NOAH SALASEK PART 1 | POWDER AND RAILS | VICE

[MUSIC PLAYING]
NOAH SALASNEK: I definitely skateboarded before I ever
snowboarded.
I probably started skateboarding when I was six
years old, I believe.
My older brother, actually, when I was young, was my
mentor for skateboarding.
But as I got older, and got into it and progressed, some
of the prominent pros at the time, obviously Tony Hawk, and
some of the vert skaters, because I was a vert skater at
the time mainly.
One of my first sponsors was a shop sponsor, Marin Surf and
Ski, and that gave me a stepping stone to enter some
contests and get some visibility.
I started getting in magazines and traveling a little more.
And I got picked up by H-Street later on.
Yeah, I was in a couple different H-Street videos.
The first one I was not in, I think it was Shackle Me Not
was the name of it, but that was the one
that got so much notoriety.
And then I got on H-Street and I was in the following Hokus
Pokus video the next year, I believe.
And I had a good part in that.
Mac Dawg had actually got me on.
I was friends with Mac Dawg, and he was
making videos for H-Street.
And this was before the videos were a big craze.
The Bones Brigade videos were the only thing.
So H-Street came out with a great video
inspired by Mac Dawg.
And he actually got me on the team, and got me
introduced to them.
MIKE MCENTIRE: Well, because of Sick Boys, Mike
Ternasky saw that.
He was pretty hyped on it.
I think the main thing he liked about it was it was the
Super 8 filming.
He didn't know much about film, and he wanted to have
that look in Hokus Pokus.
So that was the main reason why I got hired for that gig.
And it worked out pretty well.
NOAH SALASNEK: It's all history there.
So I started shooting with Mac Dawg with snowboarding too.
And gave him a career, and in return he's helped my career
too, so it's been pretty cool.
The reason I turned pro was I had just competed the year
prior in three different events
to get to the nationals.
And I went there, qualified in the street, and for the vert
contest as well, which was my forte, a vert skater.
And I ended up winning a street contest the day before
the vert contest.
And everyone's like, you're going to turn pro.
And I'm like, what do you mean?
They're like, dude you won the biggest event, amateur event.
You're going to get a board.
I'm like, really?
And I was like, I don't know about that.
And then I did horrible in the vert contest because I was
just stoked that I won the street thing.
And, sure enough, I did turn pro, and for a few years had
my own board with H-Street and Life Skateboards at the time.
And I did pretty well.
I wish I would've hung on to that career a little more now
that I look back and juggled both, kind of like the Shaun
White does.
I feel he's kind of a new school of me.
He's really powerful in vert and doing well in
competitions, and killing in snowboarding, obviously.
So he's someone that's taken a step farther than what I did,
I feel like.
MIKE RANQUET: About the same time I met him snowboarding
through Roach, he was already coming up in Nor-Cal skate
scene, and that guy was so talented.
And when you see someone on a vert ramp that size do a six
foot ollie, like over your head front side
ollies, it's like, wow.
I knew if he got into snowboarding he would help
change things.
You now what I mean?
Because he was a much better skater than me.
He was a pro.
He had a pro model, deservedly, not because he was
snowboarder.
It wasn't a token type thing.
He was a legit, gnarly pro vert skater.
NOAH SALASNEK: I guess it was around a seven- to eight-year
career that I had in skateboarding before I
actually stepped away and focused more on snowboarding
in my early 20s, I would say.
Not that I let my skating go, but definitely the competitive
side I did.
And I still skateboarded for fun, but I really focused on
the snow and made that my main profession, I could say.
So I think I started snowboarding when I was 18.
And it was kind of a cross between my skiing and my
skateboarding.
I was like, wow, snowboarding looks so cool to me.
So I got into it way later than
actually skating for sure.
CHRIS ROACH: Yeah, when I first met him he was already a
professional skateboarder.
I think him and AV were both professional.
And they were just getting into snowboarding.
