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Tue, 02/02/2010 - 4:28pmA little Q&A with James Stentiford
We caught up with James fresh from his third place finish in Chamonix, and before he goes on to compete in the Nissan Russian Adventure, also in Chamonix, on Thursday
DCMT: So James, how’s it going?
JS: It’s good, I just got invited to the next Freeride World Tour event because I came third in Cham. They were supposed to do the Nissan Russian Adventure in Sochi but they’ve changed the location to Chamonix this Thursday due to the conditions over there.
DCMT: So you get another go with the home-turf advantage?
JS: Yeah, the double home-turf advantage!
DCMT: Was Sunday’s comp the first one you’d entered?
JS: No it was the third, I’d done a couple two years ago. One in Russia, when I was riding for Nissan, and one in Tignes.
DCMT: Did you have a feeling that you might do well on Sunday?
JS: Well, after I did the other two comps where I came middle of the bunch, 7th and 10th, and just from watching I set myself the target of before I retire, at least making top three in one of them.
It’s funny though, on Sunday I just thought I’ll do my run and whatever happens, happens. I wasn’t ‘not’ confident; I was confident in my own ability but I wasn’t thinking I’m going to win this, or that I’m going to come second or third. I was thinking I’ll do a run that I think is fun and nice and see what people think.
DCMT: So it’s not like you went for a more hairy or dangerous line than you’d normally ride?
JS: No, no, I’m too old for that! I don’t mind big cliffs and I don’t mind a bit of exposure but I’m not particularly keen on putting myself in too silly a place. I don’t think particularly that that is what freeriding competitions are about. In my opinion it should be more about style and tricks and flow.
It’s amazing when you do see someone do something really crazy but often those crazy things mean they have to break with the continuity of the line. Skiers may have to hop up a bit to get to the drop of a cliff – you’d never do that if you were filming, you’re riding a line and you want to make it fluid ‘cos otherwise it looks shit on film.
So I try not to change the way I ride for a competition. In your head you start thinking, 'Oh maybe I should go and jump off that cliff there', and you have to almost talk yourself out of it, to remind yourself just to ride the way you ride when you are filming or shooting.
DCMT: What were the key elements of your line?
JS: It was on the Hotel, at Brevent. It was a funny one. I had my line picked out, which was the obvious snowboard line, but everyone was looking at it. Luckily though I had a good bib, I was the fourth snowboarder to go. But just before I was about to go there was an injury and we had to wait at the top for about an hour – it was about minus 15 or 18C up there.
I’d got myself all focused and then that happened and I thought, 'I don’t really care any more!' Which actually made me feel quite relaxed.
We got a radio call from Dan Milner that a few places had avalanched, which because the slope is South facing meant the pack had been taken back to ice and had left the cliff I’d wanted to drop very sketchy.
So I was just sort of, whatever, we’ll see what happens! Basically the top section was nice snow and the bottom was nice, it was just the bit in the middle was sketchy.
Where this cliff was there’s a spine above a really big cliff, and I got on to the face next to the cliff and started sliding on ice, just managing to get enough grip to get over to the other side of the spine, and straight-line it out!
DCMT: I’d always wondered how it works when you have your line figured and then another riders goes and bombs all the landings?
JS: Basically at the beginning you pull a bib out of a bag and you either get lucky or not. If you do get a late bib number you have to try and figure something else. There are always a few obvious lines that everyone is going to go for, but then there are some that need thinking a little harder about. It is definitely much harder to do well if you have a late bib number. You have to think of something a bit more unusual, think outside the box.
DCMT: Where are they holding the comp on Thursday?
JS: Just up on the other side of the Brevent. It is gonna be on the same aspect but a completely different face.
DCMT: Are they both areas that you normally ride?
JS: No, no, the one on Sunday we never ride because it is South facing and it’s a pain in the arse to hike to. And to be honest, from a snowboarder’s perspective, it’s not really a snowboarder’s line: it’s flat, with steep cliffs and short steep landings that go flat very quickly, then it goes flat again, rolls over to more cliffs with very short landings, so it’s not really a snowboarder’s line. This place we’re doing it on Thursday we ride once or twice a season. It’s a really nice spot.
DCMT: How do you find the hike up?
JS: Neither of them are super long hikes, probably about an hour.
DCMT: The Freeride World Tour organisers have suggested that hiking up is an integral part of the comps, to get the riders in tune with what they’re about to do, what do you think?
JS: Definitely, I’m a massive fan of hiking. heli-boarding you always feel very detached from the environment that you are going to be riding because you go from your hotel or airport to the top of a peak and suddenly you’re looking at a really steep face. If you can hike around and poke the snow, test the environment, I definitely prefer to feel more connected to what you’re doing.
I find heli-ing quite tough to get yourself in the right frame of mind to chuck yourself off the top of a mountain.
You get such strange perspectives of the mountain out of the heli window, every aspect that you see a face from can be so different and change things completely… to be able to put all that together, to assess it and figure out where your line is and how big the cliffs are takes a lot of concentration.
DCMT: So if it goes well on Thursday would you consider doing any more of the stops?
JS: I wouldn’t go to Squaw in America, that’s too far for me. If they invited me to Verbier I’d probably do it – that’s the most famous one. It’s a once in a lifetime chance, although I would be absolutely shit-scared
DCMT: Have you ever been on that face before?
JS: No, no, I’ve looked at it and there is one line down there that I like the look of. The rest of it doesn’t really appeal to me, it’s just steep and very rocky.
DCMT: Was there anything else from Sunday that stands out, who laid down some good runs?
JS: To be honest I didn’t watch any of the other runs – I literally did my run, met up with some friends and went snowboarding. The snow was so good on that day!