into shooting the grassroots film with Parker Szumowski, Bar Dadon, Eli Olson and a few others. “It may have been a little ambitious, but it worked out really well,” Cole says. “When you take the time to film a movie in the street it shows that you’re more invested than someone who just rides park. I think that’s what gave our video way more attention than we ever intended, especially considering we started filming it when we were 16.”
Root 9 jump-started Cole’s career and launched him into young adulthood. Juggling both school and filming helped him to become more responsible and develop time-management skills that most high schoolers don’t pick up on until college or later, if ever. He says he owes a lot of his growing up quick to the support of his sister, Lizzie, his mother, Amy, and his father, Christopher, whose work as a professional photographer contributed to Cole’s love of imagery and adventure. “My family has always facilitated whatever I’ve chosen to pursue, and are always willing to back me up in any way they can,” Cole says. “They were supportive when it came to letting me finish high school online, and to make other decisions for myself at a young age. I think that really shaped me. And the opportunities that snowboarding has presented me with have been my greatest education to date.”
For a 21-year-old, Cole has a good head on his shoulders—some broad shoulders at that. The kid is built a bit like a linebacker, and can take a hit like one, but Cole is far from your classic tough guy. “I’m loud with my friends, but in general I’m pretty shy,” he says. “I don’t know if people have some sort of expectation of me after seeing my video parts. It may look like I may have a hard edge, but I try not to. There are probably some who think I’m cool, but I’m totally not. It’s funny, I think sometimes your image can be a little bit ahead of where you’re actually at as a person.”
Not long after the release of Root 9, Cole joined Ride Snowboards’ Global Am Team. He linked up with videographer Jon Stark to film for the acclaimed Rendered Useless, which quickly led to a Transworld Rookie of the Year Award in 2016 and an invite to compete in X Games Real Snow later that same year. “I got a call in the late fall and was asked to make a Real Snow part,” Cole says. “I thought it was a prank at first, and that it was super random. I’ve never really competed, so I didn’t have much of strategy. I was definitely underprepared.”
Despite Cole’s modest take, the snowboarding community was blown away by his Rendered Useless and Real Snow footage, which exhibited not only Cole’s keen eye for spots, but also his prodigious ability to execute on them, no matter how bizarre the trick he’s trying may be. Take his boneless onto a double-kink handrail, no-comply into a two-story wallride, or intentionally catching an edge to be thrown into a flip off an electrical box, for instance. In the streets Cole has a knack for infusing his unorthodox approach with an ability to go big, jibbing poetic fury upon the features he finds. “It’s like improv in a way,” Cole says. “I’ll look at a spot and brainstorm what I would see as the most appealing possibility on the feature and then go for that. Of course, you’ve got to be realistic with constraints, such as ability level or if it’s even possible, but even if you’ve never tried the trick before, you can always learn it as you go.”
It’s a unique approach in a niche populated by creative folks. And like a musician using a ballad to define their persona, Cole uses video parts to display his own vision. “I’ve always been into photography and videography, and growing up I loved the theatrical side of skateboarding and snowboarding,” Cole says. “I think that’s why video parts are so important—because it gives snowboarders a platform to portray themselves and their riding in an artistic form.”
Cole sees snowboarding as an avenue for invention, and video parts as the tangible products of devoted self-expression. “The way that you express yourself comes out in multiple mediums. Regarding snowboarding, the medium changes, but your thought process toward riding remains the same. That’s what dictates your trick selection and style, and how or where you snowboard. They’re really just ways of expressing yourself. Snowboards are tools, and the rider is the mind behind them.”
Recently, Cole’s taken his toolkit to Japan, Germany, the Czech Republic and Russia in search of rails while filming for the new Vans video, Landline, where he was able to find spots in towns where few had ever put edges to metal. And for now, he’s happy to be based out of his hometown and to keep exploring the creative possibilities of urban riding.
“I don’t see the necessity for me to move out west, buy a snowmobile and ride powder,” Cole says. “Like a lot of people, I make decisions based on emotion and what interests me at the time. Right now, I like where I’m at. I love the style of snowboarding that I’m doing most. I’d like to diversify myself and my riding, but I want to branch out in my own way and never feel like I’m forcing a change. I’m not going to train myself to hit backcountry jumps just because I think it’d be beneficial for someone else. I’m going to make decisions based on how I feel and be true to that.”
With a strong start to a promising career, Cole has that room to talk. So he’ll be snowboarding to the beat of his own drum, improvising and saying to hell with predetermined structure. Like his riding style, Cole’s journey should prove beautiful—even if it is a little chaotic.
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