george crosland photo blog

Seeing Bucky Lasek at the Pool Party this past few weeks made me think, where are some old photos of him?

Oh man I know have some old photos of Bucky as a young skater on the outskirts of Maryland. There was a vert ramp there called the Hell Ramp it was massive at the time. I think it was 24 feet wide, 9 foot trannies and 3 feet of vert. There would be these crazy parties and the faction and other bands would play. The surface was metal. I hated that ramp actually, it was too gnarly for me. I prefered Cedar Crest with 9.5′ transitions, 18″ of vert and pool coping. Anyway I appreciated Hell ramp for the radness it was and went up there from time to time. I would see Bucky at age 13 doing some crazy shit. There also was a mini ramp nearby for a while and I would see Bucky there too. It was weird to me becasue Cedar Crest and Hell Ramp were only about 60 miles apart and there was not too much cross polination, people went to the Crest ot to the Hell Ramp. Everyone got along and stuff, I guess people just prefered one ramp tot the other. I lived about 30 miles from each but I always chose the Crest if I could. Anyway, the only picture I could of Bucky from thos days was one that I think Geoff Graham took in like 1988 of Bernie Odowd doing a layback with Bucky on the deck watching in the fucking snow. The photo is from house of steam website too, if you want to see some mid atlantic skate action from back in the day, check it out. Think Bucky has come a long way from that or what? Bucky is always cool and I think this this photos symbolizes why. Baltimore was a no bullshit city, you skated in the snow, crappy weather, whatever. Things are not handed to you in Baltimore and I think that when you grow up in that environment, you appreciate what you have when you get some success

Gotta find some of my old photos from back then, the above photo was stolen from thehouseofsteam.wordpress.com by me, hopefully they don’t mind. Mertworld.net also some sick phots from that era and some newer ones

Hampus with a styling method that does not pay attention to international boundaries

Hampus Mosseson is a Swedish stylemaster. His style is pretty much up there in the top 10 of current riders. Hampus has been the star in films for Robotfood, Mack Dawg and currently has a film company called Actionhorse films with some friends. Upon meeting him he is pretty quiet, he seems like he can spot a bullshitter coming a mile away. In a kind of european style he is always nice, polite but does not make any fake gestures to pretend he likes people he does not know too well. Super funny at times, seems smart, if you spend any time with hi you will likely be stoked there you go read the interview…

Name: Hampus Mosseson
From: Sweden
Sponsors: Quiksilver, Omatic, Grenade, Union and Meth
Years riding: 14 years

SR: You for sure have some of the best style out there today, how do you go from being little kid in Sweden to where you are now?
HM: I guess a lot of the big pros and snowboard scene happened in Sweden when I started snowboarding; like Ingemars big air and all that. Since then I have just following like every move of Ingemar, Terje, Jamie Lynn and dudes like that, you know.

SR: You go with what you like?
HM: Yea, I have a feeling in my body, if it feels good then I hope it looks good too. That’s what I go from, my own feeling

SR: Now you have a reached a point maybe where people are looking up to you, are you happy with your success?
HM: Well, I don’t feel that way. I can see my self as a kid and see like Ingemar and all the kids that looked up to them but I don’t think they [guys like Ingemar] would see it that way, because I don’t see it right now. I still look up to a lot of people, for their riding at least but I can’t see anyone looking up to me.

SR: Are you glad to be a pro Snowboarder versus say, working at Ikea, or whatever they do in Sweden?
HM: (laughter) Yea, I am glad to be doing what I am doing for sure. It’s fun to be able to do something you love so much

SR: Who are you influence besides the guys you already said?
HM: Anyone can influence me. I could see some random kid do a cool thing and I may want to do it my way. So influences now are spread out all over but in the beginning; Jamie, Terje, Ingemar and those guys

SR: Who do like to ride with?
HM: I like to ride with Jakob (Wilhelmson) a bunch with his good style and control; control is real important to me on a snowboard. When someone is one with a snowboard so to speak, that’s when I enjoy watching a person riding

SR: What has the 07/08 brought you:
HM: It started out terrible – I broke my back

SR: In Italy? You broke your back!
HM: Yea, and it could have pretty much ended it right there but a month later I was doing 720’s off kickers and shit, so..then it turned good again. We started filming for our project actionhorsefilms.com so it’s being going well now

SR: How do you come back from a broken back in a month, eating sashimi?
HM: (laughter) Yea, well what do you do. First of all you are at the hospital for a quite a while and then you…I don’t know relax I guess, that is the only way you can heal. Eat healthy, you don’t drink alcohol and you are fine

SR: When did that happen?
HM: 1st of December

SR: When did you come to USA
HM: Middle of January with the Actionhorse crew

SR: Where all did you go this winter so all the kids can no where a pro snowboarder spends his time
HM: Pretty much started off with some rails in Sweden after breaking my back. Rails are probably not the best thing to do. (laughter) After about two weeks I came over to the US to do the powder thing, riding riding kickers and stuff. You try to squeeze in some park stuff which I never really did this year.

SR: You just ride and fim then?
HM: I only entered one contest this year and that was the Travis Rice thing (Natural Selection) but I had the flu so it did not really work out for me

SR: So you are not really a contest rider?
HM: Well, some people say I am a contest rider but I would rather just film. I guess contests are fun too. It depends on how you feel, after breaking yoru back you don’t really want to deal with that scene. You just want to ride as much as possible with your friends

SR: What’s the deal with Actionhorse films
HM: Yea, Actionhorse films is me, Jakob and Per-Hampus Stalhandske. We just always wanted to do a video together. This year we collected some money and it’s just us cruising the world and filming the people we look at as our friends. The people we wanna film with. It’s so much more than just filming your regular video part because you are so much more stoked when someone else stomps their tricks too. You feel like the movie coming together and you really work hard to make it come together.

SR: Your riding seems skateboard influenced, can you tell us about that connection to snowboarding?
HM: Yea, I started skating before snowboarding, that’s pretty much why I started snowboarding because people told me I couldn’t skateboard and ski so I hopped on the board. People say I skate like a snowboarder which is not a good thing from the skateboarders point of view (laughter) I just like to cruise and have a good feeling, do something that feels rad

SR: What do you mainly skate?
HM: I used to skate a lot of street when I was younger but as I snowboard more I don’t really have time to learn all the flip tricks. So I am just cruising pools and mini ramps, lot’s of transition

SR: Where do you spend most of your time while in the US?
HM: I got a house in Utah

SR: You like it in Utah, more than Mammoth
HM: Oh yea, way more than Mammoth (laughter) couldn’t stand Mammoth

SR: You have more noteriety in the US or Europe
HM: Probably Europe because that is where it all started but I have not been in Europe for quite a while so people probably wonder where I am at

SR: People recognize you at airports? Girls at Disco? People ask you for autographs?
HM: It happens sometimes but I try to stay under cover

SR: What are you duties as a pro snowboarder? Do they say you have to do such and such or you are fired?
HM: (laughter) My sponsors are really good like that, they ask me like one thing to do and a contest every year. Other than than I just do what I do.

SR: Sick anything else you wanna ad
HM: Just thank everyone who has helped me out

super smooth

one fine day in Lake Tahoe - far from Sweden

Bridging the gap

spining over a gap or watching tv on a couch, it looks that easy huh?

Hampus and Louie Vito