August 4
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One of the biggest things out of Big Bear, Zak’s super smooth style and technical expertise makes him a sizable threat in rail heavy events. Recently taking his talent out of bounds, it’s only a matter of time before Hale begins dropping hammers while dropping cliffs.
Stance: Regular
Home Mountain: Bear
Board: Burton Love 152
Binding: Burton Exiles
Boot: Burton Freestyle
Outerwear: Analog
Goggle: Dragon
May 1, 2012
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Superpark 16 Presented by Gatorade is just around the corner, and the Prinoths and pushers are sculpting the biggest features of the year up on Bachelor. Well, to tide you over, we've compiled a super selection of video edits from Superpark 14.
April 5, 2012
// 0 COMMENTS
Words: T-Bird
Captions: Pat Bridges & T-Bird
Day three of The Launch 2012 Presented by Red Bull at Bear Mountain, California was the best yet…hands down. The morning started off with a similar crew from last night’s sunset session on the stepover jump, and with a gigantic crowd of general Bear Mountain public looking on, Mark McMorris, the brothers Mindnich, Cam FitzPatrick, Emil Ulsletten, Ole Christian Hagen, Broc Waring, Sam Taxwood, Craig McMorris Caden Michnal, and more put on one of the most spectacular displays of freestyle park riding that I’ve ever bore witness to. Highlights included Mark McMorris’s double cork back ten, his brother Craig’s crail to super late back 180, Cam FitzPatrick’s Cab fives, Sam Taxwood’s front nines, back sevens, and front sevens, Hans and Nils’s style (they have insane style), Broc Waring’s super floaty corked front fives, Emil Ulsletten’s double cork, and Ole Christian Hagen’s gigantic frontside spins. The cheers from the onlookers watching from just outside the rope line and the sound of sleds shuttling the riders back up top made for one hell…sorry, this is The Launch…“heck” of a morning.
After lunch, the riders dabbled around in the bowl and quarterpipe area. From what I saw, Taxwood, Merrick Joyce, Zak Hale and Max Warbington were hauling into the flat bar at Mach speed and gapping up to it. Red Gerard, Stefan Krumm, Zach Normandin, Brock Crouch, and a handful of others were sessioning a high speed line into the pole jam, and Zander Blackmon, Ben Bilodeau, and Jaeger Bailey hit up the up rail with mind-boggling variations. Zander was going for ollie over 270s to front board, while Ben opted for the more straight on noseblunt pretzel out, and Jaeger hucked backflip to switch 50-50s. Oh yeah, and Hans Mindnich stalled on the top of the damn…sorry…“darn” thing.
After the madness settled in the major artery through The Launch setup, a group of riders wanted to get in on a little sunset session on the tree gap. The tree gap is a massive wedge that sends the jumper catapulting through the air, up and over a large, deadwood tree. Quite literal, if you ask me. Anyway, Stefan Krumm, Jack Herald, Ben and Gabe Ferguson, Zak Hale, JD Dennis, Craig McMorris, Jaeger Bailey, and more sent it ’til the sun went down and between the tricks they tossed and the golden light, it made for some mind-blowing imagery. Basically, today was the day that The Launch got really “frickin’” gnarly (See? I caught myself there). Check out the photo gallery and the Day Three video and be sure to keep up to date with all the happenings from The Launch 2012 Presented by Red Bull going down all this week at Bear Mountain, California.
March 28, 2012
// 1 COMMENTS
The Launch continues to be both the stomping grounds and proving grounds for some of the best up-and-coming young talent in Snowboarding. From it's debut in 2008 at the Northstar-At-Tahoe it has attracted the likes of Mark McMorris, Zak Hale, Sage Kotsenberg, and more who seem to be household names in the world of snowboarding today. However this may have not always been the case before they attended this event, and that is one thing that makes The Launch what it is. The playing field is leveled, and young riders are given the opportunity to really stand out and make an impression. Speaking of standing out, we have compiled some of our favorite photos from the past years of The Launch in order to hype up the upcoming event at Bear Mountain, April 3rd-6th. Take a click through the history of The Launch in the gallery above and keep you eyes peeled for coverage of this year's Launch during the first week of April, 2012.
January 27, 2012
// 5 COMMENTS
Forest Bailey is a gold medalist at the Winter X Games 2012 Street Rail Jam!
