This has got to be the most amazing week of my life.
The festival here in Voss is like nothing I’ve experienced before. The best athletes from all over the world have collected here to participate in some of the most extreme sports known to man. Every day people are pushing the limits and taking their sport to the next level, and to be here witnessing it and even participating is just awesome.
Voss is an epic place, the scenery here is amazing, so many huge mountains, tons of waterfalls everywhere, the scenery is lush and full of colour, and the people are all so friendly and really warm up to outsiders that have come to experience this place. In the past few days we have skated some of the most epic hills I’ve ever experienced, including one hill that was 18%, one way downhill, fresh blacktop and had over 20 hairpins… crazy as all hell. It was the gnarliest road I’ve ever seen, and to be able to rally down it with good mates was just a blessing.
The longboarding scene here in Scandanavia is really blowing up, there were over 80 riders competing at the race, with some as young as 15 years old. You can really tell how hard these guys push the limits of downhill skateboarding as they have some of the best terrain in the world to ride all the time. The top riders here in Norway are extremely talented skaters, they are all fast as hell and hungry for the win, competing against the crew here was rad, and I was so stoked to see so many people ripping it up and getting in the mix.
The race hill was beautiful, it went down this amazing valley with a huge waterfall and had several fast hairpins thrown in the middle. During practice it was hard to stay focused on the track as I was always distracted by the beautiful scenery surrounding me.
I had so many fun runs with the crew I’m traveling with (Louis, Leeso and Robin) and all day we were shredding hard and taking the track to the limits. It was also great to get in the mix with the local rippers and check out the talent that we would be competeing again, and after a day of riding with everyone I knew that this race was going to be a tough one to win.
The tactics for this hill required a lot of concentration, as the pavement was a little different to the other roads we have been skating. It was kinda slippery in the corners and you needed to think carefully about the right line. There were some nice straights in between the corners which allowed people to draft back into the mix if they blew it in the earlier corners. My tactics were to start off in the back and take clean lines through the first few corners and get a mega draft into the bottom section. This was also a ballsy move because if you scrubbed and lost too much speed in the last two corners it allowed the riders behind to draft you right on the line (which actually happened to a lot of people).
The best thing about this race is from the start line you can look down the valley and have a clear view of the entire race track, and it was sick to be able to see the passes people were making and have a good idea of who’s really pushing the limits.
The last two heats I raced were some of the funnest heats I’ve had in a long time. I was up against Louis Pilloni and Alex (Norway) in the semis, both extremely talented riders. Louis and I got out in front off the start and were rocking it hard down into the last section of corners, but I guess Louis got a little to excited and took the corners too fast and nearly took me out. I looked behind just in time to see Louis coming right for me so I had to drift a little bit to give him room. Because of this we scrubbed off a lot of speed and Alex came charging through in our draft and beat us both to the line. I was lucky I have a little more weight on Louis and was able to stay in front and move on into the finals.
In the finals I was up against Alex and Torbian from Norway and Sonne from Sweden. Sonne was the champion from the previous year, and I had not raced any heats against him all day. I was quite nervous on the start line and had to think hard about how I was going to race this final. From the start I let everyone push out in front so I could draft the push and get good speed through the first few corners. This also allowed me to take clean lines as the other riders were battling for the good positions. Coming into the 2nd corner Torbian and Alex got a bit too gnar and scrubbed off some speed, and I was able to slot through the gap right into Sonne’s draft for the long straight into the bottom section. I got a good draft off Sonne and got out in front, but he snuck into my slip stream and went for the pass before the last corner. Him and I were side by side for the bottom section and it was do or die time. I hit the corner faster than I had before and had no choice but to go for it, it was a move that was either going to win or lose the race for me, luckily I kept my line clean and made it through with enough speed to stay in front for the finish line. I was met at the finish line by Louis (he won the consolation final) who dumped a few bottles of water on my head and gave me several hi-fives. I was super stoked to get a victory in an international race, and to compete against some damn talented skateboarders, especially in such a beautiful place like Voss.
From here Louis, Leeso, Robin and myself will travel west to a town called Bergan for some R’n'R and then head south a little bit to skate some of the famous mountain roads. I’m really excited to explore more of this amazing country.
[From Jackson's email]
This place is RAD, and yes rad with capital letters.
The scenery is amazing. So many awesome mountains with waterfalls everywhere. This is definitely the land of adventure.
