JP Walker is....son...


(Monday December 17th 2007) After much speculation and an industry-wide rumour mill, StepChild Snowboards is proud to announce the signing of JP Walker to the International Pro Team.

"JP's riding and dedication to snowboarding speaks for itself- not many snowboarders have remained at the top of their class for over ten years. We are absolutely thrilled to have him on the team. It's cool that we share the same values and beliefs as to what a snowboard company and team should be." - StepChild founder Sean Johnson.

"Where else would I end up? Come on, you know I keep it one-hunney! StepChild is one of the last true snowboard companies out there. I love that they value what a professional rider brings to the table. Rider owned and driven, others claim it but none live it, son!" - JP Walker.

Simon Chamberlain adds, "Growing up watching snowboard videos, JP Walker has always been my favourite snowboarder of all time. It truly is amazing to see him riding for Stepchild. Its like a dream come true, not only for me but for the whole company."

Read More here

I'll tell ya as soon as I'm cleared to do so....

Back from Bear mountain now. Our first day there seemed more like the end of winter, 15C on the hill and sunny. I managed to forget my lil' digi's battery charger and home and had to rely on taking pics for the blog with my iphone. the weather didnt hold up as nice for the remaining 4 days there, it actually got progressively worse, to the point that we got a foot of snow over night and just in time for us to come home.

If you haven't been to bear mountain, imagine the drive from Vancouver to Whistler, the way the highway used to be. It's basically a one lane each way road with enough turns to make you go dizzy, the thing gets closed constantly due to rock slides and bad weather. Our only option was to take the back road, which by the way is not much better and takes an extra hour to get thru. After buying some chains for the rental van tires we headed down the road, it was insane. Nomis So Cal rep and all around awsome guy "Chicken" drove ahead in his 4x4 Jeep Cherokee with bald tires, which made the all wheel drive basically obsolete. Halfway thru the drive Chicken hit some black ice and slid straight into this F350 truck parked on the side of the road.

We couldnt stop our van either but Cartwright managed to stay on a snow bank and thus maintain some control. Fast forward about 30-40 minutes later and while driving down a snaky road, this pick up truck coming upwards the opposite direction lost control about 40 ft away from us and skidded right into our path. Cartwright again with some crazy Nascar skills managed to drive around the oncoming sliding truck and avoided a head on collision. Somehow we made it past the snowy roads and back into the dry weather of Ontario, California, no one missed their flights and we didnt get to use the insurance coverage we had on the van. Trip over? not quite, after flying into Seattle to pick up Cartwright's truck and drive to Van we stopped at this Mexican place to eat, I managed to get food poisoning and a few hours later ended up in the hospital with an IV stuck to my arm. Now i'm drinking Gatorade like it was water to get my electrosomethings up again.


Good thing I was in canada for that. Now I gotta rest 'cos i got a shoot to do tomorrow with Spy Optic's new shredder...


Andre, not bad for an iphone pic...

Simon, night sesh...

Simon's signature jib...

Just finished shooting the Fall '08 Nomis Catalogue which was intense, a cool 70gb worth of images in the span of 2 days. Now with a very last minute decision I'm off to Bear Mountain with the Nomis crew for some shredding, Events, Demos, Photos. Not sure if there's even snow there right now, but the beach can't be that far huh?

Booyah!

32 landed JP on it's Global team, next item on the list...a board sponsor...wonder who the lucky brand is gonna be...and also congrats to JP for getting his first North American cover Ever! That has to be the most unbelievable fact in snowboarding, how does one of the most progressive riders ever to ride a snowboard hasn't gotten a cover in North America in the past 12 years is beyond belief...


Check this out...

Winter is here! Snow's dumping in Whistler and the local city mountains are also getting some good snow. The transition has begun for me; from shooting skateboarding on a daily basis to shooting snowboarding when the weather is good. I found some bail frames I had saved from the last couple snowboard seasons, so here they are; Click them to make bigger.........

Neck wrapped around the base of a rail, ouch!


Backflips and Rails don't mix well.......




Dennis Banock and his friend "Bruise Willis" hanging "out" in Quebec...

Yesterday there was quite a gathering at Leeside. New great obstacles have been built, a blow torch was brought to dry up wet areas, and there was a ton of free beer, courtesy of Coors light. It was good times. Some amazing skating went down. Leeside has so much potential it's incredible. Here are a few pics from the day...

Yesterday we sold our beloved 2001 jetta. It's been a long ride, good times out east and west. Thing was dope but at the same time a pain in the ass to have fixed, every time a warning light went off it gave me a heart attack, might as well been a dollar sign on the dashboard. You see, my fellow latino friends from Mexico are great at a number of things, wiring electronics in a "German" vehicle just doesn't fall in that category. Here's an older pic of what i did to it back in Ontario while doing my best impression of Colin McRae (RIP by the way)

goodtimes...

Here's a couple pics of "kingston", Ryan Bonnell's dog who joined us today while we snapped some shots. Kingston is super funny and kept filmer Jarvis and I really entertained throughout the day. His farts smell really really bad though, no serious, really really baaaad...

New ipod family came out today.....

So I'm back from Portland, didn't end up going to San Diego as I had planned for some personal reasons, maybe next time, I was looking forward to all that real Mexican food they got over there, it's the best. The Portland trip went well, had some good days, some not so productive days and some really productive days, sun everyday and others were too hot to even be outside, much less be skating and sitting in a minivan with no A/C. We hit some sick spots, some well known, some not so much, found out that after 11pm your meal choices come down to ordering Domino's or picking up Domino's 'cos everything closes down early. You gonna have to wait 'til the article comes out in Concrete mag to see the pics though and also read some of the stories about the trip...

Home sweet rainy home...

Off to Portland we go! the trip is on and we're off tomorrow with a few of the Vans Canadian guys. Should be fun, as long as we have no problems crossing the border. I'm going to shoot an article for Concrete mag so keep an eye out for it. I'll try to post up some updates on this but my lil' digicam broke on my last trip to Ontario last week so it might be a lil' harder to get some shit, that thing was a small door stopper anyways. After Portland I will be heading to San Diego and the ASR Trade Show, anyone else going?

Holla at me. I'm excited to go to San Diego just for the Mexican Food...

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