January 26, 2012
// 10 COMMENTS
Words and Photos: Mike Yoshida
To kick off the sixteenth year of X games, the newest competition of snowboard street was showcased. The top jibbers from the US and Canada arrived to show us some of the craziest moves we've seen in a while. The likes of: Forest Bailey, Zak Hale, Ethan Deiss, Nick Visconti, Louif Paradis, Phil Jacques, Ryan Paul, Johnnie Paxson, Dylan Alito and more, were giving the crowd what they came to see. Hardway 270's, 450's on and off, front lip to container smash, and half cab to backflip were some of the more difficult tricks thrown. Louif was buttery smooth with 270's on and off, Ethan had some insane shifty to 270 manuevers, and the standout clown Dylan Alito was terrorizing the course with his antics, dropping in whenever and not listening to the event coordinators. In the end it came down to three riders, who all rode insanely in their own way. Nick Visconti who came in third did a hardway cab 3 onto a flat down bar while Ryan Paul in second, did a numerous amount of hardway spinning and even attempted a hardway 450 onto the down bar. In the end he settled for a half cab on backflip out of the down flat ledge. Forest Bailey is a name that all will recognize after today. Bailey continually destroyed this course. He started with the flat container, where he landed tailslide oppo out, and 270'd the whole thing out to the flats. Then the Vermont native proceeded to do every hardway 270, cab and regular, with the best style I have ever seen. His skate influenced way of riding really shines through, and he obviously deserved his first ever X games gold.
January 24, 2012
// 3 COMMENTS
Photos & Captions: Huggy
Our photo editor, Huggy met up with the People Films in Anchorage this week. There were crews all over Anchorage, it was the best place to jib in the world at this time in January. Riders Johnny Lazz, Scott Brown, and J-Rob searched for new spots or a creative take on the blown out spots. The shots were good, the air was cold, and the food was terrible in all the restaurants they visited.
January 4, 2012
// 3 COMMENTS
We let Zak Hale's girlfriend Gabi Viteri write the questions for his Video Guestbook. See how things panned out.
January 3, 2012
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Things are in full swing at I Ride Park City! Sam Spedale, Johnny Brady, Knut Eliassen, Alex Sherman, Blaze Kotsenburg, Mac Spedale, Ted Borland, Zak Hale, Sam Taxwood, Sage Kotsenburg, Griffin Siebert, Harrison Gordon, and Matty Moriarty enjoying the goods up at Park City mountain resort.
December 30, 2011
// 2 COMMENTS
Check out Zak Hale shredding his home mountain, practicing up to take his moves to the streets. Bear is looking all time right now, so get up there and lap the People's Park.
December 30, 2011
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Zak Hale is one of the best riders in the world under the age of 21, as proven in our inaugural Minor Threat Issue a few weeks back, but here is some hard proof of his savvy skills in the street. Watch Zak take apart every imaginable street feature in his path in this edit.
November 23, 2011
// 1 COMMENTS
Words: T Bird
Photos: Joel Fraser
Today, I saw a sign in a restaurant that said "Thank you for come in our restaurant." If one were to see these words at an eating establishment in the States, they would more than likely gather their belongings and leave very quickly, but I just chuckled, because, well, I'm in Japan and pretty much every American phrase, idiom, or general sentence is lost in translation, as was the case in this instance...I hope.
Japan is one of my favorite countries. The food is amazing, the cities are clean and offer exceptional public transportation, the people are genuine and courteous, and the Japanese are scream-at-the-top-of-your-lungs fanatical about snowboarding. It's almost enough to make you bummed on being a snowboarder in the U.S., if we didn't have such incredible mountains.
Needless to say, when Burton decided to put on their Rail Days event in the Roppongi district of Tokyo, it was, in my opinion, a great pre-season decision.
The setup, designed by Chris "Gunny" Gunnarson and his crew of SPT pushers, is gargantuan. Now I'm not simply sensationalizing for ulterior editorial motives. These are the most behemoth features I've ever seen in a rail jam. The photos might do it justice, but as proven time and again, they probably won't.
The course consists of a nipple-high concrete ledge on looker's left with a kinked creeper, a twenty-odd foot down round bar dead center, and a square down-flat-down on looker's right that should and probably did scare the shit out of the contestants the first time they locked on to it. Framing the course on the far looker's right and left are true urban gaps. No jumps, just straight diving board takeoffs. On the left is a street light to bonk, and on the right, a post office-style mailbox in the landing. Right now I could make an incredibly cheesy pun about the riders "sending it" on the mailbox, but I won't...because I kinda just did.
The field was stacked. Cameron Pierce, Scott Stevens, Dylan Alito, Stevie Bell, Zak Hale, Ethan Deiss, Marc Swoboda, Wojtek Pawlusiak, Alex Andrews, Mike Casanova, Zac Marben, Jamie Nicholls and more flew across the Pacific in an attempt to pocket the $15,000 first place purse. Getting through Customs was going to be a itch for one of these dudes, that's for sure.
