Hamish Duncan interview
INTERVIEW BY :: Andrew Winter, October 2004
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Hamish Duncan interview // page 1 // page 2 // page 3

So Hamish what's up and how was your summer?
My summer was wicked, I skated pretty much everyday and got to spend some good time with my school friends from home. On the snowboarding side of things I rode in Tignes for a week at the SUK boardtest and then came home for a week before going to Folgefonna with Electric.

I heard a lot of the glaciers were melting so was the riding ok, not too slushy?
Yeah it was pretty slushy but just about OK. By three o'clock it was time to go but that still gave you enough of the day to ride. Folgefonna's glacier got pretty slushy but that just opened up a whole load of water gaps.

Earlier this year you came 3rd in the Brits, and you just won the British Open session at Board-X, was that your first contest win?
Yeah, I've never won anything so it was a big surprise to take home the title. The best thing about winning on Friday was that it meant I could ride on the Sunday with all the internationals. We had a great session and it's really inspiring to ride with all those guys.

Am I right in thinking you yourself started out snowboarding on dryslope? When was your first time riding on snow and how did you find the transition from plastic to pow!?
Yeah I started riding at Hemel Hempstead with a friend called Mat, Duncan Carr, Rob Needham, Schmitty all the dryslope rippers. I rode at the Lecht when I was fourteen-fifteen, I wasn't very good and my dad wasn't that inpressed that I fell over all the time. Once I started riding with Neil McNab and Tosh on the Kommunity Camps, I started to progress far quicker than on dryslope. Plus I could learn to carve properly and learn about the mountains, the transition wasn't too harsh.

You've spent a few winters in Chamonix now, how do you like it?
Chamonix's good. There's a wicked crew of British riders that are good fun to ride with, there's a bar with a mini ramp to skate which is an added bonus, there's more terrain than can be found in most resorts plus this year there's going to be a park that's privately owned and also opened at night with floodlights! I think its going to be perfect this winter.

With there being no snowpark in Chamonix before how did you practice jumps and rails for contests? (or didn't you?)
Well last year I travelled a lot so I got my fair share of park riding in. I find that freeriding really helps with kicker riding because of the added board control and then rails just take a couple of good sessions and some balls to get them working. I don't think about the contests really, I just get all my shit working and try to get a reasonable consistency together.

Do you think the park in Cham will see the end of backcountry snowboarding in Chamonix, cos no-one will bother hiking to build a kicker when there's a perfectly shaped one right there..?
Not at all, Chamonix is full of good kicker spots and when it dumps there will be no shortages of spots to hit up. The park is going to be perfect for the times when the snow's not so good and the night riding means that even after a day on the powder kickers if your still feeling up for it then you can go ride some park, it's perfect.
...but it's an extra 210 euros for the season which is fucking expensive eh?
Not really, you're getting a maintained park which is open in the daytime and at night time. A good location close to town with the money being saved on not going out and going riding instead.

Yes but in other resorts the parks are free....anyway who do you ride with mainly?
Well last season I rode with Johno Verity, James Stentiford, Ewan Wallace, Scott Nixon in Chamonix. That was good all mountain riding, hitting backcountry kickers and stuff. They're all super cool and really helpful when I was having problems. Then at night time I'd go hit rails with Hamish and Gary. They were good for positive thinking on nasty rails which always helps. Then in the parks I got to ride with Gendle, Jono Wood, Danny, Si Brass which was really progressive on kickers and learning new tricks.

The photo with this article was shot by Peter Lundstrom of you 50-50ing a concrete ledge in Cham, where was that and tell us a bit about that night...
It's just outside the Library in Chamonix. The drop is about 14ft to tarmac so you didn't want to go over. There wasn't much snow and it was really cold. I'd always wanted to do it but never thought I actually would. Hamish and Gary really helped me out with building the run in and stuff, there was a stray dog that barked at us the whole night so it was quite hard to settle my heart rate.

Hamish Duncan interview // page 1 // page 2 // page 3



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