Tag Archive for: scotty arnold

CBC TV Interview and Story on Grassroots Powdersurfing

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CBC TV Interview with Scotty Arnold

Out of nowhere came an email from the Canadian National Television station wanting to do a story on Powsurfing.  They said they couldn’t send a cameraman down to Utah and needed someone in the Whistler area to do the interview.  As luck(?) would have it, Scotty Arnold and I just happened to be in the Whistler area at the time!  I’ve only been to Canada twice in my life and this was a pretty crazy coincidence.  I knew it had to be done so we set aside a day of our trip to do some PR work.

CBC TV with Scotty Arnold

Bob Nixon, Scotty Arnold, and Simon ready for action

Avalanche conditions were high with a fresh couple of feet on top of a deep layer of surface hoar. We weren’t about to take a TV crew deep into the backcountry and put them and ourselves at risk.  We had to settle for some very low angle slopes completely out of harms way.  All the obvious signs of fresh wind slabs breaking everywhere, cracking, collapsing, etc confirmed our decision.  On the approach to a relatively small but steep slope we remotely triggered numerous fresh slides that were a few inches deep, two steps later while crossing a creek the snow cracked loudly, breaking 4 feet deep and sending me into the creek bed below.  One knee and one arm plunged into knee deep icy water. That sealed the deal and we relocated to another zone, very low angle and out of the way of any hang-fire.

CBC TV Interview with Scotty Arnold

The TV crew interviewed myself and Scotty Arnold about the history, the how, and the why.  Really good interviews that kind of ended up butchered in the end, but so goes the mainstream tv world.  The action shots were very mellow due to the sketchy conditions that day. We hiked a couple of short low angle lines and jumped off some small drops for their cameras and called it a day.  Not the most epic day by any means but good for the PR machine. We were just stoked on the opportunity to spread the word about what we love to do and help Grassroots continue to grow.

Luckily we found a couple of little drops out of harms way for the TV crew

Watch the Interview and check the story below:

Interview with Jeremy Jensen about the freedom of powdersurfing:

http://www.cbc.ca/video/watch/News/Canada/BC/ID=2324239337

English Channel Story : “Powder-surfing pioneers seek freedom in a new sport”

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2013/01/09/bc-powder-surfing.html

 

Park City Backcountry Powsurf Sesh with JJ Thomas, Scotty Arnold, and Jeremy Jensen

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Jeremy Jensen, JJ Thomas, and Scotty Arnold about to surf some powder.

Jeremy Jensen, JJ Thomas, and Scotty Arnold ready for action in the PC neighborhood backcountry

After a few big hammer pow days in the backcountry it was time for a mellow day.  I linked up with Scotty Arnold and JJ Thomas in Park City to check out a rad little surf zone that JJ’s girl had found for us. Beth Anne has a good eye for powsurf zones!  The snow was shallow but we made the most of it and had a killer time slashing the gauntlet for a few runs and seshing the mini catwalk hits.

 

The 6 inch crusty “base” and 5 inches of fluf on top was pretty challenging but that’s all part of the fun of powsurfing.  JJ and I rode the Powder Sluts and Scotty tried out the Bullet 140, a great board for riding shallow pow. We burned a couple quick laps and that pretty much tracked up the skinny guantlet run.  Stoked for that thing to fill in so we can give it a proper slashing another time.

JJ had to roll out and take care of his lady…birthday celebrations the previous night were taking their toll on the poor girl.  She was a trooper, guiding us to the zone and snapping some pics along the way. Big thanks Beth Anne!

Scotty and I poked around for some bumps to pop off of. We found a little catwalk trail that kept us busy for a couple of hours.  Simple pleasures!!

Shuvits were popped, and kickflips were kicked and stomped.

It was so much fun riding with these boys. So rad to see people just pick up powsurfing and start killing it..even in sketchy conditions.  Big smiles and big fun.  Thats what it’s all about.

Kickfliping into shallow tracked up pow is not easy. Somehow I rode away clean on this one.

Scotty finding a deep (relatively) spot!

Turns out JJ snowboards goofy footed and powsurfs regular footed. The man has skills!

Scotty popped a big ollie and stomped a solid pop shuv after just a few tries.  The kickflip was next and he was determined to ride out clean.  He landed bolts numerous times and rode a couple out for a few feet.  Landing on ice and dirt is not easy.  The skills and determination that this guy has are gonna continue to blow minds for years in both snowboarding and powsurfing.  So stoked to have Scotty on board.

This kids’ got pop!