Landed the other night, went straight out to the pub with Louis, Leeso and Robin, had a few beers and partied with some locals, then the next day made the drive out to Voss. Stopped at a few places on the way to blaze one up and check out the AMAZING scenery and do random acts of radness on skateboards, and by 11.30pm I was mega spaced out at the fact that it was still light, like 4.30pm light… we have gone so far north that the sun doesnt really set, it just sorta goes around in a circle and just dips below the horizon. Hectic action extreme. What that provides us with is extra hours of skating!
The hills here are just awesome, on the way we stopped at this one hill that was 18% grade, one way downhill, and had 30 hairpins, back to back, crazy as hell. Louis grabbed his park board and did a slide run down it. he nearly died several times.
Yesterday we had the raddest skate, went out to this one hill that was like 17kms long, top section was long and fast (and narrow as hell) and we were doing like 90ks, just ripping down with the sun ’setting’ in the background, got epic footage. It came down into a rad hairpin then 200m after we had to stop for a cattle grate, from then on it was another 3km’s of slight sweepers and a few straights into a town by the water. So much fun rallying that hill with Louis and togther we got some sick footage.
On the way back we skated this one hill that had a long fast top section with sweepers that ran beside a river, then it comes to the cliff with this massive waterfall and starts to go into this hell steep hairpin section, with the leftys coming right beside the waterfall, then bomb down into the valley below (with another cattle grate at the bottom, hectic shit).
We skated all the way back, a solid 43kms. Bomb down the downhills, skitch the car through the up hills then launch off the car into the next section. It was super rad and it was like 11pm at night !!!
The Ekstremsportveko festival we are at is rad, with full on extreme sports like base jumping, swooping, kayaking down manic rivers and waterfalls, and mountain biking. The longboard race is on Thursday and Friday and we’ve got 2 more days of hanging out, skating rad hills and checking out all the action. FUCK MARYHILL! THIS PLACE IS THE SHIT! Both Louis and I are so happy we ditched Maryhill for this, its so much fun and the hills here are just amazing!
We are going to do a new series for skate house and call it Skate House Media International, we have a huge 10-man tent setup and are making massive campsites at all the races and will do updates and throw in footage of all the sessions, since its raining today Louis and I will start working on it and get it online in the next day or two. Vernon video is converting and will be uploaded soon.
We need more girls longboarding…because we’ll get more video like this!!!
I was working on Jackson’s post from Norway, but I got distracted with this video. So I’m posting this one first.
Video is from Skatie Katie, and here is what she said about it:
The Boys in Vancouver all went to the redneck party of the century known as Wack Attack and the chicks said screw you…We have better things to do. Just a little cypress bump draft action to keep a smile on our faces!
[hop's note: Read more about the ladies downhill day.]
Downhill girls are Katie, Brianne, Glenda, Dominique, Christin, and Heidi.
Trav and myself met at the Hopshop this morning. The day before I told young Kelly Carter if he wanted a skate tomorrow up the Blue Mountains he had to be at the shop by 8:30am. With an expected max temp of 8 degrees in the mountains Kelly shows up with just a T-shirt. When questioned about the expected temp he explains this to me in a way that only a 14yr old grom can. Kelly says if he brings a hoodie he has to bring a backpack and if he has a back pack it will slow down his tuck and ruin his aero on the bomb down Bondi Rd on his way home. Knowing the run down Bondi rd will take about 2mins and we will be in the mountains for the next 8hrs Trav and myself just stare at each other in general amusement.
I ask Kelly if he has any pads and he pulls out a ripped up piece of polyester, foam and plastic that looks like his dog had chewed on. Knowing what was ahead I grab a new set of 187 Fly knees and elbows off the shelf and tell him he’ll have to work a day in the shop next week for them.
Stocked with his new 187 pads we finally got gromtang Kelly in the car with the promise of a mountain skate and a cheeseburger. Little did Kelly know we were headed off to the SpaceStation to meet the BMB for a test session of the new 20ft Urban Assault Banshee.
We needed a heavy weight to anchor the beast, so we headed over to BMB strongman Scott ‘the Guff’ Guthrie’s place. When Kelly heard this he new he was in trouble. Like most groms, Kelly had heard all the stories of the legendary Guff the ‘grom punisher’ and told us he was a little scared of the big man. Kelly knows when you enter BMB territory you do it with the approval of Guff or you don’t do it.
We turn up at the BMB forward outpost in Bankstown and the Guff rolled out with his 10 ton anchor rope just for the occasion. Kelly sat quietly in the back when Guff jumped in the car next to him, there was a short uncomfortable moment when Guff looked at Kelly then gave us the nod and we headed up the highway to the BMB headquarters.
