7:48 with Oakley White-Allen

Harvey interviews Oakley White-Allen

Watch the Video (Real Player - 8 megs)

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Text Version
This was typed from the video interview, so any mis-spellings and such are mine, not Oakley's.

Who are, you where do you live, how'd you get into it?
I'm oakley white allen. I live here in Whistler, British Columbia. Been here for about three years. I came here as a digger for High North and I got scouted by a Japanese photography who was putting together a development team. It was Kerry Richards, Mark Abma, Chris Turpin, and I all rode for Fischer/Gravity. It was the first sponsor I ever had so I decided to stay here and work with that.

What was the first comp you were ever in?
Kalhua Half Pipe Jam in Stowe in 1999.

How'd you Do?
I won it.. it worked out pretty funny. I showed up with big powder skis and I was really really late. I didn't even know it was a comp. I thought it was just a jam everyone was just going to hang out and ski and just ride pipe together. Turned out it was a comp and I walked away with a free pair of Fischers.. it was pretty cool.

Is Big Mountain your primary focus?
I'm pretty 50/50 right now. Half of my time I spend skiing powder and finding good lines and concentrating on big mountain, the rest of the time I ski half pipe.

What are your favourite tricks?
My favourite tricks are probably mctwist 5s and ally-oop mctwist 5s in the pipe... I started to learn cork 7s this summer. I really like the way it feels, but my favourite tricks are probably just 360 and mctwist 5.

What's your favourite backcoutry skiing moment?
My friend Rob Dumontny and I at Advantage Peak up in the Duffy Lake region. It was just really nice.. just me and my good buddy who I ski with a lot. We summited it alone and just skied this really great face that was totally fresh. The sun was out, no one was there, no cameras, no video, it was just for us. That's my favourite thing. I like shooting and capturing things on film, but if you can have a moment that's just for you and your friends, it's pretty sweet.

Who's your biggest half pipe influence?
Probably Terje Haakinson and Danial Frank. I used to watch a lot of snowboard videos when I was in high school like Meltdown Project and all the old Mackdawg films. Snowboarding has been my biggest influence.

Who do you ride with?
Rob Dumontny, Chris [no way I can spell the last name - Ed.] who's a snowbaorder on the Canadian National Team, Chris Turpin, and my girlfriend Victoria. I ski pow with her whenever it snows.

Why do you love whistler so much?
It's got both of what I want. It has pretty much the best pipe I've found. It's got steeps, vert, it's consistent. Tons of really good riders here. I don't have a sled cause I can't afford to buy it, gas it, fix it. If I'm going to hit anything in the backcountry, I'm going to hike it and the nice thing about being here is that they're all right there. Take a chair lift up and between 20 and 40 minutes you can ski all sort of crazy Alaska style lines.

What are your plans for this season?
I'm going to go to the US Open Halfpipe and WSI Halfpipe. And I wan to do more big mountain comps like the Canadian Nationals and the Red Mountain comp, and maybe go down to the States for some there. I want to really stay well rounded in big mountain and park.

How'd you get involved with ns clothing?
Just this summer actually. I met newschoolers.. I started talking about it with Doug Bishop, the guy I shape the QP with at High North, and we just shoot the shit all morning cause we're the only people that are really working on it all the time. He told me about what you guys were doing and I went to check out the site and found out how many people were involved in it. It's pretty sweet, I feel pretty lucky to be a part of that.

What impact to you hope to have on NS Clothing?
I'd like to have a creative impact. I have a lot of ideas for designs and stuff like that. Also, I know NS has a lot of really sick park riders, but I think it's really important to get some big mountain riders to focus on skiing as skiing, not just jumping.

What's the secret to living cheap in Whistler?
Make friends with responsible people who are open-hearted. That's your lifeline right there, open-hearted responsible people. I've slept on so many couches.. I can't even cout.

Go grocery shopping. Don't drink at the bars. Don't try to buy a car... get a bus pass! It's the party scene that really drains the bank account. You go to the bar and it's $5 for a drink. You really can't have a lot of fun with $5 per drink. Not unless you're rich, or someone else forget their credit card at the bar.

What's your take on independent ski companies like Armada and 4Frnt?
I think it's great man. I always wanted it to happen sooner, but I really like the fact that the people that wanted to start ski companies really let skiing evolve a little more before they tried to branch out. Now is the time to buy skis from independent companies.. not Europe.. cause it all just goes to FIS when you buy a European ski. It's a really small niche you know? There's not a lot of money to be had, and we need to save it here so we can make it bigger.

Shoutouts!
I just have to thank the entire Whistler Community for being so open to me. Coming here as an American.. I think a lot of people don't even know.. it's not even really an issue here, I really like that.

All the skiers here, the shooters.. Bruce Rowles really helped me out last winter. Chris Turpin, Rob Demontny, the whole 604 crew. Everbody back home like Trevor Burton, Mark Willis, all my influences. I've got too many to list. Thanks!