Pat’s Creative Snow Sculptures

SPEAKER_06 0:40

Oregon media.

SPEAKER_08 0:44

But yeah, the thing that impressed me the most about Pat was yeah, he could build these perfect half pipes, but more so just his his creative mind, his creative eye, and how he would arrange all the features of a Mount Hood and yeah, different contests that he'd make, but that's why he was always the and really, especially for an event like the big wave challenge, like he was the perfect creative mind and eye and sculptor for those types of events because that's so much harder to do to like come in with a real creative vision rather than just make a perfect half pipe. A lot of people could make a perfect half pipe, but he was one of the few that could build these super hyper creative sculptures out of snow.

SPEAKER_02 1:29

I remember when I was a bad, times are hard and things were bad. There's a silver line behind every bath. Just for people, that's all we work. Trying to make a living out of together in a family circle singing.

Active Skin Repair Meets Jerry

SPEAKER_11 1:48

On this episode of Ben Magazine's The Circling Podcast, we bring you part two of our series on the history of the Jerry Lopez Big Wave Challenge. I sit down with Jason and Mo Baldasari, as well as Ryan Bucala and Andos Passos, four key members who make the Big Wave Challenge happen. Then, on the back end of the episode, I'm joined by my friends Curtis Seizek and Austin Smith. Both are professional snowboarding veterans who have made a lasting imprint on the sport, and they share their relationship with one of the event's main beneficiaries, Mr. Pat Milandowski. Why don't we start with you and Mo, Jason? Like you guys introduced yourselves, he kind of already did, but just share like how you um got involved, meeting Jerry, coming to bend. I mean, I heard a little bit, Jerry was sharing a little bit with me about Active, which is a business you started. Yeah. So get that thing closer. Yeah. A little closer. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, that's good.

SPEAKER_06 2:53

Yeah. So in 2016, we I started a company with a couple buddies of mine called Active Skin Repair, and the whole idea was a really a natural, very healthy product, like first aid product, but all kind of packed into one. So imagine taking like your peroxide, your rubbing alcohol, your betadine, um, after itch for bug bites, neosporin, and putting it all into one bottle, but having it be natural and healthy. And um, so that was that was a product we launched in 2016. I think Jerry got his hands on it because Alex uh cut his foot at the surf ranch really bad. And Jerry had heard about the product, they had it on hand, gave him a bottle he went home with, and it healed his foot up really quick.

SPEAKER_03 3:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 3:31

Um, eventually got connected connected to Jerry. He invited us up here for the first big wave, which was I think 2019, the first year we checked on. I think that's correct. Um and yeah, that that's kind of like our first introduction, not only to to Jerry and Big Wave, but to Ben and Bachelor and just really the whole Pacific Northwest. We hadn't really spent much time up here. So yeah, it's I kind of owe, I kind of say like I owe, and now, you know, fast forward 2025. We own a house, we live here. Um, I don't think any of that would have happened if we didn't get the invite to Big Wave from Jerry in 2019. And and yeah, it's kind of snowballed from there, so it's been a good thing.

SPEAKER_11 4:04

And it all started with a laceration from a like a surf end.

SPEAKER_06 4:08

Yeah, it was cool. We got, I mean, we got really lucky. So we had my rep that we had out in Hawaii was someone who grew up with Jerry. Um, and we had wound up meeting actually Leah, uh Alex's now wife. Um, we met Leah through we were 1% for the planet company, and we donated 1% back to Changing Tide Foundation, which Leah's a big part of. Um, and she's like, Oh, my, you know, my my boyfriend's father loves your product. And I'm like, Oh, cool, we'll send him some. No idea who he is. Yeah. And she's like, Yeah, I'm like, where does he live? She's like, Oh, in Ben. I'm like, oh, what's his name? Oh, Jerry Lopez. I'm like, I was like, we were in Hawaii at the time. I was like, literally, if he if I can get product to him, I will I will hop in the ocean right now and swim to Ben. Yeah, and I will bring in the product firsthand if I can. Um it's just kind of snowballed from there. So it's been awesome.

SPEAKER_11 4:52

And Mo, were you part of Active as well?

SPEAKER_01 4:55

I was not part of Active, but this was the first time you were, just not directly, I guess. I was supporting him financially, you know. So there's that. Um but this was the first time in our relationship that he said he wanted to do something snowboarding related, and I was like, I'm in.

SPEAKER_11 5:10

Where are you from originally?

SPEAKER_01 5:12

So we're both from New Jersey, but on the snowboarder, and he was always the surfer. Yeah. So for him to initiate a snowboarding trip, I was in.

SPEAKER_11 5:21

What was your first trip like here? Was it good conditions or yeah?

SPEAKER_06 5:25

It was so I think it was, I think later March, similar to like when we're gonna have it this year, and we had gotten actually a lot of snow. I remember it was the first time I really rode like heavy, like Pacific Northwest cement. Yeah. Um, so that was like a whole experience in and of itself. And I didn't do the course because I was like really nervous and didn't, I was like, I don't know if I can hang with everyone and everyone rips, and I'm just some kook from San Diego. Um, but yeah, it was like that was like the coolest experience where everyone was kind of egging you on. Go ride, go ride, go ride. You know, it's all about having fun. Where yeah, I think the the biggest like competition with all the competitors is how many laps you can get because the course is so fun. Yeah, totally. It's just like ride, have fun, get back up there as quickly as you possibly can.

SPEAKER_11 6:04

Yeah, practice day is always the funnest day. Yeah. Yeah, that's cool. What roles are you filling now? Like what's your involvement with it? Do you help organize or yeah?

SPEAKER_06 6:15

So when we I mentioned before, like three years ago was kind of our first year we came up for the winter. Um, and I hit Jerry on the way up and said, Hey, we're, you know, we're gonna be up here for the winter if you guys need extra sets of hands. And he just kind of plugged us in with Ann. And um, Andy at the time, Goggins was was still uh involved in help putting everything on. And um Andy and Ann put me put me in mode of work pretty quick. And um, so yeah, I'd I'd say I guess our role would be technically one of the organizers. Nice. Um yeah, it's been it's been fun, and that's like honestly through big wave is how we've met most of the people that we even know and are friends with up here.

SPEAKER_11 6:47

Yeah, yeah. That's how that's why it's so cool about snowboarding and surfing and skating is is like this people you meet along the way. What was the the why behind you getting involved, Mo?

SPEAKER_05 6:59

I met her with Jay and forced her into volunteering.

SPEAKER_01 7:03

I've um been kidnapped by Anne, and uh I may never get out of here. Um for me, snowboarding in the mountains have always been my passion. And where I've wanted to call my home and married to a surfer, that's just that was always gonna be a long shot for me. So for being able to come up to Bachelor and just enjoy snowboarding and see this amazing event just as a bystander, you know, and Jay would just go and meet Ann and drop off some product, and I'm like, okay, well, we'll go to the event and we'll see what's going on. Um, and just seeing that community and that aloha spirit was just amazing. Um and then you have one conversation with Pat and you're done. I mean, he's just he's an inspiring human, and I've met amazing people um through this organization and helping.

SPEAKER_11 7:55

So Yeah, I love that.

SPEAKER_01 7:57

Keeps me going.

SPEAKER_11 7:58

Yeah. That's a like bravo to you for like coming up and plugging in, you guys, because a lot of people I I think a lot of people like it's easy to move places and and not put out effort to like invest in your community, you know?

SPEAKER_06 8:15

Yeah, it's easy to just show up, take advantage of what's there, and then and then go and go find the next one when you're done, right? Totally.

SPEAKER_05 8:20

I heard uh Todd Taylor talk at a Bend 101 uh it's a a talk for people who have just moved to Bend, basically. And it's really good, even if you've lived here for a long time, to hear the message. But Todd said uh the thing that makes Bend great is that we all contribute back to Bend.

SPEAKER_03 8:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 8:43

Um and I heard that and was like, yeah, it's the contribution really that makes this place great. And he talked about Bill Smith that um has passed now but owned uh Old Mill. Old Mill started the Old Mill, he had that vision, and um he talked about how they used to drive around and just throw wildflower seeds in like empty lots to just make it look that much more beautiful here. And I think if you move here and you love it and this you want to call your home, get involved because there's great organizations in Bend that you can contribute to. I mean, get involved somewhere and give back a little to your community because really for me, when I'm giving back to this snowboard world that gave me so much, I feel like at peace with my soul that that give back um hopefully runs to little kids and then they continue giving back to our industry and our community, and it is like a really Ben's precious.

