With all the fancy corporate housing, cushy salaries, and catered dinners today's pros enjoy you might think the days of "The Hard, The Hungry and The Homeless" are long gone in snowboarding. But you would be wrong. There is a group of snowboarders on the competition circuit who do it just like our early 90s forefathers did: counting pennies, fighting over food, and sleeping wherever they land.
Call them underdogs or call them by the name this crew is most commonly known as: "The Rat Pack." No, it's not a tribute to Bogart and early 60s cinema stars. The crew name comes purely from them living like a bunch of ratty snowboarders -- because you can't put nine guys in one house without things getting a little dirty. These guys are driven by a love of snowboarding, and they are all, by far, the most hungry in the sport.
Chas Guldemond is the leader of the pack. The youngest is Nick Julius. The older and more veteran siblings include Sam Hulbert, Ian Thorley, Tim Humphreys, and Jeremy Thompson. The two middle children are Spencer Link and Alex Rodway. None of these guys chose this hierarchy, but they live comfortably within them.
These guys put snowboarding first, camaraderie second, and everything else is up for grabs. Win or lose, you will see them at almost every event with a smile on their faces. Meet the underdogs of the pro shred tour, The Rat Pack.
MUST READ
Remembering one of snowboarding's fallen heroes. Rest in peace, Adam Yauch. We're going to miss you. Story »
- The Mad Ones: Hakuba Haiku
| The Montafonters | Givin crew - Triple FS Rodeo 1440: Yeah, that happened
- Further Unplugged: Jones' Jet-A
- Hardingham Trick Tips: The bag table | The Board Ladder | How to drop a pillow line
- Olympic drama: Shared ski and SNB judges?
- Image Maker: Justin Hostynek
- Gear: JF Pelchat's IPO binding
MORE SNOWBOARDING
- "Frequency" Editor Jeff Galbraith
- Frequency, The Snowboarder's Journal celebrates a decade of publishing
- Splitting the Chic Chocs
- Vermont split boarders head north to Quebec in search of East Coast backcountry powder.
- Into the Kootenays
- Andtrew Hardingham takes us on a trip to the B.C. Interior.
SNOWBOARDERS ON TWITTER
You must be signed in to post a comment