Austin Smith Has Money For Candy
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- September 10 2008
- 5,354 views
- 74 comments
photo: Andy WrightAmid the colorful flow of action and documentary in the underground snowboard film IR77 from 2006, a kid named Austin Smith rode into focus. Calmly spinning into narrow landings at Mount Baker in a snowstorm, his abilities were plainly evident. Since then, Austin has continued to charge a confident line into the forefront of snowboarding. His opening segment in the new film, Down With People is pretty okay, man, check it out. While on a summer trip to Argentina, Austin answered a few random questions.
What does it take to be a pro snowboarder in 2008?
Either years of training in vert or jump stuff to try and outdo the contest dudes, but I wouldn’t suggest that because they are f—king good. You probably have a better chance finding some gimmick, social networking and getting that hype up. But if that doesn’t work out, try to film a video part that people will want to watch over the 500 other ones.
What is most important?
My friends and family, being healthy, as in no broken backs. I will eat In-N-Out all day long. Snowboarding and everything it entails, traveling, meeting bros and babes and good times.
What inspires you to pursue snowboarding?
It is the best life I could ask for, I get to shred 11 months out of the year, fly to the other parts of the world and have enough money for candy.
What draws you to the mountains?
It is all I know. My mom is a mountain climber, so growing up I never went to Hawaii or Costa Rica. We would go mountain climbing or backpacking, it sucked at the time but I can appreciate it now.
photo: Liam GallagherAre you ever embarrassed by snowboarding?
Not snowboarding itself, maybe by some of the people in snowboarding or the stereotype of snowboarders. But most of all, when I have to go on catalogue/model photo shoots, I hate that.
When did you start riding?
When I was like 12 or 13—once they started full checking in hockey. I liked to slash down the back of people’s legs but I didn’t want them to hit me back—pretty tough, huh? I grew up in Bellingham at Mt. Baker, skied most of the time, but then Lucas Debari my hockey buddy hooked me up with some shred gear and I started up.
Who’s riding blows your mind?
There’s a handful of people. Gigi is definitely up there, Benedek always had until he started riding for Rockstar. Dirksen is amazing, Huffman. JP and Jeremy are pretty insane just for the fact that they still get down on handrails along with jumps. Its not easy keeping up with that stuff, you have to learn like 5 new tricks a year and then you’re still behind, but those dudes have been doing it for decades—mad respect.
Where do you see the progression in snowboarding headed?
Into the bottom of the Grand Canyon or maybe Death Valley.
Vital Stats:
Age: 19
Sponsors: Quiksilver, Nitro, Nike Snowboarding, Dakine, Active, Mt. Bachelor, Cobra Dogs, Volcano Cones and Airblaster.
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September 10th, 2008 at 3:23 pm
I would.
September 10th, 2008 at 4:20 pm
Rad, respect for the right people. JP and Jeremy.
Austin just went up in my book.
September 10th, 2008 at 4:24 pm
this kid is too cool for school
September 10th, 2008 at 4:34 pm
you complain about benedek riding for rockstar and you self ride for nike!?!?! dont get it…. but your riding is sick!!
September 10th, 2008 at 5:02 pm
I agree and I think it´s hillarious. What happened?
September 10th, 2008 at 5:38 pm
Yeah, what happen to riding for 32?
September 10th, 2008 at 6:44 pm
way good rider but yeah, nike is definitely just as much selling out as rockstar….but i bet asians will think its hipper
September 10th, 2008 at 7:00 pm
Kid rips, I guess that means everything he says automatically has clout? Good at snowboarding, bad at being a human being.
September 10th, 2008 at 7:04 pm
Kid rides for Nitro, you can’t get more legit.
September 10th, 2008 at 8:40 pm
benedek blew smith’s mind until he needed to pay his bills? that 1080 into the pow was sick but not even this kid can say shiv on benedek.
September 10th, 2008 at 9:35 pm
Who the hell cares about who rides for who. He’s just trying to ride off Fox’s coat tails, following him to Nitro, then dissing other people because they ride for an energy drink. The time that you’re a pro snowboarder is only so short, sell the hell out while you can, and be a soul shredder later.
David Benedek has brought much more to snowboarding than a lot of other people have, don’t hate because the dude puts an energy drink sticker on his board.
Does Travis Rice suck because he rides for Red Bull. No.
Does Pat Moore suck because he rides for Red Bull. No.
People are stupid.
If everyone only knew what was going on behind the scenes with snowboard companies, all these dudes acting like theyre too punk to ride for this company or that company, lame.
It’s snowboarding, go out and enjoy it.