Bend’s Snow And River Surf Culture

SPEAKER_11 9:48

Yeah, very much. It's easy, it's easy to take it for granted. You know, like when you've been here as long as we have, like, you know, you forget how just how good it is, you know. So yeah, I totally agree with you. And then Ryan, you've you work for the mountain. No, no, no, no, that's the other thing.

SPEAKER_07 10:07

You're a leader in the organization. So let's see, yeah, no, I'm I'm just uh I'm a trusty soldier uh in the organization and and the director, and um, you know, I first got ex really exposed to big wave in like 2018, 2019, not sure one of those years, and tried to rope me in as a uh as a judge, and I was like, absolutely not, will not be a judge. And um, but yeah, we've been working on this for a while, and uh it's such a great, it's such a great event. What do you like most about it? I think what I like most about it is the it's just the level of Stoke. You know, people just want to be a part of it, whether it's at a community level as we're organizing and all the way up into the to the actual day of the event, you know, and and you know, the money goes to Pat, you know, all a lot of the old um Ben people know Pat. A lot of the old Ben people know Michelle, who we've added in on the on the auction side of things. And you know, I remember going into uh North Shore on 14th, and Pat Pat was working there, you know, working for Rev. And that was a really long time ago. Um I was working at Peak Sports in Cravallis and I was doing the snowboard buy there, and all I wanted to do was be over here, you know, because we were so far away from the mountain, and and uh that was like ground zero, you know, and like that was in the era of like fish paw and like you know, like it was just happening. Yeah, it's pretty wild because this town continues just to produce solid professional snowboarders. Yeah, you know, and um Why do you think that is? I you know, I mean, I think that uh iron sharpens iron. I think that, you know, the older guys do a good job of bringing along the younger guys, and you can see it all the way through. And and um, you know, this next generation that's coming up that hopefully we can get in on this project here. Uh, you know, we'll I think they'll they'll tell you about that the guy, the older guys, you know, they just they find each other and they support each other and they all get along. And it's it's really fun to get in a room with all those guys and and just watch them uh, you know, watch the the hazing and the and the good time that happens, you know, and um, you know, the guys that are now 37, 38, you know, are looking at the guys that are 18, 19, 20. Because I mean, it happens like that, right? Like just yesterday those guys were coming up, you know. Yeah and we've got some great photographers, we have some great videographers, like we just have all of the things that make this a really healthy breeding ground for really strong athletes.

SPEAKER_06 13:06

And there's certain things that have got like injected, right? Like surfing was not a natural thing here, right? Like there, we're not near the ocean, but there's a huge surfing community, a huge surfing culture. And when we were thinking about obviously, we like I mentioned earlier, we got introduced to to Ben through Big Wave. Um, but we came up 2019, then we had COVID, so Big Wave was off for two years. So we didn't come up. And we had done a trip, we were in our van, we cruised around, we were up in Montana, we were really thinking, Oh, we love Montana. And then Jerry hit us up the next year, oh, Big Wave's back on. I think he called and it was like, it's gonna be on. We're we're hosting it in like three weeks, and we immediately booked tickets, and we're like, it's on. We came back up and we're like, oh, this is this is our place. Yeah, this is our place. And plus, I mean, obviously, as a surfer too, having the river wave, I mean, and just the whole culture and everyone's so wrapped up here. It's been been good.

SPEAKER_11 13:52

Yeah, that river wave has been a really fun addition to the community. And just it's insane to me to see like it's actually like developed its own industry, like river surfing. Oh, you know, completely. It's insane.

SPEAKER_06 14:08

Yeah, and it's it's funny, like as a guy who's I mean, I'm 43, I've been surfing since I'm 12, and I feel like I can hold my own. I'm not Jerry Lopez, but I can certainly hold my own in the ocean. And the first time I got on the river to get like I had just come back from Tahiti surfing, like pretty proper, like almost double overhead reef passes, and I go to the river and get manhandled by a knee-high river wave. I felt like such a chump. It was hysterical. I was so mad at myself, but it was it the rattesting, like but surfing, you go in the ocean, especially Southern California, it's a little bit tough in the lineup. You go to the river, there's people helping you holding your hand, making sure you figure it out. Like it's just a it's a very unique way that surfing has come into this community, and I think Bend has has kind of brought itself to surfing a little bit in that way.

SPEAKER_11 14:48

Yeah, I've thought a lot about that. I'm sure you have too. And first of all, you're not the only good surfer that has struggled on that wave initially because it's a completely different physics, right? Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 14:59

In the ocean, you you look at you look at someone's wave and it's and that's already their wave, like you're already gonna get you're gonna maybe catch a little bit of gruff for that. But you go down you go down the river and everyone just wants to help you. I when we first got up here, I didn't go for like two or three weeks because I was like, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know. I'd done it once or twice before, and I was a complete kook. And I think you had a flight, I dropped you off at the airport super early, and then so she was watching me on the camp. She told her I was gonna go. And I went down there, and my whole thing, I got there at like maybe 5 30 in the morning, and the whole thing was get there before Jerry or anyone else shows up so I can get these reps in and like not look like a total idiot. And I remember waiting online, there was a couple guys going in before I could even get on my first wave. I get a tap on my shoulder, and it's Jerry. He's like, When's you getting down? I was like, I've always been really excited when I see Jerry. This is the first time where I was like, oh man, he's gonna he's gonna see everything, he's gonna know everything. Um and he, yeah, right, right away. Took my board, put it down, held like held my hands initially, and like I credit him to like fast forward in the whole learning curve for me. Um, because yeah, it's it's I love it. I love the thing now. I can't get enough of it.

unknown 16:26

That's cool.

SPEAKER_07 16:27

I think that in the end, when this event happens, you can just see how pumped people are. You know, there's um all different classes from little kids to pros to middle-aged kooks like me, and it's and Jason and me. And uh Did I say I had one wipe out of the eight? Right, right, right. And so, you know, I think that the the stoke is that A people just love Jerry. They just love him. Yeah, right? You know, he takes time to talk to everybody. He's you know, he's never too busy, and uh especially on a on the weekend like this, he's just available. And and you know, we what was it the kid last year had had a shirt of go and left. Yeah, that said go and left with the picture of Jerry on it, and it was like down to his knees, and this kid was like four. You know, he wasn't eight, he wasn't ten, he was like four, you know, and uh people are just stoked, you know. They're we're having we're having Hawaiian food on the deck, and you know, the colonel's spinning reggae beats at the top, and everybody's just super hyped. And and you know, I I think it's also really cool the week before as the athletes that are are in the in the event start traveling here and like with social media the Instagram fires up and you know like the stories start happening and and you know, like I've been to the to the Mount Baker Bake Slalom, you know, a long, long time ago, and it's it's that same vibe, right? It's the same vibe that the Cummins family puts off up there. People just want to be surrounded with good people and um and and anything flies. And so for me, being involved is just to be a part of that is really cool to watch. Yeah. You know, and we do a lot of heavy lifting all all year long as as the committee, and um it's all totally worth it. It's really wild we have we have what we call two seasons in in the in uh before the event. One is idea season and one is uh And when does idea season end again?

SPEAKER_06 18:37

31st.

SPEAKER_07 18:39

So if you have some ideas that you want to see implemented in the big wave this year, you have till the end of the year, because after that we're just executing the plan. But um, what happens like in the run-up the 10 days before people start coming out of the woodwork? They're like, Hey, we sh have you ever thought about doing this or we should do that? And you know, you can just see people want they want to put their hands on it. Yeah, and it's really it's really a cool organization to be a part of.

Jam Format Like A Surf Heat

SPEAKER_11 19:06

Yeah, you know, it kind of has a skate park feel to it. Yeah, oh totally, totally.

SPEAKER_06 19:11

Yeah, it's got it's like just the and like the format of the event too. It's like it's no one wants to. I mean, I've from from my background work, I've done a bunch of like big skate events, and it's always so like regimented and formatted, and this is just like free-for-all, jam format and fun. Like the the the format of the event very much complements the whole feel and vibe of the event, I think.

SPEAKER_11 19:31

Explain the format to people that maybe don't aren't familiar with it.

SPEAKER_06 19:35

Um so the course is custom made every year. Um, and we do everything pretty much. I guess the easiest way to explain it is kind of basically direct almost directly under Red Chair. Um we everyone's broken down into different heats. We run, I think this year we're doing different, we're running it format slightly different this year. It's the same format, but in terms of the actual heats. I know we have different divisions, but we basically put um what I'm trying to think of how the best way to explain it because it's so Jerry wanted to run it like a surf contest.

