The Pusillanimous Tour
Words + Photos: Alan Maag
pusillanimous
/ˌpjuːsɪˈlanɪməs/
adjective
showing a lack of courage or determination;
timid.
All pictures were shot on a ten day tour in Switzerland last summer. It was made possible by LAAX, the ski resort which organises the Team Trouble Miniramp sessions every year in December, and thought it might be a nice idea to get the Warriors and a bunch of Englishmen on the road together.
Sox kinda introduced it to be the “Don’t be a Pusillanimous Tour.”
They call it the Scream Cat ramp and it can be found in a barn somewhere near the East Swiss Mountains. Note that the extension is over-vert, making the floating crail stall fakie kinda particular. Floating, ‘cause Hallford was barely touching the coping, he rather brushed a couple of inches with his tail.
You should have seen the speed with which Jordan entered the bowl to get up on to that barrel. Add live guitars, fireworks, plus a roaring beer-fueled crowd and you’re close to the energy of the annual Beast Feast in Zurich.
That pipe was awfully wobbly, making every turn a bouncy experience. It must have been an old corn storage which some farmer dropped on the side of his land ‘cause he couldn’t get rid of it. So Fede Boldini crailed the bouncy castle.
Pivot Fakies include a moment of calm, kinda like that moment you dive into water. I’d always choose diving into water over running back up the stairs for a kickflip tailslide...
Martino and Scianta come from the same crew: The Warriors. ‘Tino used to be the young kid from Lugano for many years, and it’s crazy to see how he developed and at what level he is skating at now. And as it seems there’s a next generation of kids following up and blasting Stalefishes - making the Flip indy all of a sudden the trick the “old guy” did.
Finding the right snap for that mini bump wasn’t really a problem for Ewen and neither was the pop. He did five or six of these until we came to the conclusion that this tailslide was just meant to be hanging a little bit.
So this spot... It’s in the centre of Zurich’s party district and it’s seen pretty much everything. Tons of wallrides, the needle days, Natas transferring, tear gas and puke, a nice little wallride bluntslide by Sven Kilchenmann but only one guy with such a proud moustache layback boardsliding it; Livio Gritti - Il Libicanza.
Don’t you wonder where certain skaters get their style and trick choice from? Grabbing his deck mute was the perfect choice for Sox to really yank and slash it. Making the grind sound the loudest it possibly could.
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