CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT “In April, Mission Ridge, WA, hosted the CAPiTA and Union team for a private park shoot with Vizz as the ringleader. Riding up in a snowcat to a private park, the crew was prepping to hit a large jump. Despite a cold wind and firm landing, Vizz didn’t seem stressed.” Photo: Colin Wiseman “At this spot in Kuopio, Finland, you can’t see the down ledge until you’re about to ollie in. So, you have to be 110 percent on point with your direction, or you might end up with a long drop to flat. The takeoff runway was only about twice as wide as the down ledge. Switch lipslide.” Photo: Keke Leppala “This long-ass rail in Helsinki, Finland, has a big drop on the side. Folks have hit the lower part too, but this one’s from the very top. Vizz’s style and skill on full display with a bluntslide same-way 270.” Photo: Keke Leppala After leaving Spokane, where did you go? I moved across the state to Stevens Pass when I was 20. That was my first time being out on my own and just snowboarding and working every single day. I started working as an instructor because the park crew was full. I did that for a month then got on park crew. I was learning how to build stuff and starting to meet the locals up there. Like Matt Wainhouse, a Stevens Pass local legend, sickest dude. And that whole squad: Travis Claugh-ton, Kevin Hansen, Ian Keay, Mikey Kehoe. It wasn’t just about riding the park but riding the whole mountain. That was a huge eye-opener to what you could really do with snowboarding. After Stevens Pass you went to live in Wenatchee, WA, and ride Mission Ridge. What prompted the move? At the end of my second year at Stevens, I met Jake [Aaronson] riding in the park. He put me on to Mission Ridge and said I should go check it out. I went to Mission Ridge for the first time that spring and was instantly obsessed with the place. I got there about 10 a.m. and rode until they stopped the rope at 4. Maybe a lot of people can relate to this, but sometimes you go to a place and you feel like you’re at home—that’s how I felt when I went to the Ridge for the first time. Everybody that worked there was super nice and just stoked, all the rails slid perfectly, it was the busiest day of the year and it was still quiet. I decided I was going to move to Wenatchee the next winter and work park crew there. It wasn’t really until the next season that I realized how low-key it was. You basically have a private park with you and your homies. Jake and I linked up and we started filming that year [2018]. Was that the first time that you really started trying to film with a goal of having a full part? For sure. I always dreamed of filming a full video part growing up watching all the Mack Dawg and Videograss movies. But I was never quite around the right people that were available to go out and snowboard and have cameras. When I met Jake, we really clicked and started filming whenever we could. You two put out a lot of footage. What were your videos called? East Bumfucc Shithole, I think was the first one. Insane title. The short videos and raw clips from the park that you and Jake were putting out on Instagram were as influential to your success as the full-length videos with footage from the streets. You guys created a little bit of a cult following. Some would say that. We still get a lot of comments that we need to come together and film a video again. It might all work out one day. At some point during all this you got on CAPiTA and Union and got involved with C3. How did that come about? Through Scott “Sweaty” Downing, legend of a sales rep, in 2018. I met Sweaty working at a local skate shop in Spokane. Years later, when he saw me riding Stevens Pass, he asked if I would be down to ride for CAPiTA and Union. I was so stoked, because I didn’t have a sponsor. 078 THE SNOWBOARDER’S JOURNAL
The Snowboarder's Journal The Snowboarder's Journal 22.1: Page 78
