ERIK OLSON CROWNED LOCAL HERO
Last week, Olson edged out MARCUS FULLER and JOEL WHALEN. After a week neck and neck with finalist WILL WESSON, Erik Olson nabbed over half the of the 6,792 votes to be crowned POWDER's new Local Hero. Erik and Shane will each receive SCOTT MOTIVE GOGGLES AND SCOTT FIREWALL POLES.
Congratulations Erik!
His name is Erik Olson. He is 20 years old, lives in Lyons, New York and is a sophomore at Oswego state university. Last year as a freshmen he drove an hour south of Oswego to Labrador Mountain almost every day. With a measly 400 feet, Labrador’s few rails and uninviting icy landings were Erik’s training grounds. This season Erik has made the nearly four hour drive to Killington and Mt. Snow every weekend, living off loafs of white bread, water, and power bars. Even though his grades may have suffered, his skiing is phenomenal. Erik shows incredible progression with each new trick that he learns. He may not sag his pants below his knees, sport a bandana or have the latest rap blaring out of his Ipod, but he rips. Wearing whatever he can get for cheap and using the same skis until they decompose, Erik is one of the most fun riders to film, ski, and just hang out with. Always going for it, pushing the limits of gravity and, most of all, having fun each time he is on skis. He doesn’t care about riding switch under the chair, showing others up in the park, or making sure his hair looks right when he takes his hat off. To Erik, the most important thing is the world is riding two planks on snow.
Too many people carry the “I must get sponsored, I must make it big” attitude in skiing today. Placing third in this year's Vermont Open Half Pipe event and beating out top names in skiing like Richie Paradise and JF Houle, Erik still does not have a ski sponsor. Occasionally he gets a free hat from Logic Headwear, but Erik pays his own way with his prize earnings from competitions all over the East Coast.
Erik is one of the most devoted skiers I have ever seen. After the season ends he can often be found hiking up local mountains around the Syracuse area just to session what may be left of a table, or (if he's lucky a small rail). When all of the snow melts you can find him out behind his house in the rural area of Lyons, New York. Under the hot summer sun Erik spends hours on a carpet drop in to a flat rail, jumping on a trampoline, or filling his trunk up with snow from the local ice rink.
I have spent the last two ski seasons filming and skiing with Erik. With astounding style and an immense trick vocabulary (along with a unique personality and great sense of humor) Erik seems to always be having fun. Erik may not have mobs of girls flocking to him, and you will never catch Erik wearing the latest fashion trends, but his Nascar shirts from the Salvation Army always make for good laughs with his buddies. If he isn’t skiing he's on the computer editing video, or finding ways to create a crafty drop-in for handrails small enough to fit in the back seat of his sedan. He looks for cheap gas, food, and lift tickets instead of spending time searching for ski rep contacts. Erik somehow makes skiing in the worst conditions the best, and manages to still throw down on days when most pro’s wouldn’t bother even putting on skis.
CLICK HERE TO WATCH ERIK'S VIDEO
