Snowboarder Magazine

The Return of Charles Beckinsale

Tuesday, 05 May 2009 00:00

Charles Beckinsale has been around long enough in Australian snowboarding to experience both it’s highest highs and the lowest of lows. From ‘blowing up’ as a young teenage rail destroyer to sitting out of the game for two years due to some horror injuries, at only 22 years of age Charles is already a seasoned veteran. For some it seemed that Charles had left the game while injured, when in reality he was just gathering steam for another assault at snowboarding stardom. Whereas others may have wallowed in self pity, Charles has taken it all in his stride and remains Australia’s most driven and motivated rider. Over the last year and a half Charles has produced some killer photos and video parts from his global travels. But don’t dare call it a comeback – it’s just a re-emergence. Australian snowboarding had better look out –Beckinsale is back!

You’ve had a busy season through Canada, the States and Europe. Give us a rundown of your travels?
I started of in Canada coaching and building some park jumps in Silverstar, I then based myself out of Lake Tahoe, then travelled off to Helsinki Finland on a handrail trip (I coped a black arse cheek on the first day), Aspen Colorado on a park trip, then the DC mountain lab near Salt Lake, then back to Tahoe for a soul shred, then Mammoth to coach.

Which was your most favourite place to travel too, and what was the most memorable moment?  
Hands down Finland, it was my first taste of Europe and I loved it, the place had style, history, tonnes of good looking people and the best night life I have ever partied in. I think the most memorable moment was when we where having a sesh on this handrail in a school yard and the cops rocked up so I thought it was all over. They just wanted to watch and even gave us directions to other spots, I don’t think we met one bad person the whole time we where there.

For a large part of your summer (winter) you based yourself in Lake Tahoe, but as you were booked on so many little trips you left you girlfriend and her sister there in the care of the rampant metal-head/Slayer fan, Gus St Leon. In Gusto’s company did you fear for their safety at any stage, or were you worried that you’d come back and your girlfriend Amy would be head banging to “Dead Skin Mask”?  
Gus is one of the most chilled out and easy going guys I have ever met. He just melts into the couch and plays his handheld PSP; sometimes you forget he’s even there. I think of him more like a hippie, but his myspace is a scary ride through heavy metal land. I was pleased he was there to look out for them as America is a scary place and Gus can snap and go loco when it’s needed.

You book-ended your summer with coaching at a camp in Canada and at Mammoth – is coaching a labour of love for you, merely a way to pay the bills, or a combination of both?  
A bit of both I guess. Its fun to ride with kids who are shredding, you get a kick out if it when they learn new tricks it stokes you both out, but yeah coaching is a way of paying my bills as you cant pay your way round the world on product. Some of the kids I coached this year that you should start looking out for, are rippers like Tim Laidlaw, Billy Hayman and Chris de Campo this one has been touched by the walker so watch out!

You’ve always taken pride in your sister Amanda’s achievements and excelled in the role as older brother and coach – is this where you learnt to analyse others’ riding and how to impart your knowledge to get them to improve?
Yeah I always like riding with Amanda in a way she would coach me too by giving me feedback, we would just feed of each other when we where riding it is always fun and we just like to see each other do well.

You and your sister both grew up in Forster, which is some place I don’t even know where it is (near Port Macquarie, yeah?). How did you both ‘foster’ (ha-ha, lame pun) into elite snowboarding?  
Mum got sick of working shitty jobs and living in Forster so she just said one year we are going down to Jindabyne for the season and I’m going to ski instruct like she did when she was younger. We both hadn’t seen snow before so we were down for it. We lived at Pat’s Patch caravan park and rode Thredbo. Mum couldn’t afford passes for Amanda and me so we would hike up to the park at Merits with a packed lunch and session all day, this was back in 1999. Now I’m running the parks at Thredbo with Sammy Towers so I have a lot of fond memories of that place.

I always forget that you are only 22 because it seems you’ve been in the spotlight for years now. When/what age did you start to receive some notoriety?  
I think I was 15 when I met Ryan “Nugg” Gardiner and Damon Hayler who looked out for me, hooked me up with the right people and took me to sessions with them, I guess that’s how I got noticed.   

But a couple of years ago you ran into a horror patch of injuries. Can you index all the injuries and operations/treatment you’ve had over the years?
I had my left shoulder dislocate 17 times and dislocated my right one once trying to protect my left one when I overshot a big air jump at Thredbo speed testing it. I did it so bad that I snapped my auxiliary nerve and lost my deltoid muscle for good, so all up 17hours of surgery 18months off snowboarding and four pretty impressive looking scars. If chicks dig scars I must be the sexiest man in Jindabyne. Ha-ha.

It felt like you were out of the game for a little while there during your injury years. But you never really left the scene, and this isn’t a comeback as such, just a re-emergence?  
I made sure I kept up appearances with in the industry and will be forever thankful to all my sponsors for sticking by me. This year is defiantly a major re-emergence. I shot a tonne of photos the year before I got injured so the years I wasn’t able to ride I still got shots published which was a nice surprise for me. When I was out injured I focused 100 percent on my park building, welding and got into judging. I thought I was doing everyone a favour by judging from a rider’s point of view instead of the judges being level three instructors who are judging from what they learnt from a textbook. I think I’m over that phase now anyway as there are some sore losers out there who are still losing sleep from old comp results and feel like a rebate when they see me at the pub. I feel sorry for guys that judge and deal with that crap regularly.  

