One: Business Up Front
I spend as much time as anyone running my mouth about what is and isn’t snowboarding or Snowboarding. It’s whiny and superficial and ultimately all pointless, but it’s what I know. It’s something I can talk about, that’s all.
But then I read this today:
Beyond the riding, Nelson was quite simply one of the nicest guys I have ever met in my life. People always say things like that after a death of course, but in Nelly’s case I honestly don’t know anyone that didn’t love him to bits. How could you not? He was friendly, funny, loyal and above all humble. While he now rode with the elite, he never forgot his original seasonaire buddies; there just was not an arrogant bone in his body. Years later, when I got this job at Whitelines, I was lucky enough to hook up with Nelson on magazine trips to Kashmir, Mt Baker and Canada, and he remained as smiley and positive as ever.
It’s from Ed Blomfield at Whitelines Mag . You can and should read the whole article here.
I never met Nelson Pratt, and I’ve never met Ed, but this is pretty much MY snowboarding. You can replace Nelson’s name with just about anyone I ride with. Sure, exacts change but sentiments hold true.
Now, I’m too old for this snowboarding game. I’m awkward and out of place and all I can really hope is that Brooke throws me a free Yobeat hat every so often. But the people I’ve met because of snowboarding, the people I get to ride with on the regular, and people I’m itching to ride with, make up some of the purest, most honest, driven and entertaining people I know. It’s so much of what makes every day out there memorable. And even the days spent with these people, far from any rideable terrain, tend to break towards greatness.
Rarely do the on-snow memories involve the sickest lines, or do the stories compare to those laid down in magazines. But that’s the really great thing about memories, Ed’s memories are no bigger than mine, and mine are no larger then his. They are all perfectly sized for snowboarding and that is fucking massive.
Regards go out to Ed, The Whitelines Crew and everyone in the UK snow scene. It sounds like you guys lost a good one.
I think I’m getting closer to figuring out what snowboarding is.
I only have like 3 friends with whom I can’t talk snowboarderism.
Dos: Party in the Rear
List of Lists for June 29, 2012
• Possible Trivia Categories
• Bike Tools Needed
• Things I Need For The New Pad
• Kinds of Marijuana I Really Don’t Like
• Good Belated Mother’s Day Gifts
• Tigers
• Asians I Know (Revised 6-17-12)
• Public Places I Have Slept
• Haircuts and Other Things Not Covered By Obamacare
• A Zombie’s Grocery List
• Good Containers For Burying Money and Filth Mags
• Pros and Cons of Trucks vs SUVs
• Pros and Cons of Pad Thai
• Words That Are Funnier When Combined With The Word Milk
• People I Suspect of Treason
• Where Did I Put My Wallet