I tillegg til intervjuet med Pep Fujas, eller Braden Peperell Fujas som han egentlig heter, får du trimmet engelsken din. Unsensored.
Pep Fujas, how has your season been? No serious injuries?
My season wasn't all I'd hoped for but there were some great moments, some dull moments and some depressing moments. All in all it was kind of an average season. I had a great time traveling with the Nimbus boys wherever we went but I did sustain a couple of injuries this year that took me out of the game for a couple of three week stints. Depending on who you talk to would determine what serious is, to me both of the injuries I sustained this year were not serious. I tore my medial collateral ligament in my right knee which was severe enough to take me away from skiing but not enough for surgery. 3 weeks. Afterward I went to Silverton Mt., CO with Andy Mahre to shoot with Warren Miller. Near the end of the trip I tried to pull off a triple stager I had been eying up for a couple of days and ended up tumbling my way through the second two stages. Luckily, I walked away with a small puncture wound in my arm, a fractured wrist and a couple of bruises. After this crash I called up Bern helmets.
Tell your Norwegian fans about yourself, where you come from, grew up skiing, career background etc.
I was raised on the West Coast in a rural area outside of Ashland, Oregon on the northern border of California. I learned to ride at Mt. Ashland and skied their religiously every weekend or when it snowed more then a foot. At the age of 14 I was fortunate enough to go to a boarding school in Steamboat Springs, Colorado called Lowell Whiteman where I developed into a mogul skier. Around the time when twin tips arrived my energy and focus was slowly converted towards riding the park instead of the bumps. I competed in the US Open a couple times and finished respectably. Over the years I had met a couple pros, Tanner Hall, CR Johnson and others who would always hassle me to get into Freeride. By 2001 I had quit skiing moguls and moved to Mammoth, CA where I worked at a local ski shop. I had been on Oakley's flow team while skiing moguls and when I transitioned to Freeride they offered me a contract. K2 fell into my lap and others followed suit. From there I started creating movie segments with whomever I could, PoorBoyz Productions, Teton Gravity Research and Matchstick Productions. I competed in quite a few contests placing well and landed 2nd behind Tanner in the 2003 X-Games. At the beginning of the next season I tore my right acl. During recovery I helped out with Tanner Hall and Eric Ibergs first movie, WSKI106. After that year my focus changed from doing everything to focusing on the part that I love the most. Powder!
A lot of people claim your part in "1242" as one of the most memorable and innovative ski movie segments ever. How do you look upon that yourself?
I'm very proud of my segment in 1242 and I'm very happy that some people feel that way. It was a great year for me and I'm glad it helped to inspire people.
You´ve been filming with PBP and MSP, and now you´re a central part in the Nimbus project. What is the move like from being shot and directed, to shoot, direct and edit yourself?
Truthfully the change wasn't all that significant because I do very little shooting and non of the editing. My job is still just to ski but I do take the opportunity to offer suggestions on specific angles for a particular trick or something I see that needs to be shot for the feel of a certain part. On the filming side I most enjoy doing follow cams and getting close to the action. Doing the whole production ourselves is much more rewarding and that is what I enjoy most about it. Creating something visually appealing that others can enjoy and that I know I am in integral part of gives me so much more then just being an athlete.
Following that question: Nowadays new ski movie companies are popping up all over, and it seems like more and more riders want to control or have a strong influence on their segments / movie projects. How do you expect to see the ski movie scene in a few years? Will there be too many companies fighting for the few dollars that are in the industry?
I think it will end up looking like the model of American industry. The rich will get richer. The bigger companies will and already have gained corporate sponsorship that fund the majority of their movies. The small business/middle class will be sustainable and have the opportunity to go up or down but will be weighted on the downside. And the start-up companies will be fighting for those few dollars or will be personally financed. It seems as though the snowsports industry is taking a bit of a hit these days due to the recession in the states as well as warming temperatures so I don't see a future for a lot of the start-ups. On the other hand I wish everyone the best and hope everyone can make it. I love checking out all the videos in the fall to see what people have come up with.
Speaking of industry, you´ve had a strong relationship with K2 for years. A lot of people wonders what it is like to have their own pro model, and eventually if you get a cut of the sale? Give people some insight in what the pro business is all about.
Having a promodel has been a blessing. It is really exciting to come up with ideas on how a ski should be shaped for my riding style, what will work and what won't and then finally have a product come out that works exactly how I imagined it. It's a trip. It also has my name on it, which means that I must have done something cool on my skis. For endorsing this product I do get a cut of the sales.
It´s hard to forget about your segment in "Focused" as well. What was your Norway trip like? Any special memories at all?
Norway was great! We didn't have epic conditions and didn't ski a whole lot but that isn't what made the trip. I had two firsts on that trip. It was my first trip with Eric Pollard and Seth Morrison and my first time in a Heli. Special moments. Hmmm. Besides being in a heli, watching Seth ski or huck more like was kind of surreal. Without question we all knew that Seth was going to hit the most prominent diving board. We watched him do backflips off of four eighty footers, two each day we were out. We also had some beef with the locals. Apparently helicopter assisted filming for ski movies isn't allowed in Norway but somehow we were able to get some type of permit that allowed us to. Sometime we flew at 7am which disrupted the peace and cause some people to get angry. The next morning we made the front page of the local paper, the headline said, "ILLEGAL" in big bold letters. Other then that the people we met were really nice and friendly. Great trip!
Finally, what is Pep Fujas doing now in the summer?
Let's see, I'm going to have to take a deep breath for this. Here we go. I just returned from a two week surf trip to Kaua'i with Chris Benchetler. Next week I head down to Mexico for another two week surf trip. I then coach at Windells ski camp in Mt. Hood before I head to Les Deux Alps in France for another ski camp. A couple days after returning from there I head down to ski and coach at SASS in Bariloche, Argentina and then to Las Lenas to test ski clothing for Oakley. Directly after I'm off to New Zealand for some cold water surfing and skiing and finally I am going to Kenya in Africa on a humanitarian project called Alpine Initiatives. If anyone is interested we need lots of help for this last endeavor. Alpine Initiatives will help raise money to fund the building of a community home for kids who have been orphaned from parents with aids. This is a relatively new development and I'm very excited about helping out. We will have a website for this project up in another month. If you can help email me at fujasinc@hotmail.com. So, my summer is pretty mellow, not doing too much. Enjoy your summers everyone!
Pep Fujas er med i Nimbus-crewet, og er aktuell med "Hunting Yeti - Part 3". Følg linken under for å laste ned filmen.
