Snowboard Lensman Aaron Blatt Wants Apiring Photographers to Know The Future Is Bright
The Inertia Podcast
Aaron Blatt has seen it all in the world of action sports photography. The longtime snowboard lensman witnessed the evolution from print to digital, and adjusted to continue what has become an epic career path. Blatt continues to shoot with some of the best snowboarders in the world as part of the Burton content team, and has moved into mountain biking and other sports as well. In this edition of The Inertia podcast, he has an inspiring POV for up-and-coming photographers, talks about the change in snowboarding competition, and tells us about the best snowboarding he’s ever been witness to.
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Elena Hight Talks Backcountry and the Best Snowboarding She's Ever Seen
The Inertia Podcast
Elena Hight has seen it all in the world of pro snowboarding. She's competed in the Olympics, won X Games gold, landed revolutionary tricks in the halfpipe. But perhaps her best trick has been her smooth transition from competitor to expedition athlete. If you know anything about snowboarding, you saw this coming. Elena fell in with the right crowd, the Tahoe based crew that rides with Jeremy Jones.
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Skimboarder Blair Conklin Talks Viral Videos, Social Media, and the Health of His Sport
The Inertia Podcast
Blair Conklin is a certified skimboarding legend out of Laguna Beach, California. He’s a three-time world champion and his enviable athletic prowess has helped turn the once-niche sport of skimboarding into a global, viral phenomenon. He talks about some of his viral moments, and discusses his path as a social media entrepreneur. No one has balanced visual stimulation and social analytics quite like Blair. So much so that you can’t pass a wave in the ocean, or on a river, without someone knowing his name.
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Surfer Brianna Cope Talks Reality Television and Training With Navy Seals
The Inertia Podcast
Brianna Cope’s surfing journey has been as unique as any. Following a solid junior career, the Kauaian nearly qualified for the Championship Tour in 2014 and 2015. She'd still love to surf at the highest level, but her competitive focus now is on select events that she loves, like the Pipe Masters. Not to mention her other pursuits, including television. Brianna is certainly a shining light in the surfing world with her positive outlook, and I spoke to her about her new focus on other projects: like the differences between starring in the television shows Ultimate Surfer, and Surf Girl...
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Audio Reads: A Place in the Crowd
The Inertia Podcast
Ask a surfer to describe the conditions at any surf spot, on any particular day, anywhere in the world and it's almost guaranteed they'll tell you about the crowd. Which begs the question: Where, exactly, do we fit in the lineup? Should we change our mindset when it comes to crowded surf? It might not be the worst idea.
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Audio Reads: Surfing Progression – The Top 10 List
The Inertia Podcast
How do maneuvers successfully pulled off in competition over a quarter century ago, let alone today’s less dramatic, almost perfunctory whitewater reverses, qualify as “progressive?” This question really got me to thinking about what advancements in surfing performance can be considered truly progressive. So here’s my Top 10 list of the most progressive advancements in surfing's history.
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Emi Erickson on What It Means to Be a Big Wave Surfer
The Inertia Podcast
Emi Erickson occupies two separate realms of the wave-riding universe. but an old soul, perhaps. She told me she often dreams of the old days when one merely needed a wetsuit, a board, and good swell to ride big surf. Simple times when lineups weren't overcrowded and catching larger than normal waves was just part of your daily routine near her home on Oahu. But Emi lives in the modern big wave world where those who ride big surf often compete, when competitions survive and have longevity. But most surfers really just ride big waves for the love of it. We spoke with Emi about this...
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Duke Aipa Talks About Growing Up in a Legendary Family and Finding His Own Way as a Shaper
The Inertia Podcast
Duke Aipa took the roundabout way to follow his legacy. Which makes his story so much cooler. After growing up in Hawaii, Duke followed his passions for hockey, and heavy metal music, and other pursuits, which took him all over the United States. But the surfing world is glad he came home. Duke is now carrying on that family legacy as the head of Aipa Surfboards. I talked with Duke about the weight of being Ben’s son, the famous Stinger design, his own journey, and Aipa Surfboards' reputation as a pioneering brand of performance surfing.
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Freeskier Cody Townsend Discusses Finishing The Fifty Project and Balancing Risk as a New Father
The Inertia Podcast
Looking for the definition of a modern explorer, only with an emphasis on high-performance? Then Cody Townsend is an adventurer for the ages. And what a cool human to boot. If you hadn’t heard, Cody is in the middle of an epic project, , where he’s attempting to climb, and then ride, all of the lines in the book, The 50 Classic Ski Descents of North America. Now, classic to some means straight up gnarly to others. It's all in one's perspective. But Cody is tackling them all, regardless. The longtime freeskier who’s starred in hugely influential movies like Days of My Youth, started a...
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Audio Reads: 'Down With Surf Contests!' Criticizing Competition Is Anything But New
The Inertia Podcast
Feel like criticizing surf competition? Then get in line. It's nothing new and has literally been happening for centuries. Here's a look at the history of vitriol spat at competitive surfing.
info_outlineEmi Erickson occupies two separate realms of the wave-riding universe. She's still a young woman but an old soul, perhaps. She told me she often dreams of the old days when one merely needed a wetsuit, a board, and good swell to ride big surf. Simple times when lineups weren't overcrowded and catching larger than normal waves was just part of your daily routine near her home on Oahu. But Emi lives in the modern big wave world where those who ride big surf often compete, when competitions survive and have longevity. But most surfers really just ride big waves for the love of it. We spoke with Emi about this dichotomy between competition and soul, and her place in the surfing world.