August 23
Photo: Oli Gagnon
Vermont has pumped out its share of technical rail riders in it’s day, including the likes of Chris Rotax, Yale Cousino and most recently Forest Bailey. Sweeping up rail jam titles across the country for the past few years, Bailey is on a mission to tackle all the metal in his path.
Stance: Goofy
Home Mountain: Northstar
Board: Gnu Park Pickle 150
Boot: New Balance
Binding: Gnu Backdoor
Outerwear: 686
Goggle: Drop
May 16, 2013
In this episode of "Weird and Bitchin'", Gnu and Lib Tech riders head over to Lib Tech's Holy Bowly in Tenjin, Japan. This year's Holy Bowly was one of the best snowboard sessions ever. It was all smiles, high fives and international stoke. This video shows a little bit of the awesome-ness that was the Holy Bowly, featuring Forest Bailey, Ted Borland, Jamie Lynn, Blake Paul, Jesse Burtner, and friends. As event mastermind Krush Kulesza says "Gas up the van, wax your board, and I'll look for you in the line-up next year!"
May 2, 2013
Next week at Superpark 17, SNOWBOARDER Magazine is giving you access to the action at Mt. Bachelor in raw, live format. Superpark 17: The Webcast presented by Woodward will provide a candid and never-before-seen peek at the best riders on the gnarliest features. On Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday May 7-9 at 1:30pm - 4:30pm PST, tune into www.snowboardermag.com as hosts T. Bird and Preston Strout let you in on what goes on, as well as talk to special guests.
If you can't watch live, check back on the website each night, as we will be releasing the full replay of each day's webcasts, so you don't miss a thing.
As always, follow @snowboardermag and #Superpark17 for up to the minute leaks from the event all week.
April 29, 2013
Forest Bailey came through with some heat for today's "Clip Of The Day" filmed at Boreal during his early season part.
April 22, 2013
Recently more than 40 professional snowboarders, filmers, team managers, magazine dudes and photographers traveled to the other side of the world for Lib Tech's "Holy Bowly" in search of good times, good bowls, and perfect shred. Words can not express how grateful we all were to how we were embraced by the Japanese snowboard community, proving without a doubt that we truly are one giant tribe of shred. Big thanks to Lib Tech and Monster along with Krush, Goro, the Tenjin Lodge, Jaime Lynn, Wes Makepeace, and everyone that made the journey to Japan with us. Be there next year!
April 12, 2013
Forest Bailey was going off at the Holy Bowly. Wes Makepeace was going fast at the Holy Bowly. The combination leads to today's "Clip Of The Day". Stay tuned for a new Clip Of The Day 5 days a week. Might as well bookmark this page now.
April 11, 2013
Mike Yoshida gets spring powder at Mt. Baker with the 686 team.
March 12, 2013
These clips of Gnu's Forest Bailey are electrifying.
January 26, 2013
The snowboard street event went off this year at X Games, here's the video with some great interviews from our on hill correspondent Danny Kass.
January 18, 2013
GNU’s Tube City returns to the Summit at Snoqualmie on Sunday, January 27! Get wild on Mt Weird with two-term Tube City Mayor Forest Bailey and the GNU Weirdos as they turn Central Park upside down in a tranny and tube induced explosion of creativity, magic and flamingoes! Tons of prizes, very few rules, awesome [...]
January 16, 2013
Forest Bailey came through with some heat for today's "Clip Of The Day" filmed at Boreal during his early season part
January 7, 2013
Forest Bailey is today's clip of the day with this insane way to get around skate stoppers...... Stay tuned for a new Clip Of The Day 5 days a week. Might as well bookmark this page now.
December 26, 2012
Here's a Christmas gift from SNOWBOARDER Magazine and Givin: Forest Bailey's full part from "Too". This is one of the sickest parts dropped this year, enjoy!
December 13, 2012
Now that you have seen Forest Bailey’s Boreal video, go to SNOWBOARDER’s Facebook page to enter GoPro’s “12 Days Of Christmas” giveaway. Today we will be gifting a new Gnu Carbon Credit snowboard at 5pm PST. Enter once,and you have a chance to win every day for the next 12 days. On Christmas Day, we’ll [...]
December 13, 2012
Unlike those judgmental types at the North Pole, SNOWBOARDER Magazine doesn’t care who has been naughty or nice, you know, glass houses and all that… For the next twelve days we are hooking you up with a dozen original video parts to get you stoked this holiday season. The first SNOWBOARDER Magazine "12 Days Of Christmas" presented by GoPro edit was shot last week at California’s Boreal Mountain Resort and features Forest Bailey. Watch, rewind, watch again, and then go to SNOWBOARDER’s Facebook page to sign up for our "12 Days Of Christmas" giveaway, where we will be gifting a new board at 5pm PST every day until the 24th of December. Enter once, and you have a chance to win every day. On Christmas Day, we’ll be holding a bonus giveaway of several Woodward Tahoe Camp scholarships. Today’s giveaway is a brand new Gnu Carbon Credit board. Enter the giveaway here.
