Jacobellis: “I was just 19 and excited!”

A look back one decade in the making!

Oh we fail and flail and fall flat on our faces all the damned time. It is part of being human! Most of us are either lucky enough, or unlucky enough depending on the ego’s hunger, to eat shit out of the public eye allowing us to get up and dust off without a second thought.

But that is not the case for fabulous snowboarder Lindsey Jacobellis. Everyone recalls her stumble one full decade ago in Tornio at the 2006 Olympic games. There she was miles and miles ahead of the pack. There was that final jump. There was that method, that crash, that stomach churning silver.

Watch it all here!

Or the final bummer here!

And how the media was quick to pounce, calling the girl a show-off, a disgrace! I felt very different. Throwing away gold for style is the extreme sport way. She was our hero! Our icon!

But how did she feel? In a new and wide ranging interview with New York Magazine she addresses many things but also this one moment in detail and introspection rarely seen. Shall we read?

At the time, that moment was shattering. I could not express that because I was put in front of an audience immediately. Interviews on TV and in the papers, in front of panels of all different kinds of people. And I was always taught to be a gracious loser, but that was very, very challenging to me as an individual. But looking back and seeing where I am now, that silver medal has shaped me into the individual that I am today, because I know if I had won the gold back then I would’ve been done, out of the sport. I did not love the sport as much as I do now, because when you’re 19 years old, do you really know what you want to do in life? Do you really know what you love? It was something I was good at, but you have those questions in your mind. Every time I’d be winning, I’d be referencing that. I would win and win and win and win, and I’d look back, and people would say, “Oh my gosh! Congratulations on your win. How does that feel with Torino?” And no one would ever drop it.

As a young person, to always feel like, “I just won and you’re bringing this up again,” it never was allowing me to heal. And so, it was just over these last couple years, and when I was injured, that I really had time to reflect on the emotional toll that moment had taken on me. And what was the scenario, exactly? Was it an emotional reaction in that present moment that made me want to grab the board? Or was it just something I wanted to do? Who really knows. Some people in the country thought I was being disrespectful or obnoxious, or lifting my nose to the whole Olympic experience. But in actuality, I was just 19 years old and excited. There’s so much pressure for kids to be performing at that level and at that age. Maybe that was just me wanting to be a little rebellious in that moment and, for once, not having to do exactly as I was told or expected. That could’ve been the emotional underline in that scenario.

Glorious. And inside, ain’t we all just 19 years old and excited? On our best days, yes. And may we stay forever young.


Birthday: Burton’s Flagship turns 1!

A local son wishes the store and its "blatant disregard for authenticity" well!

The new FLAGSHIP store in Burlington, Vermont (one of… I lost track how many total) boasts, “WELCOME to Bur-ling-ton” in large tween-like window lettering just steps from Church Street and directly across from City Hall Park.

Just turned 1!

Its mere existence is an ode to BTV tourists who don’t know or care that the home office and factory flagship store is just a few miles further south, or even exists. It is a glorified tourist trap for pedaling vacation souvenirs. *soft-goods

store-to-store

A “shop” local market share that had all but eluded them since their founding in 1977 and Uncle Jake grew to be worth 100 million. 40 years forward >>> with a blatant disregard for authenticity; a consistent brand philosophy or providing a product with any integrity. Wild style, blind-on-the-knuckle, definitely not looking up hill — they are gaping their way in and out of the trend pool, each time reaching a little further from the shroud of being from Vermont.

Welcome to Burlington, suckers.

“Versatile as the weather is Variable” appears in the opposite window in the same bullshit typeface. It is the new “Riding is the Reason” #hashtag and more aptly articulates what is most important, the clothing you wear and memories you purchase. i.e. the products “we” mass produce in China at the lowest cost by VOLUME to sell at the highest cost RETAIL, each piece sealed individually in single-use plastic, before being folded like an Abercrombie t-shirt welcoming you to the Green Mountain State.

14_support_local

Alas, my point: the Green Mountain State. A beacon of free-thinking, locally minded, sustainably driven and thoughtful folk. The semi fashion forward, trendsetting birthplace of farm-to-table and all things organic and green. Indigenously home to the first nation Abenaki people whose flag depicts Vermont through story and symbolism, lending itself to the oral tradition central to their community and culture.

Abenaki flag
Abenaki flag

A group of people whose ancestors thrived on the same intervale flood plain (as Burlington’s present day farmers’ market in City Hall Park) thousands of years prior with a food hub that extended outward in barter and trade throughout the region. Insert: mind blown. Me too; Burlington is the mess-0-fuckin-potamia of the east coast. i.e. the fertile crescent creation story “we” all learned to be our own.

Heavy history lesson aside, what the F is really the point? This particular group of people wasn’t recognized until May 3rd, 2006. It took Burton CORP. less than a decade to “borrow” their flag (change it to black and white) and brand it their own established 1977.

cultural appropriation!
cultural appropriation!

*slim to moderate correction: it took them less than a decade to pay LA based @magedesign to go ahead and “borrow” it for them. Not sure what is worst, oh wait — paying someone else top dollar for how fake you are is actually much worse.

