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A child prodigy, Gigi hails from the Voralberg region in Austrian, on the back side of the St Anton valley. He grew up a child of the mountains and has maintained this simplicity despite his world travels and the international recognition his skills have bestowed. Not your a-typical snowboarder, his slender, light frame is seen as often on the steep summer slopes of his family’s mountain top farm – scythe in hand – as it is descending from helicopters in Alaska or the Canadian ranges – board in hand. Despite Gigi being recognized as a developing talent at the age of 13, he has never lost touch with the simplicity of his upbringing nor let the hype that followed him as his career exploded distort his laid back, carefree and life loving character. He is as grounded today as he was at 13, proudly recently becoming a father of a baby boy with his home town sweat heart. A tweak master, constant innovator, style sergeant with a pack mule work ethic – if there is light, snow and a slope, Gigi is out there playing with it. Gigi doesn’t really ride a snowboard, he dances with it. He doesn’t simply read the terrain, he teases it. His touch and finesse when riding has the precision of a watch maker, the power of a heavy weight boxer and the grace of a ballerina – his style has overtures of a Nic Müller or Jamie Lynn. Outside of his filming duties with Absinthe, he has consistently found time to bag parts with his local crew, Pirate Movie Productions. He created the Back Yard camp, hosted at his Uncle’s remote and isolated Mountain Alm above his village, where he also co-organized the European Nixon Jib Fest with Nic Droz and Romain de Marchi. Gigi’s infectious personality and cheeky laugh is reflected in his riding style and make him a first choice in any planned road trip or shooting project. Be it backcountry, rail, jib line or kicker – Gigi Rüf does it like few others. He is undoubtedly one of the best riders to have ever come out of Austria, Europe – or Planet Earth for that matter!
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2010: This kid is a beast. From the frozen flatlands of the American Midwest—Richmond, Minnesota to be exact—Dan Brisse moved to Utah to follow his dream of becoming a pro snowboarder. Armed with an unshakable Midwest work ethic and serious rail skills, Brisse got to work learning how to ride the real mountains of the Wasatch and Uinta ranges. While developing his backcountry landing gear, Dan also continued to seek out brutal street terrain. With a penchant for big, consequential rails and massive urban gaps, Brisse has put himself squarely at the center of the urban progressive movement. At the same time, his powerful jumping abilities combine to make him an all-terrain force to be reckoned with. And despite his growing reputation as one of the best, Dan remains humble and hard working. Because of all these factors, as a pro rider he’s the full package, as was witnessed in his breakout video part in Neverland, which was his first year filming with Absinthe. Control and power in all environments, this is Brisse’s contribution. Dan returned again in 2010 for NowHere more focused than ever in his quest to deliver the best film part that he possibly can.
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2010: Jake Blauvelt was raised on the icy slopes of Vermont, USA. From a young age, Jake learned to use his board’s edges in the rock-hard pipes of the east—a fundamental skill that, over the years he’s developed to become one of the most fluid and controlled young pros of the new generation. Barely out of his teens, Jake tired of the pipe and slopestyle contest formats and sought out the freedom of powder and exploring the mountains. He just wanted to ride and film, and so he did—blending his technical freestyle abilities with the natural forms of the backcountry environment. In 2008 Jake shook things up by changing sponsors and moving up to the Pacific Northwest—to be closer to the legendary Mount Baker, Washington. Here Jake has sharpened his focused on dissecting natural terrain and gaining skill in all aspects of backcountry riding. Filming for NowHere this year was his first season with the Absinthe crew and for Jake it was a dream come true. He went to Alaska for the first time with Gigi Rüf and he explored the depths of Chatter Creek, B.C. with Nicolas Müller. Jake calls Absinthe “the real deal,” and is already looking forward to the next adventure.
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2010: Like many Canadian shredders from the east coast, Annie Boulanger headed west to British Columbia over ten years ago. And it has paid off. Annie’s video segment in 2009’s Neverland was amazing—it pointed in the progressive direction that women’s riding is headed: consequential freestyle/freeride action in the backcountry. Her riding made a statement and showed that through her own self-motivation, Annie is leading the way. For her efforts, she won the recognition and admiration of the entire world of snowboarding when she won Rider Of The Year and Video Part Of The Year by TransWorld Snowboarding Magazine and was voted 2010 Woman Rider Of The Year by Snowboarder Mag. But these accolades aside, Annie has been pushing herself for a decade as a pro rider and has continued to evolve, not because she seeks recognition, but because she is a self-proclaimed “soul-shredder” who, like the rest of us, “loves powder.” She has been filming with Absinthe for four years now, the first two, as the sole female in heavy, all-dude crews. Yes, Annie can hang. Even facing a tough snow season in Whistler in 2010, during the filming of NowHere, Annie was undeterred, she just keeps going until she finds what she’s looking for.
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2010: Since he stormed onto the burgeoning halfpipe contest scene of the early 1990s as a young teen, Norway’s Terje Håkonsen has continued to push the entire sport of snowboarding forward. Through his catlike physical abilities, his unsurpassed dominance, and his visionary foresight, he has cemented his place among snowboarding’s true legends as perhaps the most gifted and influential rider of all time. Take just the numbers, through the 90s he racked up three world halfpipe titles, five European pipe titles, three U.S. Open pipe titles and has also won the Legendary Baker Banked Slalom six times. At the height of his domination in halfpipe, Håkonsen boycotted snowboarding’s Olympic debut in Japan in 1998, where he was the clear favorite. This one decision redefined his influence. Staying true to snowboarding was more important than Olympic acceptance and so began his quest as a guardian of pure snowboarding, run by the riders. In 2000, he created the Arctic Challenge, which in turn grew into the TTR World Tour, today’s foremost competition series. In 2007, Terje set a world record for the highest air on a quarterpipe—nearly 10 meters out—which reinforced his position as an unstoppable force and raised a debate about the age at which a pro rider has peaked. Simply put, without Håkonsen, snowboarding just would not be what it is today. Absinthe is always glad to have Terje out in the mountains with our crews.
