Look deep inside the snow scene and you'll find certain individuals that know every trick that's been stomped on every shred-able spot across Canada. This column highlights those individuals - they know what's gone down in the videos and mags because they were there doing it themselves or watched it happen. And just by listening to them, you can learn what's really pulsing in the scene. Enter the Run It Back spot check!
This month we talk to former pro snowboarder Alex Auchu. Born and raised in Quebec, Alex relocated to Whistler to jump-start a professional career that would last over seven years. Alex now lives back in Montreal where he's a snowboard sales rep in the Quebec region. After a number of years filming with different film crews in the backcountry, Alex has witnessed some of the best tricks imaginable in the Whistler backcountry. Make no mistake, Alex has been there and done that. Read on as he breaks down three well-known spots in the Whistler backcountry, and the gnarliest tricks done at each one.
Hollywood Cliffs
"The Hollywood cliffs are located in a snowmobile zone called Callahan Lake. They're probably the most popular cliffs to hit for a film crew, that's why people named them Hollywood. One time I was up there with Mikey Rencz and Eero Niemela. We were filming for the movie Promo Copy and Sean Jonson was our filmer. Sean was the director and producer of the movie, and since he was a good friend that we all looked up to, we all had that extra stress to do well. The cool thing about Hollywood is that you have more than one take-off. Mikey had his on the far lookers-left, Eero was hitting hit right in the middle (the most popular one) and I was hitting it on the far right. Mikey did a Backside 540 Melon first try, which put the standard pretty high. The middle part where Eero was about to go off is the highest part of the cliff; he did Frontside 3 Indy first try. Damn! Here I am on top of this cliff, and both these kids landed first try! The pressure was now on me to pull the hat trick. I tried a Switch Backside Three and landed it first try as well -- oof! I was so relieved! So many memorable tricks went down on Hollywood, but here are the one's that I will always remember:
Lukas Huffman, Cab 7 in Shakedown
Devun Walsh, Backside 5 in Positron
Kale Stephens, Switch Backside 7 in Positron
DCP, Cab 9 in Picture This
Perfect Jump
"The Perfect Jump is also located in the Callahan Lake zone. People call it the Perfect Jump because it's basically like a park jump in the backcountry. This jump is really just perfect. It doesn't look like a man-made cheese wedge, but it's poppy so you can do all the technical tricks if you want. The only downside to Perfect Jump is the compression before the take-off. There has been a lot of good crashes on this jump that have been seen in all the big shred flicks. The first video we saw footage of this jump was in Stand and Deliver. Trevor Andrew did the best BS 180 ever with tons of pop. It looked so good. Also, Gaetan Chanut did a Backside 7 and landed really, really far in the landing. Nowadays, lots of tricks go down and film crews up in Whistler race to this jump every year. After every big dump of snow, people meet up in the parking lot really early just so they have the chance to hit the Perfect Jump. Memorable tricks on Perfect Jump, aside from what I already mentioned, include:
Eero Niemela, Frontside 900 it in Wear it Well
Kale Stephens, Frontside 1080 Tail Grab in Wear it Well
Devun Walsh, Cab 7 in Video Gangs (This video shot doesn't do justice to the trick. I was there and it's one of the sickest thing I've seen someone do live.)
Forum Step-down
The Forum Step-down is another popular jump in the Whistler backcountry. It's located in a different sled-only access zone called Brandywine. This jump was named the Forum Step-down because during the first year that the Forum video came out (The Resistance), Peter Line and Mike Page did a bunch of tricks off it and they all made it into the video. Two of these tricks where actually in the teaser for it. From what I heard, Peter Line went there the first time with Mike Page, and Mike landed a Switch Backside 3 and a Frontside cork 5, but Peter didn't land anything. The next time he went back, he killed it with a Switch Backside 5 and Switch Backside 7. This season the DC team, along with JP Walker, brought the tricks on this jump to the next level. Here's what happened all in the same day:
JP Walker, Backside 1080 Tail Grab in Double Decade
Iikka Backstrom, Switch Backside Rodeo 7 in Double Decade
Eero Niemela, Switch Backside 9 in Double Decade
Lauri Heiskari, Frontside 9 in Double Decade
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Related:
Shooting With DC
Lukas Huffman
DCP's New Deal
8 Mile
Double Decade trailer
Skate:
Run It Back with Morgan Smith
Run It Back with Ryan Bonnel