Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Winter Vacay

The mixed bag crew of Canadians and Finns residing in Whistler have just released another stellar video that`s available online for free.

8mile Vacay full movie

8 mile, the brainchild of Mikey Rencz, Johnny Lyall and Eero Niemala, conceived in their basement sweet in Whistler after many a long day on the hill and even longer nights at the bar has been reppin snowboarding in the name of fun for quite some time now. Their newest release, Vacay is definitely no exception and clocking in at less then half an hour is on the top of the pile of flicks for me to put on repeat in my process of getting hyped for the quickly approaching season.

This vid aside from having amazing snowboarding, which it does, everyone in it fucking rips, more then anything is a solid representation of how fun snowboarding is and why we all do it. I could delve into the increasingly popular hot conversation topic of the current state of snowboarding with it`s predominance of big league contests and corporate sponsorships and blah blah blah but what would be the point? That dead horse has beaten to death. What I can say is that 8 mile is not any of that, they are the antithesis of that. Sure some of these dudes ride for big companies and yea some of them are contest killers, but that's not what Vacay or any of the other 8 mile videos are about. They're about getting out with the homeys for the day, getting gnarly for hours and then soaking it all in in whatever fashion you choose, at the end of the night. That's what snowboarding is and always has been to me,and plenty of other people out there. As I can imagine it does for a lot of other people, watching these movie reminds me of all the good times I've had snowboarding with my homeys, and it's always motivating and entertaining to be reminded of that, and that's why Vacay kills it in my eyes.
And the snowboarding is REALLY good. With such an eclectic crew there is all kinds of riding in there for any snowboarder regardless of what you're interested in. Everyone in it straight kills it, Eero Niemela, Mikey Rencz, Johnny Lyall all have super tight parts fucking around in the back country throwing down some for real hammers. Ikka Backstrom is straight gnar. Charles White, Todd Malus, and Dustin Craven share a part with lots of funny lifestyle footy and plenty of good riding. Benji Ritchie slays the back country to a Stevie Wonder song, instant approval in this blog. I don't even have to write this sentence, everyone knows it but; Devun Walsh is fucking triple OG and still killing it harder then most people out there, dude is straight inspiring. My favorite parts in the video, not necessarily based on straight riding but their whole vibe all together, were Kale Stephens, who's hilarious, always looks like he's having a ton of fun and also is a fuckin beast, has an amazing part with good riding and an even better song
G code Kale Stephens



Hands down the most re watchable parts have to be from the dudes repping the Gypsy Mob contingent of 8 Mile, Kevin Griffin, Jody Wachniak and Andrew Geeves. Although every part in the video rips, these guys are unstoppable.Showing crazy versatility and rounded riding they kill it on the mountains, they kill it on the streets, all the while looking like they're having a blast. Kevin Griffin's line with the bs noseslide the ten stair rail and then switch backside 180 the fence to drop is all kinds of steeze and probably my favorite clip in the video. Wachniak brings the San Fransisco skate vibe to his part with the Andre Nickatina song and his bs 180 on the building pillar bs 180 over the bench line I re winded like 5 times. Andrew Geeves destroys both back country and street spots with equal amounts of power and style (fs 180 sw tail press bs 180 out on the huge curved structure and gap front lip the kinked green rail were both amazing) and I have a feeling we'll be a seeing a lot more of this dude in the future
Geeves



If you want to be psyched to go snowboarding and and even more to ride with the homeys, if you like good riding and really like good times check out Vacay, you won't be disappointed.

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