Athlete interview: Eric Hjorleifson

Exclusive FP interview with the man himself, Eric Hjorleifson.

Field Productions

(29.08.2009 13:40) Tell a friend

 

FP: Hey Eric. How’s life? What are you up to these late summer days?

EH: Life’s good buddy, just finished working as a Stone Mason for the past 2 months. I am trying to save some cash for a new truck, my old one about to snap in half.

FP: What is a typical summer for you? Do you prefer skiing on glaciers, or do you rather go surfing big waves?

EH: Lately I haven’t done much of either, how ever I am headed down to Chile to shred Pow and film in a few days. Stoked!!

FP: You are featuring in ”Eyes Wide Open” as the first Canadian athlete in Field Productions history. How was it to work with Filip/Field Productions? Was it different compared to the other film companies you usual work with?

EH: Every film crew is a bit different to work with in their own way. I had a great time working with the Field Crew! Field Productions brings a great fresh creative stoked with them.

FP: How did you experience skiing together with Eirik Finseth and Åsmund Thorsen?

EH: Those guys rip hard. It was very impressive to see the adapt the full tilt Norwegian style in the bottomless powder pillow in the Canadian Rockies. I was a Horner to shred with them on my home mountains with epic conditions. Chris Rubens and I would just laugh and tell them it was like this all the time, Ha Ha!

FP: Your footage is filmed at Mica Heli Guides, which is a heli operation in British Columbia. They have won several awards for having ”the worlds deepest and lightest snow”. Did you get that impression? Can you describe how those few days turned out?

EH: I love Mica Heli Guides, I’ve been fortunate to have gone there a few times in the past and I’ve always had great skiing no mater what time in the season it was. That is impressive and definitely make Mica and the Rocky Mountains on of my favorite places to ski.

FP: You have been visiting Norway quite a lot. Tell us, what do you like about our country?

EH: I really enjoy the Norwegian ski culture, I like to visit the birthplace of skiing plus I have some Viking blood in me so it feels pretty natural over there for me. I would say Norwegians are more stoked on skiing than anyone else, it’s awesome.

FP: Are you coming back here anytime soon?

EH: I am coming back to Norway for the movie tour again this year. I am stoked I always have a great time partying with the Norges! I am going to stick around in Oppdal for a while afterwards and build some skis with Endre Hals at Prog Skis.

FP: The progression in skiing is very intense these days, both in the big mountain and in the park. Do you think skiing in general is progressing in the right direction? Do you prefer less double flips, and rather slower tricks with more style?

EH: I am blown away with the progression these days, the advancement of ski design has completely reshaped our sport in a few short years, right now is the most exciting time to be a skier!

FP: You are designing your very own 4FRNT skis, the EHP from the skis actual dimensions and flex pattern all the way to the graphics. Can you give us a short description of the process?

EH: It is hard to give you a short description of such a lengthy process but I’ll try: While I am skiing I am trying to always observe how my skis are performing in that type of conditions. Then I try to figure out what works best in the conditions I like the most, Powder but will still function well on a variety of harder snow conditions. I also try to focus on what makes a ski stable at higher speeds and a solid platform to land on. I keep track of all of this in the back of my mind and then I use my experiences to base my designs off of. I usually sketch a rough hand dawning and send it to the 4FRNT engineer and he develops my drawing into a CAD file. Then I go through about 20 versions, revising and polishing my design with each version. I sometimes will have the computer drawing printed out full scale so I can stand on it and see exactly how it is going to be shaped. I do these revisions until I am completely satisfied with the design. We now build prototypes at the 4FRNT head Quarters in Salt Lake City Utah. Then I test the prototypes out and make any final adjustments before the production model are constructed. The Graphic are just a slow process of artistic design. The most difficult aspect is coming up with a concept to go on, I usually pick something that I am stoked on or inspires more or that I feel represents some part of my life.

FP: Do you feel that the EHP’s have something unique to offer?

EH: I feel the EHP’s are an exact representation of my style of skiing, I try to design them to aid my skiing, as my style advances my design in turn advances further. I do not think that there are many big ski brands with this same approach as me, so I feel that my ski is quite unique, for sure.

FP: Thanks for your time. See you at the Fri Flyt Tour in Oslo, October 3rd.

EH: Yeah buddy can’t wait, see you there!

FP: People you'd like to thank:

EH: Family and Friends everywhere out there.
Helly Hansen, Smith Optics, 4FRNT Skis, Gordini, Fresh Sports, Discrete
Have a Great Season!
Eric

Photos:
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