And once I saw them skating--
They were already ripping skaters.
And it was nice to build it.
If we went somewhere together I could watch them skate and
try to learn from them.
It was nice not to be the only one around having that.
And they were pushing snowboarding like they were
skateboarding.
NOAH SALASNEK: When I started snowboarding, I saw people
like Chris and a few other pro snowboarders on the hill when
I was actually learning, I guess.
And this was probably in the, I don't know, late '80s.
And I saw people like Chris just ripping down the hill.
And I was like, wow, those guys are really good.
And it just motivated me to ride more and
aspire to be that.
MIKE RANQUET: Noah has a lot more to do with things than
maybe people know, or maybe even he knows.
Noah with Mac Dawg, for sure, helped turn
that tide like 100%.
BRAD KREMER: I think in Hokus Pokus there was a couple of
snowboarding shots of Noah, and Dawger was totally against
the whole snowboard scene and stuff.
MIKE MCENTIRE: Well, snowboarding was pretty
hurting, I thought.
And it actually was pretty harsh.
Early snowboarding, guys didn't really understand
anything about style at all.
There was a few people that did, like Terry Kidwell and
Craig Kelly, and they were doing it right.
But for the most part, your average people that you would
see they'd just suck.
I can't even describe how lame it looked.
I was over it.
We went up there and there's all these dudes in hard boots
and tights, basically, like Day-Glo stuff, and it just
looked so stupid.
And I was filming skating, like Danny Way and Hensley,
and Noah, and those guys, and all the
CBS guys in San Francisco.
The contrast between those snowboarder dudes that I saw
and skating, I just thought it was stupid.

Anyways, Noah wanted that shot, so we went and got it.
But then I started snowboarding with him and I
enjoyed it a lot.
And then him and Roach were going off doing stuff, and
they made snowboarding look good, so that's why I started
shooting it.
CHRIS ROACH: When we were riding together every day it
was something new.
Every single day we were changing what was going to
happen with snowboarding.
And I remember those two years, or whatever was going
on we were doing that, snowboarding was going into a
new direction, and it was nice to be a part of that.
And I think Noah was one of the guys that was in the
forefront of that.
And there would be no stopping it at that point.
SHAWN FARMER: I don't know what it was with those two,
but it was obvious.
I still feel like that whole look still came from Terry
Kidwell, and Palmer, and then Craig Kelly, and Roach was
always there too, and Salas, but I don't even see it today
really hardly.
You just don't see it.
I don't why those dudes got it and a lot of people didn't,
but it really cool looking.
They rode together.
That was part of why they are the way they are.
JAMIE LYNN: Noah had more technicality to him, and did
more spin oriented tricks.
Where Chris would kick out a big grasser, and Noah would do
a backside seven.
But both sick, equally impressive tricks.
You could tell that one was a technician, and the other one
was laid back and cruising, but also on point.
NOAH SALASNEK: No, if anything, he was more
proficient.
He was the better rider.
I was trying to aspire to be calmer, like he is.
He's really calm on his board.
And I think I had that arm movement that's so famous.
God, I don't where that came from, but I lost that.
And part of that I can contribute to Roach.
A calm style, he's always had that, and very fluid.
And I think I developed my style more over the years,
whereas he actually just had style just hands down.
People might have said I have, but I think that I worked on
it a little more.
I worked for it.
They either say you have style, you don't.
You can work at it a little bit and get some style if you
ride enough.
CHRIS ROACH: I don't think our styles were mimicking each
other at all.
I think if you look at it, we don't ride alike at all.
But we did a lot of the same tricks and stuff because we
fucking hung out every day and it was like, that was sick.
I want to try it.
JP WALKER: He was one of the first guys that I was super
hyped on in snowboarding.
The first video I ever saw was Critical Condition.
And he had a really sick part in that video.
It wasn't a part, but he was in the video and he was, I
felt, one of the guys that just had a sick style.
