Words by Norm:
It’d be inaccurate, I suppose, to say this video came purely out of a love for snowboarding. I’m not eight anymore. Life is complicated. Love was the beginning and continues to be the foundation all of this is built on. Obviously, I wouldn’t keep snowboarding if I didn’t love it. I love going out with Derek or Dylan or Noah and Micah and trying to figure out spots. That does, and always will, make me smile ear to ear. But I’ve also grown up. I’ve watched other, sometimes more jaded, motivations take hold. I can’t speak for Derek or Squid here, but I know I’m sometimes motivated by the validation I assume I’ll get come November, validation I use as a band aid to cover my insecurities. I’m motivated by the fear of irrelevance in a community I sometimes struggle to call home. That’s part of the reason I push myself.
I feel like a lot of snowboarders, if you asked them honestly, would probably say the same thing. I think that’s where the beauty comes from though. It all stems from personal experience. I’m paraphrasing here but I once heard Tarantino say in an interview that personal experience is unavoidable. He said, for example, if you’re writing a western movie and in the process of writing it you get dumped, you have to use that pain. The character you’re writing about may not actually be getting dumped, but the hurt you are feeling must make its way into the script or it won’t be real. That’s how I feel about snowboarding. That might be why I don’t board in the summer. I’m empty after the winter. I have nothing left. I need to recuperate so, come time to board, I have something else to offer. It’s a trade, for me at least. There needs to be something to give up whether that be time, relationships, sanity, or, more often than not, all three. I always toy with the feeling that it might be time to stop but I just can’t, not now at least. I’m not fully empty yet. None of us are.
I looked out my window before writing this. It was raining. I’m sure if I checked now, it still would be. That probably means it’s snowing up in the mountains. Shit… it’s starting :)
RIDERS & FILMERS:
Derek Conti, Norm, Squid, Jack Reid, Noah Coville, Micah Coville, Dylan Okurowski, Yoni Herskowitz, Kyle Murray, Joey Leon, Mikey Tuck, and Denver Orr