No Brainer.

Welcome to Burlington.


Watch: A snowboard get barreled!

The future has no boundaries!

Oh this was only a matter of time, I suppose, especially seeing that Gerry Lopez, Mr. Pipeline himself, dances between the snow and the surf so lightly.

We’re brothers! Aren’t we?

Fred Compagnon sure thinks so. And watch him get barreled on a snowboard here! Oh I don’t think he calls it a “snowboard” but surely it is.

A brave future for all!


Wisdom: “Waterfalls are a pain in the ass!”

What other nuggets of truth does Iceland's favorite son, Eiki Helgason, have? Come find out!

After nearly a decade of traveling the world on the hunt for new spots to film, Eiki Helgason spent last season riding at home in Iceland. The island republic is only slightly larger than the state of Maine and yet there was much of the country that Eiki had never seen. Filming for his just-released Island Born gave him the chance to chase waterfalls all across his homeland and produced a seriously standout part. So why not ask him a few questions?

How did you end up filming in Iceland all season?

At first we were going to do another Sexual Snowboarding movie then Halldór got the opportunity to do his project with Sage so he was out. We thought we could still do it without him but then in December, Ethan & Nisse got on the Method Movie, so then it was only me and Felix left so we decided to call it. I was trying to figure out what I should do for the season, I always wanted to see more of Iceland because I have never really been a tourist here. It seemed like perfect timing to do this kinda stuff, so I started contacting a few filmers and Mark Wiitanen was super down to make it happen, but by then it was already middle of March! He flew straight away over here and we basically started cruising around filming every day for a month and a half and some how managed to make this happen in such a short time! Mark is the man!

How is that you have never traveled around your own country before?

I think it’s hard being a tourist in your own country because everything is so close it feels like you can always do it later but you end up never doing it, so I’m definitely glad I did, Iceland is actually amazing!

You just started hitting backcountry zones there, is there more to explore, do you think you could film a whole part out there?

Since we started filming so late in the season we kinda missed the good pow, but we did cruise around on snowmobiles in the mountains around my home town and found a few spots that had pow landings. We saw a lot of potential spots that I am definitely going back to this year once the pow arrives again.

Did you ever end up in the water with all the waterfall shots you went for?

No, but it’s a pain in the ass to film around these things, because of the mist they create and freezing temps, then all the equipment got a layer of ice on it: cameras, lenses, boards, clothes and then the spot it self turned to ice real fast, too.

What are you most stoked on about this part?

The 10 kink for sure! It has taken me so damn long to get, a total of 10 days over a period of 10 years, so it was a huge relief to get it out of my head—it was kind of an obsession in the end. I spent 5 days on it this season and I was getting so over it in the end—it’s for sure the most annoying rail I have ever ridden.

What’s up for this season?

I’m gonna do Insta shows and start releasing them in January, so 1-minute long webisodes for Instagram, I am gonna try to do as many NBD trick as I can and each show will be about 1 trick! So follow me on Instagram @eiki.helgason if you want to see what I come up with.

All NBD’s?

It can be tricks or new spots as well, since finding new tricks nowadays is pretty damn hard —I got a few NBD tricks already, some very random, I will tell you one I’m but gonna keep the others a secret for a bit longer so people won’t steal my ideas before they are out ha ha … I got a “Hardflip Bs Lip Shuvit Out” That one has been sitting in my head for awhile now, super nice to get it out!

Are there any spots left in Akureyri that you guys haven’t hit?

You have to get really creative if you want to find spots here in Akureyri but the town is always getting bigger and bigger, so there are always coming new spots… But it is insane how many spots we have filmed in this little town of ours!


Watch: Eiki Helgason’s Island Born!

It'll make you weep! In public even!

Sooooo I know that it is not cool to get emotional, to cry in public and things of that nature, but TEARS just filled my eyes in PUBLIC because I clicked play on Eiki Helgason’s ísland Born!

First, by way of quick explanation, the Icelandic star has just released an ambitious project in three parts. Zine, Full Part, and Documentary.

The Zine is a collection of stories compiled by different people throughout Eiki’s life and career and is gorgeous (will share tomorrow!)

The Full Part is filmed entirely part in Iceland. Eiki traveled throughout the island, finding spots never been ridden before.

The Documentary features snowboarding journalist and comedian Stan Leveille, as he travels to Iceland to learn how an Island farm boy became a world renowned snowboarder.

Altogether it’ll put tears in your eyes too because Eiki captures something very essential about what we love. This damned obsession, this ill-spent life, and not just in snowboarding either. It is the same weird magnetic grab in surf and skate too. Like, the bit where his dad says, “Whenever Eiki went to the soccer field, all he saw was a snowboard park…” could not be any more perfect.

There’s something slightly busted in all of us, ain’t there though. Something off. Something that sees things that don’t exist in real life.

Yes, we tilt at windmills and Eiki Helgason captures the quixotic better than I have ever seen it captured before.

ÍSLAND BORN // FULL PART from ZOO on Vimeo.

ÍSLAND BORN from ZOO on Vimeo.