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OMAR LUNDIE
OMAR IS PERHAPS best summed up by his roommates Andrew and Shawn as a "bacon eatin',
fast driving, always in control, big ass jump ridin', not to be outdone cliff droppin', mug col-
lectin', girlfriend havin', money spendin', non-stop travelin', traverser hatin', Blackcomb lovin',
phone jockeyin, Afro-Canadian poster boy." If you want to see Omar at his best, tell him where
the biggest gap is on your mountain and grab your camera. If you want to see him get embar-
rassed, ask him about the possessed mini-van.
So, you live in Whistler, eh?
Yeah, going on my fifth season. I am a lifer.
What got you started in snowboarding?
Two skating buddies of mine dragged me up to Cypress Mountain
(outside of Vancouver), I guess it was in the winter of 1984. They'd been
-Nattasha Zurek
ing at my cartwheeling ass. Before the end
of the day, I'd learnt how to launch a rail
grab method, the only problem was I kept
landing on my knees still holding my toe
edge. I got over that quickly.
How long have you been skating?
About twelve years on and off.
Has skating helped your snowboarding?
Skating helped out a lot over the years. Skateboarding fueled most of
the snowboarding tricks early on. Now I think snowboarding has found
its own fuel for progression. People are pushing the limits of what can be
done with a board attached to their feet. Faster, higher, further-that is
snowboarding's future.
up three or four times before me, so they spent the whole day laugh- Did you ever compete?
COLD SNAP
I went to my first contest after only riding about half a dozen times. I
got dead last and loved it. Maybe I didn't love it, but it was fun trying to
keep up. I was pushing myself to learn and that's always fun for me.
Launching off rocky outcroppings is one of Omar's special-
sies. Witness this switch lein 180" tweak (sequence), and
this tailgrab (above), at Whitewater, British Columbia.
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