NOT FRENDS, BUT STILL AMAZING
Louie Vito
So a bio on myself… Well, I was born in Columbus, Ohio but grew up in Bellefontaine. I learned how to snowboard at this 300 vertical foot resort called Mad River Mountain which is only about five minutes from my house. I started out skiing and saw snowboarding one day and thought it was cool, so I tried it out and have been snowboarding ever since.
Since Ohio isn't known for their mountains, my public school had a hard time understanding why I would miss school to travel and snowboard, so my parents decided to let me go to Stratton Mountain School, which is a snowboard school in Vermont. I went there for the winter of 8th grade and all through high school. They let you snowboard in the morning and go to school in the afternoon and travel as long as your grades were alright.
As soon as I graduated I bought a house in Salt Lake City, and am still living there. It has what I think is the best snow, a city, good resorts, good sledding, easy to drive anywhere and close to an airport. Not to mention some of the best snowboarders, so there’s always a good crew to ride with.
When I'm not snowboarding or traveling I am normally just posted at my house relaxing. Sometimes I go skating or clean my house from the winter disaster I make inside, and just hang with the homies since they are always in and out all winter also.
If I wasn't snowboarding right now, I think I would probably be in school trying to get an education, so luckily snowboarding is working out. But I do hope to be snowboarding for a long time, just need to stay healthy and keep having fun with it.
-Louie
Some of his many achievements:
World finals 2005-2006 5th World Superpipe Championships National finals 2007-2008 U.S. Grand Prix Overall Title Winner
2008-2009 U.S. Grand Prix Overall Title Winner Olympic finals 2010 5th Men's Half-Pipe
This year so far:
- 5th in the Half-pipe Snowboarding Final at the 2010 Winter Olympics
- 2nd At the 2010 US Open {Superpipe}
- 3rd (bronze) at 2010 Winter Euro X Games
Louie working it
Things you should know about Louie:
He was on DWTS
Lil' John is one of his homies
He's a part time ovary exploder
He's a wise little thing
Click to viewLouie is sponsored by: Omatic Snowboards, Monster, 686, NIke 6.0, Sprint, Spy, Kicker, Neff, Mountain High, Vestal, and more.
So in summary: Tiny Dancer is hbic in snowboarding
and in Ustream banning.
Greg Bretz
Quick Facts:
Marital Status: Single Resides In: Mammoth Lakes, CA Participant since: 1996 Age: 19 Competitor since: 2008 Height: 6'0" Nickname(s): Weight: 165 lbs Country: USA
Although he’s young, Greg’s ascendance has been a long time coming. After his parents divorced in 1993, the three-year-old would make weekend trips to visit his skier dad’s new digs in the mountain town of Mammoth, California. At age five, he started to ride, tagging along with Pops - a lift maintenance worker at the local resort - and learning by necessity to keep up. His skill developed early, and by age 11, the grom was entering competitions - the only competitor in has age group for the USASA. In the following years, he went bigger and bigger, honing his style and developing his competitive edge.
“When I turned 17, I just kind of woke up one morning and said to myself, ‘It’s time to do this. It’s time to throw down,’” Greg says. With his new mental fortitude, Greg went on to make a name for himself in international competition in 2008. Holding nothing back in his riding is all he needed to dominate. Greg took first place at the 2008 World Cup in Quebec, and two second place World Cups at the Chevy US Grand Prix and the USASA Series in Copper Mountain, Colorado.
In 2010, Greg landed the last place in the four-man US snowboarding team alongside Shaun White, becoming the youngest member of the team. Despite stepping up his commitment to meet the challenge, he manages to keep a healthy, 19-year-old attitude through it all. “It would be really cool to be the youngest rider of the Olympic team but just making the US team has been an awesome experience in itself,” he says. It’s this kind of perspective that will help him stay in control of his riding. While he fell just short of a medal in Vancouver, Greg's all-round skill makes him one to watch this season.
Greg is a baller
However ladies, he is not single.... his heart belongs to a very lucky girl
WERK
Bonus appearance of Scotty Lago using JK LOL irl.
Greg is currently sponsored by: Red Bull, Nike 6.0., Oakley, and some others
Greg + the rest of the Red Bull team
Ok now, lets move on to Norway's Ice Prince
It's Bang Bang bitch
Mikkel Bang? How do I begin to explain Mikkel Bang? Mikkel Bang is flawless.
