Caught Up with Will Tuddenham

johnpoulin

• July 01 2009
• 10 comments

So how did you get hooked up with the People crew?
It seemed like it was kind of a long process. Last spring I went out with Jordan (Mendenhall) to shoot with him and Gabe (L’Heureux) at Winterpark, and I guess Gabe was kind of psyched. And then Jon (Kooley) and Jordan throughout the summer were just hassling Pierre (Minhondo) a lot. They showed them my part from Gold Country and I guess they liked it, so they decided to put me in. It’s nice to have those guys having my back.

Was there a group that you filmed with most of the time?
I was with Jon and Seth (Huot) mainly, and then Zac (Marben) once in a while.

Do you have a favorite spot or trip from the year that stands out?
Alaska was definitely my favorite. It was the first trip of the year. It was crazy because I had never filmed with those guys before so I was super nervous the whole time, so actually getting on that trip and getting some shots out of the way just paved the way for the rest of the year.

Did you feel any pressure filming with Jon and those dudes or were they pretty good to you?
They were really good to me, I was really nervous at first about that, too. During the pre-season I was riding at The Spot with them a lot and I was just nervous every day I went up there. Just going on that first trip made it so much better, getting that first shot out of the way was such a relief. I was scared that I wasn’t going to be able to do tricks as good as they were doing but they were super open to whatever I wanted to do.

Photo: Andy Wright

Did you guys film mostly on rails?
Yeah, I didn’t get to go in the backcountry because pretty much whenever I was home in Salt Lake I was hurt. We went on some rail trips really late in the season and it just got too late to hit jumps. I went in to the backcountry with Pierre for two days, and Pierre and I had never been to Logan before, so we didn’t know where we were going. On the second day we were trying to hit this massive double and I kept over shooting it and I had to stop. Jonas was trying to just do a little half Cab over it and ended up getting stitches. That was the end of me trying to hit jumps. It sucks because I actually enjoy jumping and I didn’t really get to do it. Next year. And I didn’t have a snowmobile because I wasn’t really making any money.

Photo: Andy Wright

You were part of Team Thunder for a while, what’s that all about?
It just started years and years ago. It’s just basically friends filming together, it’s always been really mellow, never put any pressure on anyone. It gives kids the chance to film, they’re not worried about sponsors or anything.

What resort do you ride back in Utah?
Brighton. But I want to start riding at Park City more, that place is rad. I don’t even touch their big park, I just hang out in their small park because it’s so fun. It’s a good time, little 20–30 foot jumps that are perfect to mess around on.

So what are you up to down here in So Cal?
I came down to go over footage with Pierre for my part, pick a song, all that. Meet you guys. I’ve only been here for a day, really quick trip. It’s pretty cool to come down and see the (People) office, where all the magic happens.

What are your summer plans? I hear you have a pretty interesting job during the summer.
(Laughs) Yeah, in the summer I nanny poodles for one of my mom’s friends. It’s like their way of being charitable to my mom. So yeah, I’ll do that, help my mom with work, and skate. I got a season pass to Raging Waters, it’s this water park in Utah so I’ll go there whenever it’s warm. Head to Oregon a few times …