Looking Sideways Action Sports Podcast

Full episode and Show Notes - www.wearelookingsideways.comEnjoying the podcast? Want to keep it free and ad-free? Donate here: https://bit.ly/LSBuyPintLike all good ideas, the Natural Selection Tour seems obvious in hindsight. The world’s best riders on a specially built course designed to showcase snowboarding at its most progressive and stylish? Conveyed using next-level production and designed to nudge snowboarding away from the evolutionary cup de sac we’ve been heading down for years? Why on earth has nobody thought of this before? The answer is that similar ideas have been mooted in the past. But it took somebody with the clout, vision and sheer dogged energy of Travis Rice to make it a reality. It’s been an endeavour, as Travis explains during our conversation, “50 years in the making”, and with the dust settling we sat down for a catch up about a truly historical moment for competitive snowboarding. As regular listeners will know, I’ve also had a tiny involvement in Natural Selection as a member of the five person Selection Committee alongside Travis, event COO Liam Griffin and industry legends Barrett Christy and Pat Bridges. As part of that arrangement, Travis agreed to come on the show to discuss the entire show once Jackson was in the bag. The result is an expansive, illuminating chat that takes in the entire lengthy backstory to Natural Selection, what it means for snowboarding, and how Travis felt about losing to eventual winner Mark McMorris in THAT quarter final match up. This is a peerless insight into the entire NS story from the man who made it happen. Don’t miss it. Big thanks to Travis for this one, as well as my friends Liam, Lora and Brantley for their help in making this happen. Thanks to Matt Ward for the theme tune, and to my editor Fina Charleson. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.wearelookingsideways.com/subscribe

Full episode and Show Notes - www.wearelookingsideways.comEnjoying the podcast? Want to keep it free and ad-free? Donate here: https://bit.ly/LSBuyPintSpecial meta Curator/Circe Wallace special! I’ve spent a good chunk of the last couple of months donning the journalist hat and occupying the editor's chair for the latest volume of Curator, the independent print snowboarding publication I’ve been privileged to work on for the last couple of years. As well as editing the whole thing, I also wrote a couple of stories for this volume, including an interview with my old friend Circe Wallace, who regular listeners will remember I had on the show a couple of years ago as part of the California mission. Myself and Circe got on real well during that first LS conversation; so much so that we ended up staying in touch and becoming pals. So when it came to chatting to Circe for the aforementioned Curator piece, I thought I might as well record the whole thing as an episode of the podcast, as well as use it as material for the story I ended up writing. This episode you're about to listen to is the result. We recorded this one a few days before Christmas 2020, and as a result myself and Circe were in a particularly reflective mood, as you’ll hear. The result is this really warm, insightful and enjoyable conversations with one of our world’s most interesting and successful personalities. There’s plenty of 90s snowboard nostalgia for the geeks (hey, I include myself in that), as well as plenty of insight into the drive and vision that have made Circe one of the great motors of progress in action sports over the last twenty years. Thanks to Matt Ward for the theme tune, and to my editor Fina Charleson. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.wearelookingsideways.com/subscribe

Type 2 is a podcast from Looking Sideways in association with Patagonia that explores the intersection between the outdoors, action sports and activism.My guest this week is big wave surfer Andrea Moller. To give you an idea of what a legend Andrea is, let me run you through the week she had before we spoke for this episode of the podcast. As you may know, January 2021 saw Hawaii hit by a huge swell event that saw every spot swell and truly light up. As a Maui local and one of the world’s preeminent big wave surfers, Andrea was in the thick of it. Friday saw her chaperone 13 year-old ripper Sissie Simpson Kane as she tackled huge Jaws. Saturday she was part of the team overseeing water safety. Sunday she was out scoring some bombs herself. The rest of the week? Back at her day job as a paramedic on Maui. Like I say, she’s a total legend, and in this conversation I found it really fascinating hearing how the local community prepares for a situation like this. Water safety, as Andrea explained, is at the heart of it. As part of the Big Wave Risk Assessment Group, Andrea is an integral part of an organisation that is trying to organise and redefine the concept of water safety - and not just for big wave surfers. As we’ve been learning during each episode of Type 2, activism takes many forms. It can be panoramic in scope, or it can be about focussing on certain issues and affecting change for the greater good. In this way, as Andrea explains, the Big Wave Risk Assessment group is leading the way among the surf community - a passionate, engaged and experienced community sharing their knowledge and experience to tackle an increasingly pressing issue head on, and benefiting the wider community while they’re at it. And, of course, we also delved into Andrea’s own incredible career as a pioneer of big wave surfing. It’s a great episode this one - hope you enjoy it. New episodes of Type 2 are released every four weeks through my Looking Sideways channel. Hear it by subscribing to Looking Sideways via ApplePodcasts, Spotify or any of the usual other podcast providers. Thanks to Ewan Wallace for the theme tune, and to my editor Fina Charleson. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.wearelookingsideways.com/subscribe

