This fall, I got the chance to spend some time on a longer format conversation with Karakoram Ambassador Gray Thompson.  Gray has been crafting works of snowboard culture for quite some time now.   His Warp Wave projects were a favorite  of mine back when I was looking for inspiration to hike around on a snowsurf around Lake Tahoe.   His latest project, Range of Mystery,  is just wrapping up a well received premiere tour.  The film documents his adventure alongside Karakoram Ambassador Nick Russell and Danny Davis  to travel beyond the known.   Gray has an effortless style to his turns, a healthy bag of tricks, and a unique sense of what’s worth chasing in snowboarding.   He’s in snowboarding for the right reasons, and it shows in his riding.  Gray makes snowboarding look really, really fun.

 

Gray Thompson on Karakoram Bindings from Karakoram on Vimeo.

 

Kyle  

What’s up Gray. How you doing?

Gray  

Doing great, my friend.

Kyle  

You said you’re out in New York– what part of the city are you in right now?

Gray    

I’m out in Brooklyn, New York, meeting with Peter and Stephen, the other guys behind United shapes and this is one of our couple meet-ups of the year since we’re on opposite coasts, so doing a lot of brainstorming. We’re designing the 2020 line of boards and kind of what’s in the pipeline for United Shapes.

Kyle    

Cool. How long have you been doing United Shapes for?

Gray    

Um, let’s see, our first board came out in 2014 I believe. Yeah, the winter of 2014.

Kyle    

Cool. That’s a little while now. What’s your official role for them?

Gray  

So I am one of three co founders of the brand.  My day to day role would be on the marketing side of things. So: social, gathering assets, shooting assets, coordinating with the guys we support and girls we support, and making sure people have what they need, making sure the whole brand image is working and following suit with our tone and our messaging. So, a lot of creative stuff right now. It’s a lot of fun. And then I also do a lot of the actual board design. Anytime we want to create a new shape or line or have a new concept for a board and how how we want it to ride, I’ll kind of hammer the design on that. Or, if we want to tweak existing models, I do a lot of the pen and pencil calculating on that stuff.

 

 

Kyle    

Cool. So why did you guys start United? And what are you guys trying to bring to snowboarding with it?

Gray   

Basically, we started United Shapes because there was room for a brand to come in with a very precise and strong story within snowboarding that hasn’t been watered down with the ups and downs of the snowboarding industry over time. We saw the need for a brand that wasn’t just trend hopping and wasn’t just battling for market space and being all over the map, you know. There was room for a product that was intended for a mature audience and we recreated it through a more tasteful design aesthetic than what was on the market. Something that wasn’t crazy loud and wasn’t trying to tell you something specific.  It’s a snowboard; you have your own story to tell. It’s a means for you to tell your own story. So that’s kind of why we started. I think the three of us are all very creative individuals– we have this need to always create and contribute to different realms of life– and snowboarding happened to be our biggest passion in life. So yeah, I guess we wanted to contribute to snowboarding in our own way. We saw an opportunity to do that.

And what was the second part?

Kyle

You kind of touched on it, what you guys are bringing to snowboarding? I like that idea that the graphics are aesthetically pleasing but there’s also not too much to them that they’re loud and kind of overpowering. I like the idea that they’re kind of like a canvas –

Gray

Yeah

Kyle   

–  and the customer gets to put their own imagination as something to go with it.

Gray  

Yeah, because I mean, at the end of the day, everyone has their own interest, their own style, their own look, their own everything. That’s why making graphics is so hard.  90% of graphic stories in everything– snowboarding, skateboarding, whatever…people follow trends for inspiration. Trends are cool and people can connect with trends, but they move so quickly that it might work one day and the next doesn’t. And a product like a snowboard is really, like it’s more –

Kyle   

Timeless?

Gray  

– it’s more timeless you know, you can have it for a long time and it’s an experiential product you know, it’s really just like a craft for you to go home and experience.  To create the purist experience we felt that having a timeless feel and a very minimal aesthetic and easygoing story helps the person focus on the experience they’re having.

 

Kyle

That’s cool.  That’s a pretty rad approach.  I think what you’re kind of saying is that the boards and the products that you guys put out don’t define someone style but it’s more like something that can go with their style and they can build their own creativity and image on top of.

Gray   

Exactly. That goes into the name United Shapes, it’s this unification of, in our case, all these different snowboards and it allows the consumer to pick something that really speaks to them and they feel comfortable to just build their story with that product.  it’s less force fed to them and loud. We’re all united in this thing, all the products are united. You find where you fit in in the larger picture of it all.