But I do have to agree, Huffman is the best ever.
September 11th, 2008 at 12:00 am
i agree make it while you can…..
as far as his selling out comment goes…… quik & nike austin…. i know your reading this you self absorbed son of a bitch.
benedek has brought more to snowboarding than your fade in fade out career will ever bring. its wack to say shit like that.
September 11th, 2008 at 12:17 am
ya i was shogered about how you liked benzy only until… Pfffft i thought you were sick until you said that man unless you had no sponsors or care for publicity which you obvs dont cause your saying that on tw intview pfffft Lame chea!
September 11th, 2008 at 12:18 am
dues wak men
September 11th, 2008 at 3:19 am
Yeah, kids with 19 years tend to say stupid stuff like that. I did too, haha. benedek really lives snowboarding and he gives so much back to it, do you?
September 11th, 2008 at 9:43 am
Austin rides for Nitro which is owned by a Ski company. Austin Rides for Quick silver which has skiers on the outerwear. Austin rides for Nike which is the biggest corporate company in snowboarding. The kid need to think before he opens his month. Kid is way over rated.
September 11th, 2008 at 10:14 am
i wouldn’t say austin is over rated by any means….kid has all four nines on big bc jumps. and don’t come back with spin to win arguments, he has the backside 180 as legit as anyone in the game. and as far as bryan fox goes, do you really think austin is riding his coat tails? bryan fox, if anything, is riding austin’s.
September 11th, 2008 at 12:34 pm
wor5d, technica makes awesome ski boots!
September 11th, 2008 at 12:37 pm
it takes a lot to stand out these days, aaaaaaaaaaaaaand austin doesn’t. couple years and he’ll be back working at some skate shop.
September 11th, 2008 at 2:24 pm
LOL! Your a towel! No your a Towel!
September 11th, 2008 at 3:20 pm
ya austin sick interview, but dont be a hipocrit, just keep killing it
September 11th, 2008 at 5:27 pm
“progression is headed to death valley”.. who does this austin smith character think he is.. hell probally be too cool for snowboarding in a few years along with the majority of snowboarders or hell start wearing jeans and say how skateboarding is so much cooler.. and if skateboarding is so much cooler go ahead and try to be a pro skateboarder. with this attitude how is Austin Smith not on AShbury
September 11th, 2008 at 6:43 pm
he rides good, but he doesn’t seem to be very intelligent… not that, that matters right? nitro & nike will still be paying his bills when hes 40 right? haha dont think so
September 11th, 2008 at 9:01 pm
wow. I love you austin.
September 11th, 2008 at 9:14 pm
ab you are retarded!!! Whats this shit about fade in fade out career? Did you not see his video part las year, also was the video part of the year and he won rookie of the year too. And who gives a shit what company you ride for, snowboarding shouldnt be about what you are riding but just the fact that you are riding. Seriosly its people on this comment board that have to be wearing all the new “hot” brands to make themselves look good because they cant back there shit up with riding.
September 11th, 2008 at 10:00 pm
Austin I hope you read all this and just laugh. Remember what I always say, “the haters are just jealous”.
September 11th, 2008 at 10:51 pm
Robbie, shut the hell up. Just because you’re riding Austin’s coat tail (and Austin was riding Fox’s, that’s correct) into getting all of your photos (of Austin) in the mag.
You’re not that good of a photographer either. I guess it’s better to have mediocre skills and connections, than to actually have talent.
Yeah Austin is good, really good on the snowboard. Sucky in the real world.
September 11th, 2008 at 10:57 pm
If Austin would keep is mouth shut, and let his riding do ALL the talking…that would be awesome. But he doesn’t, shouts his opinion to anyone and everyone that will hear him. Him and Bryan Fox, two fucking peas in a pod, went from one Ski company to another (although this time…with more Hard Core Metal imagery & marketing!). I got mad respect for his skills on the snowboard. But oh my God! I want to stab this kid for all the stupid hypocritical shit he spouts out.
September 12th, 2008 at 2:37 am
Who said nitro’s owned by a ski company?? Which? Proof? You are too funny…nitro and burton are propably the last brands (besides some small core companies) that are NOT owned by a ski company.
September 12th, 2008 at 5:40 am
wow, you sound like a fucking douchebag.
September 12th, 2008 at 11:45 am
nitro is distributed at the same place as nordica. so there u go ask a local rep they wont tell u anything different! dont hate guys austins just following the latest and greatest trend in snowboarding and now im not talking about feathers or dream catchers no gypsy gear here, hes pretending to be a skateboarder! thrasher for life phelps would be proud hope u got some of them spitfire wheels to go on ur indys. hows that anti hero deck treating u
September 12th, 2008 at 11:54 am
well said.
