Wille Yli-Luoma Interview

AS THE FIRST PRO TO STEP AWAY FROM THE ILLUSTRIOUS "FORUM 8" SUPER TEAM, A MOVE BOLDER THAN ANY HE THREW DOWN IN TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES, WILLE SHOWED THAT HIS COURAGE REACHES FAR BEYOND THE SLOPES. SEVERAL YEARS LATER, WILLE IS STILL ON TOP OF HIS GAME WITH A PART IN MACK DAWG'S CHULKSMACK AND A TOP-SELLING PRO MODEL ON K2, PROVING ONCE AND FOR ALL IT ISN'T THE TEAM THAT MAKES THE RIDER.

SNOWBOARDER: What was it like when you first turned pro?

Wille Yli-Luoma: It was weird. I never told anyone at home what I was doing; I just took off. My parents knew I was snowboarding, but they never really knew anything about it. I might have showed them a shot or two in a magazine, but I just didn't want them to be involved. They probably thought I was a drug dealer or something. They would just see me get free snowboards, clothes, and money. After a while, they started seeing more shots in the magazines and reading articles, but I bet the first year or two was kind of weird for them.

SNOWBOARDER: Now what do they think of it?

Wille Yli-Luoma: They like it. I'm mellow about partying and take care of myself; they don't mind, they think it's good. They thought I made a really wise choice because I get to travel and do what I want to and very few people get that chance.

SNOWBOARDER: Why are there so many good kids coming out of Finland?

Wille Yli-Luoma: I think a large part of it is there are small hills where the ski resorts are willing to build parks and the fact that Finland had a few pro snowboarders already there who kids could look up to. Finnish riders come to the States and they are really good at parks and rails, but then they go film in the backcountry and most of them have a hard time landing in powder their first year. But once they go through that stage, it just seems to work out really well. And there are no lawsuits in Finland; if you hurt yourself, it's your own fault, so they aren't afraid to build stuff. That's what freaks me out about the U.S. sometimes. There are way too many lawsuits.

SNOWBOARDER: Do you know of any American snowboarders who speak a foreign language?

Wille Yli-Luoma: None. Finnish riders end up always having to use English because we travel and, in most countries, you have to speak English. One thing that is frustrating is when I'm in France or somewhere and people think I'm an American. It's frustrating because they might not like Americans right now and they might snap. That's when I'm like, "I'm not American!" [Laughs.] Then I may speak Finnish back at them, but the fact of traveling and having people yell at you in their language in slow motion is stupid. They think you can understand it better, but you're like, "No, I don't speak your language." It happens to me all the time in Germany or Austria … I don't know what drives those people to think you can understand them better if they speak louder and slower.

SNOWBOARDER: How far do you think American riders would get in our sport if English wasn't such a common language?

Wille Yli-Luoma: Well, with the industry being from the U.S., Americans definitely have an advantage. Like right now I had to take a few plane rides to get here to go to a tradeshow and some snowboard movie premieres. I feel like Americans are more spoiled. I just heard of some American rider not wanting to go to a photo shoot because of a two-hour plane ride. That makes think about how spoiled they are. They didn't have to go through customs. You know, Jeremy [Jones] and J.P. [Walker] are lucky because they can sit in Salt Lake City year-round, go filming, and then go back to their homes. We have to create our own little fake homes when we come over here. We have to rent a place and put photos on the walls to make it kind of feel like home.

SNOWBOARDER: So Americans take it all for granted?

Wille Yli-Luoma: Yes. I just want to see an American come over to Europe for three or four months, film a video part, get their own car, rent their own place, and create their own life.

SNOWBOARDER: It seems that to make it in snowboarding, you have to make it on American shores. That's not necessarily fair, but isn't that how it is?

Wille Yli-Luoma: Well, that's probably the only reason why I'm still around. I was willing to come to the U.S., and stay here for the whole season to film. I think a lot of people have a hard time doing that.

SNOWBOARDER: Has the media ever frustrated you?

Wille Yli-Luoma: Yeah, definitely. But now I'm at a point where I have found out what is really important and what to care about. I don't like it when companies use shots in ads I wish they wouldn't have. I call them out real quick on things like that. It's embarrassing because I can't do anything about it. Some person at some desk somewhere in SoCal, where there are waves, decides this snowboard shot is really amazing because of the way the shadow lands on the snow. They don't really care how your trick looks or if you're grabbing, they only care about the image. It may be an ad that goes around the world, and this is what they present of your snowboarding. I've had a few bad ads with people and it can be really frustrating.

SNOWBOARDER: Who do you owe the most to in our sport for where you are at?

Wille Yli-Luoma: Probably the companies who write me checks. [Laughs.] Riding for Forum helped me out back in the day. I think K2 has done more than anyone for pushing me, along with all of my other sponsors, and everyone at Volcom. It takes years to have a relationship where you can understand each other, so it is way easier to work with them now. They don't ask stupid questions anymore. If there is a scaffolding contest in the middle of summer in Chile, when I'm about to go home and have time off, they don't ask me to do that. They respect my downtime.