Our brightest backyard stars
JOSH ZERKEL
Boarder
AGE: 18
HOME MOUNTAIN: Wisp
RIDES FOR: Forum, Special Blend, Pathfinder
BIGGEST FINISH: 4th at the Motown Throwdown, 3rd at the Rome Premature Jibulation at Seven Springs.
FUTURE PLANS: Riding for WVU where he’ll help his team crack the top 3 at the USCSA Nationals. He’ll also study aeronautical engineering.
In his own words…
On competing against kids from out West: “I competed at USSA Nationals for the last three years. I’m the only kid out there who doesn’t have a coach. Most kids go to mountain schools, board all day and take their classes at night. It’s tough to compete with that. I’ve spent the last three summers at Mount Hood at the High Cascades Camp. There are a lot of kids at Mount Hood during the summer, but they say I’m the only kid at that camp ever from West Virginia.
On going pro: “Do I move out to Utah and try to go pro? That’s the big question. I recently decided to stay here. Living in state and going to WVU, I can get so many scholarships and I’d still get to snowboard at Wisp all the time. And honestly, at 18, I feel like I’m over the hill now. If you’re not at a mountain school riding every day with a pro coach, you don’t have much of a shot.”
LINDSEA LUMPKIN
Boarder
AGE: 12
HOME MOUNTAIN: Ski Beech, Appalachian Ski Mountain
RIDES FOR: Burton, Skinc.com, Chicadoo
BIGGEST FINISH: 15 national championship medals since 2005, won the Gene Gillis Award for excellence in snowboarding, invited to train at the Junior Gold Camp, earned a spot to train at the International Snowboard Training Center at Copper Mountain.
FUTURE PLANS: USASA National Championships this season, US Burton Open this season, 2014 Olympics.
In her own words…
On training with an Olympic coach at the Junior Gold Camp: “You get the opportunity to be coached by the best of the best and to me that is a great honor. Training with an Olympic coach is rather intimidating at first but you get used to it, and it makes you want to do your best and land everything every time.”
On picking a specialty (Lindsea competes nationally in boarder cross, slopestyle, half pipe, and rails, as well as skateboarding): “My favorite is slopestyle. I’m hoping I can focus on slope and pipe, but I’m not sure I should quit racing yet. And I don’t want to choose between skating or snowboarding. I want to go pro in both skate and snowboard.”
CHARLIE OWENS
Freeskier
AGE: 16
HOME MOUNTAIN: Appalachian Ski Mountain
RIDES FOR: Scott Goggles, Ninthward Skis
BIGGEST FINISH: 3rd at the Salomon Jib Academy National Finals at Mammoth Mountain, California. It was a 15-mountain tour with a stop at App (Charlie won) and a finals at Mammoth.
FUTURE PLANS: Move to Utah and go pro.
In his own words…
On skiing in the South: “I’ve been skiing since I was two, and App’s come a long way. Hands down the best park in the High Country, and the actual features compare to what you ride at a park in Park City, but they have us beat on size. They can do so much more because of the size of their mountains.”
On moving West: “I was living at Mount Hood last summer. That’s the place to be during the summer. That’s where the park scene is at. My folks are letting me transfer during the second semester this year. I’m trying to go pro and if I want to take it to that level, I have to go where there’s a lot more competition.”
On going pro: “Mainly, you just have to compete a lot. You need one big competition podium, like the Dew Tour or X Games. Something legit to show companies. You also need to film with the bigger film producers, like Level 1 or Poor Boys Production. It’s kind of luck too.”
CHUCK LENGLE
Boarder
AGE: 23
HOME MOUNTAIN: Seven Springs
RIDES FOR: Rome snowboards, Smith Goggles, Peak Ski and Board Shop, Seven Springs Mountain
BIGGEST FINISH: 2nd at WV Open
FUTURE PLANS: Graduate from Strayer University with a bachelors in marketing, work at Windell’s, and ride.
In his own words…
On being a camp counselor at Windells (an action sports camp in Oregon, where kids learn to ski, board, bike, and skate from the pros): “It is the sweetest gig ever. I get to snowboard all summer long from May to August. The rest of my job consists of playing games, jumping on the trampoline, and playing in the foam pit.”
On riding at Seven Springs: “The mountain has everything from a small beginner park, to two intermediate parks, to a big park. It has the best half pipe in the East, and on a sunny day, nothing compares. Every year Seven Springs is stepping it up and making the park better and better.”
On competing against western riders: “Riders from this area can stack up with people from other parts of the U.S. Riding icy slopes helps you prepare for any condition. The way our park is progressing here in the East, you will start to see a big uprising of riders coming out of this area.”
On going pro: “I never really thought about it. I just love snowboarding and having fun no matter how far it takes me.”