I hear he has a modeling contract in Japan
Ok I'm gonna stop now because I'm gonna get completely side tracked lol
Lets get to the facts:
Name:Mikkel BangLives In:Alabama
United StatesHometown:Oslo
NorwayAge:20Birthday:January 8, 1990Gender:Male
From small to tall. That's how you can explain the growth of Mikkel over the last years. As everybody knows it's so much harder for a tall person to make snowboarding look smooth and stylish, but Mikkel seems to only make it work to his advantage. Everybody was more than happy and surprised when Mikkel showed his skills at the Air & Style last winter and walked away with 2nd. When Mikkel is not lapping Hemsedal or traveling the world he is working on the LOVE board series along with his buddy Keegan.
First off, what is it about snowboarding that drive you to wake up at 5am and go to shovel snow, sled, and battle winter's elements?
I think the joy of just being out in nature playing, having fun, learning new tricks, and pushing the limits makes it all worth it.
Growing up, which video parts did the most damage to your parent's VCR? (lol wut)
Jim Rippey in Standard Films' "Infinity" because he was fucking crazy! He had blue hair! He never wore a hat! And he was goot at other stuff, too.
What mountain did you ride as a kid, and do you still get back and ride there today?
My parents love skiing at Hemseda! Every weekend they would bring me to the hill! I just love that place. I basically grew up there, that's why I love that place!
What do your family and friends back home think of what you're doing nowadays? Do they even understand that you've turned shredding into a career?
They didn't understand in the beginning! But my parents and friends really respect what I do for a living these days!
With snowboarding as your job, what aspects are most stressful/painful, and which parts of the "job" do you appreaciate the most? Do you even consider it a job?
Snowboarding will always be fun! But when I am sitting in meetings to help Burton with products, then I take it as a job! But I consider it to be the best job in the world.
What's the best part about riding for Burton?
Burton means everything to me! They have helped me get as far as I have. And they have also given me the opportunity to travel around the world with my teammates!
What's the stupidest or smartest thing you've ever done?
Choosing to learn board sports!
Best prank or practical joke you've pulled on a friend?
Told my friend Carl that my hair wax was lotion! He believed it!
... that a friend's pulled on you?
Keegan pissed in my bed this year while I was sleeping! (trololol keegan)
Outside of snowboarding, what gets you stoked?
My friends, family, sports, good weather, music, partying, and girls.
When did you start riding?
1997.
You started traveling at a very young age, do you look back at that as a good thing?
Yeah, a really good thing, lucky to meet a lot of good people and see many places and things!
Which pros have influenced your riding the most?
I'm really influenced by JP Solberg's style.
Which event of the last year has had the biggest impact on your life?
X Games.
Who is your favorite all-time snowboarder and why?
It's really hard to say, because of all the good riders out there, but Nicolas Müller's big mountain riding is insane. Also really like John Jackson's riding.
If you could shred with ANYONE in the world who would it be?
Isak Brodahl.
First thing you do after a session?
Chillout.
Music lyrics to live by?
Give peace a chance.
Biggest challenge you’ve had to overcome to keep riding?
Getting injured.
What’s your latest non-riding obsession?
Really into the guitar.
Powder cliff or perfect park booter?
I like them both!
What’s your wax technique?
Wax on wax off.
If you could have one resort all to yourself, where would you go, and who would you ride with?
Squaw Valley with Luke Mitrani.
Favorite snowboard video of all time?
Big fan of Absinthe films.
Frigid and dumping or sunny and slushy?
Frigid and dumping.
Best number in a posse for riding? Who would they be?
3 is fun. Charles Reid, Keegan Valaika & Luke Mitrani.
Last time you were in a situation you couldn’t believe was happening to you?
This morning with some new people in the room hahah.
Once the snow melts, what do you start obsessing over?
Skateboarding.
Do you play any instruments?
Guitar and I try to play the drums.
Must-have accessory of the year?
Lighter leash.
Things you should know:
Luke Mitrani/Mikkel Bang (or as I call them, Lukkel lol) are among the best snowboarding otps/bromances
bb Mikkel and bb Luke
He's grown a little
Mikkel Bang is hilarious
He (gasp!surprise!) plays guitar
And he's just good. Dayum Norway.