SPEAKER_05 20:03

So you get you sign up into your heat, which is mostly by age, except for the pro class. Um any age can sign up for that because we're giving away a trip to stealth backcountry this year in Japan. Um, one for men and one for women. So you sign up in that heat, and the heat has an allotted time, just like surf, and then it's in a jam format within the heat. So you get in line and drop in an order, and the judges will judge you from that point.

SPEAKER_11 20:32

Yeah.

unknown 20:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 20:32

You'll see the occasional party wave go down.

SPEAKER_11 20:35

Totally. Yeah. Yeah. There's gotta be a party wave every year. Yeah. Um, what else? Is there uh are there any new like announcements for this year's big wave? Like any new Definitely.

SPEAKER_05 20:51

Yes. Do you want to tell them about our new categories, Mo?

SPEAKER_01 20:54

Um well, we've got a couple new categories this year. Um we've got an adaptive sports category, which is gonna be super sick.

SPEAKER_06 21:01

Um Can you pronounce the Hawaiian word for it?

SPEAKER_01 21:05

Ooh, who's up on that one?

SPEAKER_06 21:08

For for adapt for the adaptive category.

SPEAKER_07 21:13

Should have asked Jerry when he was here.

SPEAKER_11 21:15

I bet your phone could tell you.

SPEAKER_06 21:17

My phone probably could tell me. Let me see.

SPEAKER_01 21:20

Something along the lines of Hawaii?

SPEAKER_06 21:21

Yeah, it's it begins with an age, but I I'm gonna definitely butcher the pronunciation once I figure it out.

SPEAKER_11 21:26

That's cool. OOA OOA. OOS OAS is a is a super rad organization, man. We did they were one of the first I interviewed the director of it like a few years ago as part for part of this podcast, and it was incredible, man. We got a bunch of their athletes involved and and then just seeing, you know, what they've grown that into over the years.

SPEAKER_07 21:52

It's so epic to see to see those guys on on hill, you know, they're ripping on or on the on the mountain bike trails, you know, those guys, you know, we're we have a focus that's you know, obviously snow, but their focus is year-round. Totally, you know, and and it's just it's radical.

SPEAKER_11 22:09

So there's gonna be an adaptive uh category.

SPEAKER_01 22:13

Yep. And then we also are bringing back the groms this year, so we kind of threw them in last minute. Um, but now they're definitely official, the groms.

SPEAKER_11 22:23

What what ages is that?

SPEAKER_01 22:25

Oh, the groms are ten and under.

SPEAKER_11 22:27

Ten and under? Okay. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 22:29

We had that little kid, he's named after surfer um Eddie. And I mean, he can't be taller than three feet. Yeah. And he was to the coping on like a 22 foot vert.

SPEAKER_11 22:42

Can you imagine that? What that feels like?

SPEAKER_05 22:45

Like the this little tiny nugget just sending. It was so cool. And uh a couple people came up to Mo and I, we organized all the prizes and from our sponsors. And they were like, do you have anything you could give the really little kids that participated? And so we kind of like stole from other bundles and made up three little prizes for them. They didn't get trophies, but this year they're gonna get trophies and we got we've got good prizes coming. Age appropriate stuff.

SPEAKER_06 23:15

Getting those groms up at the awards, getting those groms up in front of the whole room was like was awesome. Those their faces are just like lit up. And even some of the ones like who Hannah was talking about, the kid was ripping, but there's other ones that are so young, they're just like doing turns and like the whole crowd's going nuts just for a turn. Yeah. So imagine being like, you know, seven, eight years old and just hearing this whole crowd going nuts for you, like for your own.

SPEAKER_11 23:35

That can shape the trajectory of the rest of your life. Yeah. Those moments of empowerment when you're that age. I mean, I almost guarantee there was something that happened around your age when and surfing that made that something you were always going to pursue based on the feeling that you got from it.

SPEAKER_03 23:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_11 23:52

You know, I can say that without a doubt with skateboarding and snowboarding. And I think like it's a really it's interesting. You look at people that go on to excel at a sport or a or anything really, and it more often than not, like between like during your adolescence or right before, there was some life experience that like was the trigger for that. That's cool.

Sponsors Prizes And The $100K Goal

SPEAKER_07 24:15

And watching those those little groms get up on the Yeti podiums, you know, like they're just like, you know, get you know, you almost have to jump. Yeah, you almost gotta like pick them up by the britches and stick them on and and uh and you know, just watching them watching them stand in front of a big crowd and get them get a big, you know, roar from all the old dirtbags. They're the next generation.

SPEAKER_01 24:36

Yeah, we've got a grand mom who's working hard to get some awesome prizes this year for those groms.

SPEAKER_11 24:43

Who who are some of the companies that support big wave, some of the brands?

SPEAKER_01 24:47

I mean, it is growing and growing every day during idea season.

SPEAKER_05 24:53

There is a lot happening during idea season.

SPEAKER_06 24:56

Patagonia's always been like one of our biggest sponsors. Um and they've I think they've probably probably been in since the beginning, even before Mo and I Mo and I joined. And over the years, there's been a lot. What's cool is I've noticed is is a lot of the sponsors we've had over the years have stuck with the event. Yeah. Um yeah, a few that you know, a few that drop off, few new ones that drop in or come in. But um we've always had a good good run. And this year, I think Yeti showed is showing up in a really big way for us. Um Anne's been like kind of really captaining a lot of a lot of all the partnerships that we've had and and that being the bringing the different different brands in. Um who else do we have Ten Barrel. Ten Barrel. Lodge. Yeah, Lodge. Lodge is coming up huge again this year.

SPEAKER_05 25:37

All the after events are gonna happen at Lodge, registration, operate party, and auction. Uh Ten Barrel stepped up and they're renting us a huge wedding tent with walls. Um we got Mike's crazy pizza coming in to serve some slices.

SPEAKER_11 25:52

That could be fun to take the story booth to that too. And have it set up at that party. Yeah, you know.

SPEAKER_01 25:57

At Lodge, it would be sick.

SPEAKER_11 25:59

Yeah, let's we should try to make that happen. That would be easy. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 26:02

And then like tactics is gonna come in. They do a waxing booth at one of the parties, which is awesome, and we have Gentham sticks that come and just do a whole demo.

SPEAKER_11 26:09

I want to ride one of those boards.

SPEAKER_06 26:11

Dude, talk to talk to Ann and Ryan.

SPEAKER_11 26:13

See, I have big feet, like for years, dude. I would cram my feet into boots too small just to avoid toe drag. Yeah. Because the boards back in the day, the wide boards, performance-wise, they were horrible. But now I can't do it anymore. But fortunately, the boards have got performed better as the wider models, but I've never I've never are gentum sticks pretty wide.

SPEAKER_05 26:35

They're off surfing the mountain, so it's just a totally different ride. Like you get on them and you just the little kid in you comes out, and the way they tune them and everything's just different.

SPEAKER_07 26:50

I gotta try one. Have you ridden one board? Yeah. Yeah. I think that you know, I'm I'm 50 and I was always a big board guy. Like you know, I liked a big, like soft 172 or 167, and my whole thing now is like, how can I ride the shortest board possible? And I'm I'm riding uh, I think my Gintam uh fish is like a 146, 148, and then I've got a 152, and um it's just wild. It's just all slash and go. Yeah, slash and go. Yeah, yeah. Jason doesn't turn much, so he doesn't he doesn't know how that goes.

SPEAKER_01 27:33

But um He has a need for speed, this guy pretty good at pointing at the end.

SPEAKER_07 27:36

We'll have to go snowboarding this year together. That'll be fun. But we have we there the I know that um Tactics is gonna have a bunch of Gentum sticks for demo either on Hill or if we're checkout at at l at Lodge. Yeah. And um also I have a few boards, a few Gentam sticks to ride if you would like to partake on that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_11 27:57

That's a relationship that I mean they're a Japanese brand. They are, right?

SPEAKER_07 28:00

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_11 28:01

So because there's always a really cool presence of international people that come over.

SPEAKER_07 28:06

How many guys do we have from Gentam Stick last year?

SPEAKER_05 28:09

I'd say 50 or 60.

SPEAKER_11 28:11

Seriously?

SPEAKER_05 28:12

Yeah, they come over for a week and just super throw down for the event. They're super involved. And they really uh capture the essence of the snowboarding community.

