Back in 2000, a slopestyle event was put on in Japan and a huge crew of the biggest and most popular riders at the time were invited to attend. In full effect was the Forum team, who was rolling deep while filming for the True Life video. Everybody was put up in the same hotel at the base of the mountain, and to say the scene was surreal would be an understatement.
It’s the first time I witnessed snowboarders being treated like full rock stars. Since everybody was posted up in the same hotel, it was full of fans looking for autographs, photos or any product they could get. While filming earlier in the day, Joni Malmi had cracked one of his boards. Normally this board would just get thrown away and a new one would be set up. Instead he took the board up the stairs that overlooked the lobby level at the hotel. Once the crowd noticed what was going on the whole floor filled to beyond capacity and looked like a sea of ants from our perspective. Joni let the board go and the frenzy ensued.
Later that night the lucky recipient came up to the room to have Joni autograph the board and could hardly hide the excitement. This was a trip I’ll never forget. I still remember the moment like it was yesterday, despite the fact it was 16 years ago. — Rob Mathis
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This month, we take a dive into the archives of Rob Mathis. Few photographers have dedicated more days to this craft, logging countless rolls of film, sleepless nights, and traveling the world with some of the most dignified riders in snowboarding. Among them: the Forum 8. This iconic group, consisting of Peter Line, Jeremy Jones, JP Walker, Bjorn Lienes, Joni Malmi, Chris Dufficy, Wille Yli-Luoma and Devun Walsh, led a freestyle revolution that would launch snowboarding into the hearts and minds of people around the world. These candid moments from a bygone time in our culture capture a movement in its infancy, and serve as a reminder that their influence is still felt to this day.
Those Days is a new, weekly series from Snowboard Mag that gives photographers a platform to share some of the most memorable moments from their careers. Each month, we give a different photographer the platform to share photos that spur feelings of nostalgia, triumph, pain, happiness; anything with a story they want to tell. Our culture’s history is vast and full of these special, fleeting instants in time. Those Days is here to bring them to you.
