A life full of Snowboarding
Snowboarding has been my life so far. I wake up with snowboarding and go to bed with it, I breath snowboarding. Snowboarding has done so many good things to me. I cannot even name them all. This winter I will be competing again in the Freeride world tour qualifiers in Europe. I will get some extra space in time, because I just finished my Bachelor in Business Administration at the Johann Cruyff University.
That also means I will have the time to do the snowboard Führer education in Austria. It is a snowboard guiding course, which allows me to take people into the back-country (commercially).
Last winters I reached some of my goals again in Snowboarding. I have been riding those big mountains in Alaska, Valdez. I even had a podium place on the Freeride World Qualifiers in Jasna and I have been filming a lot. One of these movies should come out soon, it is a Private production called “Click Clack”.
You can read all about this trips and competitions on Bas’ powder log. This winter I will be riding the alps again. I hope I will come back with some scary footage!!
History 2000-2010
I have been snowboarding for more than 15 years, 10 years of those I spend the whole season in the alps. Riding and working as a Snowboard Instructor. I just loved snowboarding so much. It is great to spend your life and passion in the mountains. 5 Years ago, I started to work less and less as an Instructor. Because I started to compete in Boardercross in the FIS and I did some Freeridecrosses.
Three seasons ago started a new chapter, I suddenly got invited for the Freeride World Qualifying Series. I was really proud to get started in this tour as the first Dutch rider. And it is my goal to compete and ride with my fellow competitors in this tour for the next 5 years. That is the advantage of freeriding, I am relatively young compared to the other competitors, so I still have many years to go and get more experience. The hardest thing right now is that it is a judged sport. So I need to get confident with the rules and how to manage the points to qualify for the Big tour (Freeride World Tour).
In order to reach the top of the Freeride World Tour I am doing a lot of fitness, surfing and cycling.
Two winters ago I spend the first part of the winter St. Anton which was great, but the second halve I spend in Alaska Valdez. I was doing my Internship for H2O guides, a heli-operator. I met a lot of super cool people who I will never forget. This experience has teached me a lot about mountaineering and riding real big lines. The spines are great there, I love it when it sluffs all around you. AK I will be Back!!
I want to thank all the riders who have been so inspiring to me in snowboarding: Reinier van Gils, Gü Maier, Ruud Houtmeijers, Bas Bolsman, Flow Snowboard Team, Michiel Roukens, Evelien van den Berg Jeths, Sanne Koeman, Ripstar Crew, Björn Hartweger, Pechy, Gustl Schoberleitner, Blacky, Rutger Geerling, Xavier Delerue, Aurelien Routens, Michiel en Bas Rotgans, Michi Hartweger, Dolf van der Wal, Flo Örley, Heiko Vogl, Stef Anemaat, Andy, Kaprun locals crew, Robert, Gigi Rüf, Steven Daemen, Irian van Hefteren, Mario Fuchs, Sjoerd Remmelink, Chris from St. Anton, de Witte, Steen, Matthi, Easy Rider, Mario, Sabine Enzinger, Herbert, St. Anton locals, Pim Stigter, Niels Breuker, David Mol, Edo Jungerius, Anne Fleur Eiff, Martine Veldhoen, Terje Haakonsen, Nicolas Müller, Kirchberg Locals, Ischgl Locals, Youri, Lucas, Manfred, Angi, Ralph, Max Zipser, Daniel Regensburger, Raphael Brüllet, Alex Hoffman, Mirjam and everybody I ever snowboarded with.
