Gabbing with Gilbert
Gimme Five
By JODY ZARKOS
Express Staff Writer
Andy Gilbert
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The evolution of Andy Gilbert is not unlike the growth in the sport he loves, snowboarding.
The one-time punk has matured into a respectable and even upstanding citizen who heads up a very important program in the community, the Sun Valley Ski Education?s snowboard team.
Now in his 10th year with the snowboard team and his fourth as head coach and program director, Gilbert has swapped his piercings and hair dye for a more sedate look, but don?t let his appearance fool you into thinking Gilbert has sold out. He?s just grown up -- and his hair has grown out.
A Sun Valley native, who grew up in Portland, Oregon, the 34-year old Gilbert started skiing at Mount Hood when he was three.
Derailed from the Cascade Ski Club by a broken femur (after getting hit by a car while skateboarding), Gilbert made the switch to snowboarding in the late eighties.
?I couldn?t ski race with my teammates anymore. I couldn?t keep up, so I started going to the ski hill with my skateboarding friends and we would go snowboarding,? Gilbert explained.
?We would show up with stuff that had a strap for a binding and they wouldn?t let us on the hill. So we would go build jumps in the parking lot. I was probably about 17.?
Gilbert switched to snowboarding full time in 1990. It coincided with the year he decided to move back to the Valley.
?I came out here on New Year?s Day in 1990. It took us 16 to drive from Portland. It was the gnarliest storm. We got out of the van to get the keys to the condo and sank up to our waists in snow. It was the sweetest week of powder skiing ever and I decided I was moving back here.?
Gilbert talked longtime friend James Young into making the move with him and the pair, in true ski-bum-fashion, moved into Mike Connolly?s T-shirt shop.
?I lived under a workbench in the shop,? Gilbert recalled with a laugh. ?James worked at Sushi on Second and we would shower with the vegetable sprayer. It was clean living.?
Gilbert worked as a silk screen artist creating designs for Connolly and it was also Mike who gave Gilbert a job with the fledgling snowboard team in 1994.
Gilbert recounted, ?Connelly and Cally Galpin approached me in 1994 for D team coach. Even then it was kind of a stretch. I had an eyebrow ring and dyed hair. I was the new breed of snowboarder that the one-piecers couldn?t stand.?
The kids on the team took to him, however, and Gilbert has climbed the ranks as methodically as any white-collar worker.
?In the beginning it was one of those deals like, sweet, six hours of work and I get a pass. I think for those of us that stick with it, it becomes more about the kids. I slowly started moving up as a coach and I became more motivated to learn and go to clinics. Then the decision that this is what I want to for the next 30 years came over me.?
Throughout Gilbert?s and the coaching staff?s tenure, the Sun Valley Ski Team has produced some elite riders, including Graham Watanabe, who won a World Cup race earlier this season, and Wyatt Caldwell has posted some top-five results in national events.
?We?ve done remarkably well for ourselves,? Gilbert remarked.
Personally, as well, Andy is a happy man. Married since 1999, Andy and wife, JaNessa, have a two-year-old son, Angus.
Gilbert and I sat down for a chat on a snowy Wednesday morning.
JZ: What do you think of the evolution of snowboarding here in the Valley as far as what Sun Valley has done?
AG: Slow is the first word that comes to mind. But in some ways that is not necessarily the worst thing. I think the fact that we are just now getting a half-pipe and park in some ways has created more of a tight-knit scene among the riders which seems to be disappearing in some of the places that do have the big blowup.
JZ: If you could have say in what happens on Baldy, what would you do?
AG: A world-class park and pipe. They are making steps in the right direction. I think eventually we will end up with that and end up with a full-time park and pipe staff on the mountain. I love Baldy and it is a tough one to find space to give up. We don?t have that many mellow runs for beginners and that is the kind of space you need to build it.
JZ: What you do on your day off?
AG: In the wintertime I don?t really get a day off. Generally, I use it to get caught up around the house or give my wife a break.
JZ: Do you remember the feeling you had when you got hired with the ski team?
AG: I was stoked because I felt like I had things to offer the team beyond the athletic side of it. One of the reasons why the Sun Valley team has been successful is because the lack of resources created a do-it-yourself mentality. It didn?t bother us that we didn?t have a park or pipe. We brought to it that motivation if it wasn?t going to happen here, it wouldn?t stop us from making it happen on our own. If we had to drive 12 hours to ride a pipe we would.
JZ: Are you proud of what you have accomplished at the skate park?
AG: I am super proud. 10 years ago we had a half pipe with screws sticking out of it. Now we have two of the best parks in the world in this small little valley. It?s crazy. I think everything is pretty happy with it.
JZ: What did you learn while building the skate park?
AG: The biggest thing is not to be reactionary with people. To be patient and try and listen to people?s opinions and let them speak without cutting them off. Not to get up on your soapbox because that does not get you anywhere.
JZ: What effect do you think you have had on the Valley?
AG: That?s a weird one for me. I am pegged with being the mouthpiece of skating and snowboarding in the Valley because I write letters or go to meetings. I feel like I am part of a much bigger community. To me it?s a lot more than the actual activity. Yeah, I step up. But there is a huge pool of people that do that don?t get the recognition they deserve. Every time we ask for volunteers they come through.
JZ: What?s in your CD players right now?
AG: AC-DC. I grew up going to punk rock and metal shows in Portland. My mom took me to my first concert, Devo. My first show on my own was Motorhead and Ozzy Osburne. If you go through my record collection there are a lot of black covers.
JZ: What is your favorite resort besides Sun Valley?
AG: Jackson Hole and Mount Baker in Washington, home of the record snowfall.
JZ: Best day ever?
AG: Well, apparently I missed the best day ever last New Year?s because I couldn?t get out of my driveway, but probably at Mount Baker three years ago during the legendary Banked Slalom. It snowed 52 inches in 48 hours and we had a race to run and rode ridiculous powder all day long. I rode with AJ Grabos over there.
JZ: It?s a powder day and you have Baldy all to yourself. Where would you go?
AG: This will probably piss the purists off, but I am probably going to head over to Upper Warm Springs and make as few turns as possible going down it.
JZ: Have you been clipped before?
AG: I have been warned.
JZ: What do you think of the strides the snowboard team has made?
AG: They are awesome. It?s night and day. We had a great foundation put down by the coaches that started the team and with the growth in snowboarding in general there are more roads for these kids to go down. You have a kid like Graham Watanabe winning a World Cup and on the U.S. team, and kids like Wyatt Caldwell finishing in top five in the U.S. Open in Rail Jam with Wu Tang Clan playing in the background. There are so many opportunities in snowboarding right now and they are all different. And we are clueing kids into all of them.
JZ: Favorite snowboarding innovation in last 10 years?
AG: Forward lean socks.
JZ: What are your goals for this season?
AG: Well, to try and keep everyone healthy. To try and have as few injuries on the road as possible. I deal with a couple broken collarbones and wrists every season. I think I have visited every hospital in western U.S. if there is a ski town next to it. The main thing is fun. Competition is fun and also about being on the road and pushing yourself. The one thing the coaches have in common with the kids is we love to snowboard. They keep me riding as much as I keep them motivated.