SPEAKER_11 28:25

Yeah, there's something there's something about the footage and content that I see of their product and and like how it's ridden in the mountains in Japan that's like very core to like the essence of snowboarding. For sure. You know, it's just really good turns and lines and insane terrain. For sure. And occasionally you'll see like a you know, an error, but like it you you don't even care. I was just thinking the same thing.

SPEAKER_06 28:53

It's like always like just on rail. Everything about Gentam, I just think about being on rail.

SPEAKER_11 28:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 28:58

And those are the nicest, like I think the whole from when they got there, the 50 or 60 people here that were here for the whole week, I think they landed and started smiling. I don't think they stopped smiling until they left.

SPEAKER_11 29:07

They're like the nicest humans I've ever met.

SPEAKER_06 29:10

Really, really good people.

SPEAKER_11 29:11

Yeah, I don't think I've ever met anyone from Japan that wasn't incredibly friendly. I mean, I think back to like all those years at camp.

SPEAKER_03 29:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_11 29:18

I saw Tomo the other day in town. I hadn't seen her in like 25 years. Yeah, that's sort of and like all those old friends that we would make in the summer. Yeah, I was I never got to make it over there yet one day. Have you guys ridden in Japan?

SPEAKER_01 29:32

Oh man, have we? We want to go back every year. And these two are going back this year, and we are off.

SPEAKER_05 29:40

We have two for the winners of men's pro and women's pro, and then we've got two for raffle. So they gave us four uh spots to go over to Japan.

SPEAKER_06 29:50

And that was still we should have we mentioned sponsors before at Stealth Backcountry over there that's doing it for us, and they're they come up huge. Um they even took on took on Ryan's son. He's working there this season. Yeah, so I won't be able to get a little bit more. Was it two years ago?

SPEAKER_07 30:04

Like two years ago, I won the raffle. Like bought up, I bought a whole bunch of raffle tickets because they Chandler had donated, Stealth had donated a trip for the raffle, and I won the raffle, was totally embarrassed, you know, and um, but wasn't gonna say no. And I took my son Jack and we went over last year and just had a fabulous, fabulous trip. And and um Chandler Kane, who owns Stealth Backcountry, called my son Jack this fall and said, Jack, he graduated from high school this year, and he said, Jack, what are you doing this winter? And Jack called me like a half hour later. He's like, I'm gonna go to Japan for the winter. And I was like, Yes. Could you imagine? So he's there now. They've you know, they've got a 14-foot base. We have nothing. So the score is on for those guys.

SPEAKER_06 30:54

And they got that 14 feet in the last like two weeks.

SPEAKER_07 30:56

Yeah. It's crazy over there.

SPEAKER_05 30:58

Yeah, it turned on and it's not gonna turn off. Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 31:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 31:01

We were talking about variable conditions setting up the booth.

SPEAKER_11 31:05

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 31:05

Yeah, up at Bachelor. Um, Mount Bachelor is obviously a huge sponsor of ours. Um but the first year Sunbum came on.

SPEAKER_11 31:13

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 31:14

We had the most gorgeous bluebird day I've ever seen. And anyone that's ridden to Mount Bachelor, when there's a bluebird day, you're like, oh. And Sunbum gave away all of their samples, including those like huge pumps they have of people just slathering themselves, trying not to burn their like Pacific Northwest glow off. And it's just it's pretty incredible. The snowboarding industry is just tiny enough that you can end up in Japan, you can meet someone from the industry, they might change your whole life. It's pretty cool. Like our sponsors are really part of the family.

SPEAKER_11 32:26

Yeah, that's rad.

SPEAKER_05 32:27

And they uh they're there for the stoke just as much as we all are.

SPEAKER_11 32:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 32:32

Yeah. Yeah, like we're working with gnarly this year, and they've been working with us for the last couple years, and they're they just want to keep building that aloha spirit, and they want to get more involved and more involved and more involved every year because they just love the event and love the people.

SPEAKER_07 32:47

And you know, and it's been going on for is this year 14? And we're kind of at that like tipping point where the sponsors have stuck around and now and and the event continues to grow. We've got 400 participants. And you know, you can pick up the phone and call somebody like Yeti, or you can pick up the phone and call somebody like Stealth. And people, you know, people want to be a part of they want to be a part of. Yeah. You know, it's it's like it's reached that tipping point.

SPEAKER_11 33:18

Yeah, it's established now. Yeah, yeah. It's it's an established, really rad kind of um unique event.

SPEAKER_07 33:27

Yeah, and our our our uh our media guy Buster, Charlone, you know, he does such a fabulous job, you know, getting content, running social. You know, he just he he knows how to he knows what Jerry likes.

SPEAKER_11 33:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 33:42

You know, and so he just does such a good job. He comes from a surf background too.

SPEAKER_11 33:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 33:47

And so he really he really helps us put together all that stuff to to to look attractive to to new sponsors. To because in the end, there's no money being made here, right? It all goes, it all gets donated. And and so, you know, our goal is to raise a hundred thousand dollars this year, and and we're working hard to do that. You know, it helps Pat and it helps Michelle and OAS and you know, um Urban's Yeah, yeah. So it's tell us what those guys do.

SPEAKER_06 34:17

Yeah, so you were you were asking before like how we got involved here, and yeah, um I've always kind of been a believer of like let things find you. Yeah. And so when we were living, when before we were up here living in San Diego, I got approached to join the board of a charity called Urban Surf for Kids. And we take kids that live in uh homeless shelters, group homes, kinship homes, um foster homes, we take them surfing, we teach them about the environment. Some of these kids grew up 25 minutes from the ocean in San Diego, never stepped foot in the sand, and they're 15, 16 years old. So it's a pretty rough upbringing for some of them. Totally. Um, and sadly, because of the time now that we're spending up here, I've I've actually stepped away from that um because I don't feel like I can contribute, and someone else that can do more should take my spot. But and coming up here, like being able to get plugged in the big wave, it was like such a perfect transition. Um and now this year we're looking at trying to find a way to point some of the funds that we raise back to Urban Surf for Kids. Um, you know, obviously Jerry with the the surf pedigree and kind of checks the box and and is a good fit.

SPEAKER_07 35:11

That's super grad. Yeah. You should have seen everybody's jaws drop when I said$100,000.

SPEAKER_01 35:18

Got a side eye for man.

SPEAKER_07 35:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 35:20

I'm psyched on it. I like challenges.

SPEAKER_07 35:22

Hey man. It's realistic. Yeah. It's realistic. I'm all about like setting wild dreams. Yeah. You know, making them happen. Yeah. I mean, I think last year we were right at 67,000, 68,000. It's a lot of money. Yeah. You know, in like three days. In like five dollar Venmo pops, you know. It's like, you know, it's it's but it's so impactful. Yeah. Yeah. It's so impactful. And and we have such a broad reach that there's no reason why we can't do that. Yeah. Yeah. I think it's also worth saying that I I work in the shipping and receiving department for the big wave challenge.

SPEAKER_01 35:53

And uh, it's a very important job.

SPEAKER_07 35:57

And uh it was hard to get, but what was the interview process? Well, it was long and arduous. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 36:04

But you have a garage. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_07 36:07

Yeah. I think the first year we had everything shipped to Remax and it just piled in my office. But you know, when the when the product starts to show up, you really get to kind of see the power of of you know the with the impact. Like you know, when the Gentum sticks come and we get to open the boxes, that was that was the stuff we were pulling out last year.

SPEAKER_06 36:25

We were like little kids in the candy store, and I was like, how is that every one of these boards not mine?

SPEAKER_07 36:30

I was a I was a shop rat when I was growing up, you know, and it was like when all the new stuff would come in. Like I remember when the new Terjay board came and like, you know, like my first pro model of a rank a Ranquet Pro model, you know, with the Gibson guitar on it or the fender or whatever. And and and I'm surprised no one's done a reissue of that graphic. We'll have to talk to Mike and see if we can get him to do it. It was so cool.

SPEAKER_11 36:56

And like he had some iconic graphics, dude. Yeah. The pool table.

Storybooth And Capturing Event Moments

SPEAKER_07 37:00

You know, and I think that like the other thing is like, you know, uh Mervyn is a big sponsor for us. And so when the Lib stuff shows up, you know, like all the Mike Perillo art and you know, like, I don't know. I'm I'm a Lib and Gentam guy, and it's like, you know, anyways, I just I just thought that I would interject that. Like when the when when this thing starts to like when we start to get close and it starts to pick up speed, there's some really fun stuff that happens behind the scenes that you know we obviously don't get to compete because it's a busy day. Yeah. But all the stuff that happens before and like laying out all the prize bags and which is really stressful because we want to make sure that everything's equitable. Well, there's a joy that comes in stalking people out.

