Northwest Boarder | Portland Oregon Mt. Hood Snowboarding Skateboarding Surfing

Adrian Blair Interview

Posted on Apr 06, 2010 by Landon in Interviews, Snowboarding

How long have you been living and riding on Mt. Hood?
My Mom took me skiing when I was 6 and I was taken snowboarding once when I was around 12. But I didn’t really start riding till the 98/99 season. My friend Jared Swift, who I skated with all the time, called me up and said he was going up to build a jump at Timberline and had an extra set up. I was like, uh it’s august. But I went and we hiked up the mile canyon and built this little bump of a jump. I didn’t know how to turn so I would hike up far enough to where I could just point it and hit it. I was hooked! The next season I moved to Govy.

Adrian Blair / Photo: Hadid

Adrian Blair / Photo: Blake McCoy

You ride mainly at Timberline?
Pretty much now. I got started working and riding at Timberline. But it didn’t take long to realize I needed to be at Meadows. Back then Timberline’s parks left a lot to be desired. And we all know where to go to ride pow. Back in the day Meadows parks were on point. Back when Paulino ran shit. I don’t know exactly what happened but all of the sudden their parks just started SUCKING. At the same time Timberline’s parks, ran by Tony Distrola, started to really take shape. So it started to be, when you wanted to ride a good flowing park, you went to Timberline. And that has only gotten more so.

Adrian Blair / Photo: Drew Smalley

What is your involvement with the parks and the resort at TImberline?
It all kind of started accidentally. Timberline’s Marketing director, Brian Reed, contacted me about a photo of mine on Flickr that he wanted to use for a flyer. Since I didn’t know him I saw it as a good opportunity to say what’s up and tell him how great of a job I thought the parks department was doing. So I wrote him a long ass email giving the park soldiers props. The park guys were super stoked when they found out about it and so it gave me the idea to start the Timberline Parks Blog. I loved the idea of giving credit to the guys that maintain the parks allowing us to have so much fun. I also figured, if I can spotlight the parks at Timberline, I can get them to keep up with the progression and not get lazy. My relationship with Timberline, so far, is purely unofficial. I don’t work for them. I like the idea of the Timberline Parks Blog staying completely objective. It’s nice to get inside info from Timberline as well as get inside info from the riders. If Timberline follows through with some of the ideas I’ve heard, people are going to FLIP!

My 2010 Park Edit from www.timberlineparks.com on Vimeo.

You were on an ad on the MAX right?
Yeah. It was all a surprise to me. One day I got an email from Brian with a photo of me on the roof of the max. Stoked on Karim’s shot. One of my all time favorite photos. And I don’t even like rails that much.

Why do you think Timberline has such better parks then other resorts on Mt. Hood?
I think there are a couple of reasons. The first one is the fact that Timberline’s runs are set up for it. If you think about Conway’s. It’s a top to bottom park run. And it’s long. There’s no ride to and from the park. All of Meadows runs intersect with other runs so it’s hard to make a long park. If you think about Park Place. That park can be pretty fun when it’s one of those park/pow days. Where you ride the park and then drop into the trees for some fun pow lines down to the bottom. But the other 60% of the time that extra ride time takes it’s tole on your legs. City Park is top to bottom but its super short. So Timberline has the runs.

Second, I think, is just a more laid back approach to the risks of operating a terrain park. I think Timberline has realized that without a good park they don’t have much appeal to snowboarders in the winter. However, the fact that they have long, uninterrupted runs, Consistent slopes, and more snow than any other resort on Mt Hood makes them the perfect park resort.


Where do you ride on powder days? Would you consider yourself more of a park rider?
Well this year my plan was to rip Skibowl on powder days. But the lack of snow this year isn’t really allowing for that. I had some of the best powder runs of my life in the last week between Meadows and Skibowl. My homie Zach was in town from the east coast this last week and he always seems to bring the powder. Thursday, Owen, Dave and I got first chair on the Magic Mile at Timberline. We killed it all day and then made it to Skibowl for first chair on Lower and Upper Bowl. It was flipping amazing!

