You wanted it (not really). You got it. The Hoon Interview.

So, here I am. Who am I? Why am I writing here? What will I be talking about? Patience young bucks, all in good time. My hope is to give you a little peek under the skirt of snowboarding, including industry gossip, backstage at some events, gear reviews and previews plus more! Hopefully, you’ll laugh, you’ll cry and may be get super stoked on this shred thang.

To start, I was asked to provide a post to introduce myself. Rather than blathering nonsense about nothing, I figured I’d embrace the spirit of Sierra Snowboards: for the community, by the community. So I went to the Forums! Below are the answers to the top solicited questions.

Hana24: How did you get started?  Why did you start?
I started skiing when I was 4. I grew up in Upstate NY, and my local hill is called Greek Peak (607!). I started snowboarding on a trip to Utah. It was a bit dicey as I rented a board with boots that were too small. They had to take out the insoles, and whenever I did a toeside turn, I would destroy my toes. I always wanted to surf, but growing up inland, it wasn’t really an option. I saw an iconic shot of Jeff Brushie bashing a log, and I wanted that to be me.

Ty: What are some unexpected perks of your career?
Well to start, I’m an advertising/marketing professional by day. I have an MBA from Boston College. In college, I ran a group of snowboard instructors at Sunday River, and as I mentioned above, I’ve been snowboarding since 1990. As a side gig, I blog, consult, product test for action sports companies. Total wanna-be, poser.

To answer the question, unexpected perks? Writing and chatting with all of you (cheesy but true).

Ippollite: What is your manifesto? (also applies to parenting)
There’s a whole campaign from Patagonia as part of their surf program called “Live Simply.” I couldn’t say it any better.

Breckboarder: What’s your biggest secret? Why do you have a cartoon for your icon?
I suck at surfing (laughing). Seriously, I really suck, but I love it. I use a cartoon as an icon (it used to be a picture of one of our dogs) because it’s the interweb. You really can’t take it too seriously.

Lizzard02: Because the hoon is the awesome. If you were god, what is the first thing you'd do?
I love this guy (girl?)! First thing I’d do is eliminate prejudice and preconceived notions from our world. Second thing?  Stoke for all!

Gssrrrrrr: Favorite deck ever?  How many jackets/pants do you own?
Easy answer. Burton Rippey 156 with the girl on the moon. That was an awesome board. If you look at the shape, you can find that same design influencing boards from the Custom to the Uninc. #2 would be my puppy Uninc from 2008.

(Laughing) Let me count. Right now in the closet, there’s 5 jackets, 3 pants and 4 one-pieces. And the hottest one-piece color for this season: road crew orange. I’m actually rocking either an AG wicked green Article one-piece or Burton Blotto jail stripe one-piece.

Airik/Lienair: Blue bird powder day OR Clean waist to head high warm water surf session. 
Actually, living 15 minutes from the beach lets me snag both if I want. Unfortunately it’s usually icy boilerplate and knee-high slop. But if I had to pick one, I’d say Head high warm water session (sorry shreds). You can’t beat that feeling! Even pow is just a replacement for the green room.

DCDomain/Burtonjib: Fav place to shred and why?
Not to be too lame, but every day on the hill is a good day. Even if it’s only one run. You’re always learning, which is super rad. But if I had to pick one? Jackson Hole. No other place has made me crap my pants inbounds with all the hairy options.

MattyMo: BMB or Sierra?
What about the Burton Kontain site? Or EasyLoungin’? Or Dogfunk? I gotta say that the BMB is like that nasty stripper with the whip, and Sierra is like that nice, easy-on-the-eyes, girl next door. But nothing is like the surfing forums. Check out Nesurf.com, grab the vasoline and prepare to be brutalized.

Airik: Given the amazing performance of rocker boards in powder, would you go Rocker / Reverse Camber vs Malolo, Fish, Charlie Slasher on a 2010 powder day?
Rocker is great for two things: 1) Beginners so they don’t catch an edge and 2) Riding pow with a short, twin-tip and a centered stance. If I could only bring one board on a trip out West, it’d be a hybrid rocker/camber board like a Never Summer SL-R, C2B or Flying V style board. If I could guarantee pow every day? Fish LTD.

Bonus Question by Jordogg FTW: What is your stance on Barack Obama's latest statement on sending another 30,000 troops to Afghanistan?
To be straight up serious? It’s a lose, lose situation for Obama. If he doesn’t send troops, the haters will fry him for not supporting our troops. He does, and they fry him for putting troops in harm’s way and spending $. What I’d like to see is a larger portion of the budget going to help beef up things like local infrastructure, schools, small businesses, hospitals, things that truly matter to people. People hate Americans because they perceive us as stupid, ignorant, MTV, Abercrombie losers. Let’s hopefully prove them wrong by being humble, intelligent and flexible. My mantra when traveling is always “When in Rome….”

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