Stoney Mountain is 45
minutes north of the often blistering cold city of Winnipeg, Manitoba. Oddly
enough, it is also only has 45 feet of vertical. Kids snowboarding on this
"mountain" all have big hunks of leather sewn to their gloves to keep them from
getting torn apart by the rope tow that is powered by a Chevy engine block
anchored at the top. This is the place where Andrew Geeves learned to
snowboard. Actually, let me correct that, this is the place Andrew Geeves learned
to snowboard way better than you.
At 16 he got his first
real taste of big mountain snowboarding after spending the spring in Whistler.
The following year he moved to Whistler for good and now, at the ripe old age
of 20 and a 12-year veteran on his board, he's already looking forward to
what's next. On a much appreciated day off from his job at The Circle snowboard
shop in Whistler, I poked and prodded Andrew for some information on what he's
got on the agenda regarding his snowboard career. He pondered my questions with
a frothy iced coffee in hand and a skateboard under his feet, as he rolled
towards the Whistler skatepark without missing a beat.
I must admit, this 6'2"
red-headed ball of energy that refuses to stop smiling surprised me with the
attitude and outlook of someone much longer in the tooth, and I'm not referring
to any of the crappy TV and movie vampire characters popping up faster than,
well, faster than crappy TV and movie vampire characters.
How was the transition moving from Stoney Mountain to Whistler?
Pretty hectic! [laughing]
I don't know... When I first got here it was like I didn't even know how to
ride, really. You know? It took me a full season of riding with Drove [Adam
Drover], [Dan] Pitts, Os [Mike Osachuk], because those guys were the first
people I knew. So they were good people to know coming out here, because they
know all the rad spots and showed me how to really snowboard. Growing up in
Winnipeg, it's one thing to side-slip up to a rail and drop in, straight line
and hit it, it's another to try and link turns down some kind of crazy area.
Like I said, it took almost a year to dial it all in. I mean, even now I am
still learning how to stomp shit into powder. There is still so much more to
learn.
So after being in Whistler for three and a half years have you found
your groove?
Well, I don't know... I
actually plan on moving out after this next season; I'm kind of getting over
it. I think I'll head somewhere like Revelstoke or butt-fuck Idaho, I just
don't really want to be around anyone anymore. I just want to do my own thing.
I want to get on it now when I'm young, you know? I've been hitting rails all
my life. Now that I have a sled and a truck and I live in the mountains, why
the hell wouldn't I take this opportunity to do what every rider out there
really wants to do in their heart, you know? Pretty much everything in
snowboarding comes down to freeriding. Like Nicholas Mueller-type stuff -- that's
what every snowboarder's dream should be.
Whoa! Bitter and jaded at the ripe old age of 20, that's got to be a new
record, even for Whistler!
[laughs] It's just the
same thing every night. There's always something going on. I think I'd have
more fun just doing my own shit somewhere else, you know? I just want to find a
little hole in the wall in the Interior that gets way more snow than it has
people. Eventually I want to take all my [avalanche] courses and do something
like Shin [Campos] is doing. Find some new, rad territory and find new spots
and shit.
I find this amazing. There is an evolution to every snowboarder: They
get hooked in the park, riding the hill and maybe some rails. Eventually they
get into the backcountry in a place like Whistler and get their first real
taste of powder. Then by the time they hit 28, or so, it's time to move
somewhere they can find more snow and less people. What do you think has caused
your accelerated maturity, for lack of a better word, in the snowboarding
realm?
I don't know. I think
coming here at such a young age, and then living it up way too much. I've been
doing the damn party thing for a while already. It's the same shit every night!
Other than that, there's not much to Whistler. It's a small town with an OK
bowl, a shitty skatepark, and it just gets boring, you know? It's easy to just
party your dick off! [laughing] I want to get away from that. I don't want to
be in a place where all there is to do on your free time is party. I want to
just move out somewhere and start my own thing and just enjoy life, you know?
I'm over all the people here in Whistler; it just seems like such a fake scene.
You seem to be making a lot of statements that are well beyond your
years; it's refreshing to hear, let me tell you. So what's next then? You kind
of touched on a couple possibilities. Any specifics worked out yet?
I know this year we've
been talking about renting a place out in Revelstoke for two months around the
Olympics. So, if that's the case then I will be out there for two months and I
will see if I get a feel for it or not. If I do like it out there, then maybe
I'll find a place, I don't know... Other than that I would love to travel around
the Interior. If not in Revelstoke then maybe somewhere else, maybe up in
Terrace or wherever. I'm just really over rails at this point in my life and I
really want to ride pow like my favorite riders. I kind of want to follow in
their footsteps. People like Devun [Walsh] and Ikka [Backstrom] and Eero
[Niemela], all those guys... Renczy [Mikey Rencz]... they're all really good riders
and guys I look up to.
I hear you were shooting with Standard this year. How was that? That's
some rock star shit for such a young ripper!
Yeah! It's been pretty cool,
for sure. I actually got to go up riding in the backcountry with Ikka and Devun
with Anthony Vitale filming and Colin Adair shooting photos. It was raddest
thing ever, dude! I watched Devun get his banger over Witch's Tit and Ikka get
his banger of the year, too... it was pretty insane. I've got pictures up on Facebook,
check it out... [laughing]
So, you want to continue filming and continue riding but just pick a new
location?
Yeah, exactly, and just
get more creative. I want to try and take some things from the street and bring
them in to the backcountry, you know? I'm thinking about some weird shit to do
back there... [laughing]
------------------------------
Related:
DC and Quik at Lake Louise (video)
Devun Walsh: Team Captain
Standard Films: Black Winter