Yeah I’m definitely more of a park rider. What can I say? I love to jump and spin. It drives me nuts when people dis on kids that prefer throwing down in the park to doing slashers on a wind lip. Nicholas Muller said it best. “In snowboarding, there’s no wrong way to have fun.”

Adrian Blair / Photo: Hadid

It seems like there are alot of rippers at Timberline right now. Are the parks more geared towards pros and advanced riders?
Nah, they have features for everyone. Glade park will always have super beginner features. There was a point where Conway’s was more on the intermediate/advanced tip than just the intermediate level. But it’s shrunk back down. I loved it when it was on the bigger side when it comes to the jumps. Bigger jumps are usually safer jumps. I would prefer they keep them big and add a second lip. The flow of Conway’s when you kill a run top to bottom, to me, is equal to ALMOST anything you can do in the pow. And before I get hated on, notice I said almost. And obviously Paintbrush is geared towards the advanced riders.

Besides yourself, who are the guys/girls ripping right now at Timberline that deserve to get recognized?
Oh man. There are so many. I would say just about all of them deserve to get recognized. To holla at all of them would take pages. But one person is Corey Caswell. This kid has the most creative style out of anyone I know. He’s always doing some weird tweak or grab (the bloody dracula. ask about it). And he’s got tricks. But most importantly, no matter what he does, he has fun. He never takes it to serious. That’s how it should be.

Corey Caswell / Photo: Adrian Blair

Anyone who you see that could be the next big thing coming out of Tline?
Corey Caswell

What is the Timberline logo? It looks kind of like an Indian symbol. Do you know what it means?
No clue… good question!

Your pretty into shooting photos and editing video yourself. Is that all just for fun?
Yeah I love that shit! I’ve loved editing snowboard and skate footage since I was doing it on a camera and VCR. Get me in front of a Macbook and Final cut and I can check out for hours. I love to get creative so it’s perfect. In the last year I took on photography and it didn’t take long before I had to sell my beginner camera to get a good one. I love to learn shit so between Final Cut, Photoshop, After Effects and learning to use the camera I’m set for days.
Check out some of Adrian’s photos

Tell us about your site, timerlineparks.com. What is the purpose of the site and how long have you been running it.
Well like I said before, I started timberlineparks.com as a way to showcase Timberline’s Parks and do it from a riders perspective with no outside influence from the resort. I really didn’t mean for it to blow up like it did but I’m super stoked people dig it. I’ve actually had to take a break from it the last few weeks because I’ve had some other stuff going on. I’m sure people aren’t to stoked about that. But being an unfunded one man band makes it pretty difficult. So I’m working on a way to provide more consistent content. I want the parks covered fully this spring and summer. I’ve also got a project that I’m working on that I’d be stoked to have your help promoting. I’ll keep you informed. (Sounds cool Blair… keep me posted on that, I’d love to help you)

Your part of the 30 + slayer club and RIPPING big time at both skating and snowboarding. Are you sponsored by any companies right now?
HAHA. Yeah I couldn’t be more excited about the fact I can still send it. I tore my ACL in feb 07 and didn’t end up getting it fixed until Christmas Eve of that year so I was sure it was never going to heal completely. But after riding the couch and playing Skate for an entire year I came back in full force. Been solid ever since and seriously feel like I’m in the best riding shape I’ve ever been in.

Adrian Blair / Photo: Hadid

Nope no sponsors anymore. After Burton I rode for Endeavor for a season but by then I was over sponsors and just wanted to ride what I wanted to ride. I do have some companies I like and will always support. The homies at Auviq always make dope street stuff and are total grassroots style. I also always have to holla at my homie Chris Prosser at Atmosphere because I’ve known him forever and he’s been at it for a minute. I love seeing local people blow up. Whether it be seeing Atmosphere sell outerwear in Japan or seeing my former NRC boardshop Team mate Darrell Mathes on the cover of Transworld. I Love to see people getting shit done.

What are your goals for next year?
Teach my daughter Ashlyn backside 3′s.

Any last words?
Haters never prosper.