Mikkel is currently sponsored by: Burton, Monster, Gravis, and Analog
And now, last but not least.....
Keegan Valaika
Keegan Valaika had a real good year filming with Nate Bozung, Matty Ryan and the rest of the BozWreck crew. Based on what we’ve seen up to this point, and how many times we’ve heard Nate raving about Keegan killing it, we went to Vegas and put all our money on an ender in BozWreck II. Support the piles and pick up a copy this September.
- Evan LeFebvre
Stance: Regular.
Sponsors: Electric, Burton, Active, Gnarly.
Hometown: Laguna Beach, CA.
Home mountain: Bear.
Setup: Burton Love 152, P1 bindings, and some Hail boots.
Special tuning: I drill holes in my bindings so these old highbacks I have fit.
Tricks: Handplants, and frontside ollies on quarterpipes and lil’ hips.
Terrain: Anything.
Food: Carne Asada torta from La Sirena.
Drink: Whatever’s free
Hobbies: Skateboarding, drawing, skimming, editing n’ filming.
Heroes: Jimi Hendrix.
Music: Most stuff. I’ve been really into Jefferson Airplane these days. And of course Biggie is always dope.
Places to ride: Bear, Quebec, Brighton powder.
People to ride with: BozWreck-I've never had half as much fun on a snowboard as I did shredding with those guys this year. It's so sick to film with them because there's no pressure at all, everyone's homeys that I actually like to ride with, not just some random people my sponsor decides I’m gonna go film with.
Places to party: Quebec or Laguna.
People to party with: BozWreck. again.
Best moment on a snowboard: The last time I was on one. Red ledge, after four or five hours of digging. Or getting to go heliboarding in Chile-that was insane.
Best moment off a snowboard: Learning 360 flips. Nah that’s not it, but I can't think of a good one and that was a really good feeling after three years of doing 270 flips.
Quote: “When the power of love, overcomes the love of power. The world will know peace.”
He's good friends with Norway's Prince, and they do some sick shredding together. Proof:
And he's a little goof ball as well
This concludes today's lesson. I am sorry for this post being so huge but I get carried away D:
Mikkel and Keegan tag please :3
ETA:
JJ Thomas
For tatatatara
Quick Facts:
Name:JJ ThomasLives In:Encinitas, California
United StatesHometown:Golden, Colorado
United StatesAge:29Birthday:April 6, 1981Gender:Male
Known for his bronze medal in the 2002 Olympics, the Breckenridge, CO, rider has changed his focus and is getting out of the pipe and spending most of his time filming in powder. In 2007 he had two major parts in The Constant Struggle and Keep Talking. During the 08 season, J.J. earned himself a spot with the Standard films crew during one of his most epic winters. With his vast experience in competitions (including gold at WX 2002), he says he doesn’t need much time to practice. He’ll be throwing back-to-back 1080s, but old school style is his main focus. At WX ‘08, he’ll be the longest tenured WX SuperPipe athlete: He’s competed in every WX SuperPipe since 1999.
To sum it up, J.J. just charges! He truly loves snowboarding and it’s contagious. J.J. is the guy you want on every snowboard trip.
- Any last words? Hello, have fun and goodbye.
- 5 Items I can't live without Computer, a book, iPod, money and golf clubs.
- What is more important to you than snowboarding? My peeps
- Who / What inspires you? Tons of people from all different sports inspire me and my family as well.
- What are your favorite songs currently loaded onto your Thump? Skippers birthday, lefty and chips strike back.
- If you were not a pro snowboarder you would be? Golfing
- When did you start your sport? 12 years old
- To me, Oakley is My best sponsor.
- Favorite Bands: Gangstarr, Jay Z, BIG, Rolling Stones and Bob Marley. Films: Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back and Old School. Books: Too many good ones to list. TV Shows: Sportscenter Drink: Vitamin Water
- Do you have any other special talents (music / write / draw / paint)? Not really
- If you could be someone famous, who would you be? Tiger Tiger Tiger Woods, y'all.
- What move / trick are you working on? All of them
- Party animal or mellow TV on the couch? Mellow
JJ is currently sponsored by: Vitamin Water, Bluebird Wax, Celtek and Oakley.