Ethan Deiss in Oslo, Norway | Photo: Adam Moran

For this Young Buck we asked one young Burton phenom to interview another. Instead of starting off with a straightforward Q+A, Keegan Valaika called up the unsuspecting Ethan Deiss just to chat. Keegan felt that you would get a truer sense of who Ethan is if he didn’t know he was being interviewed. As with our regular web feature “Shit Ethan Says,” some entertaining stuff came out of the mouth of the 19-year-old Wisconsinite. Then, Keegan dropped into the Q+A to find out more about Ethan the Snowboarder.
– Chris Owen

Ethan having some fun at Mammoth | Photo: Gabe L'Heureux

If you haven’t seen Ethan Deiss’s part in Role Model’s 08/09 flick, you should definitely go watch it now. His first shot is a nosepress down a triple kink. It’s so perfect that the filmer can’t help but say, “You gotta be fuckin’ kidding me,” and Ethan rides away from it like he’s just cruising down the park at Trollhaugen, WI.

Every time I snowboard with him, I find myself saying the same thing as the filmer. I could say a whole lot more about how Ethan’s snowboarding will blow your mind, but I don’t think my vocabulary will do it justice the way seeing him ride in person will. Watch his parts and wait for the day you get to see him snowboard live because this kid is truly one of the most naturally gifted people I’ve ever met. Whether it’s his snowboarding or his overall positive outlook on everything in life, Ethan is setting the standard by just being himself.

Ethan: What up Keegs?

Keegan: Yo, what up dog?

E: Chillin’, looking at shit in a thrift store.

K: Word. What you been up to?

E: Not shit, man. I got that infection on my neck, that Mercer shit, so I kinda been chillin’ these past few weeks. Other than that I’ve been skating camping and hanging out.

K: Damn dude, Mercer? Is that like Staph? That sucks. How’d that happen?

E: I don’t know. It’s just like some crazy bacteria or something that just like gets inside an open wound, and then it like fucks shit up.

K: Ugh.

E: Yeah, I’ve got it twice now. The last time I had to get surgery.

The conversation is momentarily interrupted so Deiss can yell to his homie in the thrift shop — “Look at this, isn’t it tight? I’m getting it. Throw it in the basket.”

Ethan nose pressing through a down-flat-down in Oslo, Norway | Photo: Adam Moran

E: Dude! I just found the dopest NWA shirt I’ve ever seen. Dude how fuckin’ sick is this.

K: You better cop that.

E: Dude, I’m getting it!

K: How was New Zealand?

E: I didn’t go cuz of my Mercer shit. Did you?

K: Oh no dude. I didn’t go either. I just went to hood for the VG (Video Grass) Session. It was sick.

E: Ahhh sick man, that’s what I wanted to do.

K: I know I was bummed you weren’t there. I was with Jake (Olson) and Danimals (Dan Leidahl) pretty much the whole time. It was so fun.

E: Dammit dude. That sounds so sick. Yo, are you on that crazy Euro tour for the [Burton] movie?

K: Nah, maybe a stop or two, you?

E: Yeah, I’m on the tour longer than anybody else. I have like 30 stops I gotta go to or something.

K: Damn.

E: Yeah, all over Europe.

K: That’s gonna be a long one for sure. You’ll definitely be at some dope parties though.

Ethan styles out a nice tail press in Wisconsin | Photo: Blotto

E: I know. It’s sick. And I can get wasted over there cuz they let nineteenyear-old fools get hammered (laughs).

K: Word. Well I don’t wanna keep you from the thrift store too long, so I’ll hit you up again a little later.

E: Hell yeah dog. Keep it real homie, just hit me up whenever man. I’ll just be chillin’.

K: Aight. Peace fool.

E: Word. Later homie.

Ethan doing what he does best in Minnesota | Photo: Blotto

Keegan: You ride one of the lower priced Burton boards. Do you think that the kind of board you ride makes a difference in the way you snowboard?

Ethan: I don’t think so, but it’s different for everybody, I guess. I’m used to thrashing my boards. I don’t like getting new snowboards that much. I’d rather ride a more broken-in board. It takes me time to get used to a brand new snowboard. Same for boots, bindings, all that shit.

K: Why do you snowboard?

E: For fun and so I can hangout with my homies.

K: Who’d you grow up snowboarding with?

E: I grew up riding with all of my buddies from school and my brother. I met so many people out on the hill though. That’s what keeps me doing this, being able to meet people all the time. It just never gets old somehow. Usually if you eat your favorite food for a week or two straight, you’ll get sick of it. It’s not like that with snowboarding, for me at least.

K: I just saw Joe’s video (the new Video Grass film Retrospect). The theater erupted when your name came on the screen. How was filming for that?

E: Damn, that’s tight! It’s so sick filming with them. It’s just an all-around good vibe! Joe (Carlino), Gary (Milton), and Hayden (Rensch) got their shit on lock. I’m loose as shit, I leave boots at the hotel, forget my snowboard, only bring a sweatshirt when it’s -20 degrees. I once left the van door open twice in one day with all the camera equipment in it. I just get too excited to go board. I black out and don’t think. I’m getting better though. Bottom line, I’d film with VG the rest of my life if they would let me.

K: Where’d you hang out most of the winter?

E: Wisco, Minnesota, Norway, Slovenia, Whistler, Cali and Colorado.

This article was featured in Volume 8 Issue 2.
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