Eero Ettala’s been going strong in snowboarding for many a year now but, as we found out at Hemsedal’s opening weekend trip with Oakley this year, the Finn’s energy reserves are far from depleted.
Still settling back into things after having his knee operated on this summer, we grabbed a minute to chat on our way back through the airport, having crammed some early park laps and both outdoor and indoor mini ramp snowboard/skate sessions into the day before.
Interview and photos – Mike Brindley
How has it been since you stopped filming video parts?
Well actually I thought after filming Ender I would have more time to ride for myself, and I definitely did because I wasn’t filming non-stop – but I was still travelling all the time and just doing trips here and there with different sponsors. You know, going somewhere with Skullcandy, going somewhere with Nitro, Red Bull or Oakley, so it actually ended up being quite a lot of travelling. And I was just like, filming here and there, but not really stressing about it too much, I wasn’t forced to go somewhere and try to stack footage, which was kind of nice. After filming video parts for thirteen or fourteen years it was nice to get a break and just have pressure-free seasons.
Is there anything that you used to be really hyped about that doesn’t appeal any more?
I love riding backcountry and doing pow slashes and stuff, but maybe when you go out there and build a jump for three hours and then get to hit it a couple of times and eat shit, maybe that’s not something I’d want to do in my free time anymore. I’d rather go and ride the park or take the lift or hike on a nice pow day. But building jumps and eating shit, that’s not something that I really miss.
“building jumps and eating shit, that’s not something that I really miss”
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