Northwest Boarder | Portland Oregon Mt. Hood Snowboarding Skateboarding Surfing

Sarah Gall Interview

Posted on Jun 14, 2010 by Landon in Interviews, Snowboarding

There’s been a consistent name popping up out of everyone’s mouth in the last few months. I keep hearing about this Sarah Gall girl who blow’s doors on the mountain, and who’s riding better then alot of the guys. She spreads her time between TImberline, and Meadows keeping her skills honed both in and out of the park. She’s a silent killer in competition, leaving a trail of first place hopeful’s in second place, wondering where she came from, and how she beat them. And trust me, she isn’t stopping at first place. Mark my words… Sarah Gall is the next big thing to come out of Mt. Hood. This is her story…

What is your full name?
Sarah Mae Gall

Age?
16

Where do you ride for Parks/Pow?
I like to ride timberline for park. Meadows for pipe and pow. and Skibowl at night for rails.

Your in high school still right?
yessir, I am going into my junior year next year.

Sarah Gall

I heard you killed it this year competitively. Tell us about your 09/10 season?
Well I started riding park my freshmen year when I joined the snowboard team, I rode with a lot of people that were better than me, like Kelly Underwood, who won first in every state event that year. It pushed me a lot to get better and I also put alot of time in, riding all spring and summer. By the time this year rolled around I felt like I had progressed a lot. I feel like everything paid off for me this year and I ended up very pleased with my contest results. It’s not really about winning for me though, I just like to improve my riding while having a great time with a bunch of girls that are all progressing women’s snowboarding.
Sarah and friends after a win

You won every contest you entered right?
Not every contest… but almost. I got 1st in state for halfpipe and slopestyle for high school. For USASA Hood series I got 1st in two halfpipe competitions and I got 1st in one of the slopestyles and 2nd in the other. At nationals I got 5th in slopestyle and 6th in halfpipe. that is pretty much all, besides little contest and rail jams here and there that I did alright in.

So practice makes perfect… well, almost.
Almost.

What kind of tricks are you doing that are working for you in contests?
For slopestyle usually front 3 tail and spinning on and off of boxes. For pipe its front 3 to cab 3 and airing out of the pipe with grabs.
Sarah Gall @ Meadows Pipe

What are you working on for next year trick wise?
I want to get my 5′s down over jumps this summer, I have landed a couple good ones but it’s not consistent. And the same thing for pipe, I’m just gonna try to get 5′s and try to air out bigger.

Are you partaking in any of the summer camps or just riding on your own schedule?
I can not afford summer camp unfortunately so I will probably just be stayin in the public park on the mile this summer.

You have a summer pass at T-Line right?
YES, I worked at timberline in the wintertime so I earned my summer pass for only 25 dollars! I feel very lucky to live so close to the mountain and be able to ride in the summer, I wouldn’t trade it for anything! Also summertime is the best time to ride and learn because the snow is soft and slushy so it doesn’t hurt as bad when you fall, haha.

Have you ever got caught cutting school and riding?
haha… unfortunately yes, I was grounded for a week, and suspended for a day. But I don’t regret it because it was one of the best bluebird days all year. Me and a couple friends, Mike Janes and Justine Robinson went to timberline and filmed, and I landed my first 5 that day.

When your done with High School, do you plan on staying local to Mt. Hood?
I plan to maybe do my first year at Mt. Hood Community College and take my main required courses, then I would like to transfer to a different college somewhere like Colorado, Utah, Montana, or California. Hopefully I can try to get some scholarships to help out because out of state is more expensive. But when I am out of school for the summer hopefully I can still be able to come back to Mt. Hood and ride a little.

What traveling have you done for snowboarding?
The only traveling I have done is when I went to nationals to compete in Colorado this year for USASA. That was one of the most fun times I have ever had. I got to ride Breckenridge and Copper. Breck was my favorite, I loved their park sooo much, I wish I could ride it everyday! Besides that I have been to bachelor and whistler a couple times but that’s about it. Mostly I ride at hood.

What sponsors do you have?
I am sponsored by ilusive snow wear. They are a small local company. They make face mask’s, beanies, hat’s, sunglasses, t-shirts and sweatshirts. They are a pretty sweet company. I totally support them.

I know Grant from illusive. He’s a great kid. Small world.
Nice!

What other girls have you been riding with that are ripping?
I met a couple girls at nationals this year, Devyn Shnake and Nicole McNulty. they are killing it pretty hard! Also my friends Emily Smith, Gaby Maldonado, and Aspen Inouye are killing it as well, they came to nationals this year too.

What about the guys? Who impressed you this year?
My friend Taylor Rydmen has been doing super good this year also! It seems like he never rides, but every time i see him he is like 100 times better than before! I don’t understand how he gets so good! He was put on the Northern Alliance team this year. He is the same age as me so he will be a junior next year also. I expect to see him killing it on the SHS team again next year!

Anything else you want to say or shout outs?
I wanna give a shout out to my coach Connie for being not only a coach to me but like a best friend also! She is always pumping me up before competitions and she helped me control my nerves at nationals right before my drop. I think it is awesome that she does so much for all the girls on the SHS team even though we have a hard time paying her. She was offered $3,000 to coach another team, but she stayed with us