SPEAKER_11 37:45

Like it's the same reason you like giving your kids Christmas presents. You know, there's that it's it's a unique human experience to like gift something to someone.

SPEAKER_07 37:54

Like who are we gonna give this Gentum this superfish, this you know, big wood outline, you know, who's this gonna go to? You know? Uh we'll give it to the Groms next year.

SPEAKER_11 38:07

Yeah, man. Well, thanks you guys. Thank you. I mean, this will be fun. This will be um, yeah, this will hopefully come out. I'll try to get this m mixed together here in the next couple weeks. And uh and then there's gonna be this whole other like production of all the people coming into the booth, which I think it's gonna be cool to get get some people. That could be some really unique kind of marketing content for you guys because it's it's basically people having conversations with Jerry, you know. So you're gonna be able to get that, those interactions and um I think that that'll be cool. That's that's what I'm playing around with in this in that application of it.

SPEAKER_06 38:47

I'm really excited to see how this turns out. I think this is such a cool concept. Yeah, thanks. Um yeah, I'm really excited to see the deliverables on this and like what we can do with it. Yeah, yeah, it's gonna be fun.

SPEAKER_11 38:55

Yeah, my goal is to like do like I would love to start plugging Storybooth into a lot of action sports events where historically, like if there is a studio, it's you know, either in a semi-truck or it's in a building somewhere and people watching stuff on monitors. But like if you can be right there and be in have like there's something about having that energy in the environment when we were on our Zoom call last week.

SPEAKER_07 39:24

I texted Ann and I was like, We need to get Salema here. Like this is perfect for Salema, you know.

SPEAKER_11 39:30

That's true, actually.

SPEAKER_07 39:31

And she was like, she didn't respond to me, but uh he would he would thrive. Yeah, I mean I think you know, a guy like you know, Salema would be a he'd be a superstar at this.

SPEAKER_11 39:42

Yeah, well, tell him to come on up, man. He can he can use it. Is it like events?

SPEAKER_06 39:47

Like you're talking about like taking this to other events, like like think about something like going to the Eddie I account, right? Totally on the North Shore. Like that's such a history storied event. Like you could tell such a cool story out of that with this con with this platform.

SPEAKER_11 39:59

Yeah, and all the people that have that contribute to that story over the years. Yeah, you know, I think like I could see this at like Red Bull Rampage, yeah. Like out in the you know, like it's that thing's getting to the point now where like having like a cool production studio out there. Um but also at like you know, yeah, there's just I don't I don't really know what the there's there's somewhere to plug it in though. So I'm just trying to figure that out. Yeah, but I love snowboarding, so I'm gonna start here.

SPEAKER_07 40:27

Yeah, I think it's great, it's great. Thanks, Adam.

SPEAKER_11 40:30

Yeah, it's funny guys. Um new friends, yeah, yeah, super fun. Yes, thank you. I'll keep in touch, and if you guys need anything or have any ideas, um feel free to like use like little bites from the audio if you want. And I don't know. But I talked to Buster the other day about you know, some of the stuff that we get for this could be overlaid on footage that he has archived that might give it a new kind of feel. Sweet. Um, so that's the cool thing about audio is you can do a lot with it, you know. Yeah, it can be like an hour podcast or it can be like a 30-second overlay from a for like a social media reel.

SPEAKER_05 41:12

I'm excited to hear Curtis and Austin here tonight.

SPEAKER_11 41:14

Are they gonna come?

SPEAKER_05 41:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_11 41:15

They are. Yeah. I don't know what to talk to about those guys. What should I talk about? What do you guys want to be talking about?

SPEAKER_05 41:20

And I'm I want to get the younger generation in here. Yeah the Kai's and the Calister too.

SPEAKER_11 41:28

Kai's been on the podcast. Like when I did the episode with Pete Alport, yeah, I got um Jared, Elston, and Kai and a couple kids to like contribute, like to call you know what I what I normally do when I have like people in here is all like with Pete's story. You guys should listen to that one if you haven't, it's really good. But like I'll he'll put me in touch, or the guest will put me in different in touch with people who have played a role in their kind of life story, and I'll get in touch with that person and record, usually remote with them, and get some like sometimes it's a few minutes of audio that's relevant to the role they played, and then I play it for them while we're sitting here talking. So they're like with Pete's. It was like, here's your old buddy that he used to build kickers with at Bachelor in like the 90s, you know. And then a couple of the other writers, like Jared, just with his career taken off and him being one of those kids that were it was getting taken out there a bunch, and then Kai as well, you know, and it's fun for it's fun for the guests to kind of hear these test like these sound bites, you know. That's cool. And people usually cry, which is a fun thing to like capture on audio. Like when you're listening to that, it leaves space for kind of this uh you know, emotion on audio only as an interesting experience.

SPEAKER_07 42:54

You should text Jared and see if he'll come in with uh Kurt. Yeah. How about Ben? Ben So Ben and Kurt and and uh Austin. Cool.

SPEAKER_11 43:07

Yeah, dude, that's a like an episode of the bomb hole. Exactly.

SPEAKER_07 43:11

And then I texted uh Kai and Hayden.

SPEAKER_11 43:14

Those guys I see Oh man. Yeah, what do what do you guys want? Like, what would be best for me to talk to them about in the context of the big wave?

SPEAKER_05 43:23

Because I could bullshit all day about snowboarding with them, but well Austin and Curtis, I have a really interesting story that you know they came into the industry young. Yeah. Um at High Cascade Snowboard Camp as diggers. Yeah. And of course, and we talked about Pat um spent, I have no idea how many summers at Mount Hood doing those half pipes. Yeah, a lot. Um, and so Curtis and Austin really that's where their relationship with Pat started, probably when Curtis was like 13 years old.

SPEAKER_03 43:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 43:52

Um and Gabe and Ben, unfortunately Gabe can't make it, but for Ben, um he traveled if there was a half pipe that he knew that Pat was building. I mean, Pat was instrumental in the early part of his career when he was just writing half pipes and competing. You know, now he's made that transition to backcountry. So um, but the edge work, I don't know if you ever saw Ben with Terjay, but that clip on Instagram, that edgework was just like he knows how to turn his snowboard. Yeah, he knows how to turn. Um and all that really also can point back to Mount Bachelor and how surfy our mountain is and the community and I think bullshit around with them.

SPEAKER_11 44:36

Yeah, kind of what we did. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 44:38

Yeah. Or ask Curtis and Austin to tell you stories about High Cascade. You're not gonna be able to publish.

SPEAKER_11 44:44

I don't think I was I How long did you work at High Cascade?

SPEAKER_05 44:48

I think eight summers.

SPEAKER_11 44:50

Yeah, I think I was only there like three or four.

SPEAKER_05 44:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_11 44:53

Um and those guys came in after I left. I got burnout on hood after a little while. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 45:00

Easy to do.

SPEAKER_11 45:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 45:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_11 45:02

So although now I regret leaving.

SPEAKER_05 45:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_11 45:09

Yeah. Yeah, there's been a few like I kinda miss bowing out of the snowboard industry. Like I think after writing I was I kind of felt like what else would you do? You know, you kinda have a small, like your narrow focus, but I always thought it was your wrist. No, I had a couple of knee injuries.

SPEAKER_05 45:28

You had that wrist break. That wouldn't heal.

SPEAKER_11 45:30

Yeah, I did.

SPEAKER_05 45:32

And that's what I tell people when they ask me what you do. I'm like, he had this wrist break and he got really passionate about that.

SPEAKER_11 45:37

I did get the cover of Snowboarder magazine with the that cast. That cast, that's what I remember. Yeah. Yeah, the cover. Yeah. Yeah, that's fun.

SPEAKER_05 45:44

Yeah. Fuck yeah.

SPEAKER_11 45:46

I still get a text message from Chris Owen. Remind me of that. Chris. Yeah. Chris is my Chris is my cousin. Is he really? Yeah.

unknown 45:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_11 45:55

No shit. Is he still working at Zoomies? Yeah. No kidding. Yeah. Man, it's been since last year. I probably heard from him.

SPEAKER_07 46:03

Yeah, I talked to him. So let's see. What is it? My uh he's not my first cousin. His his grandmother and my grandmother are sisters. We're sisters. All right. Which is wild. And so when I was a kid, I was like this big and he was just I think he was like Grom rider for Moro. Uh-huh. Because he was from Kaiser. He was from like Portland or something like that. Yeah, yeah. And uh yeah, Chris is a great dude.

