Tuesday, June 24

Burton Summer Session -- JP Solberg

By Dave Finger
EXPN.com

What happens when you take three pro snowboarders out of their element and throw them into New York City? We found out when we interviewed Keir Dillon, JP Solberg and Kelly Clark of the Burton Snowboards team last week in their Scando-designed NYC showroom. Besides the summer shred, we touched base on scoping hotties, killing sleds and shark attacks. Our final edition of this three-part Summer Session comes from Bergen, Norway local and all-around shred video superstar, JP Solberg … enjoy.

EXPN.com: What's NYC been like for the Norwegian?

JP Solberg: Just chillin', doing these meetings, sending text messages to my girlfriend in Norway, eating Swedish meatballs (in the café downstairs). I feel at home in this building (The Scandinavia House, on Park Avenue between 37th and 38th streets).

What's up with your summer session?

I'm going to Mount Hood. I'm gonna cruise in, get my shots and get out of there as fast as possible (JP's got a part in the new Sean Kearns/Mack Dawg production "Shakedown").

Vermont is known for its white cheddar, here JP boosts backside off another type of white wedge in Stratton.

What other locations did you film in?

I was up in Whistler for two months. It was crazy because in three days, I went through two sleds. Me and Heikki Sorsa bought two new sleds and I forgot to put oil in mine, so it seized up and broke. I had to fix the whole thing. He was telling me, "Ah, this is sick. These are the new sleds. You don't have to put oil in these." And I was like, "Oh, cool." Then I totaled his sled, too.

Wait, what?

I took his sled for a ride and I kinda crashed it going like 60 or 70 miles an hour. He turned 90 degrees and stopped in front of me on his sled. I hit him straight on and I went flying through the air. My backpack got ripped off my back. And my board was sticking out on the side and it went right over his head … luckily it didn't hit him, so Heikki still has a good head on his shoulders.

What has your filming schedule been like?

I filmed with Mack Dawg this year and am still filming. I got a little something in from Mammoth, a little bit in Whistler. I don't know what my part is going to end up looking like. It'll probably be some backcountry and some park action, too. It was a really bad season on the West Coast this year and I got hurt. He's (Keir) still injured. I bruised my heel at the U.S. Open.

JP and his first signature board, part of Burton's new UN INC line.

It's your psychic injury connection …

Yeah. You see, I never get to go home, so I was like, "F**k it, I need to get hurt." And the same day I said that, I really injured myself. I was joking around saying, "What can I do that's not too serious? I should bruise my heel." Everybody was listening. Then I went up with my buddy Romain (De Marchi), and we were going to start hitting this one jump. But then I bruised my heel right away, first jump. Everybody said the jump was O.K. and everything's cool. But the snow was really bad, and you had to salt it to make it hard. But what nobody told me was that everything was salted except for the lip of the jump. So when I came in at full speed and reached the lip, it was like glue. I got pitched forward and went straight to knuckle. I'm surprised nothing else happened, though. I came down pretty hard and the knuckle was pretty icy -- I didn't even leave a mark. It was the day after the Open and I was out for two months after that. I started riding again a month ago. So I'm like panicking trying to get my shots down. The 15th of July, that's the cut. That's when we stop filming.

Sled? Check. Shovel? Check. Utah backcountry? Check. Big-ol' booter? Check. Backside steez? Check out JP.

Did you at least get a trip home out of it?

Oh, yeah. I was pretty stoked. I was sitting in the ambulance like, "Ah, I know I'm going home now." But when I went home, it wasn't what I expected. So I was just kinda sitting on my couch. I got to hang with my lady a little, but she broke her foot too. We were the crippled couple on the couch. I don't ever get to go home if I don't get hurt, at least not for more than like a week.

But that gave you some time to work on your new board line.

Yeah, UN INC. Un-incorporated. A piggybank with an "X" covering the money slot is our logo. Cause there's no money comin' in … the un-incorporate. Burton left a board slot open and put it on us. They asked if we'd like to see anything new, and of course we did. We wanted our own boards. We were five riders: me, Romain (De Marchi), Gigi (Ruf), Jeff Anderson and DCP, and they gave us a board line and told us to do whatever we want: spend as much money as we want, chose the artist, what kind of material, whatever. We went through hundreds of boards and finally agreed on one. I put my stats on my board, so you can see where I put my bindings, what kind of angles I ride. I think it turned out pretty good. And it won't be sold in every store, either. So keep your eyes open.

Boy, those Swedes know how to party. Their version of Kristall ... in Lingonberry flavor.

** The proceeds from Jeff Anderson's board sales are going to the The Mammoth Lakes Foundation/Jeff Anderson Memorial Fund for the construction of a skatepark in Mammoth Lakes, CA.

Check out what Keir had to say in our first installment.

Or perhaps you're more interested in Kelly's words from our second installment.