J
on West doesn't
play ice hockey,
say "eh?" or hunt
moose. He does,
however, live in
Canada, have two pet
birds, and drive a 1975
Ford van. Oh yeah, and
he sure can skate.
erica. Eri
W
hat's better about Canada
than the US? And vice versa?
Canada is a lot cleaner, safer, and less.
crowded. As for skateboarding. I'm away
from all the industry stuff, and there are a
lot of places to skate. It seems to be a lot
harder to find places to skate in the States,
but the weather is definitely better.
How do Canadian skaters differ from
those in the US?
There's not too much difference. Just the
fact that in America not a lot of people
skate unless there is a photographer.
Where I live people just skate because they
I want to skate, or maybe it's because there
are only two or three photographers up
here. I don't know.
What trick do you wish didn't exist?
I don't really care. I can't do normal
nollie kickflips, so maybe that.
What's the hardest trick you've
ever landed?
Probably the tailslide shove on
the CIBC rails in the Pig video. It
took a while.
What bugs you most about the pub-
lic perception of skating?
There are a lot of hippies and hessians
who don't skate but they have skate-
boards. They hang out downtown and
beg for money, do drugs, and cause
trouble. These guys give skateboarders
a bad name.
What kind of car do you drive?
A 1975 Ford van. It's like a little house.
It has a bedroom and a living room, and
lots of fur and stuff.
Has the proliferation of skate
videos caused an increased homog-
enization of skateboarding? Is this
a positive or negative?
Videos are great. I love watching
them, but it seems that the younger
kids who watch the videos just try to do
the tricks they see there. There are a lot
of kids who will ollie off a roof or grind
a handrail, but they can't do a kickflip
on flat or kickturn on a halfpipe.
What was your road to pro stardom?
Pro stardom? I skated a lot. My friend
Chip Van Ham rode for ATM Click. I
was stoked on the team, so I sent a
video and talked to Mike Manzoori and
Chip and everything worked out.
About a year or so later Mike Manzoori
quit. He was the backbone of the
whole team, so everyone quit with
him. I was already riding for Pig
wheels, so I knew Josh. I sent him all
my footage for the Pig video, and he
asked me to ride for Foundation.
Right: Take off, hoser. Growing up in the
Great White North prepared Jon for
indoor ripping like this sheltered gap to
frontside boardslide.
Below: Not a closet.
JON WEST
84 THRASHER
FOUNDATION
PHOTOS BY MICHAEL BURNETT