The contest started with a 45 minute jam and the field of 16 was then cut to 8 and those riders battled it out in a head-to-head, best of three run series. It was:
Dylan Alito vs. Ethan Morgan
Stevie Bell vs. Ethan Deiss
Shoma Takao vs. Scotty Stevens
Marc Swoboda vs. Jamie Nicholls
The final heats were Shomo Takao vs. Ethan Deiss to determine third and fourth place and Dylan Alito vs. Jamie Nicholls for second and first. Ethan came out in third, Alito took second, and the young Brit Jamie Nicholls took the win, and $15,000 cash.
Burton Rail Days ended up being one of the best rail jams I have ever witnessed, and-much like the toilets in Japan that spray water into your most private of areas after a big dumpo-it was refreshing. Until next time, I love you Tokyo, and I hope to sing horrible, out-of-tune music in a small room again with you soon.
November 14, 2011
// 17 COMMENTS
Two different edits from laps at Keystone. Zak Hale and Forest Bailey. Which one do you like better?
September 24, 2011
// 9 COMMENTS
Filmed in the high country of the IE (i.e., the Inland Empire), Bear Mountain's “The Peoples’ Park” is a full-length snowboard feature culled from the best footage collected while filming their acclaimed “Sunday In The Park” webisode series. Chris Bradshaw, Daniel Brown, Zak Hale, Joe Sexton, Simon Chamberlain, Scott Stevens, Ryan Paul, The Tarbell brothers, the Midget Mafia and more take turns turning tricks and lapping up the ultimate inbounds freestyle playground that is Bear Mountain in “The Peoples’ Park.”
September 23, 2011
// 1 COMMENTS
Why is this called a presentation instead of a video? Good question. But anyway, here is our presentation of the riders competing in Hot Dawgz & Hand Rails at Bear Mountain. If you can't make it to the event be sure to check back to Snowboardermag.com... the very site you are on... for our live Webcast of the contest on September 24th at 3PM Pacific Standard Time. WATCH THE LIVE WEBCAST HERE
September 21, 2011
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Here is a breakdown of the 2011 Hot Dawgz & Hand Rails participants you can see duke it out here on Snowboardermag.com during our live webcast which starts at 3:00 pm Pacific Standard Time on Saturday September 24th. More info here. WATCH THE LIVE WEBCAST HERE
August 29, 2011
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After watching this video you will be ready to amaze your friends with some stylish moves done just like the VG gang. From Mt. High to High Cascade Snowboard Camp, we will show you the ins and outs of our favorite tricks. Step by step you will learn the secrets, as well as see the tricks done in the streets and backcountry. Keep your tricks proper and you will be well on your way to Olympic stardom, or even better - filming your own video part!!!
May 30, 2011
// 9 COMMENTS
The Burton team brings Jeremy Jones, Zak Hale, & Mark Sollars to Madison, Wisconsin.
May 9, 2011
// 6 COMMENTS
It’s hard to believe it’s been ten years already since Mammoth put on the first WCI, but in honor of its decade anniversary, the park staff took the setup to another level.
April 15, 2011
// 5 COMMENTS
So many shots and so few posts. Here is a bonus gallery from Rob Mathis, Mike Yoshida and Sean K Sullivan. As well as a video from the Technine crew.
April 11, 2011
// 3 COMMENTS
The weather on days 3 and 4 of The Launch at Park City presented by Red Bull were a little rough, but the kids made the best out of it. See for yourself.
April 7, 2011
// 4 COMMENTS
The world's best under-18 shredders took over Park City for the first day of The Launch presented by Red Bull. Here is footage to prove that.
March 20, 2011
// 2 COMMENTS
On Friday March 18th, 2011 The Shakedown made its second appearance at The Summit-at-Snoqualmie, WA and in typical Northwest fashion it was damp.
March 19, 2011
// 17 COMMENTS
Yesterday was Friday and here at Snoqualmie, the Ride Shakedown Rail Jam was in full effect. Alex Andrews, Johnny Lazz, Jonah Owen, Zak Hale, Dylan Alito & more.
December 15, 2010
// 4 COMMENTS
Video from the 2010 Paul Mitchell Progression Session at Copper Mountain, Colorado featuring some to the top emerging jib talent.
December 14, 2010
// 8 COMMENTS
Burton and Liftline TV comes out with their edit intended for the Superpark Showdown. If Marco Grilc ever offers you beans, just say no.
August 31
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August 29
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August 26
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August 25
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August 24
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August 24
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August 23
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August 21
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