Full episode and Show Notes - www.wearelookingsideways.comEnjoying the podcast? Want to keep it free and ad-free? Donate here: https://bit.ly/LSBuyPintThis week’s episode is a long overdue conversation with the great Selema. I’ve been trying to get Selema on the show for a couple of years now, and we finally made it happen at the beginning of January 2021. If you don’t know Selema, he’s one of the most switched-on and inspirational people in action sports. He’s a presenter, broadcaster, announcers, podcaster, musician, surfer, snowboarder - the list goes on. He’s also just a brilliant mind, which is on full display in the free-flowing and hugely enjoyable conversation. As you might expect, given Selema’s range of interests, we covered a lot of ground in this episode, including his own background, the current state of politics in the States and what it says about action sports culture, and how he felt when he was suddenly thrust into the limelight as a spokesperson on issues of race and diversity last summer. Articulate, insightful, generous, humane, energised, empowered - this is just a brilliant conversation with one of our culture’s essential voices. Don’t miss it. Thanks to Matt Ward for the theme tune, and to my editor Fina Charleson. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.wearelookingsideways.com/subscribe

Full episode and Show Notes - www.wearelookingsideways.comEnjoying the podcast? Want to keep it free and ad-free? Donate here: https://bit.ly/LSBuyPintMikey February is one of those rare individuals for whom the facts, as interesting as they are, only tell part of the story. Take the early part of his surfing career, which saw him follow that classic competitive QS-to-WSL path. Except that Mikey was, of course, the first none-white African to make the tour, a milestone that carried a lot of symbolism and significance. He did a year on the tour before bowing out to pursue a freesurf career - another established surf career-arc move, but one which Mikey accomplished much more quickly than many of his peers and forebears. Taken alone, this rapid career progression would have been enough to make Mikey a figure of note. Throw in his inimitable style, and the way he is using his platform to explore some interesting geographical and cultural territory, and you have one of the most intriguing and occasionally polarising figures in the surfing world. Observe this surf, skate and snow game for long enough and you’ll realise that certain individuals transcend their surroundings to become standalone icons in their own right. Symbols, if you like, upon which a lot of different issues can be projected and discussed. That’s certainly the case with Mikey and, in researching this conversation, I’ve often wondered how he feels about that. We caught up over Zoom in early December 2020 to discuss all the above and much more. Thanks to Matt Ward for the theme tune, and to my editor Fina Charleson. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.wearelookingsideways.com/subscribe

Full episode and Show Notes - www.wearelookingsideways.comEnjoying the podcast? Want to keep it free and ad-free? Donate here: https://bit.ly/LSBuyPintLifer episode alert! Yes, it’s another one of those perennially popular episodes of the show where I chat to somebody who has managed to find a way to turn their passion for riding into a viable career. In this case, it’s the great John Bassett, also universally known as John Dragon, one of my closest and oldest friends from my years snowboarding and - yes - a lifer par excellence. In John’s case, this has revolved around the Dragon Lodge, the legendary chalet in Tignes that has been one of the cultural epicentres of European snowboarding for a couple of decades now. This is thanks entirely to the inclusive, infectious environment that John and partner Will Hughes have created and through which they share their own passion for snowboarding as widely and inclusively as possible. As I discovered, this has been entirely intentional on John’s part, and has been about creating an environment in which the type of culture that has influenced him could flourish in turn. The result is that the Lodge has been at the heart of any number of hugely influential European snowboarding mini-scenes, including the launch of Looking Sideways itself, as we discussed during the show. And now the future of the Lodge is in doubt thanks to the pitiless combination of Brexit and Covid. The fate of a place like the Lodge is emblematic of the challenges faced by the wider winter sports industry, and throws up interesting questions about the type of scene we’ll have once the dust settles, and the type of opportunities we want to encourage as a society. Could somebody from John’s background open a place like the Lodge today? The answer to that is probably no which is, to put it mildly, a crying shame given what places like this contribute to the fabric and culture of our little world. So it was that in early December 2020 I grabbed a few cans of Guinness and headed up to John’s to sit around the firepit and discuss these questions and plenty more. I hope you take as much from this episode as I’ve taken from my friendship with John over the years. Thanks to Matt Ward for the theme tune, and to my editor Fina Charleson. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.wearelookingsideways.com/subscribe