December 12, 2012
Snowboarder Magazine's "12 Days of Christmas" presented by GoPro begins Thursday, December 13th. Each day until the 25th, we will be dropping a new video surprise to help you make the most of boring holiday parties, long lines at the mall, and groups of carolers that won't leave your doorstep.
December 3, 2012
"Mother Falcon Ship", the first full-length movie from Brendan Barry, James Hill, and Travis Villarreal, embodies the DIY work ethic of local crews who strive to create something tangible out of the snowboarding they love. Home movie-esque vignettes and a handful of unique spots, plus a rider list that includes Ben Lynch, Brendan Gerard, Ian Boll, Billy Mackey, along with cameos from Jonah Owen, Forest Bailey, and more, makes for a compelling and creative group effort.
November 23, 2012
That's right, it's Free Goods Friday. This week, we are giving you the chance to win a Gnu Pickle and Gnu Weird bindings.
November 17, 2012
Words: T-Bird Photos: Blotto
I remember the first rail jam that really stoked me out. It was in Buffalo, New York, hosted by Red Bull, and consisted of the best rail riders in the world at the time. I also remember the image of Scotty Arnold locked into a perfect front board on a down bar because it hung on my wall as a testament to how a front board should be done at that time. That event was revolutionary for me. I couldn’t believe what the riders were doing on some of the most progressive features the streets had ever seen. Looking back on it now, that contest was indeed incredible and the tricks done in it have definitely progressed exponentially in the past decade or so, but after watching the 2012 Burton Rail Days in Japan go down last night at Roppongi Hills in downtown Tokyo I now realize that in the realm of rail jams, everything has changed for the better.
Last night, thousands of people packed into Roppongi Hills Plaza in Tokyo to witness a spectacle of urban snowboarding that I have rarely seen related in a contest setting. Headed up by Chris Castaneda of Snow Park Technologies, the setup was gargantuan. Featuring three different drop-in points of entry, the eighteen invited riders had the option of a simple down bar on the far rider’s left, a down creeper just to the right of that, and a wooden rail closeout to flat (though many riders opted to start gapping from that to the down bar). Next to that was a picnic table angled upward and a hitching post log to the far rider’s right, and just to the left of the hitching post was a big wooden Burton pole with a flag on top that that the riders could bonk if they felt like getting some airtime. It really was insane seeing this massive feature plopped square in the middle of downtown Tokyo, but it spoke to the fact that gone are the days when a single barrel down bar would consist of a world class street venue.
The pouring rain didn’t slow down the competitors down one bit, nor did it stop the crowd from cramming in shoulder-to-shoulder. Eighteen of the world’s most talented freestylers flew from all over the world to try their hand on the course and hoping to win the $15,000 cash prize. The list included Jonah Owen, Dominik Wagner, Ludwig Lejkner, Ethan Deiss, Brandon Hobush, Yuma Abe, Benny Urban, Alex Tank, Neils Schack, Marc Swoboda, Forest Bailey, Jamie Nicholls, Zak Hale, Dylan Alito, Jesse Augustina, Wojtek Pawlusiak, Takahiro Ishida, and Mark Sollors and they battled it out in a forty-five minute jam to narrow the finals down to six riders.
The tricks that you now see in any given rail jam is incredible in the sense that a proper back lip would once win one of these contests but now it’s merely a warm-up trick, and at the Burton Rail Days, it got really tech really fast. With the legendary Jeremy Jones sitting atop the course in the judges’ booth, there was no denying that Burton not only stepped it up with the setup, but they also legitimized the judging even more. Regardless, a few riders took to the hitching post with Andrechts, tail taps, nose bonks and myriad flips while Jamie Nicholls tailtap revert 450d the Burton flag a few times. The picnic table setup saw the likes of Marc Swoboda going inverted off the end and Wojtek Pawlusiak buttering on and off. The star of the show however, was definitely the looker’s right rail setup. With multiple options, the riders went after it every way possible. Ludwig Lejkner’s back lips were ridiculous. Brandon Hobush went front three to fifty while Jamie Nicholls took a cue to step it up and did the same trick but switch. Local Tokyo ripper Yuma Abe was the first to drop down from the wooden closeout to the down bar and the crowd went apeshit. Jonah Owen–no stranger to landing flat– took it to the bottom of the closeout with a flurry of front threes. Ethan Deiss handled the creeper and half Cabbed on to the down bar to switch tailpress. Dominik Wagner and Benny Urban impressed me quite a bit as everything they do is very properly executed. Smooth, clean, and landed solidly. Keep an eye out for those two. Zak Hale rode super well also with a few nosepress back 180s and front blunts with heaps of style, and Dylan Alito couldn’t quite seem to put it together in the qualifiers to move on to the finals but he still put on a quite a show for the crowd.
