Backdrop Journal's FFS Backcountry Podcast

Episode #29 with Ryland Bell - The short doc 'Dig' is so worth taking a moment out of your busy day to watch. Savage and beautiful the Alaskan terrain requires Ryland and his team to be on their game, and after we watched it we just had to chat.

This 28-minute film from Patagonia follows Alaskan ripper Ryland Bell as he drops into a full-scale monster: a 3,200-foot spine line that’s almost twice the size of anything he usually rides around home in Haines. And it’s not like he just hopped off a sled at the top either — just getting into position meant 4.5 hours of bootpacking and nearly 4,000 vertical feet of straight-up suffering.

Watch the Trailer for Dig

Episode #28 - with Krister Kopala

Don’t be fooled by the babyface smile, Krister Kopola is an assassin!

Ok so no he’s not an actual assassin, like shooting people and stuff, but Krister is reshaping the boundaries of what’s possible on a splitboard. He’s constantly pushing himself (both physically and mentally), and his equipment, yet he’s doing it all with a smile on his face, wider than most of the couloirs (often first descents) he’s taking at breakneck speed in his home mountains outside of Tromso.

The Backdrop Crew had the pleasure of spending a couple of days chilling and riding with Krister, at the excellent Arctic Splitboard Festival, a joint venture of Up Guides and Krister.

The first thing you notice about Krister is his size, he’s big, and I mean he’s very tall. If you put an axe in his hand, dressed him elk skin, and put a horned helmet on his head he’d scare the shit out of anyone. But his welcoming laugh, easy going nature, and genuine interest in what you’re up to soon put you at ease.

He doesn’t take himself too seriously and is always joking, but scratch a little deeper and you find a unashamedly vulnerable man. There’s a confidence in his abilities, humbled by a great respect for the mountains. For every seemingly crazy instagram line he’s posted there has been multiple cancelled attempts, knowing when to back off is possibly his greatest skill, that’s not to say he hasn’t had close shaves, but they’ve not been simply shrugged off, they’ve been dug into obsessively, so as to understand and most importantly to learn from.

Krister will be at this seasons Arctic Splitfest, just outside of Alta on the 3-6th April inclusive. There will be workshops, kit tryouts, tours with Krister, yoga, films, and great food/company, we had a real blast last season.

Episode #27 - Jure and Marcus created Moonchild Snowboards, to offer bespoke designed and beautifully crafted stock boards.

But it hasn't stopped there! Jure now heads up Moonchild Skunkworx, with groundbreaking designs, based on everyday life items, such as a kitchen spatula and ice cream cone.

Jure talks about starting a snowboard brand, including the good, the bad, and the ugly. His love of Pow Surfing has seen him design the Atlas Hybrid, a splitboard on the way up a bindingless Pow Surf on the way down.

Episode #26 - Trent Bush was literally there at the beginning, riding boards straight out of the kryptonics factory. His business life is full on Fear(less), Failure and Success.

He’s worked on and created some of the founding snowboard apparel brands; Wave Rave, Twist, Burton, Analog… to the present where he’s set up Artilect, out of Boulder, Colorado.

Trent had so much to tell that we’ve split the pod in two, firstly chatting about the Colorado scene, before (in part two) moving onto setting up and developing brands, concepts, and much much more.

Episode #25 - Trent Bush was literally there at the beginning, riding boards straight out of the kryptonics factory. His business life is full on Fear(less), Failure and Success.

He’s worked on and created some of the founding snowboard apparel brands; Wave Rave, Twist, Burton, Analog… to the present where he’s set up Artilect, out of Boulder, Colorado.

Trent had so much to tell that we’ve split the pod in two, firstly chatting about the Colorado scene, before moving onto setting up and developing brands, concepts, and much much more.

Episode #24, the 2nd of our podcasts from Swedish Lapland, here Andy from the Backdrop crew talks with Upguides’ lead guide, Fred Buttard, and with Stranda Snowboards founder and shaper, Mats Drougge.

The chat was recorded in the Kebnekaiser mountain station, in the far north, above the actic circle during the Stranda backcountry hut trip, in March 2022.

Expedition food is discussed, the landscape of this enormous area, the crazy weather and touring experiences that week, as well as splitboard tech, and a bunch of other topics.

Regarding the La Norma Splitboard fest’ that we discuss, being run by Upguides:

And for Stranda’s Swedish Lapland Backcountry hut trip, running again in March of  2023, find out more info here.

Happy listening!

Episode 24 - Runar Hjorleifsson, is probably best known for his film Fjord Lines, made with Vioir Bjornsson.

During the summer months Runar is a cod fisherman in the Arctic Ocean, but come winter he loves nothing better than to explore his local mountains of East Iceland, searching for new lines and first descents.

We talk; life, asperations, fishing, and all things Iceland.

Watch Fjord Lines on the Backdrop Journal website.

Episode 23 - Ilia Berulava is a man on a mission, not only has he set up the Georgia Guide Office from scratch, he was also instrumental in gaining IFMGA recognition for the mountain guide training in Georgia. We chat life, culture, the mountains of his homeland, and what’s on offer in this special part of the world. 

After training as a guide in Chamonix Ilia returned home to set up his own little Chamonix in the village of Mestia, high in the Svaneti region of the caucasus mountains, close to the Russian border.  It’s been a great success, increasing local on mountain employment, filling hotel rooms and showcasing the regions abundant pow to the world.

“All safety comes from fear... nothing is 100% safe and once you’re in the mountains, aside from your knowledge, you have this gut feeling.”

Episode 22 - During a week Backdrop spent in the arctic region of Swedish Lapland, around Kebnekaiser, in March of 2022, we stayed in some remote huts belonging to the Swedish Tourist Association. Mats was the hut host at one of them - Tarfala - while we were there, making sure we were going to follow the rules, and crucially, how to operate the sauna.

Have a listen as Mats describes how the very democratic Swedish hut system works, how he got his love for the mountains and becoming a hut host, along with a few tales of his experiences up there.

(A little bit less of our FFS theme to this podcast - like, er none - enjoy!)

Episode 21 - Grabbing a solid stick from the quiver, the Backdrop Crew spent a week in the cat with Lynx Freeride.

Based in the Gjeravica mountains of Kosovo, an undiscovered freeride paradise, and a place of bears, wolves, lynx, music, guns, and most importantly powder.

The Lynx Freeride lodge is far off-grid, and was far better than our expectations. We chat with Sebastian Fleiss, and his all snowboard guiding crew, to get the low down on what it takes to get a startup cat operation going in the back end of the Balkans.