Three years back while assisting a close friend (Jussi Grznar) in shooting an Electric Visual campaign, I met the humble Viking Andreas Wiig. He wasn’t the loud one in the room nor was he the guy acting like he was the shit, but instead he is a modest and open-minded lad for whom everyone has an incredible respect. After spending that week with Andreas and the other Electric crew I traded contact details and said I would be in contact next season when I returned.

That season was last year and I spent about a dozen days in the backcountry with Andreas and his crew sledding and building jumps in many of the infamous yet secret Whistler backcountry zones. Seeing the way in which riders of this elite group of snowboarders carry themselves and work towards each day’s goals and efforts is nothing less than inspiring and refreshing. It proves that in order to achieve your goals you have to put in a lot of hard work and effort. It also opened my eyes to more than just the work and the drive it takes to be a pro snowboarder; it shone light on the passion and sheer love for snowboarding these guys all have.

We have all fallen into the world of snowboarding in some way or another. Whether it’s for a few shred laps a season with your mates or hitting up back-to-back winters, we know what it feels like to be 100% engulfed by riding. One of the beauties is that the mind switches off from the rest of the world and nothing else matters at that moment except the mates you have by your side and the white smoke you’re slashing. This is what AWSM is all about…

ASWM was founded by Andreas Wiig and Torstein Horgmo in 2009. What started out as an iconic sticker has now grown into a line of premium products that deliver both performance and style, producing goods such as belts, wallets, backpacks, skate tools, key chains, and other accessories. This season the guys have been filming for their own AWSM movie project called Shredbots – and that’s on top of their other individual filming commitments. Shredbots has been a passion project for them and they have a rad team of comrades all involved including Mark McMorris, Craig McMorris, Anto Chamberlain,

and many more.

Andreas and Torstein are two rad dudes; both super grounded people that continue to provide a progressiveness to the snowboard industry that is unmatched by many and envied by many more. When you think of pro snowboarders you tend to think they are all wild, extreme, obnoxious and maybe a bit lazy. Well, that is the exact opposite of these guys and many of the guys involved within such a sweet production. Hard work, respect, motivation plus raw talent gets these guys through the rough and rewarding days and make every bit of it worth it – a journey to be proud of. Many people may discard the reality of how movies and imagery comes to fruition and what they probably don’t realise is there are as many bust days as there are banger days.

AWSM is about shredding with your homies, it’s about the travel destinations, the different cultures you meet along the way, the parties and good times, the exploration of a new resort or backcountry zone. It’s about getting lost in the moment and not looking back. And I had that experience with these guys as I made the spontaneous decision to jump on a flight to Alaska and start the next adventure with the Shredbots.

This is what happened. When I got down from a day’s sledding with Nic Harvey and Cohen Davies, I noticed a few missed calls from Andreas and a message saying “Call me asap!” I called him back and with no major excitement in his voice he said “We leave for AK first thing on Monday, do you want to come along and shoot?” Fuck yeah I did. It was 6pm on a Saturday night and the opening day of the Whistler Ski and Snowboard festival, which is one of the most fun weeks in Whistler. I had a day to pack all my gear, book a ticket and apologise and thank some mates in advance for looking after my truck and all the gear I was about to leave behind.

With a 3:30am wake-up call from the filmer we drove to Seattle to board a flight direct to Anchorage in Alaska. Straight from the airport we ended up at the RV depot and after a quick RV briefing we were on our way. Stocked up with supplies and mountaineering equipment we drove to Thompson’s Pass, which is the land route to Valdez, AK. We managed to get there the day after the infamous Tailgate Alaska event had finished, and lucky for us the event organisers were all still hanging around and the boys all knew each other, which provided us with a good network to get our shit sorted for a productive week.

We woke up early the next day freezing our nads off as our RV heater had decided it would shit itself. We headed straight to the Heli operation company and while we were waiting for the helicopter to get ready we went through the usual safety procedures of signing waivers and beacon skills check. We flew around checking different zones, checking snow conditions and flying over some of the most incredible mountainous terrain I’ve ever seen. We then decided to call it a day and got prepped for day two.

Flying with ‘Black Ops Heli’ we were taken to an epic little zone: cornice features and mini-spines, poppers and all-round dope natural features. In true form Andreas and Torstein killed it without any hesitation and really sent their carcasses to infinity in the deep AK pow. Dropping steep lines and incorporating huge freestyle tricks in the middle of their runs was awesome to watch. Meanwhile, filmer Colin D Watt and I hung sideways suspended from a doorless helicopter, hanging on for dear life and hoping our hands wouldn’t fall off from frostbite as we shot every possible moment of epicness.

When we returned to the Black Ops base camp that day we were greeted by a group of Aussies that had all just got back from a day’s shredding. I was so stoked to chat to them and hear their stories, as were Andreas and Tor. They had all flown over from Australia to shred and it was their once-in-a-lifetime trip they’d all talked about and finally made a reality. To see these guys stoked so much on shredding that day really proves that it’s important to keep your dreams alive and that sometimes you just need to tell the ever-conforming society to go and get fucked. We all have only one life so we better live that shit up.

The travel dream is one that exists on so many levels and in many different viewpoints. The most powerful travel vehicle that I’m familiar with is obviously snowboarding. The acceptance of each other and what we are out there doing is always respected. Whether it’s the park or the backcountry you shred, there is the same stoke shared. The people and crews I’ve met on my journeys have been from all walks of life and from so many different countries. Everybody has a different interpretation of the mountain, which means we’re all looking for a different feature to hit and we have a different perspective on things. Nothing ever looks the same when we go out snowboarding.

This is the conception of the AWSM brand and with the creativity of this movement and the future of snowboarding an ever-changing variable, the passion these guys share makes this a refreshing breath of awesomeness.

Having the ability to follow this crew on social media is the latest revelation of our ability to interact and share that love for snowboarding, especially when we all hit that rock bottom moment sitting in that office chair wishing we were balls deep in the white room. This is the time for that spontaneous flight purchase. Whether it be Japan, NZ, Chile, Europe or America, we’re always just a flight away from it all and you can be assured the AWSM crew will be out there chasing the snow and keeping it AWSM. ▲

www.awsmbrand.com