Earlier this month Frequency, The Snowboarders Journal, contacted me asking if I would be interested in writing a review of their magazine on my site giving me full editorial freedom. I accepted and took on the challenge of not only reading it thoroughly but writing about it. After I got issue 6.3 in the mail, I read through it about 20 times before I realized what I had gotten myself into. So here it goes…the first review that hopefully won’t be the last.
Issue 6.3Cover Shot
The highly coveted magazine cover goes to Mark “Lando” Landvik, a rider with style and skill that uses the whole mountain as a natural terrain park. Coming out of Alaska and with Baker as his home mountain, expect to see much more from this solid rider starting with his upcoming part in Standard Film’s Aesthetica.
The cover photo features a sweet powder shot of Lando riding through some kicked up powder clouds and snow chunks. At first glimpse the main beauty is the powder and the way he charges down the mountain. Then I saw it… he’s sticking his tongue out riding! Is it to catch some snowflakes in his mouth or his subtle emission of happiness on the mountain? It made me question the reason behind it and to me, it just shows fun. He’s riding an 07-08 Lib Tech Phoenix but I noticed he still has the One Ball Jay wax sticker on the base of the board which I found amusing.
Features
There are 5 main features in this issue: an essay on community based Terrain Parks, Interview with Eric Jackson, a look at China & snowboarding, Interview with Jeff Brushie and the photo gallerie of Adam Clark.
With the expansion of increased snowboard production in
I was hoping to read more about the first Chinese professional snowboarder, Wang Lei. I think he’d be really interesting to talk to, having developed as a snowboarder when it was still very small there.
The interview with Jeff Brushie gives you a glimpse of what a force he was in snowboarding at a young age and the impact he made on the sport. This was my first time reading about Jeff Brushie and I was captivated by the interview and pictures from the past. You really get a feel for his voice and opinions on snowboarding, from experiences to words of advice. At 16 pages, it’s much longer than the standard interview.
The interview covers his ascent into the pro snowboarding world at a young age. His parents supported him to snowboard and it didn’t take long for his natural ability to take him around the world with the Burton Team in 1989. His riding approach was in the amplitude of tricks, showcasing the skateboarding style by taking it to the snow. These were the days before the perfect halfpipes, where the rider’s skill made up for the lack of pipe. As the industry grew, he was along for the ride, helping grow and develop snowboarding to what it is today.
I enjoyed reading the fun moments of his past, where he and Shawn Palmer switching jerseys at the Nippon Contest to mess with the judges or his best run ever where he lost his way during a
Whether it’s judging or photography for the World Series of Poker, he is out there making his name and still snowboarding.
The snowboarders of today should learn and listen to the first generation of riders that created, adapted and made the sport what it is today. Jeff Brushie’s interview is no exception and his advice to our generation of snowboarders is loud and clear.
Adam Clark is the luckiest guy alive. He gets to travel with the Teton Gravity Research crew capturing photographs of riders like Jeremy Jones and Victoria Jealouse. To him it’s about the attitude of the riders and captures images of riders willing to work for one of those epic shots. In Frequency, the “gallerie” is set up so you can see each image whether big or small and know who the rider is. I liked that Adam Clark commented on each photograph, giving you more information on how he took the photo or getting that right shot to come out. It shows how much hard work is taken to pull together that one perfect shot that will make it into a magazine.
Photography
The photographs throughout the magazine from the front to the backpage, compliment the style of riding from Frequency…from big powder lines to natural terrain parks in the backcountry to the always fun Holy Oly Revival. Each picture is a different rider, spanning across multiple continents to multiple companies they ride for. I find it rare to see so many different faces, riding styles in every photograph.
Highlights
It was my first time reading Frequency and I was impressed. It’ll take a period of adjustment to go from crap articles to content/essay based articles on snowboarding. I learned a lot and this issue covered topics that had not been mentioned in mainstream snowboarding news.
The article that stood out to me the most was the X Report that writes about the snow falling in Bagdad for the first time in 50 years. Being in a climate where it’s non-existent and experiencing that pure joy that comes with snow enough to make a war territory…stop fighting is something beautiful. Something as simple as flakes falling from the sky is more profound than we think about.
The featured essay on community terrain parks focused on if there is a need for closer more accessible snowboarding to society. Bringing in new blood to the sport means making it more accessible in cost and location. Not everyone can afford in this economy to drive to the mountains or spend $80 a day on lift tickets, equipment alone will set you back a couple hundred dollars. The essay looks at 3 parks built in cities: Ruby Hill in Denver, Colorado; Canada Olympic Park in Calgary, Alberta; and Raging Buffalo Snowboard Park near Chicago, Illinois. These terrain parks focus on progressive features in locations where anyone can ride.
There is also small article on Mikey Peterson, a snowboarder whose life was taken last year and words he lived by “don’t fret it, shred it.”
Other articles showcase the return of competitive freeriding, Frontage Glacier, Dick’s Ditch Bank Slalom, Powder Gluttony and the New Cold War all give you small glimpses into interesting reads on current events or experiences within snowboarding.
Advertising
When I’m reading a snowboard magazine, I expect to see ads related to snowboarding…not about joining the military or the next best hot bikini wax/deodorant in one. The ads featured in Frequency come directly from snowboarding: Ride, Oakley, Dakine, Summit@Snoqualmie, Volcom, K2, Snowboard Connection, Vans, Baldface, Nidecker, evo, Cloudveil, Think Thank, DWD, Bonfire, Whistler, Burton and Lib Tech.
The most stunning of the ads is the new Oakley Terje goggle ad featuring Justin Hampton’s artwork of the Terje, the Norwegian Viking King.
The funniest ad featured is the sex sells by Dinosaurs Will Die Snowboards that features a hairy beer gut man in a hot stuff bra bikini that just pops out at you.
The only ad that I thought didn’t belong was the Volcom ad featuring Zac Marben, a younger AM Team Rider coming up. The riding in the ad was limited and featured snow angels that reminded me of babysitting.
Quality
Frequency isn’t your typical snowboard magazine in terms of quality of the publishing. It is just as they described it, your coffee table journal. The magazine is higher quality and it was refreshing to read articles that took me more than a couple minutes to finish. I actually thought about what was being expressed and that’s hard to say about a lot of snowboard magazines. This is most definitely your living room coffee table magazine, it’s not meant for bathroom status.
July 17th, 2008 at 9:43 am
Great review. I especially like your commentary on how war stopped as a result of snow falling. That actually touches me deeply (or maybe that’s me touching myself :-S) to know that snow causes so much joy to other people as well as to myself. It truly is a magical thing. Nice touch. I was already mostly sold, but after reading your review, I’m heading over to the frequency website to subscribe. My coffee table needs something new, other than last year’s surf, magazines to adorn it.
July 21st, 2008 at 5:45 am
Without a doubt, it’s my favorite snowboarding magazine. Then again, it’s rather spendy ($10 per issue–4 times a year), so I don’t subscribe. On occasion I’ll buy a copy in a retail store.