SPEAKER_11 46:31

He's a great man. Yeah. Yeah. He's uh yeah, he's again, it's the people you meet, right? Exactly. Or the people you're related to. Yeah. Cool, you guys. Thank you. Thank you. It was big fun. What's your guys' plan this winter?

SPEAKER_10 46:57

You want me to jump on this one, or you want to jump on this one?

unknown 46:59

There you go.

SPEAKER_10 47:00

Um so the last few years we've been working on um brand projects and brand movies for our different sponsors. Yeah. And this year we're um all kind of coming together for I don't know, you call it a passion project, but uh we're getting together with the Fergusons, uh Jared Elston, Mason Jarr, Austin and I, and uh Jake Price is gonna make it make it so it's like a Ben Norgan snowboarder movie.

SPEAKER_11 47:25

It's about time, dude.

SPEAKER_10 47:27

I know giving the people what they want, you know.

SPEAKER_11 47:30

I I was having this conversation, I think, with Jerry yesterday in here, and just his perspective on snowboarding and like the the different crops of writers that have come up since his time. And you know, it's at a point in this community now where there's enough people who have left their imprint on the sport of snowboarding that it's a like it that'll be a fun thing. And then, you know, just like the the current generation. I was actually talking with Hayden McAllister.

SPEAKER_10 47:59

Yeah, yeah. So we're I forgot to mention that, which is speaking of community, it's uh so we're gonna have like our movie, but we're they're also making um kind of like the am video. I mean, all those kids are basically pro snowboarders now, they're all really good, but we're gonna premiere them together, tour the movies together, and it should be a a cool thing.

SPEAKER_11 48:16

Yeah, that's gonna be insane, dude. I'm excited.

Curtis And Austin On Pat

SPEAKER_08 48:19

But um that one will be Hayden, Kai, Elijah, and Griffin. Yeah. And then we gotta go the other way and get Jason McAllister in the movie and get Yam in the movie. You gotta come on your sandwich. Oh my God.

SPEAKER_11 48:31

Yeah, don't don't I might have to borrow a snowmobile, but uh we can we can figure it out. Yeah, man. I that would that would be like a dream trick come true.

SPEAKER_08 48:39

You can be in the I know you're a bit of a no boarding weapon, you can be in the no board section.

SPEAKER_11 48:44

I do like the Asmo, man. Yeah, yeah. I fell in love with that thing the very first time um I ever did it. And it wasn't my first like POW surfer. The first one I got was one of those grassroots ones from that guy, Jeremy, in Utah. Yeah. And I actually thought that thing rode pretty damn good. Like there was something that I like about having a little bit of weight to push into. For sure. And then, but man, the asthma, once it kind of unlocks, it's like they're so light, they just stick to your feet so much better.

SPEAKER_10 49:13

They're a game changer.

SPEAKER_11 49:14

Yeah. We're talking about kind of the beneficiaries of the big wave challenge. Pat Milandowski, who kind of has was an inspiration early on in terms of like the design, but is also now kind of a beneficiary of the money that's raised because it's a it's a fundraiser essentially. Um, it had a different initial purpose, but then Pat, you know, got brain cancer and and some of that kind of the mission of it changed a little bit. You guys are both, you know, rightfully so, super well accomplished, long career pro snowboarders that you know I've known for a long time. So I thought just maybe introduce yourself, kind of some like just you know, basic stuff.

SPEAKER_10 50:02

Um I'm Kurtisak. I moved to Bend in 2000, and uh I've been uh I don't know, I guess you could call professional snowboarder since I was 17, 18. I'm 37 years old now.

SPEAKER_11 50:15

And uh 20 years, Holmes.

SPEAKER_10 50:17

Yeah, yeah. Very fortunate.

SPEAKER_11 50:19

I'm proud of you, boy. Long badass.

SPEAKER_10 50:23

Long run. I feel like you're pro when you were like 12 though. I mean, I was I kind of I had sponsors when I was young, and then but I I would say I like started making a living when I was 17, 18. It's when my parents were like, okay, you can focus on this.

SPEAKER_11 50:35

Yeah, totally.

SPEAKER_10 50:37

Um and now I have an outfitter business in the summer where I take people fly fishing because I don't have anything else going on in the summer.

SPEAKER_11 50:44

Yeah, and like like you you moved to Ben back in the early 2000s, but like living here has had a pretty big kind of influence on the trajectory of both your snowboard career and your outfitting career. For sure.

SPEAKER_10 50:57

Um I I always think when I think Ben of like it's a very special place with the snowboarding community we have here, where like I don't know, for Salt Lake, for example, it's such a big city and there's so many different mountains where Ben's getting big and it's a lot bigger than obviously what we grew up in here, but like all the snowboarders, like all the pro snowboarders here, snowboard together, you know, like we're all friends, like the sense of community is huge. Like um Austin and I worked up on Mount Hood at High Cascade Snowboard camp for four years, and that's where we met Pat. Yeah. And um Pat would shape the jumps, and then we come in and fine-tune them with like rakes and salt them, and you know, but Pat was also so good at his job, like we had to do very little work.

SPEAKER_09 51:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_10 51:33

Cause it he couldn't work every day, so it was very noticeable when Pat was in the cat, and then when somebody else was in the cat.

SPEAKER_11 51:39

Dude, I can personally relate with that because I I dug up there and coached, but I think it was probably like a year or two before my last year was probably a year or two before you guys started coming on um as diggers. But I had this he was doing the same thing back then. And uh yeah, being a digger for people listening means that you're kind of the first crew of of staff members of the snowboard camps that get on hill in the morning before the campers and and polish up all the features and the jumps and in the summertime. And I don't know if they still salt as much as they used to, but you because the there's a a lot of melt in the summer, the salt gets thrown to preserve the the features, and that's what diggers are. So back to what Pat did, he would shape everything during the night, and we'd show up and fine fine-tune it. Yeah, and then session it all day.

SPEAKER_08 52:35

We're basically the framers. Pat's working excavation, he's in the big in the big machinery, he's building stuff. We come in and we're we're basically just drywallers. And uh those are the best summers of my life.

SPEAKER_11 52:46

Yeah, dude. No doubt. Every time I drive through Govey, it's good memories, man. In fact, sometimes I wish I would have hung in there a little bit longer, but you do get the Mount Hood summer fatigue after a few years, dude.

SPEAKER_09 53:00

For sure. Eating camp food all summer long. Now that's not good, but by the end of the summer, you're like, okay.

SPEAKER_11 53:05

Yeah, that's fun, dude. Um, yeah, so Curtis, Hoover you work, like obviously you work with Mount Bachelor. What are some of the other brands that you work with?

SPEAKER_10 53:15

Um, I work with K2, Snowboards, Columbia, Smith, Smartwool, um Mount Bachelor, Decked, and BCA, like transceivers, backpacks, oh red.

SPEAKER_11 53:27

Yeah, yeah. Dude, the Columbia development has been cool to watch.

SPEAKER_10 53:31

Yeah, it's been um it's pretty cool working with those guys that they're in Portland and also um the way my deal's structured, it's half snowboarding, half fishing. Yeah. So I get to like go on a bunch of cool fishing trips along with cool snowboard trips.

SPEAKER_11 53:45

So so rad. Yeah. It ended up being a really um really good fit. Yeah, someday I'd like to hear the story behind that, how that came to be. Because when you came on with Columbia, I didn't really I wasn't of aware, I'm super out of touch too, but with like any other snowboarders that were I'm still the only snowboarder on on the brand, which is it's a good thing and a bad thing.

SPEAKER_10 54:07

I think they're just talking now to start like building out more of a snowboard team, which is pretty exciting.

SPEAKER_11 54:11

Yeah, it's cool.

SPEAKER_08 54:12

It's only the largest outerwear business in the world.

SPEAKER_10 54:15

Yeah, totally small little company out of Portland. Small little company.

SPEAKER_11 54:18

Dude, I had I had the Columbia bugaboo jacket when I was a kid. That was like a rite of passage in the Pacific Northwest. It's hilarious. All right, Austin. Tell people a little bit about yourself, like where you're from, how long you've been here. Um I guess for personally, I remember first seeing you or learning about you. I think it was in um because you run did you win Rookie of the Year a long time ago?

SPEAKER_08 54:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_11 54:48

Because you've had a you've had like a 20-year career as well.

