How I Saw It | Zoi Sadowski-Synnott's Frontside 1080
[o] Aaron Blatt
From the pages of Issue 15.2 we get the scoop on how Zoi Sadowski-Synnott's groundbreaking backcountry Frontside 1080 went down. Watch Burton Snowboards' The Sun Came Out for more action.
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MIKEY RENCZ
"It kind of turned into a thing, Zoi wanted to do a 1080, and it was a priority to get that facilitated. It turned into a bit of a laugh where the rest of the crew would be like, “Did you guys get the 1080 yet?” This was probably the fourth jump we got her on. Obviously, she wanted to work her way up to it and/or wasn't feeling that trick on the other jumps, they weren’t right for it.
This day it was Raibu [Katayama], Mikkel [Bang], and myself riding. Once we got to the jump, I was like, this one's going to be perfect. It's a straight jump. You can spin both ways off it, but it shoots better when a regular footer is spinning frontside or switch backside. It has a super-steep landing and pretty straightforward speed. I’ve hit that jump probably five times before, so we had it dialed.
We pulled up and right away Mikkel and I started putting in a tandem track with our sleds. It's a bit of a difficult tandem to the drop-in, so we put that in to settle for when it’s go-time. Then we got Raibu and Zoi situated, like, “Here's the drop-in. Build the jump here.” We threw a couple of snowballs, and then me and Mikkel go F off and did some runs while Raibu and Zoi built the jump.
It was actually one of the funnest days of the season, we had such good laps going on a face in the background of the zone. Then we were like, OK, we got to get moving on some daylight. So we helped them finish the jump, and it was go time."
[o] Aaron Blatt
First, Zoi did a super-sick front three and stomped it. Then Raibu had gone and done a big front seven tail. Zoi asked if it would it be weird if she did a front seven as well. Because she wanted to work her way up to the 1080. And we were like, “Ahhh, he already did it. Just go for the 10!”
Then… front 10, stomped it, we’re all pumped. Maybe didn't land exactly where she wanted to, she was like, “I don't love it.” So then she went right back up and did another one, super sick. The one that's in this photo. And then she and Raibu just kept sessioning. Zoi did a back one, and I think “Bu” got three tricks on it as well.
She's just so impressive. She's super dialed, so talented and hungry. She wants to make it happen, the talent is there and the motivation there. Really impressive to watch her ride."
[o] Aaron Blatt
GABE LANGLOIS, VIDEOGRAPHER
"It was definitely on everybody's mind. On this day, we were heading deep into the Callahan backcountry, going to this zone called Booter Ville.
We get there, and there's a lot of back and forth, and Zoi's checking it from the side and asking all the right questions. Got to look at it, cruise all around to see it from different sides. Then they stacked the thing up and she tossed it down.
It was unreal. First, front three. Perfect. And then she went front 10 and landed it, but maybe opened up a bit early. And then the second one she just fucking tossed down. It was pretty sick. And it was really cool to see Mikey and Mikkel step up and help her get what she wanted to do.
Honestly, that woman is fucking epic. She's such a champ, such a good sport and such a humble person and yeah, really cool to be in the backcountry with her and see her do her thing."