When the forty-five minute qualifier was over, it was Jamie Nicholls, last year’s winner, who qualified in the top spot with Forest Bailey in second place (Editor’s Note: Forest’s last trick in qualifiers broke his snowboard so he borrowed Neils Schat’s stick and rode it in the finals). Rounding out the rest of the finals field was Brandon Hobush, Jonah Owen, Dominik Wagner, and Zak Hale. It was a good mix of Euros and Americans and when the finas started the format changed. Each rider would be given three runs and their best score counted. Period. Plain and simple. Jonah Owen fell on his first two runs but on his third attempt he put down a 50-50 on the closeout to front three stale, landing deep in the flats. As the first rider to drop in the third and final runs, Jonah sat, waiting for the rest of the riders to try and bump him out. Brandon Hobush went all out on his last hit to try and get podium with a switch back 270 attempting to bring it back to regs. Hobush had it in the bag but something happened upon landing that made him slide it out and stay in fourth. There were two riders left. In his second run, on a borrowed board, Forest Bailey had stomped the shit out of a 50-50 on the wooden closeout to drop down front lip on the down bar. It was the cleanest and biggest trick of the night and as Jamie Nicholls dropped in, all he was thinking about was knocking Forest out of the number one position. Jamie also took to the wooden closeout with a 50-50 but then shocked the spectators when he went for a frontside 270, dropping down to the metal down bar. Unfortunately, Jamie couldn’t pull it and he stayed in second place, giving Forest Bailey his first Burton Rail Days win and $15,000 cash.
The finals was a nail biter, and although I’m not really one for the whole contest drama thing, it worked on me. Burton and Mini worked together to bring the people of Tokyp a thrilling and progressive event and I applaud them for that. The riding was incredible, the judging was on point, and the vibe was insane. Like I said, gone are the days when a single barrel down bar will be the deciding factor in figuring out who’s the best, and the reason is that urban snowboarders aren’t just riding rails anymore. Their ability has allowed them to branch out and find options and nowadays you need a course that’s designed to give them more options than features. That’s what made the 2012 Burton Rail Days so exciting to watch and that’s what will make it more important in the snowboarding landscape for years to come. Sionara, Tokyo. See you next year.
2012 Burton Rail Days Presented by Mini Results:
1. Forest Bailey $15,000
2. Jamie Nicholls $8,000
3. Jonah Owen $4,000
4. Brandon Hobush $2,000
November 2, 2012
Rider: Forest Bailey Photographer: Mike Yoshida
October 30, 2012
Here's the video from the 2012 San Francisco Lib Tech Downtown Throwdown.
October 29, 2012
One of our most coveted contributors, Liam Gallagher, spent a good portion of his winter last year documenting snowboarding from his point of view. That view started just outside of Portland, Oregon where Liam grew up and has since taken him down to So Cal, back to the Northwest, and all across the globe. He now calls Bellingham home and we don't see him leaving any time soon. Have a look at his latest project, "The Mad Ones," a full-length snowboard film featuring Forest Bailey, Forrest Burki, Patrick McCarthy, Shaun McKay, Wyatt Stasinos, Nick Russell, Kael Martin, Bryan Fox, Mark Landvik, Lucas Debari, Nick Ennen, Scott Blum, Dan Liedahl, Alex Beebe, Will Lavigne, Jamie Lynn, Sebi Geiger, Marco Feichtner, Atsushi Hasegawa, Kohei Kudo, Austin Hironaka and many more. Enjoy!
October 12, 2012
This is a diverse group of individuals with a mutual respect for each other and a shared excitement to work collaboratively with the adidas Action Sports team. All are signed to wear adidas Snowboard boots that roll out in Fall of 2013. Additionally, Eric, Keegan and Kazu are all signed on for apparel technical outerwear. Helen and Keegan are also on adidas Eyewear. The entire range launches in Fall / Winter 2013.
October 10, 2012
Rider: Forest Bailey Photographer: Ryan "Huggy" Hughes
October 3, 2012
Lib Tech’s Downtown Throwdown – Fueled by Monster returns to the streets of Seattle and San Francisco! New features, amazing riders, over $25K in prize money and still totally FREE…it’s gonna be BANANAS!
September 24, 2012
The setup at Bear Mountain's Hot Dawgz & Hand Rails keeps getting crazier and crazier. This video is proof that the riding does too. Check out our full photo gallery and recap from the event here.
Results:
Men:
Jonah Owen $10,000
Jaeger Bailey $3,000
Ian Sams $1,000
Women:
Desiree Melancon
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