On the Line: A Peter Line Tribute

Photo: Pat Bridges

Peter Line is arguably one of the most influential riders of our generation. Over the years he has logged serious video parts with Mack Dawg, graced the cover of every major snowboard magazine, and stood atop many contest podiums. Beyond the face of Forum, there is also a multi-talented media man, one who actively designs graphics for his own pro models, contributes a column to this very publication and runs his own website. Someone who has their hands in as many facets of the industry as Peter tends to meet a lot of people along the way, and who better to tell his stories than those he shared the experiences with?
- Eric Meyers

“Peter Line was my hero. I met him at a contest in Sweden at Gotemberg, the one that Terje won by hitting the ball that was 20 feet above the lip and 5 feet back from the tranny. Anyway, Peter was there and we got wasted so I don't remember much other than telling him about this kid named JP Walker, and that he should put him on Forum.”
-Mikey LeBlanc

“Hey kids, Peter Line still has all those tapes you wish you could forget. I went to his house and saw them myself. He has a library of ‘Sponsor Me’ tapes, sent in to Forum over the years. Many of these videos are very interesting. Peter gets quite a kick out of these tapes. Poor bastards. In Peter’s mind, he’s laughing with you. Peter is the humble rockstar, a contradiction of terms. He tells stories from a fan’s perspective, about first meeting a pro or going on a trip with a hero. He is not what you’d expect. I once complimented him on the collection of fan email spanning the hallway. ‘Wow you printed out your fan mail.’ Peter laughs and says, ‘I didn’t answer a single fucking one.’ He cared enough to hang them, but was too shy to respond.
Another thing about Peter [is that] he seems to be out of place in a simple sport like snowboarding. He is very intelligent and creative. I would rather drink a martini with him than Einstein (dead Einstein, that is.) However, he is what they refer to on Seinfield as a quiet talker. Try to catch him on the charlift and not the noisy bar; you’ll want to hear what he has to say.”
–Kyle Clancy

“Ever since I purchased Technical Difficulties back in the day, Peter has had a huge impact on my riding. Snowboarding is not always easy, but Peter makes it look that way. Everything he does looks flawless and stylish, and he goes BIG! Peter was a big part of establishing the Electric team back when the brand just started, and I remember how extremely stoked I was that he wanted me to be on the team. That boosted my confidence an extra notch, for sure.”
-Andreas Wiig

Peter Line and Stevie Bell. Photo: Pat Bridges

“One time in the bar at Mt. Hood, this kid walks by and Pete says, ‘Look he's wearing sandals.’ Then he drinks his beer and spits it all over the kids feet. The kid turns and says ‘Hey you’re Peter Line. I'm a skier but…’ and before he can finish his sentence Pete spits on his feet again. Then the kid goes ‘You’re kind of a dick.’ Pete just replied ‘I know.’”
-Stevie Bell

“I really liked him because he had a stink bug--fuck school style.”
-Gigi Rüf

“I distinctly remember the sequence of him doing a switch backside three at Mt. Hood. He was all sideways and it was the most mind-boggling thing I had ever seen. That opened up a whole new world of tricks. I wouldn't have ever believed doing tricks like that were possible.”
-Lukas Huffman

“I first met Peter Line in Mammoth at a Forum shoot my rookie year. He was my all-time hero and I just got my first Peter model, which had an ice cream cone and a robot arm on the base. I didn’t know what to expect [from] the guy. I walk in the house and he was sitting on a couch listening to some really weird rock music and smelling his own toes and telling me how bad they smelled but [that] he couldn’t stop smelling them either. I just thought to myself, ‘Well this is the guy who's invented like, a million snowboard tricks.’ I’m sure Picasso wasn't the most normal guy either.”
-Lauri Heiskari

“He is on of my top three of all-time, (Terje, Ingemar, and Peter). I watched his video parts in slow-motion endless times. He invented new tricks that no one had done before, which is AMAZING. He scared the old pros into retirement [because] he was so far ahead. I remember the crusty pros saying "He's a hucker," but they were just scared. Peter approached snowboarding then and now I suppose, as an art. He did everything his way, from his Northwest methods to off-kilter BS 360's to cab 900's off his heels, (which he made both popular, and the standard) to BS Rodeos etc.”
-Mikey LeBlanc

Jamie Lynn and Peter Line. Photo: Pat Bridges

“The first time that I met Peter Line was at Mt. Hood Meadows in early 94. I was there for some crappy pipe contest. The day after the event, myself, Trevor Graves, Tucker Fransen and Travis Yamada went out trying to find something to session and get a few photos. We came upon this wind drift with a super shitty landing. Here was this little ragamuffin kid just throwing himself upside down off this crappy runway jump. I had heard about this kid from Washington who was supposed to be a mega-ripper, but I didn’t really expect to get a soaking wet gnome in 4-sizes-too-big soggy clothing. We just sat there and watched him tear that jump apart. I remember thinking that a human body should not be able to slam like that. Years later, Pete and I have become good friends. We have talked about that day and how he was all tripped-out because there was Trevor Graves and the Morrow team riding with him, but he was tearing us to shreds. Pete was really ahead of the curve in many ways. Leaving the lip of jumps on his heels, tucking his head under on all of his spins, and going switch backside. I miss riding with Pete. It’s always fun, and we seem to be on the same wavelength when it comes to attitude.”
-Todd Richards

“It was probably one of my first times hanging out with Peter. We were at a Youngblood event in Tahoe and at about mid-afternoon he was mid-drunk. We were both judging the event and Pete was smoking like you would imagine a flamboyant artist or writer would; take a drag, strike a pose as if pondering something great, and exhale as if you are. A young kid came up to him and asked him for a smoke in which he replied ‘No, you shouldn't smoke.’ When the kid responded ‘But you're smoking’ he answered, after a long, extra drawn-out breath, ‘You can start smoking when you become a millionaire.’ His dry humor is among the best in the world---if you can hear it.”
-Pat Moore

“Peter was my first favorite snowboarder. My first sponsors were Division 23 and 32 boots. I dressed like him, I tried to ride like him. People even thought I was him when I went to my first contest. Back then I collected his pictures and tried everything he did. He was by far the biggest influence on my snowboarding when I was younger. I also feel like Peter showed me that you can also be more than just a rider for your companies. Designing board graphics, writing articles for SNOWBOARDER showed you can be more than just a rider.”
–TJ Schneider

“There was a small on-snow trade show happening in my home town of Salt Lake City. I got a call from one of my team mangers letting me know that Peter Line was in town with Mack Dawg and Joey Maguire. They wanted to hook up with me and do some filming at Grizzly Gulch. I was completely tripping out because Peter was my long time idol and it was looking like I would be getting the chance to shred and film with him. I met everyone the next day and we hiked up and built a few jumps and sessioned all day. Needless to say it was amazing. When You first meet or see some one that you have looked up to or only seen in videos its a crazy feeling. You feel like you already kind of know the person. Peter seemed larger than life to me. Even just peeking at him through the rear view mirror of my car from across the parking lot. Some dudes just have something special about them. Like you can just tell they are amazing snowboarders. I got that feeling when I first saw him that day, and that was before I even shook his hand.”
–JP Walker

Pick up a copy of SNOWBOARDER Magazine's November issue and read the full interview 'Peter Line: Over the Hill?'

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