Blink and you miss it, stare too long and spiral. Another week, let's get into it.
Torment Weather Report:
Well, the obvious story here is the absolute juggernaut of a storm that just ripped through parts of the south, mid-atlantic, and northeast of the US. H3llgat3 was getting after it NYC (and hoping to make some cash on the side). Shaun White jumped over Shane Gillis in Central Park, and Toronto may have broken it’s single-day snow record. Further north, Vermont’s Jay Peak surpassed 300” on the season. We think it’s safe to say that every street-crew this side of the prime meridian is probably stacking…
Meanwhile, the NW remains record-breakingly dry and warm. So much so that the Legendary Banked Slalom has been canceled due to “an unworkable snowpack.” 😭
A bunch to cover as usual, and if you’ve made it this far you’re probably in the clear, but apparently Gen Z’ers are arriving to college “unable to even read a sentence”, so if that’s you, here’s a TL;DR:
EAST COAST, SNOW: WEST COAST, NO!
VIDEOS: STILL HAPPENING
X-GAMES: CRINGE?
RYAN WEDDING: CAUGHT!
OLYMPICS: SOON
MISSION CONTROL: FREE MONEY
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That out of the way, here’s your video news: The new Vans flick For a Friend is up on the site with an accompanying blurb and some photos from Oli Gagnon. Queue this puppy up for Cole Navin’s incredible wallie to back 50, and keep it running for Blake Paul’s preternatural board control.
Victor Daviet has released RUBY FREQUENCY, the second post-apocalyptic sci-fi snowboard movie of the season actually. Quite frankly, this one is weird, but gorgeous. Put it on a big screen and turn up the volume.
Clocking in on the fantasy side of things is Max Warbington, with a send-off for his pro model, “The Finest.” Is Max off GNU? Or is something gnu brewing? Also, we thought Sci-Fi Fantasy was a skate brand? Seems like the snow world is actually doing the lifting in that department.
There’s also an Airblaster edit featuring Pat Moore’s very wet first time at Mt. Baker, called, appropriately, A GOOD WIPE. And there’s a real artsy number shot entirely in a snow-dome, on film and vx actually, called SKYDANCER. That one’s out of the Netherlands, and their setup looks very fun.
The freshly re-branded X-Games just held it’s 29th(?) winter iteration at Aspen Snowmass. In terms of a viewing experience for Americans, there were some obvious differences this time around. In order to watch live, one had to navigate to Kick.com (or have ROKU?), which is a sister company of the event’s main sponsor, Stake. Stake is a “Curaçaoan cryptocurrency-based online casino”, which has had its fair, share, of, controversies. (Drake/RICO suits, plagiarism accusations, and Onlyfans, oh my…)
Stake, again, based in the tax-haven of Curaçao, advertised a myriad of games and services during the stream, including something called “Drop The Boss”, which seems to be a Trump-themed cartoon gambling game? Seems like a fun way for an impressionable 18 year old to lose a lot of money fast.
The boarding of course was mind-blowing. Even while competing with wind, snow, and speed issues, the Japanese came out swinging. Kaishu did a 23-foot method, Cocomo Murase did a 1620, and Hiroto Ogiwara did another 2340. Marc McMorris and Scotty James kept winning, and Mia Brookes looked asleep while taking slopestyle gold.
Finally, we can’t help but point out that there was a national anthem? At the bottom of a red, white, and blue halfpipe? This is new right? Set against the backdrop of historic levels of civil unrest (Thrasher even weighed in), paired with advertisements for the US Army, an online-casino, multiple alcoholic drink brands, Amazon, and Jeep, it was quite the dystopian scene, albeit maybe, actually, quintessentially, American.
Add the above to the pasted-on grins of the “Monster Girls”, stationed like sentinels beside Yonex and crypto-currency sponsored riders, and the fact that a healthy chunk of the competitors are too young to partake in the very things they are being used to advertise, and it feels a far cry from this event’s late 90’s beginnings.
Or, in hindsight, does it? Pringles, Taco Bell, the Marines, modified shovel racing… As long as the homies are still getting the bag and chucking carc, we will likely be tuning in, but our moral compasses are spinning.
Speaking of morality, we’re just over 10 days out from the Olympics, and the world’s most famous Olympic snowboarder turned drug lord, Ryan “El Jefe” Wedding, has been caught! Or maybe, as Mexico says, he just turned himself in? He’s pleaded not guilty to all charges, and is being held in California. There was a mysterious Instagram account that was claiming to be him, was possibly outed as AI, and has now disappeared. We DM’d, no response, but here’s some screenshots.
Unfortunately, Ryan will not be on hand for the 2026 Olympics, for which the opening ceremony is this Friday. Maybe he’s got a tv in his cell? If he does, here's a schedule. That’s got all the freestyle shenanigans on it, plus Parallel Giant Slalom (Ryan’s discipline), and “Snowboard Cross,” which if you haven’t watched before, keep an open mind, it can be quite entertaining.
Putting aside whether the Olympics has been “good” for snowboarding or not, and of course the rampant and ongoing corruption, it will undoubtedly be a spectacle, as well as a chance to see how our humble little corner of the world is packaged, presented, and marketed to the uninitiated masses.
Finally, Mission Control, a small organization out of the NW that is “dedicated to enabling independent snowboard projects”, has launched a film grant called The Flightpath Project. They’re ponying up $2500 to help complete and/or create a snowboard vid focusing on the theme of “snowboarding through new eyes.” Think that’s you? Make a plan, make a pitch, make some shit.
Oh, and one from X-Games history vault just for the hell of it:
Instagram Clip of the Week: Had to do it.
Instagram Photo of the Week: Skylar Brent x Mike Rav x Snow Boobs.