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2010: Originally hailing from the NorCal skate hotbed of Santa Cruz, California, its no surprise that Bode Merrill has skateboarding in his veins. “Snowboarding, skating, and traveling to explore new places” are Bode’s passions. And these passions seem to intersect perfectly in his role as an up-and-coming pro rider. Lured by the “best snow on earth,” Bode moved to Utah a few years back and began taking his skate-style riding into the mountains. Park City to be exact. Like many of his peers in snowboarding’s new guard, Merrill is equally adept at urban riding as well as hitting jumps. In 2010, he was nominated by TransWorld Snowboarding Magazine for both Rider Of The Year and Video Part Of The Year. Here’s why: In his first year of filming with Absinthe—for Neverland—Merrill stood out, and after all was said, done, and edited, he had secured the coveted closing part which, no exaggeration, blew people’s minds. After a winter spent injured—on the couch and in the gym—Bode only did one trip with the Absinthe gang for NowHere, “I went to Haines, Alaska. It was the deepest, most fun, and scariest snowboarding I’ve experienced!” But alas, Bode was back and charging.
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2010: Watch Lucas ride and its clear to see he’s a product of his environment. He started riding at 4 years old and grew up riding Mount Baker in Washington, one of the heaviest spots in all of North America and home to many of snowboarding’s most legendary riders. Craig Kelly, Jamie Lynn, Temple, Ranquet—there’s a little bit of all these riders embodied in young Lucas. Maybe it’s the demanding terrain and the heavy wet snow, but something about Baker builds strong, flowy riders with incredible terrain-reading abilities. And yet, for as much Baker local pride as he’s got, Lucas has cast out on his own, eager to explore the entire world on his snowboard. At only 22, he’s already won the fabled Baker Banked Slalom. In 2009, he filmed an awesome rookie part in Get Real, going on to be voted Rookie Of The Year by TransWorld Snowboarding. This past season, Lucas joined Absinthe to film for Now/Here and it’s obvious he has hit his pace. With ripping, high-speed AK lines in the opening of the movie, Lucas seems like a great fit for the crew and is sure to keep pushing it in the years ahead. “I enjoy snowboarding more and more every time I strap in,” he says. How’s that for good vibes?
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2010: It’s hard to pinpoint exactly when David Carrier-Porcheron became a snowboard legend; he’s been working at it every season for the last 15 years. With a staggering 20-plus video parts under his belt, DCP has been pushing himself and snowboarding with an intensity that few riders could ever hope to match. And yet for all the accomplishments, he is one snowboarding’s lowest-key stars. With a major sponsor shakeup in 2009, DCP rode through the transition from one of Burton’s frontmen, to being his own boss. Joining up with fellow Absinthe bros Romain de Marchi and JP Solberg, this trio formed YES Snowboards, and began a new revolution. Through it all, DCP didn’t skip a beat, he continues pursuing the steepest and deepest he can find, whether he’s leading Absinthe crews from his homebase in Squamish, BC or charging lines in AK. Super-positive and driven to ride, DCP inspires everyone around him. At this stage in his career, powder is the priority: summer in New Zealand, winters in B.C. and spring in Alaska. With all that pow, its no wonder he wears a permanent grin. And when he finally takes a break from the snow, he packs up the family and heads off on a surf trip. Indonesia, Costa Rica, even southern California, if there’s swell, DCP is down.
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2010: Like many a hungry young shredder from Quebec, Marie-France Roy packed up and left the frozen flatlands eastern Canada for the powder and possibilities of British Columbia. She found what she was looking for—powder—and things have never really been the same. Over the past last five years, MFR has gone from a big fish in a small pond—the best female rider in Quebec—to laying down a video part in 2007, showing her as perhaps the best female street rider snowboarding has yet seen. Of course there was no slowing down. In 2008 she began her first forays into the backcountry, riding a snowmobile and learning the ropes. In 2009, with the support of friend and fellow backcountry maven Annie Boulanger, Marie continued her streak of progression hard at work with Absinthe. But progression rarely comes without a price. Marie spent the past summer healing from a broken neck she suffered while filming in Canada last season. By the beginning of summer MFR was out of the neck brace and back in action. She right back on the horse, surfing on Vancouver Island during the summer and working out to be strong for the coming season. The powder and pillows are calling and MFR will return more stoked and focused than ever.
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2010: With a name like Bjorn, you’d think this guy was some sort of Viking but that’s only part of the story, he’s a country boy from the flatlands of Big Lake, Minnesota, USA. But yes, he does have Norwegian blood in his veins. Taking family trips to Utah in his early days, the young skate-rat Bjorn caught snowboard fever and learned to shred right alongside his younger brother Erik. The two pushed each other eventually both becoming pro riders. Bjorn, with incredible skate-influenced style, was a serious pipe competitor, then Big Air contest killer, Winter X competitor, and original member of the influential Forum 8. Through the late 90s and early 2000s, Bjorn also put down some of the heaviest rail and urban moves yet seen. But that was then. These days, Bjorn is a certified shred legend who rides where he wants, when he wants. For the past few seasons, that has meant zigzagging all over Utah, British Columbia and the ultimate powder playground of Alaska. In addition to his status as the unofficial leader of the Rome Snowboards pro team, he’s generous with his backcountry knowledge and continues to mentor young riders as they take their first steps out of the parks and into the wild. Bjorn is down for life, simple as that.
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