Kyle   

Cool. So it’s kind of like snowboarding is what brings us all together, but then there’s a lot of room for individuality within that.

Gray  

Mm hmm. Exactly. Exactly

 

 

Kyle

What about board shapes and technical stuff?  We have the the Covert split in the shop and it’s super popular. Ross loves that one. It’s one of the stiffer splits that we take out regularly. Pretty awesome board.  What do you guys go for when you’re designing splits or designing board shapes in general?

Gray   

On the technical side of things, we’re not just shaping something that looks cool, that’s not the end goal. Our first board, the Cadet, I designed that with a very specific ride in mind and that’s still how we’re designing each board.  We’ll sit down here and just describe a way, or a feeling that we want to experience out of a board. Like I love turning in this way, or I love when I’m engaged in a turn, and because of the interface with my board in this one part of the turn, this feeling arises.  So we really keep this idea of FEEL in mind when it comes to the actual technical design.

With the Covert, I felt that on this splitboard market everything was very aggressive and hard charging. You know– fall line style riding.  I like that in a splitboard. 9 times out of 10 I’m using my splitboard to do that to some extent. But there’s also something really nice about trying to pair that while being able to slow it down and really rip some turns and make tight turns to ride trees all on the same board. So yeah, I guess it kind of all waters back to the feelings we want to experience and how is this board going to create that?

Overall, most of our boards have followed a freeride direction because to us that’s kind of the creme de la creme of snowboarding. Like whatever you’re given on the mountain during the day, being able to approach it with the board that’s under your feet.  I think that’s really translated into our design over the years.

Kyle   

Cool. How many boards are you riding on a regular basis? You run a snowboard company. I imagine you’re trying a lot of different shapes and experimenting quite a bit.

Gray   

Yeah, I mean, when I’m home and I’m on the wake up and go to the resort program for like a week straight then I’m riding a lot of boards.  I’m probably on four different boards at any given time. Whenever I go to the resort I have a few different boards in the car and if I’m not feeling it, I’ll go down and swap boards out. I’m still doing a lot of r&d work and testing, whether it’s new cores or new side cuts or flexes. I would say that 90% of my riding these days is on the Covert splitboard. Over the years i’ve been feeling less inclined to go to a resort. I don’t know why; probably something to do with injuries and not being able to ride as long on hard pack as I used to be able to. So I find myself more often than not just on a splitboard out for a stroll, couple of nice tree runs.

Kyle  

It’s a good change of pace.

Gray  

It’s great. It’s really changed my whole outlook on snowboarding. Yeah, it’s what I do for fun, but it’s also something that I enjoy that keeps me healthy. Splitboarding is so cool, it’s like two faced, that’s really fucking rad. You get to rip POW with your friends, explore new terrain, be in a quiet place, but it’s also great for your body.  It really slows your pace, its good for you, good exercise, quiets your mind it’s kind of an all inclusive deal for your health.

Kyle

I feel like splitboarding transitions really well with kind of the natural transition a rider goes through as they mature through snowboarding and –

Gray   

yeah

Kyle   

– you still get that same excitement and challenge and adventure of just resort boarding and then there’s a whole other element that you didn’t really even realize you were looking for where it’s like exploration and health and fitness and finding that connection with nature.  It’s this whole new world that opens up– and you’re going “whoa, this is cool too”

Gray    

You nailed it and that’s what I’m most excited about in snowboarding right now. We’re finally at a time where we can have people in the sport that are conscious of their health, and it’s okay to be a healthy person. Like– it’s not all like crushing PBRs in the lot anymore, which is cool… sometimes…  But, you know…

Kyle   

It’s hard to keep that going for 40 years

Gray   

It’s hard to keep that going and not burn out.

Kyle   

Yeah, If you want to spend time outside sooner or later,  times gonna catch up with you, and you gotta take care of your body.

Gray   

You gotta take care of your body and it’s cool to do that now, it’s so great. That’s such a good place for snowboarding to be in and I love it and it’s it’s keeping a lot of people around longer.

Kyle   

Yeah, It’s good for the sport.

 

  Stay tuned here and on the Karakoram instagram for more from Gray and from other Karakoram ambassadors.

 

 

Range of Mystery out now!

https://itunes.apple.com/us/movie/range-of-mystery/id1441356595