Chris Roach was in the video too, but he didn't have much
footage in it because he got hurt.
And I was just stoked on Salasnek's style.
I had long blonde hair and a goatee, and I looked just like
him besides maybe a dip in the mouth.
I totally tried to model myself after him for so long.
NOAH SALASNEK: Well, I think with Mac Dawg, growing up I
had a relationship with him.
We got along really well.
So I'd say he was the easiest best person to film with.
And then with snowboarding I met Fall Line Films and they
were pretty cool people, I'd have to say.
They were my first real snowboard film company that I
worked with legitimate.
Got some recognition one year on that.
I had this offer from H-Street to make a snowboard.
And I said, hey, let's do it.
And they put my name on a board.
And then, unfortunately, one of the owners had gotten in an
accident and passed away.
And the other owner at H-Street did not want anything
to do with snowboarding, and I was left in limbo.
I ended up going to a trade show with a resume, and going
to Tom Sims in the booth.
And they had new backers.
And I worked out a deal with them.
It was a good timing type thing.
But, yeah, it was unfortunate because I think H-Street could
have done something in snowboarding had
Mike Ternasky lived.
Anyway it was sad.
And it was unfortunate, but I did work it out with Sims and
ride for them for seven or eight years.
TOM SIMS: I mean, Noah was just a really easygoing,
likable guy.
And you couldn't help but like the guy.
He was so low key that when you did see him in a half pipe
competition, you're almost like, gosh it almost seems
like it's a different guy because he was so technically
advanced on his tricks.
The other snowboarders could appreciate
what Noah was doing.
And quite often the judges didn't.
CHRIS ROACH: I think what set Noah and I apart was that for
me I didn't really give--
I mean, I gave a shit.
I did contests and stuff, but I never did well in them.
And Noah would go in there and his head was always together.
He always did well in contests.
He could go to any contest and fuck, he was going to be top
three no matter what.
I'd go there and even if we were the same rider and I
should be up there, I'd get fucking tenth and be like,
yeah, I got tenth.
And he wasn't stoked.
He wanted to win everything.
And that's cool.
He had a lot of heart and passion for it.
CIRCE WALLACE: I feel like Noah took it farther.
I think Noah was technically more capable.
Chris was a little bit of an
underachiever, where Noah wasn't.
He wanted it all the way.
And, yeah, I think he made more money.
NOAH SALASNEK: Just after riding for Sims for the first
year, and getting the response we had, and having a pro
model, and coming into money being young, and just being so
adamant about my career in snowboarding at the time, I
focused on that.
I bought a house in Tahoe.
And really went after it.
I made that decision in my professional career to be a
snowboarder.
And financially it worked out at the time, and so
I stuck with it.
TOM SIMS: The Noah Salasnek board, when we first came out
with it, was one of the most progressive
snowboards we ever made.
And it was so cool.
One of the ones had a skateboard
graphic on the bottom.
It just showed so many of the Sims team riders had solid
skateboarding backgrounds.
And I had a skateboarding background before I got into
snowboarding.
And so that connection was very much a part
of what Sims was.
NOAH SALASNEK: Well, my first graphic with Sims I had always
wanted to do a skateboard base, and that's
what we ended up doing.
The top sheet was totally unrelated.
It had a hobo with a dog.
It kind of looked like me, I suppose, the goatee and stuff.
But nonetheless, the base had the independent looking
trucks, and wheels, and stuff.
So that was my idea then.
And that board did pretty well actually.
And it's funny because Hetzel came out with one even though
he heard that I had done that.
And he did it, I think, the same year.
Even though he knew that I had done that, which I don't know
why he would do that.
But, whatever, I don't think he sold half as many boards as
I did that year.
So what do I care?
I'm just playing.
I'm friends with Hetzel, but that was pretty funny.
And I think Palmer was the one who told him he should do it.
Because Palmer was pissed that I got on Sims.
I'm getting a board right away.
