When are you the most happy when you're
snowboarding?
When there's hella powder, and nobody's rid-
den the shit, and it's all untracked, and you're
just hauling ass, doing big carves, just spraying
snow everywhere. And I love hitting banks,
they're waves, and just slashing the wave, just
spraying snow everywhere. That is the best
feeling in snowboarding I've ever had.
Who do you snowboard for?
I ride for Lamar Snowboards, they're sick.
They're super good boards, they treat me really
good, they send me places and stuff. I love rid-
ing for those guys.
How do you compare snowboarding with
skating, or do you?
I don't know, I was on the lift the other day,
and I was thinking skating is like way harder.
Snowboarding, it's a whole different thing. It's
funny because people get all amped on it
because they're the best at snowboarding, and
skateboarding is harder. With snowboarding,
you can excel so fast, like you can be good
super fast. To do a frontside 360, the way I see
it on a skateboard, you ollie frontside 360° and
you've got to hold the board to your feet, and
your feet have to do all the controlling. And
with snowboarding, you can just twist your
body and your head and do a frontside 360°
and land it. That's not fair, dude. It just pisses
me off because it's so rad, it's like the sickest
sport. I love snowboarding. It's insane, but you
can't compare it to skating.
How about your stance on the snowboard?
Why do you like it set back as opposed to
center-stance?
I like it better because I can move around on
it, because my tail is shorter, and it just makes it
easier to get around. I just kind of kick back
and just sit in the back seat and just ride it. I
can't explain it really. I just like it like that.
It's more comfortable to sit back and relax
on it more and keep the tip up more?
Yeah, I just kind of relax, and I don't really
have to be over it and then always trying to
stay over my board and being balanced and
always leaning back. Like it's just a lot more
kicked back. In the powder, you're just cruising.
like you're always on top of the snow, you don't
ever have to worry about diving under. And like
you're on a gnarly cliff, and you want to get
from your heel to your toe, and if you've
got a big tail, you can't just hop over,
because you'll hit your tail and you'll go
right off the cliff.
What qualities do you like in a person?
Honesty, straight up, that's about it.
Who do you look up to as a person?
I look up to all my friends as they stand right
now. look up to Mark Gonzales, he's such an
honest, real person. People try and take advan-
tage of people like that, and he just watches it
happen and lets them destroy themselves, and
I see that as a good person, because he just
watches people play themselves out, it's just so
funny. I like to watch that too.
What do you think about the skateboarding
Industry as it stands today?
I think it's great, man. I really love it, and I
always have because the skateboarding indus-
try is what supports skateboarding. Look at all
these kids out here riding skateboards in the
magazines, getting free skateboards, free
wheels, free trucks, and they're having the time
of their lives, and that's what the industry's
done for us, and I appreciate it. I love to see
that.
Just keep
skateboarding, keep
that shit real, dude. Keep keeping
people skateboarding. Just support skate-
boarding in any way, and that's why the indus-
try is so rad because it is an industry supporting
skateboarding. And to me, that'll always be
rad, no matter what happens in the industry.
just people skating
Where do you keep your Skater of the Year
trophy these days?
Dude, I look at that thing, and it just trips me
out. I look at it and I'm like, "No way." I can't
believe that I'm in a rank compared to those
dudes. Like, what the fuck, dude, Danny Way,
Tony Hawk, Mike Carroll, Salman Agah?
What about the kids on that Europe tour?
Didn't you have to beat them down 'cuz they
were trying to get over on your product?
Fuck, dude, it was gnarly. They were just try-
ing to pose all the time, and they'd try to get
over on our shit. Everybody would just have to
watch out for our shit and just be like, "Hey,
get the fuck away from there!" It was gnarly.
And Wheatberry was the
guy that got picked on.
He got beat. He got
fuckin' worked. Drinking
screwdrivers at eleven
o'clock in the morning,
waking up, starts pounding.
slams, cracks his fuckin'
head open, he goes to the
hospital, "Go to the hospi-
tal, it's free here!"
What were the best road
trips you've taken?
Probably the ones to
Burnside. Those were the
sickest road trips ever.
When was the first time you
met Mark Gonzales?
Probably when I went on tour
to England with Alan, Karma,
Salman and Ron. That was a sick
trip. It was like three years ago.
Wasn't Pat Duffy there too?
Yeah, we seen him there. We
seen him at South Bank right by
the van and we're all, "Hey, Pat!"
We knew he was like the gnarly.
handrail guy, so Mark was all,
"Tell him there's this handrail up
there," and that's what they were
kind of doing, so I was like, "Hey,
what's up, Pat? There's this
handrail over here, come check it.
out." He cruises over there, kept
56 THENKER
John hurls over a railing (top) in the
avenues of San Francisco. Lower tran-
sition transfer to backside tailslide
(above) on the kinked vert at the Daily
Grind. Tossing out a corkscrew 720"
(sequence) at Squaw Valley, Cards
goes for broke and comes out on top.
trying this gnarly handrail,
dude. It was super huge. The
ground was like all rough,
super gnarly.
What was Australia like?
Right when I got off the
plane, all these kids would be
at the airport, and they'd pick.
us up and take us to their
favorite spots they've been
looking at for years but
nobody's done, and they'd
take us right to those spots,
right off the plane and say.
"Go to work!" Whatever they
wanted, you had to do, or
you would let them down, so
you just had to go for broke.
That was you and Knigge?
Yep. Knigge had the sick
kickflip shit going on. He was
ripping. They'd pick me,
they'd say like, "Do a back-
side 180' over this gnarly dou-
ble-set." And then they'd say,
"Ron, let's see the 360' kick-
flip doubleflip." Remember
Ron Knigge when he did the
nollie nose wheelies?
Yeah, at DMV.
That's so gnarly, dude. He
was the best nollier before
Paulo came along.
Who do you like to watch
skateboard?
I like to watch Julien skate,
I like to watch Max skate,
Jake, Bob, Andy, Gonz,
Christian, just the fuckin'
gnarlers, Coco.
What happened with you
and the Hitcher?
We got these donuts free
from this donut place, and we
put them in the back of the
station wagon, and my sleep-
ing bag was in there, and he
fucked it all up, got jelly
donuts all over it.
So you worked him?
Yeah. That was fucked-up.
He should've been thinking.
Dude, the Hitcher almost had
to hitch on home.
Who has been an inspiration
to you?
Everybody in my family. My
family is a super big inspira-
tion to me, especially my
mom because she deals with
so much, and she still has so
much love for all of us. I
respect my mom the most out
of anyone, but I love every.
body. What's up, moms? Love
you much. Peace.