words: Austin Smith

I would like to say I was invited on a snowboard trip to Greece, but in reality, I invited myself. I didn’t know most of the guys on the trip, but I knew I wouldn’t get many other opportunities to snowboard in Greece. If it wasn’t for Bryan Fox going there eight years ago, I would have never known there was snow or mountains in Greece to begin with. The flight from Switzerland was surprisingly short, and the weather was warm when we got off the plane. We put on boardshorts and headed to a swimming hole outside of Athens. I had my doubts about snowboarding in Greece and this was not helping.

Photos by Cyril Müller

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As we drove north through the valley plains we saw palm trees and half-built concrete buildings with exposed rebar that reminded me of Mexico. Stray dogs roamed the streets; streets that were waiting to be filled with summer tourism traffic.

[aesop_quote type=”block” align=”right” quote=”Greek culture has a terrible sense of time. A predicted two-hour drive will take at least twice that.”]

We drove for two days — myself, Cyril and our bud Ronnie behind the wheel. Levi claimed he couldn’t drive a stick, DBK was busy directing and shooting for projectDETOUR and no one trusted Shayne’s driving. Boys’ road trip — eight people piled in a van, stopping and taking as many detours as possible along the way. We drove through valley plains and mountain passes, visited monasteries and learned that Greek culture has a terrible sense of time. A predicted two-hour drive will take at least twice that.

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Our destination was Vasilitsa Ski Resort in Northern Greece. Upon arrival, we were greeted with blue skies, fresh snow and terrain that was good — like actually good — not good as in we flew to a tropical place known for their islands and hot weather but there was at least something to snowboard on. They have real mountains. Over half the country is mountainous, and we were amongst some of the largest of them, with AK style lines that could be seen in the distance. David was so excited he bashed his head against a tree on the first run of the trip and had to go to the hospital for the day to get stitches. We toured around the mountain going from one lift to the next, checking out the terrain we had available for the week ahead.

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Some locals invited us to a BBQ that evening next to the parking lot of the resort. There was a smorgasbord of people, kids were running around, local meat was being cooked faster than people could eat and beers, weed and booze were being passed around. There were people that were up for the weekend with tents set up in the snow. Others had their trailers parked totally snowed in and would not be leaving until the snow melted in the spring. I had never felt more welcome in a group of strangers.

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This was the snowboarding community of Greece, and at the center of it was Gerasmis (yur-as- miss). He was the first person to start selling snowboards in Greece through his shop MicroXtreme. Everywhere you looked, you saw MicroXtreme — every lift pole, every sign, every snowboard, was adorned with his sticker.

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[aesop_quote type=”block” align=”left” quote=”Forget the Olympics and energy drinks and you will still have the people. They aren’t going to stop snowboarding.”]

No major snowboard movies, magazines or pros have come out of Greece. There aren’t fancy terrain parks, high-speed chairlifts or multi-million dollar lodges. People are focused on the terrain and snow conditions rather than what someone else is wearing and who has the newest gear. This mentality still exists in Europe and the US — people still camp out in the parking lot in their car in anticipation of the coming powder day and work hard, shitty jobs all summer so they can take the winters off to snowboard — but this is a small niche group and the snowboard industry is now overshadowed by the lifestyle associated with Aspen, Laax, Shaun White and helicopters. Greece is a small, self-sustaining snowboard industry with a local shop that represents and embodies its snowboard community. It is a community dedicated to the mountains and eager to share those mountains with those willing to look beyond the islands Greece is known for.

[aesop_parallax img=”https://snowboardmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/DavidBertschingerKarg_Greece_Cyril_PM_7094-1.jpg” parallaxbg=”off” caption=”Urban methods are one thing, but a village method… That has a nice ring to it. DBK” captionposition=”bottom-left” lightbox=”off” floater=”off” floaterposition=”left” floaterdirection=”up”]

 

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Before going on the trip, I asked Bryan where he went in Greece. He couldn’t remember, but the people in Greece did. Everywhere I went I talked to people about Bryan’s trip from eight years ago — where he went, how the snow was, who he met — they remembered everything. Because the snowboard community in Greece is passionate beyond your weekend warrior, snowboarding is their identity in a country where it is not widespread like it has become elsewhere.

Going to Greece was an example of what snowboarding would look like if you took away all the magazines, movies, corporate sponsors, major contests and pros — what it was before it became a sport, one increasingly accessible only by the rich. And as the industry changes, restructures, gets smaller or whatever it is doing right now, maybe it is heading back to where it began and where Greece still is. What’s left is affordable tickets, manageable lift lines, untracked powder and people that are determined to spend their lives in the mountains snowboarding. Forget the Olympics and energy drinks and you will still have the people. They aren’t going to stop snowboarding. It’s like a marriage: until death do us apart.

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