September 12th, 2008 at 5:52 pm
the guy rides for nike. but rockstar is a no no. fuck get your head right dude.
September 12th, 2008 at 8:41 pm
Jdizz I just bought the people movie and you are right he went from a great video part to you that was ok. Kid has talent for sure. It’s to bad he hang with bryan fox. he needs to ride with people that are better than him not worse. Yes Nitro is a ski company. Nitro can try to act hard core but it’s a ski brand. Rock on Hard core marketing. Burton, Rome,Forum,Capita,Gnu and Lib Tech are all that is left for snowboard brands. The rest are Ski brand my friends.
September 12th, 2008 at 11:22 pm
everyone is just jealous.. have fun working shitty jobs while i travel round the world and shred pow.. jokes on you not me..
September 13th, 2008 at 3:48 pm
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that I am ungratefull for all the oppertunities that snowboarding has given me so I am going to rub it in peoples faces and the second I get hurt everyone is going to drop me cause I am a complete dickhead. I diss one of snowboardings ledgends because I have had one good part and one decent part which are both not even close to Benedek’s lame part which was oh 6 years ago. I am truely the sell out because after I got a couple of sponsors and filmed some stuff I have completely sold out my personality to become a shit talking american dumbass.
September 14th, 2008 at 1:02 pm
Burton want’s to be a ski company!!
September 14th, 2008 at 2:06 pm
Lib and Gnu are under the Quiksilver umbrella. Not a ski company but pretty damn close since they sponsor skiers and own Rossi.
September 14th, 2008 at 3:18 pm
How can he hate on David Benedek for Rockstar when he rides for NIKE!? Ignorant fool..
September 15th, 2008 at 10:49 pm
David is a legend, just cause you drop one hot part and go and try to be all “legit” … like nike? man come on, and i ain’t sayin nike aint cool, cause its the shit. But then theres Nitro? come on.. you know thats a ski company dont you? You Ride for a ski company and a company rockstar will never be bigger then Nike? Dude your a sick shreder, but you got a lot to learn, you def. have stoked out some kids, but the OGs (industry/old pros/anyone who not stupid in snowboarding) in the game are all shaking there heads. Hey austin whos your fav snowboarder actually… Scotty, MFM, Devun, David, Lucas, JP, Jones, Ladvik, Cartwright, Lynn, Parker?? Some of them sold out and some didnt, But everyone respects them for a reason cause there the real deal. Your in the middle a sell out that doesn’t even know. Still have a sick part last year though, probably a good one this year. Can you put out 4.7.. 9… 10.. over a decade of footy, hommi with interviews like this your gonna burn shit down real fast. keep it real austin but think a lil harder next time
September 16th, 2008 at 1:23 pm
even with an interview of this caliber you guys still owe me 100 bucks
September 17th, 2008 at 3:33 am
Its amazing how serious people can take one comment about not backing energy drink sponsorships. Nike may be a big corporation but atleast they actually make a product that is needed to snowboard. Or maybe all the haters on here require a couple red bulls to get fired up for some lawn darts in the park.
September 17th, 2008 at 1:12 pm
OK, so first of all, Benedek. Let’s sum it up. The robotfood shit was nice. but then.. 91 words for snow sucked ass; a stack of overproduced, pompous bullshit - segregating the differents sides of snowboarding, it’s dumb and you know it. The Gap Session is just lame, who the fuck is counting millisecs of airtime?? Let’s get someone to pull a 5-digit rotation and shoot it from 90 angles at infinitive frames per second and then make the perfect moment last for ever. It reminds me of that video on the airblaster site, the skier guy trying to do the quad flip.. all this hucking is just a fle circus. The guy changed up his demeanor because he’s totally insecure about his own identity. Is he a science geek or an ironic comedian or a rockstar or a keep-it-real-shred-guy? Perfect jumps.. who cares. I don’t feel as if i’m jumping on someones wang for saying I agree with Austin Smith about Benedek. And this whole “which company is the realest” - chatter needs to stop. I love snowboarding and snowboarder owned, small, weird companies, but when it comes to business; sometimes you need to do BUSINESS. Most of you guys are like “yah boo, big companies suck”, and you can’t even say why. I’ll tell you what sucks:
Snowboarders getting cheered on by a bunch of color-matching, all-over-print rich kids, for trying to do tricks that skiers have been doing for 30 years, practicing on airbags and kissing eachother asses like a bunch of fucking actors. That’s reversed developent. I’ll take a Nike executive any day over a bunch of split personality, spoiled ass little hangaround douchebags.