When we show up at the SpaceStation, legendary Springwood rider and president of the BMB Mountain Mic Codner has already got the hill warmed up. We head over to the top corner and unravel the Urban Assault, the crew stands back in awe as the triple braided latex banshee bungee shudders with molecular violence. Let me tell you when you unravel one of these babies you know your lifting the game to a whole new level. We waste no time in hooking this puppy to the pole at the top of the hill and tell crash test grom Kelly to pad up and get ready.
On the first test myself and Guff crank the bungee back with Mountain Mic on the video to capture any possible carnage. Having never tried it before Trav decides that holding the bungee with one hand is the go, we count him in and let it rip. Its hard to fully explain the amount of acceleration you get from one of these things, when we let it go Trav’s arm is nearly ripped from his shoulder as he takes off like a missile, hits the first corner and nearly drifts off the track. He walks back up the hill with a grin on his face and says ‘this is the best money I’ve spent since I bought my first skateboard.
Crash Test Grom now heads up to the line with a half concerned half excited look on his face and tells us to take it easy. In true BMB style we take him back to the members tees and put him on the line. Weighing only 50kgs on take off, launching Kelly was like releasing the second stage of a rocket. He accelerates at the full 0-60 in 2 seconds and ends up with the fastest run down the PumpStaion he has ever had. I must say the sight of the grom launching down the track faster than a Porsche with his tongue flapping across his cheek was awesome.
Next was big Guff on the classic luge, we use 3 guys to get the bungee back a good 8m further than anybody else and fire him down the road. Guff hammers down the straight and hauls through the first 2 corners, he approaches the S-bend at a higher speed than he has ever before and buries his rail, drifts across the line and before he knows it careers through the rubble and grass and straight into the deep bush. The sight of Guff approaching the guys covered in dirt with grass stuck in his trucks was just hilarious.
Its hard to fully explain the feeling of acceleration you get from one of these banshees, due to using gravity when you skate you feel a great sense of speed but you tend not to feel the force of acceleration very much. I can tell you this all changes when you launch off the bungee, you do something you have never been able to do on a skateboard before, feel about 50m of extreme acceleration. This thing suddenly puts into play a whole bunch of mid range hills and corners that you never considered before. On a short Downhill run instead of taking 300m to get up to speed you do it in about 2 seconds and you get to drift or slide that first corner you usually high tucked around.
A Banshee Bungee takes about 20 seconds to setup. You can use it anywhere, on a downhill track, in a ditch, carpark, back lane or out the front of your house. Well worth the price of admission, to see the terror in your parents face, the green envy in your mates eyes, and the thrill of car acceleration on your longboard.
This is an extreme sport product, you MUST wear protective clothing, a helmet essential. You would not jump out of a car going 60kmph, dont skate a longboard that fast without safety gear.
Team Evans has signed in and they have hit the ground in LA skating.
With all the Aussies in LA disappearing to Europe, Seattle and back home, what are the Traveling Groms to do? Hit up GMR. Awesome idea!!!
[Lance's message]
Hi Hop , we are in LA now and haven’t been able to hook up with any locals so we (Merrick, Josh and I ) went to GMR by ourselves yesterday and the boys did the full run both sides of the hill , like 12 minutes long…… Josh had a big off on a big hairpin and got some good gnar points for “air” but all ok and no issues … still getting used to the difference between the Evo and his new Glyde foamy.
We’re going back today and will try to session some bits that we can walk back up to , so I can get a run in , rather than just driving for the boys.
Leaving LA early Tuesday for Maryhill so we will keep you in the loop.
Lance
[Hop's notes]
Never have a ratio of more groms than adults in a car to session, or you’ll never get a run in.
For our overseas readers: Who is Josh and Merrick?
Josh Evans is one of Australia’a super groms. 14 years old with an impressive downhill resume that includes an IGSA World Cup race. He has already started landing a few sponsors, skated everything there is in Australia, time to take on some overseas gnar.
Merrick Wildash is Australia’s fastest junior, a title he has claimed in 2009. He is 17, goes by the nickname of the wizard. He skates with the confidence of someone much older, likes to pull out a few stand up moves when you least expect it, and has a tuck that is impossibly perfect. As King of the Aussie groms, he has conquered everything in Australia, it is time to unleash him on the rest of the world. He’ll be racing in Maryhill, where all the fastest juniors in the world will be assembled in one place.
I’ve been chilling in Laguna Beach, which I have decided to rename LaguGnar Beach, at Evrens house the past couple of days.
