Hello everyone, first off I would
like to mention that I live with a guy who goes by the name “Mad Mike”. Now
don’t be alarmed, he is not actually crazy…well not that crazy. He certainly is
a character. When we first started
college he had a huge mop of curly hair. One of my friends affectionately
referred to him as “the curly headed fuck”. He always wears a hat and has the
scruffy appearance characteristic to many snow enthusiasts. At my Endicott
orientation I first saw Mike and thought, “this better be a snowboarder, cause
he looks like one.” He dresses like the
typical snowboarder kid: tight pants, skate shoes, and various types of
t-shirts. He honestly does not give a crap about what he wears; he has a shirt
that has a cat in an astronaut suit on it, if that gives you any clue into this
guy’s style. He has since cut his long curly hair but his personality has not
changed at all.
Michael Placella
is a hilarious guy; everybody in my dorm likes him. He has the weirdest sense
of humor and he basically brought along a whole new culture to Endicott. He
introduced the phrase, “it’s all gravy” to my dorm, and his idea of fun is going out
into the woods and climbing trees. He took this interview like a conversation,
the first question he asks is “Can I still eat my sunflower seeds?” His personality is truly unique; he does not
give a shit about what other people say about him. His nickname is Mad Mike
because he always does the craziest things on and off of his snowboard. “[Mike] Have you ever hurt yourself
snowboarding? Ummm…oh yeah I got knocked out. [laughs] I got a wicked wicked
wicked bad concussion...I got up, went to my friend, asked him what day it was
and then he showed me the video and it was fucking hysterical.” Who else would
be a better source of knowledge than a gnarly snowboard instructor right?
Mike has been
snowboarding since he was seven years old. He grew up riding at Waterville
because his aunt had a condo there. Since he was able to ride frequently he got
very good at snowboarding. He can do way more stuff on a snowboard than I can
that’s for sure. Mike has thrown tricks
that my body physically cannot even perform.
The best part? He
is self-taught. He said that he started off when he was young with an
instructor, but when he wanted to take his riding to the next level, he was on
his own. To add to his credit snowboard instructors only go over the basics of
the sport with you when you are young. It is sick that he taught himself how to
ride; I have tried to teach myself multiple tricks but failed miserably. This
shows the true passion that Mike has for snowboarding. Also, teaching yourself
park snowboarding is extremely difficult, trust me. I have taken more falls
straight to the ass in the park than anyone that reads this. For those of you
that don’t know what park snowboarding is, it is a combination of jibs and
jumps. A jib is anything that is not snow that riders slide down. Stair rails
are a great example of the intimidating features that you see in terrain parks.
Mike is the only person at Waterville Valley that is certified to teach park
lessons.
Snowboarding has
been around since the 1960’s. When people first introduced snowboards to their
local mountains a whole new world of snow sports became introduced.
Snowboarding is one of the most fun extreme sports out there today.
Snowboarding offers full personal freedom, riders can express themselves
through how they ride and how they dress. From growing up riding in Maine I
noticed that the skiing and snowboarding scene is very unique.
The style of the
Maine snowboarder or skier can vary. From what I observed the beginner riders
seem very awkward with their style and dress. They generally wear plain clothes
and look a little out of place. On the mountain beginner riders definitely
would not fit into Maine’s “snow culture”.
They tend to stick to their instruction groups on the mountain and tend
to not ride with their friends separately. Beginners have not grasped the
basics of snowboarding yet so they know how to ride. It is hard for them to
develop their own definitive style. The good riders, I noticed, float around
the mountain with a certain grace. This grace can be called “steeze”. I first
heard that word from my hardcore skier friend. I have no clue where the word
steeze comes from, but it sounds like a word that was made up by somebody who
loved spending their time on a mountain. The funny thing is that Mike used the
word “steeze” to describe the snowboarders in Colorado. The kids that ride in
Colorado are all gnarly, all they do is ride and their skill shows it.
Good snowboarders
in Maine wear lots of name brand snowboard apparel, usually have multiple
snowboard setups, and all ride with unique style. When you are a good
snowboarder, you can basically do anything you want on the mountain. If you
slay boxes and rails in the terrain park you will gain respect of the park crew.
