Forged by Fire: The Parker Duke Interview

When did you feel the most dedicated to ride this season? 

The end of January and beginning of February was when I felt most dedicated to snowboarding. Consistent storm cycles rolled through the Wasatch Mountain Range providing a plentiful amount of powder days. A very large amount of my time was spent riding at Brighton Resort. Frequently utilizing the newly fallen snow during the resets gave myself a newfound comfort in the terrain. I could ride top to bottom without stopping to checkout any cliffs, landings, chutes, etc. As long as the snow was fresh it was good to go. It was a blast.

What was your favorite memory from the winter? 

There was a day I spent in February riding with my friend Jamison from 9 A.M. to 9 P.M. at Brighton Resort. It was a mellow weekday with not many people up there. Visibility and temperatures were low, and snow was falling at a rapid rate. You could make your way back to a previous line you made only a couple runs before and it would be filled in. It was too good to leave so we continued to ride until the lifts were done. 

What’s your plan for the spring and summer? Anymore snowboarding? 

I'll be spending my time skating and snowboarding around the Pacific Northwest and California before heading to Mt. Hood to dig for the summer. Lots of time ahead on a snowboard and behind my camcorder.

If you had a magic wand, what is one thing you would do for or change in snowboarding? 

It would be great to not see as many people on their phones while snowboarding. Or just in general. I can totally respect and appreciate social media's role in snowboarding. It keeps it relevant, appealing, and entertaining to the consumer, which in turn is hopefully getting them out snowboarding and hyped on whichever rider or gear they're interested in. 

However, with so much emphasis going into the need of constant and immediate content a lot of the prominent characters in snowboarding that I grew up on are a bit neglected. I'd like to think that a town's snowboarding scene is more intimate, genuine, and diverse from other scenes when they are left to be inspired by what immediately surrounds them, like watching the older group of snowboarders lap the park or hanging out at your local snowboard shop, but this is just a tip of the iceberg perspective on my thoughts about the modern snowboarder. And, although I really admire how "the good old days were" it's great to see snowboarding progress and stay current. None of that would be possible if we just stuck to VHS movies.

So, if I had a magic wand I'd create dead zones on resorts where cameras wouldn't work and you were left with no choice, but to board with your friends.

Frontside 360 on the legendary "Forum" step down.