He's ridden for him for years, now he's
getting his first board.
So he's like, Hetz, make your skateboard base, that's cool.
Noah, do it too.
So he thought he'd get the last laugh, but my board did
well that year, so it was cool.
KEVIN ENGLISH: It's funny, I forget what standard movie it
is with Salasnek, there's a part where he's riding an old
Sims board.
I don't know what it was, like Sims half pipe or something,
where he was wearing the color blocked pants and stuff.
It was also the year that he came out with his
skateboard pro model.
And so half the shots he was the little character that was
on his boards, and then the other shots he the late '80s
snowboarder guy.
But his season was mixed.
I don't know how that really went down, but you could
definitely see a distinct style change right there.
And then I think snowboarding kind of followed Noah with it.
NOAH SALASNEK: I think working with Standard and having that
TB 2 part come out was one of my better parts.
And definitely gave me good push and motivated me to film
with them further for TB 3 and 4.
But I think that was one of my better parts.
And I think it was, again, good timing.
The time it came out was early back in the day.
And I'm proud of that part, absolutely.
MIKE HATCHETT: When we picked the crew for TB 2 it was
basically just a combination of my brother and I and Mac
Dawg sitting down, and saying who's the best 10 or 12 guys
we want to shoot?
Noah was my bro from Tahoe.
We knew he ripped and was potentially one of the best
guys in the world.
And then there was the whole big mountain guys that I was
more friends with.
So it was a combination of Mac Dawg's freestyle background,
and him picking those guys, and having the connections.
And then me, being connect with my brother, and the big
mountain scene and just shuffling the deck and going,
here's the hand we want to play right here.
And some of it came to do with Fall Line too.
Some of the guys who worked with Fall Line for a few
years, and were getting a little fed up with it and
wanted to go in a new direction.
So the timing was good for us, for Noah, and Terrier.
Those guys just wanted to try something new.
So when they heard that Mac Dawg and I wanted to go out on
our own, they were all pretty stoked because I think they
had realized the vision.
MIKE MCENTIRE: As a filmmaker back then I wasn't interested
in filming anyone snowboarding until they had learned a bunch
of new stuff every year.
So what did that mean for us?
Well, at the beginning of the year we're riding
powder every day.
Everyone's learning their stuff.
I didn't even start film until spring.
So I had met up with the Hatchett's in Squaw and riding
with them and stuff.
I know Mike was pretty frustrated about a situation
over at Fall Line.
And he was hitting me up.
I was making these pretty low budget films.
And he's like, why don't you get a 16 millimeter camera,
and let's do this, dude.
Thought about it, and I had wanted to move up into 16
anyways because I was just shooting super 8,
and hi 8, and stuff.
And so I got a camera, a 1960 Aeroflex, off this super old
guy who used it maybe once.
It was like brand new.
And then got out there and we started doing our thing.
We made Standard Films.
I came up with the name when I was taking a
leak at some gas station.
There was a Standard urinal there, and
I'm like, sick, Standard.
That was how I came up with that name.
It was a lot of fun.
It was a good time in snowboarding back then.
A lot of progression and it was super easy back then
because nothing much had been done, so it was good stuff.
NOAH SALASNEK: The only difference is Standard's going
to meet at 5:00 AM at the gas station.
And Artie and them might meet you at 9:15.
So you get to sleep in a little more when you're
working with Fall Line, maybe.
Other than that they're both professional on site.
And they're both motivated, dedicated, good filmers.
You know you're going to get the shot.
That's why I liked filming with them.
If I'm going to go either risk my life, or hike some peak,
and do some line, I want to guarantee that
it gets in the can.
And you can get that working with people like that,
professionals.
MIKE HATCHETT: What Mac Dawg and I and my brother wanted to
prove was we wanted to make the best snowboard video that
had ever been made.
And I don't want to say that sounding arrogantly or cocky
in any way, but we just thought that the movies that
were out there were good, but they weren't great.