If you can tear up glades and trails then you basically can ride the whole
mountain. The same rules apply to skiers. The snow trend that is currently
sweeping the nation is baggy clothing; the skiers adopted this trend by
stretching the limits of how long they can make their shirts and how low they
can sag their snow pants. Snowboarders do the same, but in the past few years I
noticed that the trend has been changing. Tight snow pants were taking over the
snowboard scene. More snowboarders were wearing trimmed down pants and jackets.
After I saw snowboarders shedding weight from their outfits I noticed that a
few skiers did the same. But snowboarders seem more into the tighter clothing
movement.
Mike: Can I still eat my sunflower seeds?
Justin: [laughs] yes you can.
Mike: Okay cool, now start asking me questions [laughs]
Justin: When did you start snowboarding?
Mike: Seventh grade.
Justin: What made you want to start?
Mike: My aunt got a condo in Waterville Valley New
Hampshire. We just went up there one time and I tried it out and it was sick.
Justin: Is Waterville upper or lower New Hampshire?
Mike: Uh it’s kinda in the middle. Its north of Timton, it’s
the exit before Loon.
Justin: Do you remember your first snowboard set up? Like
your board, bindings and stuff?
Mike: Well first I used a rental board.
Justin: Nice.
Mike: It was Burton. It was wicked shitty.
Justin: Well rental boards are usually pretty shitty.
Mike: Yeah true [laughs] but my first board I actually won
at the mountain in a contest in one of the bars there. And it’s that one
[points to the board in the corner of the room] the Signal Matt Hammer. It has
Burton Mission Bindings.
Justin: So where do you usually ride at?
Mike: Waterville Valley New Hampshire.
Justin: What’s that like?
Mike: Uhhh kinda like a low key resort. Like it’s not really
a tourist attraction. It’s a decent size mountain but it is nothing special.
The only thing that is special about it is the park; it’s fucking huge and
amazing.
Justin: I remember you telling me something about pros
riding at your mountain. What pros have ridden at your mountain and what pros
have you gotten to meet?
Mike: I’ve only met Pat Moore. I didn’t really get to talk
to him, I just kinda saw him and said hi and dipped out. He actually grew up
riding at Waterville. But a lot of pros Travis Rice, John Jackson, ummm who
else? Who else? I don’t know but Waterville throws this event called Back to
the Boneyard. They just make everything super pro sized. Jumps and stuff like
that. One year they had a school bus as a jib.
Justin: That’s gnarly.
Mike: It’s cool yeah.
Justin: Did you ever hit the school bus jib?
Mike: No it’s closed to the public.
Justin: So you are a snowboard instructor too. How is that?
Mike: Um it’s nice. Kinda sucks when you can’t free ride all
the time, but it gets you a free season pass. You get paid to snowboard which
is pretty sweet.
Justin: That is true. It is pretty cool. Do you get any
discounts from the mountain being a snowboard instructor?
Mike: Yeah you get 50 percent off all the food and you get a
discount in the store. If you get certified you get discounts from places like
Burton and Never Summer. I got my favorite board from Never Summer for like 75
percent off. So definitely some perks go along with it.
Justin: What kind of boards do you like to ride? Do you like
twin boards or like rocker, camber, like what’s your ideal set up for a
snowboard?
Mike: Always twin. Never directional. Cause I like to do
jibs and shit. But I always have either a board that is camber under the feet,
so v – rocker. Either that or reduced camber board if I want to just shred
mountain only. But the double camber is almost like gliding and reduced camber
is good so it’s like almost the same. But if I had another choice besides Never
Summer I would probably choose Academy and get one of their boards with the
Magna Traction on it cause that’s a sick feature.
Justin: That’s cool. What is your set up now? What is your
favorite board that you possess?
Mike: My Never Summer Proto CTX is my favorite, and I got
Union bindings on there. All Rasta’d out.
Me: [laugh] Oh well of course. What is the culture like at
your mountain? What kind of styles do the kids have with their clothing and how
they act and certain slang terms and shit like that?
Mike: Uhh STEEZE! Steez is a big one. Lot of steeze going
around.
Justin: Steez as in how they dress or do people afterbang
their tricks a lot and shit?
Mike: Both. There is a snowboarding academy called the
Academy right outside Waterville and they train people to be pros. They send
them to the Olympics every year. So there are a lot of fucking crazy ass
motherfuckers out there tweaking out tricks and doing some crazy fucking shit.
Justin: What’s the gnarliest trick you have seen thrown at
your park?
