You many have noticed a guy named Pierre who had a checkout in Whiteout 45, followed by a strong presence in 46. He’s one of the “new” kids that we’re the most stoked on, so we’re happy to present his latest edit and a little interview to help you get to know him better…
Hey Pierre, can you tell us a little bit about you and how you started snowboarding?
I am a 21 year old dude that grew up in Crans-Montana. I spend most of my free time snowboarding, drawing and trying to do some creative stuff. Back in the days my father was organizing summer snowboard camps on the glacier in Crans-Montana. One day he had to go down the glacier early to go to the hospital in Sierre. My mother was there giving birth to me. He just showed up at the hospital still wearing his snowboard boots, in the middle of the summer. I’ll let you imagine the faces of the doctors. That’s pretty much the story of my first day in this world. So maybe snowboarding was some kind of destiny for me… haha.
Since I grew up in Crans-Montana my parents brought me to the mountain pretty early. I think I started skiing and snowboarding when I was around 5 years old. I remember being 8 and telling my parents that skiing sucked and that I only wanted to snowboard. I don’t really know why, snowboarding felt more natural I guess. So yeah, that’s how I ended up spending a lot of time on a snowboard.
I don’t know if we should believe in destiny, but that’s a cool story!
So, you say you spend a lot of time snowboarding and drawing. Do you feel like there is a link between these things?
Yeah of course there is. Snowboarding is my first passion and it took all my attention back in the days. I remember watching snowboard videos the whole evening after school when I was a teenager. Later I understood that what I really enjoy about snowboarding is that it gives me the opportunity to express myself. So, I started getting more and more interested in all the creative content surrounding me. I started feeling the need to express myself in other ways than just snowboarding.
This is the reason why I started drawing. I wanted to find a way to express myself when I wasn’t able to snowboard. I started it not really knowing what I was doing, and it ended up being a new passion. Drawing or snowboarding is the same process. When I look at the world around me, I see snowboard spots and drawing ideas everywhere. I just try to get inspired by the things surrounding me. Sometimes, when the spot is cool, or the idea is great, I just go for it. Landing a trick or drawing something I like is pretty much the same feeling to me. It’s really satisfying, you know? Of course, sometimes the spot doesn’t work, or I am not able to get to the result I want on paper, but that’s also what makes it interesting.
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Oh, now I get it. The thing you really like is expressing yourself, right?
Yeah exactly. That’s also why I edited this video. I needed to do something creative with all these shots chilling on my computer.
Yeah, so let’s talk about this video part. What’s the real “message” behind it and how did you come up with the idea?
Last year we wanted to try something new with the Rad Movie Production crew so we all got some cheap analog cameras. After developing them, I noticed I was showing a middle finger on almost every picture… haha. So, I started wondering if I was really immature, or if it meant something a little deeper. Sometimes I take a look at our world and all the bad things happening around us. I mean all the pollution, the wars, the people dying from hunger, the kids getting bullied…
I could go on with this list for days. But instead of getting depressed about all this shit, I decided to try to help as much as possible, at my own tiny level. And more importantly, to always make the best out of every situation and spread as much positivity as I can. I understood that all of these middle fingers were my way of saying “fuck you” to all the negative people around me. That’s the real message of the video. That’s exactly what I am doing when I snowboard, I forget all the bad vibes around me and I focus on living in the moment and having fun.
Hell yeah! That’s what it’s all about.
Pretty deep thoughts from a guy who admits to being immature… haha.
Of course, I am getting older but not smarter.
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Sessions that aren’t planned are always the best. Do you have any good stories about one of those sessions that you would like to share?
I have tons of great stories about last winter. But if I had to choose one, it would be about the time I crashed on a pole. It was the first street mission of the winter with Matthieu Paillex. It was supposed to be a little warm up session to start the season – all about having fun and maybe get a few shots. We spent the whole morning shooting on the tree trunks where I did the fastplant. It was creative and really fun to ride, so we had a really good time. The session ended in the middle of the day and we decided to look for another spot to hit in the afternoon.
We went to this little bridge with a wooden rail and a pole at the end. I’ve known this spot for many years and really wanted to hit it. We built the whole thing, Matthieu got a nice 50/50 FS1 out and I made some 50/50s to test the spot. My goal was to bonk the pole and back one out of it. The pole was a bit further from the rail than I thought, so I tried getting closer and closer. After a few tries, I went way too close and smashed my chin in the pole. It made a really nice cut. Nothing too serious, but it started bleeding a lot.
I still wanted to get a decent trick before leaving the spot. I gave it a few more tries, constantly putting snow under my chin to try not to have blood all over my clothes. I finally got a decent BS1 out. We went back to the car and Matthieu drove me to doctor. I got two nice little stitches and a beautiful bandage. Thanks again Matthieu, you’re my favorite ambulance driver ever! Maybe I’ll go back to this pole one day and bonk it as hard as it bonked my chin.
You can’t always win dude!
Is there anything you would like to add before we finish this little interview?
Thanks to my family, friends and girlfriend for always supporting me! Thanks to all of the people that helped me make this video. Thanks to K2 snowboarding, Hä? Wear and Levitation Core Shop for the great support over the years. Thanks to Whiteout for sharing this and for everything you do for the Swiss snowboard scene.
Always stay positive, mucho mucho love!
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Thanks to you Pierre! And thanks to Antonin Maudry, who contributed some great photos for this. Also, be sure to check out some of Pierre’s art here.