Welcome to Living Legends, a new eight-part video series brought to you exclusively by Push.ca and Degree. The idea behind Living Legends is a simple one, we want to honor and document the careers of professional skateboarders and snowboarders that have a significant impact on their sports but remain in the game.
Over the coming months you can expect flurry of historical photos, footage, interviews and back-stories on every individual featured. A new episode of Living Legends drops every two weeks, so keep your eyes peeled for features on some of your all-time favorite pros. After our brief foray into skate territory with Barry Walsh, we’re back on the shred with man-beast Kale Stephens.
Living Legends: Kale Stephens [by Pete Andersen]
A conundrum wrapped up in an oxymoron and labeled a paradigm. That’s Kale Stephens. His aggressive riding style and ‘throw caution to the wind’ attitude tear through any contemporary idea of what snowboarding is all about. In a day and age where smooth style defines a rider, Kale has earned respect from the best in the business because he gets it done. The man has been rewriting shredding since he first linked turns at age ten in Collingwood, Ontario. Now 34, the idea of retiring hasn’t even crossed his mind.
Born in Newport Beach, California, he and his mom moved to Collingwood when he was just two years old. Living a stone’s throw away from Blue Mountain he started snowboarding at ten, made a name for himself in the u-ditch, outgrew Ontario and moved to Whistler at 18. In 2006 he left the hustle and bustle of Whistler to settle down in Squamish, just 45 minutes south of Whistler on highway 99. Living the dream in the Garibaldi Highlands, Kale still gets on his board as often as possible and oversees the Airhole empire that he and fellow pro-shred Chris Brown masterminded four years ago. A Wildcats alumni, Kale spearheaded the ‘sno-moboarding’ movement that has overtaken the snowboarding landscape. Always on the prowl for new terrain, imaginative lines and ways to make photographers and filmers second guess his antics, Kale continues to make onlookers cringe and turn away in dismay, until, of course, he stomps something first try and rides straight to après.
Before we go on, and just to put things in perspective: Kale tore his nose clean off his face loading his snowmobile onto his truck with a make shift ramp. He then told the doctors to wait while he conducted a photo shoot to ensure he documented the situation properly.
We could go on for days here…once everything is said and done Kale will go bigger, ride faster and shralp burlier lines than pretty much anyone on the planet. Snowboarding as we know it would be chalk full of rainbows and lollipops if it weren’t for the likes of Kale Stephens. He single-handedly progressed snowboarding as a whole and showed us what’s possible on a shred stick. We owe him a huge debt of gratitude. Hats off too you Mr. Stephens, hats off.
We’re five legends deep with three more to go. Review Dennis Bannock, Shin Campos, Martin Gallant and skater Barry Walsh. There will be a test. Or not.
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