Full episodes info and Show Notes - www.wearelookingsideways.com Enjoying the podcast? Want to keep it free and ad-free? Donate here: https://bit.ly/LSBuyPintFestive Zoom Special! Yep, for the third year I was joined by my old friends Tim and Gendle for a frivolous mince pie, booze and quiz-filled special. If you’re new to the show or unfamiliar with the boys and their work, allow me to introduce them: two of the biggest influences and most-loved presences in European snowboarding, whether as film-makers, presenters or snowboarders. If you’ve listened to my previous two festive specials, you’ll know the format is even more ramshackle and homespun than usual. So it was that on a frosty December evening I headed to the shed with a load of beers and some questions for our 2020 quiz, and got slowly festively drunk while chatting to two of my oldest and closest friends over a video link at the end of the weirdest year ever. Phew.Enjoy the episode - and have a great Christmas! Thanks to everybody who has listened to an episode for the support. Thanks to Matt Ward for the theme tune, and to my editor Fina Charleson. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.wearelookingsideways.com/subscribe

Type 2 is a podcast from Looking Sideways in association with Patagonia that explores the intersection between the outdoors, action sports and activism.My guest this week is the great Len Necefer. Well, Dr Len Necefer to be precise. Len is a professor at the University in Arizona, CEO of Native Outdoors, a board member at the Honnold Foundation and American Alpine club . It’s a breadth of experience that has given him a very intriguing and insightful approach to activism - and an intersectional take on the issues we currently face. Len is of mixed Navajo and European heritage and his work is primarily focussed, as the bio for Native Outdoors puts it, on empowering native and indigenous communities for a sustainable world. Thought his work and various outlets, Len is helping both communities bridge the differences that exist between the indigenous take on the outdoors, and the classic white western approach. Which, after all, can come with attendant colonial connotations. From speaking to Len I think that word bridge is important; he’s a consensus builder, somebody who is concerned with inclusivity and opening doors, rather than enforcing entrenched positions. For Len, humour is a tool and dogmatism, whatever your political leaning, is to be avoided. I mean just look at his singular Instagram account, through which he uses some frankly exemplary meme skills to explore issues around climate, identity and diversity in today’s outdoor world. The result is an illuminating, wide-ranging chat - enjoy.New episodes of Type 2 are released every four weeks through my Looking Sideways channel. Hear it by subscribing to Looking Sideways via ApplePodcasts, Spotify or any of the usual other podcast providers. Thanks to Ewan Wallace for the theme tune, and to my editor Fina Charleson. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.wearelookingsideways.com/subscribe

Full episode and Show Notes - www.wearelookingsideways.comEnjoying the podcast? Want to keep it free and ad-free? Donate here: https://bit.ly/LSBuyPint I’ve been trying to arrange a chat with Pattie Gonia, aka Wyn Wiley, for a while now and we finally made it happen. As their Instagram bio puts it, Pattie is a ‘queer environmentalist bringing drag outdoors’ and is yer genuine Instagram phenomenon, going from 0 to 300k followers very rapidly indeed and snagging coverage from everyone from Outside to The Guardian along the way. It isn’t difficult to understand why. The outdoor and action sports industry can be an extremely conventional and heteronormative environment and a talented communicator like Pattie was always going to stand out, especially given how effortlessly she enables discussion on what can be challenging and complex topics. This conversation, in which we discussed everything from the history of drag to the divide between our public and hidden selves, is a brilliant example of that. I personally enjoyed this conversation, which unfolded and leapt off into unexpected directions, enormously. I’m hugely grateful to Wyn Pattie for the generosity, thoughtfulness and kindness with which they approached this episode. Hope you enjoy it too. Thanks to Matt Ward for the theme tune, and to my editor Fina Charleson. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.wearelookingsideways.com/subscribe

Full episode and Show Notes - www.wearelookingsideways.comEnjoying the podcast? Want to keep it free and ad-free? Donate here: https://bit.ly/LSBuyPintThis week’s guest Mark Munson is one of UK skateboarding’s true greats. It’s that simple. In his 30-odd years of board riding, he’s been there, seen it, done it and helped set standards that define the scene to this day thanks to an uncompromising dedication to skateboarding and a personality that defines the phrase ‘force of nature’. ⁣As I discovered during our chat, he’s also taken the lessons learned from a life of skating and translated them into a career of brilliant creativity, influence and diversity. He was also, of course, a key mentor to the much-loved and missed Ben Raemers, one of the greatest Brit skaters to ever do it. I’ve been looking forward to having Mark on the show for a while now. He’s smart, funny and could talk the hind legs off a donkey. He’s also got a hard-earned perspective on everything beautiful and occasionally tragic about our little corner of the world. Which pretty much makes him the dream guest in my book. There is so much good stuff to take on board in this one, and some brilliant insights from a man who attacks life in the best way possible.⁣ Don’t miss this one.Thanks to Matt Ward for the theme tune, and to my editor Fina Charleson. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.wearelookingsideways.com/subscribe