September 18th, 2008 at 3:16 am
what if i said that that benedick sucks anyway, no matter if he rides for rockstar or not
September 18th, 2008 at 7:52 pm
you guys are all just jealous if any of you could be sponsered by nike you would be
September 18th, 2008 at 10:34 pm
Kid got shit handed to him too quick. His whole click. He needs to slave away at some bullshit minumum wage job all winter to get by and try to find time to film on top of that. Maybe rack up a bunch of credit card debt traveling and have some wack company lie to him, “check is in the mail” . Then he’d be sucking Rockstar’s balls. Nike? Give me a break. Try riding for a company owned by a snowboarder.
September 19th, 2008 at 1:19 am
Try dealing with all the fucking corporate whores this dude does and show me a man his age who wouldn’t be jaded. Or any man for that reason. Austin rules not only because he’s a modest and friendly individual but also because he’ll stomp you and all your buddies tricks combined before you even strap in. People are “Pro’s” for a fucking reason you kook.
September 19th, 2008 at 1:28 am
Which one? Jesse or Lukas? Maybe you should check your stats before you start dropping industry knowledge. Rookie of the Year, Video part of the Year, and who did you say is riding who’s coat tails? Fox kills it. Austin kills it. However, going from Lukas’ ir77 project to last part in a Mack Dawg Production within two years? You should check in with more media than what you get on this site and realize this kid is his own man. kook.
September 19th, 2008 at 1:36 am
How old is that fucking Euro now? Austin? Austin? How old are you? Austin?
Oh wait, I just realized something…. Austin isn’t going to answer because he’s probably doing something cool with all his money from his “sponsors”. Instead of wasting his time replying to retards like you. The kid has talent “and” style. Dave’s got one of those but the other is eXtremely influenced by neither skateboarding nor surfing…… Rockstar anyone?
September 19th, 2008 at 1:39 am
yeah well said… “the kid need to think before he opens his mouf”
September 19th, 2008 at 1:41 am
yeah dog…. jugalogo’s fo life. at least someone on this website is for real and shit. shit.
September 19th, 2008 at 4:07 am
you can do rodeos. you have so much talent and style.
September 29th, 2008 at 2:19 pm
this is some funny shit. i bet if this interview dropped during the middle on jan. there would be way less controversy because people would actually be snowboarding instead of surfing…the internet.
November 15th, 2008 at 7:16 pm
Who can tell me what’s the problem of a company that’s owned by a ski company? I mean if you like your board you don’t care if it’s somme ski brand company.
December 12th, 2008 at 2:15 pm
why dont all of you guys imagine being austin smith, drilled with questions about something totally new in your life? i’d be a little flustered too. he’s a cool kid and it hurts my heart to read all the mean things you bullies have to say. keep that shit to yourself.
December 12th, 2008 at 2:21 pm
well its funny that you say that cause austin is a quiet kid.
December 18th, 2008 at 1:14 am
no matter what anyone says, this website is the best hater website ever, all of you snowboarders who think your so core. i have news for you. The snowboard industry is not core anymore. I used to hate on companies like quik and nitro, i also used to try my hardest not to but from anyone affiliated with a ski company. bottom like is, there are like 2 core companies left in snowboarding that i can think of off of the top of my head; signal, and airblaster. im not talking about tiny ass glove companies like candy grind and shit like that, but those two companies dont have anything to do with sking, or corperate bull shit. This dosnt mean there arent any good companies. Im down with burton, they make people want to go snowboarding. they make the best snowboards, boots(debatably, along with 32) and for sure make the best bindings. The company has a awesome warrenty system, there outerwear cant be better and they contribute to every major video, have huge sponsership programs, the chill program, and put on contests like the US open. so you cant really hate on that. Nike is a awesome company also. yea they use child labor and all that bull shit. but nobody on this page has anything to do with that and i bet all of you have something that was made by little eastern childern. Quiksilver, last but not least is all good too. Most of you core want to be shredders are down with mervin cause you think ohhh there hand made and they started the rocker bull shit and magnatraction, and they hate burton too. Well quicksilver owns that, dc, rossignal, roxy, and im probably missing some shit but theres nothing wrong with big companies as long as they make good products.
oh yea, and austin smith dosnt do roller blade tricks. so all you double corkers and kids that like to get upside down like those rollerblade asian twins that were all over the x games a few years ago, maybe invest in a few mfm video parts and get cha head right
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