This week we talk with veteran professional athlete and company owner Gigi Rüf. Gigi has been around the pro scene for a couple of decades, filming with some of the most notable crews in the sport including Kingpin Productions, Absinthe Films and The Pirates. Born in 1981, Gigi has done it all - well just about, including winning Travis Rice's Ultra Natural, and a stop of the Freeride World Tour and even had a signature movie called 9191. He was part of the old Burton UNINC crew, but left Burton after the rest of the team was disbanded, and his outerwear sponsors Volcom offered to provide him with pro model board sponsorship as well. After a long stint with Volcom as his main sponsor, he has now set up his own snowboard brand called Slash Snowboards.

In this episode we discuss:

• Olympics in Snowboarding
• Progression and self expression
• Direction of the sport
• Freeride World Tour Vs. Ultra Natural
• Getting paid by Burton, Nike and Volcom
• Why he started Slash Snowboards
• The Futureproof crash
• Riding in Alaska
• Working with photographers
• Beekeeping

Shout out to the sponsors of this episode Cardiff Snowcraft and Yes Snowboards. We ask that you support the brands that support disruptive snowboard media. Find out more about these guys at their websites.

http://cardiffsnow.com

http://yesnowboard.com

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THE SNOWBOARD PROJECT

Gigi Rüf - Episode 110

Hosted by Mark Sullivan

Produced by Mark Sullivan

Associate producer Dustin James

Art by Aaron Draplin and Sarat