Snowboarder Magazine

Nate Johnstone

Tuesday, 05 May 2009 00:00

It’s not very often that the phrase ‘athlete’ is used in the same sentence as snowboarding in this country, but among our swelling junior ranks there exists an emerging new breed of Aussie rider.  Saying goodbye to the restrictive pubescent days of schooling and hello to the carefree world of partying has long proved to be too strong a temptation to resist for many a former child prodigy. No amount of coaching and guidance can prepare these kids for the pitfalls associated with their first step into adulthood. Quite literally what separates the men from the boys comes down to the individual’s drive to succeed and progress.

Having just turned 18, Nate Johnstone is spearheading the charge of the new breed. On deck shredding the pipe before the lifts even open, one doesn’t have to force Nate to ride, rather the real challenge is getting him to stop. With twice the energy of kids his age Nate prefers the option of a days riding over a night’s partying, choosing to hit the sack at the same time when most kids his age are hitting the pub. With his sights set firmly on the 2010 Olympics success for Nate isn’t really a question of how but rather a question of when.

How did you first discover snowboarding?
Well I used to ski when I was younger, and my Dad has always ridden a snowboard and as I got a little older and bigger, maybe around the age of 10, my dad bought me a Burton 121 Copper. At first I just used to cruise around Smiggins, and every year we got more and more into it and yeah that’s where it all started.

Can you remember your first couple of days snowboarding? Was it as hard to learn to ride as you first thought?
I can’t exactly remember the first time I got on a board, I do remember riding around Smiggins with my dad and I’m sure I would have thrown a few tantrum’s because I couldn’t get down the hill ha-ha.

Did you come from a skateboarding or surfing background before snowboarding? Did you find any similarities between the two?
I started out surfing when I was real little so I would probably say surfing, but I have always been skating ever since I can remember as well. I’d say skating is probably more similar to riding pipe and park while surfing is more similar to riding powder.

Given you spend 9 – 10 months of the year snowboarding and have been doing so for the past couple of years, where does time for school fit in?
School never really did fit in. When I was in school it was always really hard trying to snowboard over the weekend then having my dad driving 6 hours back home to go to school for the week. We did that pretty much all season for a few years but it was all worth it.

At what point did snowboarding become more than just a pastime and shift into fulltime mode for you?
It defiantly came more fulltime when I left school. I had a lot more time to travel and progress with snowboarding without the stress of school on my back.

What snowboarders on both an international and local level have influenced your riding?
All the Aussie riders influence me, anyone getting out there and having a good crack influence’s me to do the same. International rider’s, there are so many its hard to say but the one’s that come to mind  that inspire me would probably be Kevin Pearce, Torstein Horgmo, Lauri Heskari and Danny Davis.

When you started to get serious about riding pipe Burto (Andrew Burton) was the big man on campus. Did Burto play much of a role in teaching you how to ride pipe?
Yeah for sure when we were younger training up at the pipe if Burto was there he’d always come give us  tips on how you could do things better or if we were doing something wrong, it definitely helped for sure.

You just turned 18 not long ago, where were you and how did you celebrate this milestone?
Yeah I did, stoked ha-ha. I was in Salt Lake filming for “Two Weeks In” a film by Pop. I was there with Marc and Rick Baker, Woody, Jake McCarthy, Dan Himbrechts, and Jakko. They took us out to a restaurant, got some good food and had some beers. Thanks guys

So are you much of the partying type, you seem pretty reserved for a guy who’s just hit 18?
Na not really, I have been out a quite bit since I have been home. I’ve spent way too much money doing it though.

How was your experience filming this year? This was your first real video-part you’ve ever filmed for hey?
Yeah it was different, a lot fun though. I have never done anything kinda like this before, its pretty different compared to just taking photo’s. Pretty damn hard but real fun, I had an awesome time doing it.

With filming there is a lot more emphasis on stomping tricks than with shooting photos. Is this something you become conscious of and does the pressure get to you at all?
It’s definitely harder because you know if you wanna make it look good on video you have to land it real well. There’s still that pressure like with taking photos, but I think there’s just that little bit more when filming.

What’s with all these pics Dan Himbrechts sent us of you shooting guns? You get a bit trigger happy or something?
Man that was fun. It started by someone spotting the range on the way home from riding, and we all thought how sick it would be to go shoot some guns so we called in there the next day. It’s amazing how easy it is to get your hands on a gun over there. It was crazy hey, we walked in showed them our IDs, gave them some cash and they gave us 4 guns and a few packets of bullets and told us to go downstairs. We had to ask for help because we didn’t even know how to load the guns properly. But man those little hand guns packed a punch. Dan and Rick went back to another joint a day or two later and shot machine gun’s for about 40 bucks.

Right now you are a member of the Institute of Sport development team for halfpipe and are currently in training to represent Australia at the 2010 Olympics. Where are you in terms of qualification for the 2010 Olympics?
Yeah I'm aiming to get to the 2010 games... At the moment I’ve just been working on getting the tricks and trying to get them big and that’s about it really, just a lot of riding.

You recently placed third in the World Cup Halfpipe at Stoneham in Canada. This was only your third World Cup event you ever entered. You must have been pretty stoked hey?
It was crazy, I wasn’t expecting it at all, and I was so stoked. The two World Cups I went to were just to check it out so I had an idea of what it was going to be like for the next year doing the World Cup and was luckily enough to get a decent result out of it. Pretty solid night after it too, as I had some cash to spend.

So what was your run that placed you on the podium?
It wasn’t the best I think I could have done but I dropped into a frontside 900, to a backside 900, then a straight air to a backside 720. Ended up being alright though so I was stoked.