SPEAKER_08 54:51

Yeah. Um, Austin Smith and I'd say me and Curtis have shared a similar, I don't know, life art, career arc, but both uh moved to Bend about the same time, like around 2000-ish. And then yeah, started snowboarding before I got here, was up at Mount Baker. So grew up at Mount Baker and was very angry with my parents about moving from Baker to back to the show. It's so flat. No, I'm so mad. Did you grow up in Glacier? No, in Bellingham. Bellingham, yeah. Okay. But now live here, and now I'm very grateful that my parents moved here because I love it here.

SPEAKER_11 55:24

And the mountains are only 20 minutes away, and yeah, that's a there everything has its trade-off. I mean, there's talk a little bit more, you know, bringing this back, I go all over the place. But with Pat, like Austin, do you have like what are some of your first memories of Melandowski?

SPEAKER_08 55:42

Yeah, I think as Curtis mentioned, we worked with him at High Guy Skate Snowboard Camp. Um But really what it was was uh me and Curtis and a few others, we ran a snowboard race up there called the Rat Race. Um and so we put on nine rat races, I think it was, and Pat was the dude that helped us build the course. And he was also just the um he was like such a believer in the project and just a believer in kind of what we were trying to build. And yeah, pretty safe to say like those events, the that race, that contest would not never have looked like it was without him. He was like an instrumental piece to the puzzle and just like an encouraging, I don't know, crazy supporter of what we're trying to do.

SPEAKER_11 56:27

He's I think he's played a role of a catalyst for a lot of writers, but a lot of brands too. It just kind of his general generosity for like promoting the like whether you call it a sport of snowboarding or not, you know, like because he's he's been in the game so long that he's seen it where it was m more counterculture to the point where, you know, I mean he was shaping the pipe for some of the early Olympics where snowboarding was part of it.

SPEAKER_10 56:57

That's what we were always tripping on. We're like, we got the guy that's cutting the half pipe for the Olympics, pushing up our our little bank slum up here at Mount Hood. Like he's just like um it's just a type of guy he was.

SPEAKER_11 57:07

Yeah, which is also like easy to forget how what a differentiator uh like really consistent transitions were back then. Because now like you take it for granted now. Yeah, like everything's pretty much sculpted and it's been figured out, but those were like some of the early pioneer days from like transitioning from hand dug half pipes to like you know, pipe dragons. Yeah, yeah. And like being able to like I remember watching him sometimes early hood, you know, his whole technique of like they'd put the line and just like it it was insane, man. For sure.

SPEAKER_10 57:40

And it was it's such a uh like you could tell by watching contest to contest which pipes he was cutting and he wasn't because people were either landing flat or decking out, and then Pat would uh do like the open or the Olympics, and then the contest would go nuts because like people could really go off because the half pipe was perfect.

SPEAKER_11 57:58

Yeah, exactly. And then also like you know, like Ben Ferguson, you think about his, you know, like I and Anne was sharing with me that he, you know, he was following Pat around to ride his transitions because which makes sense because I mean that kid was and probably still is, but there was a season where like he was insane and a half by it, man.

SPEAKER_10 58:22

Yeah, it's crazy to see his career too, going from the Olympics to now like the new movie he just filmed for. He like has the best footage in the whole movie. It's yeah, it's pretty cool.

SPEAKER_11 58:31

Is that right? The New Burton movie? Yeah, yeah. You guys didn't he I feel like I've seen something promoting a project you guys worked on last year.

SPEAKER_10 58:40

Um yeah, his brother Gabe and I worked on a movie for K2 that actually just came out today.

SPEAKER_11 58:44

What's the name of it? Tumbleweed. Where can people find it?

SPEAKER_10 58:47

Uh it's just on the K2 YouTube. Yeah.

SPEAKER_11 58:49

Yeah. Was it fun?

SPEAKER_10 58:50

Yeah, it was super fun. Gabe's Gabe's the best.

SPEAKER_11 58:53

Yeah, Gabe's another one. I don't know those guys very well, but I'm a fan of their snowboarding. For sure. It's super fun to watch both of them ride. And two other kind of like prime examples of you know, they're both having really rad careers in the sport and from this community. For sure. Yeah, I don't I would imagine Ben's gotta be unique in the per capita pro snowboarders, you know. Like think about it. Yeah. Like I don't think I don't think Seattle, I mean, and that's a city, at least in the Northwest, yeah, you know.

SPEAKER_08 59:24

I think Whistler's giving you a lot of people. Whistlers is probably giving you a run for your money though.

SPEAKER_11 59:27

That's actually probably true. Yeah. It's been years. Do you guys go up there a bit? Yeah. Yeah. That's great. Yeah.

Why Mount Bachelor Feels Special

SPEAKER_08 59:34

But yeah, the thing that impressed me the most about Pat was yeah, he could build these perfect half pipes, but more so just his his creative mind, his creative eye and how he would arrange all the features about Mount Hood and yeah, different contests that he'd make, but that's why he was always the and really especially for an event like the big wave challenge, like he was the perfect creative mind and eye and sculptor for those types of events because that's so much harder to do, to like come in with a real creative vision rather than just make a perfect half pipe. Yeah. Totally. A lot of people could make a perfect half pipe, but he was one of the few that could build these super hyper creative sculptures out of snow. Yeah, it's like a skate park, man. Totally. You know, I'd say Pat is he's just like such a key player for creating so many events over the last 20 years, and it's been so awesome to see kind of bend as a whole, like show up for the last 10 years and support Pat in different ways, um, through the derbies, through big waves, and it's just awesome when you see something full circle like that when he was the the giving piece for so long and he gave to so many people and so much in snowboarding specifically, and it's cool to see snowboarding show up for him now.

SPEAKER_11 1:00:47

Hell yeah, man, that's a great point.

SPEAKER_10 1:00:51

I mean that comes back to community and even not just Ben, but yeah, snowboarding in general, with like I don't know, I'd say you nailed it. It's like pretty fortunate to be involved and I mean, even to know Pat and have him do all the work that he did for us with us working up there and now like yeah, anything we can do to help him out. Yeah, man.

SPEAKER_08 1:01:13

I don't know if you ever see Pat these days. He's uh this summer especially, he's ripping around on this freaking handbike thing, and he's a little bit of a liability out there on the road, but uh it totally rules, and he's I don't know, so fired up and just loving life at whatever things he can still be doing. I'm I I went snowboarding a bit with him last year and just like smiling ear to ear. Totally. Um just like a kid in the candy store whenever he can get out there.

SPEAKER_11 1:01:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_08 1:01:42

I love who who participates in that event. It's one of the most uh wide-range participants where you like have the frickin' pro surfers from Hawaii flying over. You have all like the super stylist Japanese carvers coming over from Japan. I was gonna say you're standing in the lift line, you're like, what is happening here?

SPEAKER_11 1:02:00

Yeah, I got onto lift with Rob Machado a couple years ago, and I was just like Yes, dude. Yeah, and no other life would I be able to get like take ride up Pine Martin and like tell this dude what a fan of his surfing I am. I did tell Jerry, I'm like, you know, it doesn't go the other way. Like I don't think you could take that many well, you could take some pro snowboarders, you being one of them, and like have a surf contest, but like those those guys, some of those guys and what they do on surfboards is I don't think people really understand how like magical it is. That's crazy. Yeah. So and then the gintem stick dudes, you know, they just bring a vibe of I mean it's it's I'm I wanna I'm a big fan of that brand. I just I like the um kind of their brand identity of just like this classic Japan POW line. I mean that's really what I think of when I think of that board, you know, and just that brand, and it it seems like they've they've tuned into kind of the like the soul of snowboarding, just the turn, you know.

SPEAKER_08 1:03:10

Which is basically same same as some northwest laps. Yeah, which I feel like they're those two are very similar. I have so many friends here that always like, man, I want to go to Japan, I want to go to Japan. I'm like, just so you know, it's a lot like Northwest on a good powder day. So you can uh we're riding it. We're riding it. So you already got Japan in your backyard.

SPEAKER_11 1:03:27

Yeah, I mean, I guess that's a good that's a good point because you don't you only know what you know, and you guys have you know, I mean you guys have ridden all over the world, um Alaska, I mean, you know, like the some of the best terrain whistler, you know, Europe, South America. You guys have done cool trips, like expedition style trips, and you know, like Bachelor always kind of like is a is a really I would imagine and it used to be for me like a really fun place to come home to. It's the best. Yeah.

SPEAKER_10 1:03:59

And I mean it's somewhere that you can still snowboard when you're in your 60s, 70s, 80s, if your body holds up.