Mike: Uhh during the one competition they had last year I
saw a double cork 1260. And it was fucking unbelievable.
Justin: That is incredible.
So where else have you gone riding at?
Mike: I’ve been to Cannon, I’ve been to Tahoe, I went to
Squaw, Alpine Meadows, Wachusett one time, uhh Jay Peak and that’s it.
Justin: Did you notice any differences in snow culture? Or
how they behaved?
Mike: Yeah well everybody out west is fucking awesome and
everybody is really good at snowboarding and skiing [laughs]. Like even fucking
60 year old guys are going down the steepest fucking cliffs ever. But umm when
I went up to Jay Peak because it’s so close to Canada they were a bunch of
douchebag Canadians.
Justin: What state is Jay peak in?
Mike: Vermont.
Justin: What do people dress like at your mountain?
Mike: Well the beginners always look like beginners because
they got their jeans tucked into their boots and their fucking giant gap
between their goggles and their helmet.
Justin: [laugh] I love seeing people do that, gaper gap!
Mike: Ummm but most kids are flashy.
Justin: Tight pants, loose pants, baggy as fuck?
Mike: Uhh it depends. The racers wear spandex which is
pretty cool if they are hot girls [laughs].
Justin: Yes!
Mike: Most snowboarders anyway are like, I don’t know.
Snowboarders? Baggy shit, flashy colors.
Justin: What do you prefer to wear? What is your clothing
style like?
Mike: I’m not too flashy. I got a blue and black jacket and
green pants.
Justin: What type of terrain do you enjoy to ride?
Mike: Steepest steeps, backcountry powder, rock drops, all
backcountry shit.
Justin: Do you like the trees?
Mike: Oh yeah.
Justin: Does Waterville have nice trees?
Mike: Waterville’s got double black diamond trees.
Justin: How are the trails there? Like are the hard trails
really difficult or just eh.
Mike: They are hard. Double blacks at Waterville are wicked
steep. The double black trees have an 8 foot cliff drop in it.
Justin: That’s pretty sweet .Out west was the easy terrain
more difficult than the easy terrain at your home mountain?
Mike: Uh it was about the same just way more wide open. But
the difficult terrain there was a lot more difficult than the difficult terrain
here.
Justin: What’s your favorite trick?
Mike: If I’m just cruising around I like to throw like a nice
shifty stale that’s wicked tweaked out. Umm if I’m actually going at it
probably like a backside…hmmm I don’t know? Backside melon 360.
Justin: That’s pretty gnarly. Now did you teach yourself all
the tricks that you could do? Or did you have someone teach you or did you like
watch videos?
Mike: Uhh I pretty
much taught myself most of the tricks. When I first started out I had an
instructor but I’ve taught myself most of the stuff.
Justin: What do you teach when you instruct? Just general
riding lessons? Or park lessons?
Mike: Park lessons usually.
Justin: And how is that?
Mike: It’s fun because it’s just like I get to ride the
park. I get to show people how to do tricks in the park. After you show them
the trick once and they start to learn how to do it it’s just practice so you
get to practice your own tricks too. It’s nice. Show them what they can learn
what to do, it’s pretty fun.
Justin: Have you ever hurt yourself snowboarding?
Mike: Yeah. I broke my arm one season.
Justin: How did you do that?
Mike: Uhh I hit a 30 foot jump, was coming up short and I
had just gotten out of the cast from my ankle surgery, getting two screws put
in. So instead of bouncing off that ankle and bending the screws I just like
leaned back and broke my arm.
Justin: That really sucks. So did you get any other injuries
from snowboarding?
Mike: Ummm…oh yeah I got knocked out. [laughs] I got a
wicked wicked wicked bad concussion. I was riding on a snowy day without a
helmet, the one day I didn’t have my helmet. And I was riding up a jump like a
ramp and two posts and a giant pipe going across on one side. Almost like, I
don’t even know what that looks like? Like the symbol for pi. You know? And
then you gotta ride up on it and tap it or spin over it or do something. Since
it was snowing and I fucking didn’t have a helmet on I was riding up it, hit it
in the wrong spot and it flipped me over and I fell ten feet straight to my
head on ice and then slid down the
entire landing ramp completely fucking unconscious for like 20 seconds. Then I
got up, went to my friend, asked him what day it was and then he showed me the
video and it was fucking hysterical.
Justin: [laugh] That’s great.
