COVER “While shooting in Valais, Switzerland, Alek Oestreng either had bad style doing this butter or he was just too fast for me to catch a photo of him. It was probably the latter.” Photo: Matt Georges UP TOP 01 “Fly on the wall, is what Joel Loverin calls this line in Whistler, BC. When he told me of his idea to capture it from this perspec-tive, which involves ropes and down-climbing to the edge of a cliff, I was so down for it. It›s always a good time creating with Joel.” Photo: Cedric Landry 02 “For a guy with no sponsors, Blake Hunter bags a bunch of beautiful lines throughout the winter. Working multiple jobs, his hard work over the summer allows him to rip with his local crew all season and navigate lines with finesse, like this one in the Tahoe, CA backcountry. Similar to his underrated riding, Blake is also one of Tahoe’s most underrated Halloween costume contest winners.” Photo: Danny Kern 06 “Tristan Hansen had just spent the previous week guiding Gigi Rüf, John Jack-son and Victor Daviet around Revelstoke, BC, watching them go buck on some heavy features for their project coming out in 2021. Tristan was inspired and decided this drop was potentially good to go. But there comes a point where the human body just can’t physically handle fully stomping the landing. He landed perfectly in the sweet spot, but it was still too much as he whipped into a backslap. He still managed to ride it out in what we like to call a ‘Kootenay stomp’ around here.” Photo: Daniel Stewart 03 James Niederberger pluming powder at Aletsch Arena, Switzerland. “When shooting stuff like methods, front threes or butters, you usually know pretty well what you’re going to get in advance. With slashes, especially on windlips, it’s a whole different story. There’s a number of factors to take into account, such as wind, the consistency of the snow, and the speed, angle and intensity with which the board hits the lip. It’s a matter of timing. The photographer has to anticipate and adapt within milliseconds. This unpredictability is what makes shooting slashes so fun and exciting for me. Thanks for this one, Jim— my favorite shot from last season.” Photo: Silvano Zeiter 07 Niels Schack dropping into a steep bank in St. John’s, Newfoundland, after record-breaking snowfall forced the city to declare a state of emergency in January 2020. “While building out the bank’s snowy transition, a work crew pulled up and asked, ‘What time’s the show? We would love to see what the heck you’re planning.’” Photo: Dean “Blotto” Gray 04 “Burlington, VT’s iconic hospital hip has been around for as long as I can remember. Every year during big snowstorms, the University of Vermont property maintenance company pushes snow off of the parking garage and right to the bottom of Hospital Hill. The pile of snow stands two stories tall and is usually an icy, chunky mess. On Feb. 9, 2020 the sun was shining and loosening things up, so Alex Caccamo and Casey Savage started digging. To my knowledge, the hip has never looked or rode this well. No speed-checks or straight airs necessary for Alex Caccamo to properly grab tail with a frontside 180.” Photo: Peter Cirilli 08 “I’ve always joked we should build a snowboarding jump over an alligator pit. Well folks, this is pretty much the street equivalent to that scenario.” Niels Schack with a street-circus balancing act of a 5050 on a consequential creeper in Twin Cities, MN. Photo: Dean “Blotto” Gray 09 “Griffin Siebert and Jared Elston leading the charge up the iconic Terminal Cancer couloir. This particular rock slot has a sustained descent of nearly 2,000 vertical feet and remains essentially straight for the entirety of the line. With next-to-perfect snow conditions the guys decided to ride it tandem: Griff enjoying high-speed tapered pow up front while Jared braved a long-form white room in the back.” Photo: Jack Dawe 05 “Markus Keller cruising around on a windlip that could have been a real spot to send tricks. But he was injured and couldn’t do anything other than ollies, so that’s just what we did for few days in St. Luc, Switzerland.” Photo: Matt Georges 014 THE SNOWBOARDER’S JOURNAL
The Snowboarder's Journal The Snowboarder's Journal 18.4: Page 14