SPEAKER_11 1:04:06

Yeah, totally.

SPEAKER_08 1:04:07

Yeah, I'll tell you the more I snowboard, the more I travel, the more I like Bachelor. The more I like coming home to him, the more I appreciate it, the more I think it's unique, the more yeah, yeah, it kind of takes perspective sometimes to realize that. But yeah, the more I see, the more I realize how sweet it is here.

SPEAKER_11 1:04:24

Yeah, it's true. We got it pretty good here. Dude, I I I'll sneak my asthma over off of uh Cloud Chaser, and just like I don't care about walking back on that get back trail. Like, that's some of the best like turns ever. It's like the perfect angle. It is to just like for pow surfing.

SPEAKER_10 1:04:46

So many different little transition y pockets over there.

SPEAKER_11 1:04:48

Yeah, that chair, that chair kind of like breathed new life into a big part of that mountain for me. Yeah, it is so fun over there. It opened up so much. Yeah, a ton. I mean, the rainbow days were fun, but like just being able to push that far out and it's preserved, man. There's there's also something which is unique about Bachelor, is there's not that much terrain there that you have to work for. Yeah, yeah. You know, where like other a lot of mountains, you know, you can ride rad terrain, but you gotta hike to it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So like I think even that pushback is a enough of a little bit of a deterrent for people that it's so mellow. And it but it keeps it keeps it preserved out there, yeah you know. Yeah, there's definitely like a strategy to riding that mountain on a powder day. Um cool. I mean, unless you guys have any other kind of like pat stories, um, I think that the point was made pretty well, kind of his impact on on the sport from like a like um terrain standpoint, which will be cool for people to hear. So thanks. Cool.

SPEAKER_10 1:05:51

Yeah, thank you. Yeah, it's good.

SPEAKER_11 1:05:54

Get you guys out of here early. Yeah. Um we'll come back in. Yeah, I don't you know, every one of the uh you know, it's it's kind of like it'd be fun. Like you guys have you've been on the bomb hole. I have you you've been on it as like but you've been on it. Like I've seen your I try to I try to avoid it. I'm gonna get them on it.

SPEAKER_08 1:06:14

Do you guys like doing this type of stuff?

SPEAKER_10 1:06:16

Uh I mean, yeah, no.

SPEAKER_08 1:06:18

I have like a weird uh conscious of people, like they're freaking three hours long, and I just uh I don't want to take anyone's time for three hours talking about myself.

SPEAKER_11 1:06:28

Yeah, that's where that's where like it's uh And then I did this 900.

SPEAKER_08 1:06:32

Yeah and then I got this sponsor.

SPEAKER_11 1:06:34

No, I I I think that's cool. I think the the best episodes are the ones who like people who tell stories about the industry, yeah, you know, that you can relate with. Those are those are really fun, but like um, you know, like sometimes, you know, like telling the story of seasons, you know, or something like that where it's like it it has to do with your snowboarding career, but the purpose of it is more a little bit more brand focused. Brand stories are always cool. Yeah. Um got a couple of them. Yeah, I'm sure you do. So or just anything that like, you know, it's it's kind of like again, who's the audience and what's the point like for you guys talking talking snowboarding? You know, you could you could do like I don't know if you've ever explored like talking more, um, like guiding fishing and stuff. Yeah on

SPEAKER_10 1:07:29

My bombhole, they kept trying to dig into it. Oh, did they? Yeah. I was like, I don't think this is for this listener, but sure, let's let's let's dive in there.

SPEAKER_11 1:07:36

Because that really has a lot to do with kind of what you talk about and how it's structured.

SPEAKER_10 1:07:41

Yeah, for sure. But to his point, I agree. You listen to some of the bomb holes and it's like, yeah, and then I did this trick and won Next Games or did that, and you're just like, uh, it's more like I'm more entertained by the guys that have like, and then something broke down and we barely made it out, you know, stuff like that.

SPEAKER_11 1:07:55

Yeah, or like an artist that's contributed to the sport, you know, or like like Jesse Bertner's episode was so great just because of his, you know. Yeah. And he's he's when I when I my first trip to Mount Baker um was to go over and I connected with Jesse's and he was riding those big Alaska boards, and I had never ridden like I grew up in Idaho and there was steep terrain, but not like Baker. Yeah. And dude, I have some m moments imprinted in my mind of following him around like in the the late 90s. It was so fucking fun, dude. I want I w I haven't I haven't gotten to hit that mountain in a long time with good condition. So I'm pretty sure. So yeah, it'd be fun to make some laps with you guys. We'll be there. Um dude, keep me posted. If you need if you need someone to go astmo or or snowboard with for your guys' uh thing, let me know. It'd be sick to get you on a trip. Oh dude. Even just like if you guys rip out and just do some asthmo laps around here, you know.

SPEAKER_10 1:08:59

I'm hoping it starts snowing in McCall and then we could because that one's like six hours away. The snowmobiling is really easy, and it'd be an easy one to like rent a house and bring everybody. That'd be so fucking fun.

SPEAKER_08 1:09:09

I'm more thinking like a gap front lip on a on the college college rail. So that's more what I got lined up for you. Yeah. You know, what's funny about gap it's knobbed, but uh I think you can maybe we'll go gap to 50-50. So Chris Owen was shooting it, right?

SPEAKER_11 1:09:24

Yeah, Chris Owen shot it, so it was Christmas Eve 2002, I think. So it's almost been like it's been like what is that, twenty three or four years ago. But um I I'm sure you guys did this. Like you would learn shit at Hood in the summer, and then like you know, whether it was a trick or a rail. And the summer before that, they had this crazy ass orange down, flat, down kink. Yeah, yeah. It was like almost impossible to board slide, but we started gapping to the bottom part, so I got comfortable with that. And then I started looking around town at like rails that you could gap to, and I found that thing, and I'm like, you this would be sick, but there's no run-in. Yeah, so it was Christmas Eve morning, it had snowed like a couple like enough snow the day before to build it out, and it got sunny, and because it was Christmas, the can the college was empty.

SPEAKER_10 1:10:19

I was gonna say the campus security up there was already on it. Brutal, dude.

SPEAKER_11 1:10:23

And uh I called Dirksen and McAllister, and I had built it like so. McAllister ran me, and I'm a big dude. You know, I'm like, and they I mean, like, I probably weighed 210 pounds back then. So like McAllister would run me in one set, I'd pump down the stairs, and Dirksen would be waiting at the bottom of that one to pull me the nether flat to get enough speed to ollie that thing, and it was uh yeah, that was so fun. That's kind of scary. That's one you want too much speed for. Like, come on, come on, come on. McAllister's like, dude, I just Ollie did the stairs the first time. Yeah, and I'm like, that sounds more scary, you know? So thanks guys, that was fun bullshitting on the next episode of Bin Magazine's The Circling Podcast.

Dates Promo Code And Closing Thanks

SPEAKER_00 1:11:12

So we would help him occasionally with the pipe, but he would leave and he would come back and cut it for events. So while he was gone, I would cut it. But my goal was to be like, alright, Pat, when you come back, like I want this thing to be pristine. Um and I remember telling him that one time, I was like, Will you just let me know what you see? Like, tell me what I did wrong. Um because at the end of the day, my goal is to make sure that you don't have any work to do when you come back to this thing. All you're doing is cutting it, bam bam. Um and it to definitely took a couple years for him to be like, Yeah, man, it looks really good. Like you you did a good job, you kept it in a good shape.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:57

I remember after work on calling all of us. You could hear us sing in your country mind. Now little brother has gone up. I'll join him in the side. I'm gonna join the family circle of the Hey thanks for listening to Bin Magazine's The Circling Podcast.

SPEAKER_11 1:12:20

Make sure to visit binmagazine.com and remember, enter promo code podcast at checkout for your$5 annual subscription. Our theme song was written by Carl Perkins and performed by Aaron Colbaker and Aaron Zerflu of the Errens, and I'd like to say a special thank you to all of those who participated in the making of this episode. It wouldn't be the same without your contribution, and we appreciate your trust. Mark your calendars from March 26th to March 29th for the 14th annual Jerry Lopez Big Wave Challenge held at Mount Bachelor, and stay tuned on how you can contribute to the story and contribute to the Aloha spirit of the event. Lastly, if you know someone who you think would enjoy today's episode, please share it with them today. Hey, thanks for your time, Central Oregon. Get outside, we'll see you out there, and remember, the health of our community relies on us.