Off the mountain what sort of training is involved in improving your riding? Is it true you have a Zero Percent Body Fat?
Off the mountain we don’t do too much working out, we do enough to stay fit, we got in to yoga whilst we have been over, and it’s actually really good. No I don’t have a zero percent body fat, it’s impossible to have that ha-ha

So what percentile are you in then, rumours abound that you have the physique of Grounds Keeper Willie off the Simpsons?
Ha-ha really. I’d say I’m in pretty okay shape for my age but it could be better, need to do some more surfing and it should be back.

How beneficial do you think the team has been for your snowboarding? In what ways do you think it has helped you progress?
It’s really good riding with a team cause there’s always people to hang out with and ride with and you’re constantly pushing each other to do more, go bigger and do tricks better. It’s a good environment to ride in.

Have you suffered any serious injuries over the past couple of years?
I haven’t had anything too gnarly just two broken wrists and I knocked myself out a few times, been pretty lucky “touch wood”.

Recently you chopped off your birds’ nest of a hairdo for a sleeker shaved head. What prompted the change and has this been of benefit to your riding?
Well I have always had long hair and I was kinda getting sick off it. One day Charlie Steinbacher and I were talking about cutting off our hair and we made a deal that if one of us did it the other had to as well, so we ended up getting some clippers that afternoon and shaving our heads. Ended up being a pretty bad move really since its fucking minus 20 nearly everyday.

So is the new look a hit with the ladies?
Not sure ill have to find out, ill get back to you on that one ha-ha

Have you set yourself any other goals in snowboarding that you’re looking to achieve beyond the Olympics?
Umm nothing too much yet, just focusing on getting there and doing well at the moment, maybe try get to 2014 or do something different afterwards really haven’t looked that far into the future yet.

Do you feel like the other aspects of your snowboarding such as park riding and free-riding sometimes get neglected with the amount of time you spend in the pipe?
Maybe a little, I think most people do know that I don’t just spend all my time in the pipe, I enjoy hitting jumps and riding pow just as much as riding pipe.

What is it about competing that is so attractive to you?
Competing is fun you know, you get an idea of what everyone is doing and what the level of riding is in the world, and it just give’s me that motivation to progress and get to that level to be the best.

Do you have any superstitions with competing, like strapping in your back foot first, or a song you always listen to perhaps?
Na not really I like to have music playing but nothing like strapping in your back foot first. I just try to stay relaxed and chill and not think about it to much.

What’s the Nate Johnstone secret to going big in the pipe?
I can’t really say because I don’t really go that big but it’s all about going fast, down the line and trusting the wall.

‘Trusting the wall’ what do you mean by that?
Trusting the wall means riding through the tranny clean and relaxed, not trying to speed check, just taking a clean line out of the pipe, not popping at the lip, just having trust in the wall that it will put you back in the pipe high on the wall. A lot of people pop and you tend to go to the flats and lose speed. I pop a lot when I don’t feel comfortable in a pipe and tend to land flat and lose all my speed, it sucks. I do it quite a lot actually.

So what separates a good halfpipe from a great halfpipe? What’s the best one you’ve ever ridden?
It could be the size, it could be what pitch its on, it could be how hard or soft it is, it could be how much tranny it has, it depends on a whole lot of things. Its hard to get a perfect pipe, I have learned that most pipes aren’t perfect but you have to learn how to ride them anyways if you wanna do well. But some of the best pipes I have rode would be Breckinridge and Copper Mountain in Colorado and COP in Calgary.

Is Nate Johnstone just a pipe jock? How do you feel about being pigeon holed with that kind of label?
I’m definitely not a pipe jock, hopefully more and more people will start recognizing me as an all-round rider, but I don’t really give a shit if people call me a pipe jock.

Last year you were invited to compete at Stylewars in Falls Creek for the first time. Spending everyday riding with the huge posse of overseas riders did anyone make an impression?
That was such an awesome comp the level of riding that was shown was pretty crazy. But I think everyone rode really well I’d say the one’s that stood out the most were Torstein Horgmo, Robbie Walker, Dustin Craven, Clint Allan, Stef Zeestraten, Mitch Allan, Nick Gregory, Ryan Tiene, geez its hard to say there was a lot of really impressive snowboarding been thrown down over those couple days it was great to be amongst it.

How did you find the contrast between the looser jam style format compared to the regimented structure of normal competition?
Oh man so much more chill, I really like the jam contests. You have so much more time to get your tricks down and to try stuff, it be good if more halfpipe events were more like that.

I heard a story that your fellow Rip Curl team mate Russ Holt left you a present one night?
Ahhhh I’m not to sure. I should probably just keep my mouth shut though in case I say something I shouldn’t have ha-ha

Na go on, spill the beans; Russ was the one that told me the story as I was prying him for questions to ask you?
Well there was one night at Stylewars where he got smashed and threw up all over my board bag. We had to leave the next morning and I woke up and there was shit all over my bag. Russ cleaned it all up though with a towel and it was all sweet. The drive back to Jindabyne wasn’t too good for him either.

Okay then tell us a story about you that no one else would really know?
Umm not sure. I threw up the other night behind our garbage bins outside. It was a big night but that’s what you get for mixing drinks ha-ha.

What do you think you’d be doing with your life if you weren’t snowboarding?
Umm I may have stayed in school longer but I doubt it, I’d probably be surfing, skating and working trying to figure out what I would want to do with my life and wouldn’t have done half the stuff I have done.

Wanna thank anyone?
Yeah I’d like to thank my parents, family and friends. My sponsor’s:  Ripcurl, Rossignol, Thirty-two and the NSWIS, and everyone that have helped me to get to where I am.