..........................................................................................................
Five minutes with...
Phil Casabon
So, skiing then. Generally considered the poorer cousin of snowboarding in
the coolness-stakes, we’re happy to see not everyone’s so hasty to judge;
there’s still a vibrant and creative scene outside the lycra-and-pointy-helmets
of the Olympic mainstream. Canadian skier, Phil Casabon (AKA B-Dog), is not
only setting an example with his riding, but helping fuel the diversity of the
sport by organising events and broadening the presence of Freeskiing. We
spoke to Phil after the B&E Invitational, held this March in Les Arcs in France.
..........................................................................................................
Hey Phil, how’s B&E been?
It’s amazing to see it come to life and
grow exponentially fast - it’s just a
blessing to see all this happen.
What made you put it on?
It’s just a stagnancy I saw in skiing.
I thought that this would bring some
freshness and so did Henrik [Harlaut],
Eric [Iberg] and Raf [Regazzoni], all
four of us decided to combine powers
to make something great.
What was the biggest hurdle?
I think it’s finding sponsors and people
that want to host it at their mountain.
Otherwise, not so many big issues.
It went down pretty smoothly. Raf
and Eric definitely take care of the
money so it can come to life. Maybe
they could tell you more about the
problems. Me? I haven’t seen any.
What’s the difference between B&E
and other competitions?
It’s way more laid-back. It’s not even a
competition. It’s really incomparable,
because everybody is enjoying
themselves and not trying to get a
result.
People are just here to try something
new, a new course, a new flow, and
just enjoy themselves; that changes
the whole vibe from what you would
see in a competition.
We really like the wildcard idea
- throwing it out to the world to
submit a video edit. What was the
response like?
Amazing. Last year we had more, but
this year it was a bit more complicated
to get registered. We had about 60
entries, I think, worldwide. We had to
pick one guy from Europe and one guy
from America out of five finalists from
these 60. The skiing that we get to see
from unknowns is absolutely amazing.
You discover people that are about to
be some of the best skiers.
The line-up for the event looks really
sick. Are you going to be riding?
I wish I could. I got a little tear in my
ACL, so I’m still rehabbing. I’d be u