We wanted to focus on just snowboarding itself, and the
characters, the riders themselves, and not so much of
the storytelling and narration.
We were over the Fall Line narration.
We went here, and we did this, and we did that.
And again, not to diss on Jerry and Artie because Fall
Line's a great film company, and the contribution they made
in snowboarding was amazing.
But we wanted to get away from that and more just like this
is dope snowboarding.
Here's some good music.
Here's Noah Salasnek.
Watch him rip.

NOAH SALASNEK: I think there was a cool shot of Granite
Chief peak where I do two turns and pop a 30-, 40-foot
cliff maybe, max, and land it pretty good and do a
couple turns out.
And I was on a race board that no one probably
knows, like a 170.
But it was pretty cool because I was able
to stomp the landing.
But what they don't know, or maybe it's in the slam
section, I went back up and tried it again and ended up
tumbling and Tomahawking at 30 miles an hour.
One of my worst beatdowns.
I think it did make the slam section, actually, but when I
stomped, it was pretty rewarding, for sure.
So that stands out in my mind.
JEREMY JONES: Noah's was the first style that
really drew me in.
That's when it was really like, oh, I get it now.
Because before it was Damien in hard boots going down the
fingers at Tahoe or getting dropped off in a helicopter.
And, to me as a kid, it was something that was just what
those guys did.
It was nothing I could ever imagine doing.
And then when these other guys went to that level, I could
grasp that.
And it made sense.
And then all of a sudden it was me and my buddies, we're
doing what they're doing.
And we could do this one day.
JP WALKER: Maybe the year before somebody had a late
backside 180 and then Noah's part came out the year later
and had late switch backside threes and
all this crazy stuff.
So I was all about that.
Butters was just the only thing for
a while that mattered.
Just butter from the top of the lift to the bottom.
And he was super good at it.
And it was sick because--
I remember he had shots where he would butter up to cornices
and spin off of them, and all kinds of stuff like that.
So I was just goateed up and buttering it up.
NOAH SALASNEK: I don't know who started the whole little
butter thing.
I know we got into the nose pressing and tail pressing,
and trying blunt slides, or whatever they're called.
I mean, everyone's got a different name for them.
But, yeah, there's was little era that
everyone went through.
They were trying to press the nose, and spin out of this and
that, and went through a little phase.
But it's pretty cool.
I've been known to sit back on my tail and snap a 180 out of
it now and again.
So it's still pretty fun to dabble in, little nose press,
or butters, or whatever.
MIKE HATCHETT: And that's what's cool about filming back
TB 2, 3, 4.
There wasn't like--
Today it's almost, OK, we're going to go to this knoll and
build this gap that's been filmed 20 gazillion times.
We're going to hit this log.
Or I'm going to back lip this rail.
Or I'm going to do a front side through this kink.
Or I'm going to do a switch back 1260, whatever.
You're going to do this trick, and it's a set up shot.
You're sitting sideways, you point it, you do your trick,
you land just far enough for the shot, and you're done.
We'd just go out and look up at something and go, let's
just ride it.
Let's just film that.
Watch Noah's part in TB 4.
His opening shot you can just see the spontaneous
riding in that shot.
It's just slashing front three.
He just cruised it.
JP WALKER: One thing that stood out to me is he had this
backside 720 tail grab.
I think it was somewhere in Tahoe, maybe it was at Mount
Rows or something, it was like a cornice gap thing, and it
was the best backside 720 to ever go down, I felt, in the
history of snowboarding.
I remember it was so good and tail grab.
And, I don't know, I was pretty hyped on that.
SHAWN FARMER: I mean Salasnek, for a while, was just crushing
everyone, I think, out there on overall riding.
He was throwing tail grab sevens and nines.
And I don't even know--
I know sevens.
I think nines too.
Just crazy stuff.
And super smooth style.
I've always looked up to him and always thought he was one
of the best, for sure.
Timeless.