Been skating the ridiculously gnarly local runs with LBDR (Laguna Beach Danger Riders) and eating cheap Mexican food by the beach.
The whole of Laguna is built on a giant hill with canyons all over the place. Some of the roads are almost 30% with GNARLY corners and plenty of traffic. They aren’t kidding when they say danger riders, this shit is insane…
We went out to some sick corner spots yesterday and I managed to get Evren and a few local shredders stoked on freeriding instead of bombing. After another day or two of filming we should have enough footage for a video. Its hard to film when all you want to do is skate!
Tonight Evren and I are going to cruise up to Malibu and stay at the skatehouse for the night so we can get an early morning session at Tuna tomorrow. Followed by some GMR runs and then back to Laguna for some night bombing!
Take it steezy
Gabe
He b in California, land of longboarder movie stars.
In true Gabe style, he gives us a run down on a new country and time zone, and answers the question: is it true Louis has a makeup assistant to help him get really for his S9 videos?
Seems our Aussie travelers missed their flight, and took up residence in an uncomfortable lounge area…
[Gabe]
Leigh, Bowditch and myself slept at Vancouver airport last night and caught the first flight this morning.
Louis came and picked us up from the airport, took us back to the skatehouse, where we chilled for a few hours before driving over to Tuna Canyon for some epic gnar.
Tuna was incredible, I have never skated anything remotely like it. The road is smooth and slippery and the corners banked and occasionally a bit off-camber which can send you off into one of the many rockwalls. Crashed about 5 times on my first run down, the purple otang inheats were a bit too slippery for my liking. I was finding it hard to hook back up from my predrifts which sent me into the dirt a fair few times. I’m going to chuck on some orange tangs or yellow S9 70mm RF’s for tomorrow, hopefully I’ll be able to rail the corners a bit better.
The top section of the hill isn’t part of Tuna Canyon, its about a 3km run through some rad little sweepers and left-right chicanes called Saddle Peak, at the end of Saddle Peak the road comes to an intersection and you take a right hand turn into Tuna Canyon. The first section of the run is very mellow, the road is still two-way traffic and winds through a few corners with some sick driveways to slash and little banks running down each side of the road. You cruise through this section for about 1-2kms. Then you come through a right hander and the road turns to one-way, this is when it starts getting gnarly.
The road starts winding down, the corners getting a bit tighter and the gradient getting steeper and steeper. The speed sneaks up on you, only when you come up to the first left-right do you realize how fast your going. Coming into these left- rights is tricky, if you leave it too late and try to sneak through the left and throw a big toeside check its very easy to slide wayyy too far and eat shit into the bushes [and go off a cliff if your going really fast], But throwing a slide through the left hander was also tricky, the road cambers off to the right so if you throw your heelside check too late you get almost sucked into the gnarly rockwall. After a couple of these [getting faster and faster] you come out of the right and there is a huge left hand hairpin which is followed by more left-rights [also know as 'The Repeaters'] each one getting steeper and faster.
I only did one run so my memory is a bit fuzzy but if I remember correctly the last set of repeaters leads into a really goddamn fast straight [you would be hitting 90k's if you tucked it] into a tight right hand hairpin which goes over a small bridge. You then cruise down a rough mellow windy section and get spat out back at the highway.
The whole thing altogether [including Saddle Peak] was about 10.5km] 2k’s of that being Saddle Peak.
Keep in mind I was carving down pretty much the whole fast part, throwing down slides more than I needed in some parts and was still hauling ass. It was my first run down and the day before, a shredder visiting Cali from Arizona called Zeid (Hop’s note: Zeid Bataineh) , who rides for the DownhillDragonKlan, the creators of Munkae trucks, managed to eat shit on his second run down. He broke two bones in his hand and took a massive chip out of his two front teeth, I was taking it mega chill and trying to get a feel for the road.
Tomorrow I’ll try and go a bit faster now that I know what is ahead of me.
This is the type of hill which demands respect, if you don’t skate within your limits it will chew you up and spit you out in pieces.
I’m off to get some Sushi, I’ll do some filming tomorrow at GMR and Tuna again.
Peace
Gabe
P.S: Mischo came around with P-Swiss today with a set of his new CNC trucks, they were a pretty sleek design and had some cool little additions to a regular CNC truck. He should be riding them at GMR tomorrow. I’ll ask if I can take a picture or two. (Hop’s note: don’t ask, just do. It is easier to get forgiveness than permission!!)
Here is Gabe’s account of the Vernon Downhill weekend.