And where do you find the passion to come back from injuries and ride even harder?  
My mum, she gave me everything when she didn’t have much and I didn’t want it to be a waste. I also wanted to prove to myself that I wasn’t washed up like I had heard some people say. Snowboarding is what makes me happy and I found that without it I was a bitter hater and out of that the THC (Thredbo haters club) was born. An exclusive club of top notch haters that would hang shit on anything that would slide past on snow all in the name of bad humour. Hating is a great way to pass time and get a few laughs. The club is so exclusive that all members shall remain anonymous.

Arguably you are riding better than you were before your injuries – how do think your riding is going compared to before your injuries?  
I think I stepped up to gnarlier things before, without thinking twice about the consequences. These days I take more calculated risks so I guess I’m more consistent as I cant afford not to be. Aussie riding progressed a lot during the 18 months I had off and with the likes of Robbie Walker destroying everything I feel like I’m finally catching up on lost time. This year was the most productive and progressive year I have had since my injuries as last year I was just trying to get my feet back.

You were first noticed for you rail riding abilities and urban jibbing – but you are much more rounded a rider than that, although this season most of your shots are jibs. What sort of riding do you prefer most?
I guess I have always been labelled a jibber. I love all aspects of snowboarding except for pipe as I pretty much suck at it, but jumps take the cake really. This season I was holding out for snow but there wasn’t much happening with the backcountry in Tahoe and when there was I seemed to be on trips so I just had a lot of fun riding spring park jumps at Alpine Meadows and Mammoth. It doesn’t take much snow to have fun jibbing so I did a lot of that this year.  

One thing you are also known for is your immaculate style – be that in the way you ride, or in the clothes you wear. How long do you actually spend in the morning in front of the mirror checking out your riding getup?  
A good 5 minutes, I think if your feeling good in what you wear your riding just feels better, I don’t know why, I think one compliments the other, colour co-ordination is a major factor. I have a huge collection of goggles with matching bandanas and beanies and my newest addition to all things matching is my collection of tall tees that tie everything together. Sometimes if you are lucky you may spot me with my outerwear matching my board on those days I feel like stepping it up a notch, and you probably think I am joking. I wish I was.

And then why were you in a muddy brown jacket that day we were shooting at Alpine Meadows making it hard to pick you out against the background Californian trees?  
Yeah that was the cards I was dealt with my outerwear this year, I guess the earthy colours were in, but check out my red beanie in that sequence Radman! This year my outerwear is yellow, so is my board. Cop that!  

But while you might take time getting your riding gear ready, you can be a bit impatient with others who are slower than you?  
I like to get out pretty early if I can. Gus is super mellow, kinda like a snail. My girlfriend thinks I am slow so Gus makes me look good. He is super fun to ride with so he is always worth waiting for.  

You take a lot of pride in Thredbo’s park and last winter the X Games were held there. You must have felt pretty annoyed that even though you spent hours designing the course, helping in its construction, and maintaining it that when a spare spot opened up in the slopestyle competition they wouldn’t let you ride?
It wasn’t an ideal course anyway due to such a bad snow season but it would have been nice to have a ride, I think their reason behind it was they felt I would have had an unfair advantage even though I hadn’t ridden the course myself.

You’re a very driven and exacting person, some would say a perfectionist, and so what is next for one of the busiest snowboarders in Australia?
Cat driving? Its pretty much a dead give away that I am a perfectionist when I am on trips and I pull a park rake out of my board bag on our way to session a handrail or kicker spot. I hate crappy takeoffs and bomb holes I won’t hit things that don’t look right I’ll just get my rake out and fix it. I’m definitely a perfectionist with my riding and park building. What’s next? I’m going to be snowboarding all season and building some fun parks with Sam Towers, I would also like to get over to Snowpark for the first time for a shred and when I head back overseas I would like to get into driving Cats so I can be a park building extraordinaire and still snowboard everyday.   

You’ve been in the snowboarding spotlight for quite a few years, and seen the ups and the downs of being a sponsored/pro boarder – is that why you are so driven to get into park designing/building and rail construction etc – i.e. you realise that there is no real long-term viability in Australian snowboarding just being a top rider ?
Park building is something I have been doing since before I was sponsored it’s been my source of income and allowed me to snowboard everyday and travel the world. I have as much fun building park as I do riding it. I think I will build parks until I am to old and out of touch. For now park building is what I view as my career and snowboarding I like to keep fun and view it as a hobby it seems to be working nicely so far.

So then where do you see yourself in 10 years?
Hopefully still riding hard with a grommie of my own in tow and running a park somewhere overseas, to just keep living my dream I guess.      

And any final things you would like to say?
Big shout out to Sammy Towers, Johnny Newport and Sean Taylor from my park crew, I have the most fun riding with these boys as they shred and there’s no bullshit.The man, the myth, the northern beaches legend Tom Dawson.Thanks to my Mum for introducing me to snowboarding, my Dad and Sister, my girlfriend Amy, Werner at Thredbo, Darby, Ryan “Nugg” Gardiner, Damon Hayler Liam Kaska, Dan Himbrechts, Beggsy, Shirvo, Fletchy at Dragon, DC, Adam at Stepchild, Matt at Ogio, Eli at Skullcandy, Ben at Ica, Shayne at Pow and Flux.