Just got back from Vernon, what a trip it was!
Jacko, Leigh, Bow and myself drove the team Ozzie car down on Friday afternoon. We set up camp at a campsite about 200m away from Okanagan Lake and had an early night to get some rest for freeriding and qualis the next day.
On Saturday we awoke to a hot, sunny day and after a breakfast of bagels and coffee drove up to the hill to start practice.
The hill runs through a residential neighbourhood and has two main corners. From the top you kick off down a slight left hand sweeper and tuck through two very mellow sweepers, the road drops away to the right and you come hauling into the first tight lefty at about 70. Most people were throwing down small heelside checks into it but K-rimes took the fastest time of the day by standing up and surfing a big, clean line through the left. The people throwing down footbreaks were getting booed by the crowd of local mega groms (none older than about 12) hyped up on sugar and Strikers booming voice through the microphone.
After the left hander there’s a flat, slightly sloping straight that drops down into a right hander, this corner was just a bit less than a hairpin and required no braking for. It had a nasty little rough patch running across the apex which threw me off in both my quali’s. After the right hander there was a pretty slow straight which dropped down to the finish line.
After the first day Jacko had qualified 13th with myself, leigh and bowditch all managing to crash out and place pretty terribly.
The next day we were back at the hill and psyched for some tight, gnarly racing. We got another 5 practice runs before the heats began. I had switched over from my dropped through Killswitch to my Voodoo Doll and was feeling much more comfortable through the corners.
First up were the Junior heats. To start I had a 5 man heat against a few fast juniors, one of them Alex Tongue from Portland, he was the fastest qualifying junior placing 11th overall. I was second off the push and held it all the way through the race, just hanging off Alex’s draft the whole way down. Boom! I was in the finals.
In the finals I had Wolfgang Coleman; who rides for Landyachtz, Alex; who rides for Eastside Longboards, and Mike Slota; who rides for Rayne.
Again I took second place off the push, this time right behind Alex getting sucked down the hill by his draft. Coming into the left hander he stood up and airbraked and I had to push him into the corner to avoid tangling up. I managed to push him off, throw a lightning fast heelside check, sneak on his inside and pass him coming out of the corner, I WAS WINNING!
I held first place down the straight to the right hander, and just as I came through the apex I hit the rough patch at the wrong angle and slid out into the bales… shit happens eh.
After the Junior, Women’s and Streetluge races the Open’s started.
Most of the first heats were two man heats so no-one was trying very hard, almost everyone would continue to round 2.
Bowditch got unlucky and had a three man heat with two fast riders, he crashed out in the lefty and was knocked out. Leigh crashed on his first too but managed to push off hard and take 2nd place. Jacko and I had two man heats so we were in no matter what.
Round two Leigh and I were knocked out, I had Dalua and a Vernon local who were both out in the lead the whole way, I took third place and spent the rest of the day sitting on top of the Loco and watching the carnage on the lefty.
Jacko made it through to the semi finals but had a tough heat and was knocked out. He almost took first in the consolation final but was beaten by Mischo by his hand.
We partied hard that night at the campground and climbed a hill to watch the sunrise over the mountains and lake, beautiful place.
After crashing out at about 7.30AM we woke around midday and convoyed to Giants Head with the Loco to do some gnar shredding.
Giants Head was easily the BEST hill I have ever skated.
Steep, one lane wide with 13 hairpins, all butter smooth and perfectly slippery. It took me three runs to do the whole thing without a hand down, in some sections I was having to bust big standup slides at 50-60 into these tight, gnarly hairpins. After 7 runs I had taken about 16mm off my Sector9 freeride wheels. These wheels were amazing for throwing down big, fast standup 180s and checks.
Yates, Leigh, Jacko and I camped at Giants Head for the night, Bowditch went back to Vancouver on the Loco with a pretty nasty staph infection, he was breaking out in hives and wasnt looking too healthy, he’s just gone to the hospital now to have another checkup.
Today we woke to cloudy skies and before we could even get our gear on it started pissing down with rain, Leigh hadn’t skated the day before and was mega bummed at not being able to shred down Canada’s best hill, silly bugger!
Unfortunately we didn’t get any footage of Giants Head, our GoPro’s were dead from Vernon.
This Thursday we’re flying out to California, Evren is coming to pick me up from the airport. I’ll be staying with him in one of the gnarliest areas of cali, Laguna Beach.
At the moment our boards are locked in the boot of the team Aussie car, the lock was bent somehow and now we cant open it and get out gear out!
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