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	The premiere for «Drop - My Life Downhill» on March 18th in Vancouver was the perfect reason to fly across the big pond and escape from the cold weather in Switzerland. To make the most out of my trip, I flew to LA to skate some gnarly hills in Malibu with my downhill skateboard friends and to meet up with my wheel sponsor ABEC11. Airport Zürich, Transfer to Terminal E
	The Sk8trip warehouse: they call it the Candy Shop! Right here, Brian Holden putting together some orders...
	James Kelly and Louis Pilloni took me to Tuna Canyon Road, the one way downhill paradise. It's definitely one of the most challenging roads I have skated in a long time. My new board feels awesome and I'm getting confortable with drifts. We're having tons of fun here!
	Amber Retro freerides... Gone way to quickly, but these wheels helped me a lot in learning backside slides.
	A big crew is getting ready for the lower section on GMR. Cali boys don't wear leathers and only some of them wear fullface helmets, which doesn't necessarly mean that they're riding any slower... And every time I'm on GMR I'm surprised to see how many riders exit blind corners on the wrong side of the road, especially that one corner called «dead-mans».
	And this is how your knees look like when things go wrong. Local rider Max Capps took the inside in a blind left hand corner, crashed and failed to slide it out on gloves and shoes. Check out his video on skatehousemedia.com If you wonder what the skatehouse looks like, you should check out this short clip here! And here's a short interview with me, recorded during my stay at the skatehouse.
	Saturday March 6th was a rainy day in LA. In order to escape from boredom at the skatehouse, Max, Brian and I went to see 9 times world champion Kelly Slater in 3D. The movie shows Tahiti spirit, but unfortunately not enough big wave surfing, so it's more of a holiday movie. However, it was my first time in an IMAX movie theater and 3D is definitely epic!
	Just another beautiful view on Corral Canyon Road...
	And I like Cali space houses!
	Chris Chaput explaining the re-organized lineup of wheels and his brands ABEC 11, RETRO, PINK and SUBLIME. The subject to change will be unveiled in the next Concrete Wave Magazine.
	Good-bye LA: It's nice when you get to see the hills you have skated out of the airplane!
	Vancouver /// Be here for the Gravity I saw this ad the evening I arrived at the airport in Vancouver, and I like it! I'm here for the gravity! I'm in the Nr. 1 longboard city and I can't wait to ride some hills!
	Wednesday was an easy day. I visited the Landyachtz factory and did some sightseeing. The olympic fire was still burning for the paralympics...
	How cool is this? Drop - My Life Downhill!!! World premiere at the Rickshaw theatre! Picture by SkatieKatie
	Since I had some time to kill before dinner, I skated along the seawall, all around Stanley Park. The yellow sulfer on the north side of the bay was a really nice contrast to the blue sea!
	After I had skated underneath the Lions Bridge, I saw an epic Vancouver sunset. At around 8 o'clock I arrived at the Eatery, where I enjoyed nice sushi with Mischo Erban, Marc McCrudden, Lynch and Oliver from Orangefiist. Meeting the crew and sharing stories from the last one and a half years got me really pumped for the premiere.
	04:30, wake up, wake up! Abec11 riders Mischo Erban, Scoot Smith and myself were invited to a TV shoot for Canada's Breakfast TV at the Cypress Mountain lookout point. After filming various quick interviews and a few short runs down Cypress, the whole crew went for a nice english breakfast at Templeton. Click here to see the show. from left to right: Drop Producer Marc McCrudden, Co-Producer Michael Lynch, myself, Scoot Smith, Greg Harper from Citytv, Coast Longboarding Bricin Lions, Mischo Erban, Katie Neilson Picture by Heidi Germann
	Well fed, we drove to Landyachtz and then up to the British Properties in North Van. A group of about ten riders hit various nice runs down the BP's for a few hours. I almost fell asleep on the way up but definitely had a blast carving and practising standup slides. My recent carve setup is a medium stiff Airflow prototype with turny chinatrucks, 89a Reflex bushings, Biltin bearings and Abec11 Classic urethane 81a Freerides. So much fun! I'd like to thank our local BP guides Kevin Reimer and Mike McGoldrick for this awesome afternoon. Picture by Team Green photographer Abel
	DROP The World Premiere!!! Unreal! Vancouver is the mecca of longboarding and everybody came to the Rickshaw theatre to see the world premiere of the long avaited movie «Drop - My Life Downhill». The evening started with a few introductions and some short videos, such as Andrew Chapmans race recab and Mike McGoldricks 9to5 signature board teaser! And then, finally, «Drop» started right with a full run down GMR! I remembered that day with the Porsche Cayenne and the crane and got shivers! I got slightly frightened when I heard Marcus Rietema say «... Martin Siegrist, three time World Champion...». Ok, that's my part. It was completely unreal to see myself on such a big screen and to hear my own voice for much longer than I had expected... I'm talking about being an athlete, racing, balance and tinnitus...
The movie continued with cool features on Scoot, James Kelly, Kevin Reimer, Louis Pilloni, Mischo Erban and Erik Lundberg. It's a really nice and diverse overview on longboarding with mellow music and lot's of comments from various riders. The show ended with all featured riders on the stage, some Q & A. The premiere was a blast and I enjoyed it very much. I got goosebumps more than once and had to laugh quite a few times which is definitely a good sign! I'd like to thank Marc McCrudden, his family and team plus all the sponsors and everybody else who was involved in making this movie happen! «Drop - My Life Downhill» is a turning point in terms of cinematography and documenting downhill skateboarding. Check out Katie's review. If you want more, please visit skateslate.com, the website has some videos taken during the evening of the premiere. Concrete Wave Magazine printed a review by Marc McCrudden (Volume 8 / No. 5). After the premiere everybody went to the Met, and the party continued. At maybe 2 o'clock I left the place with the Loco Express... What a night! Thanks again to everybody who showed up, from near and far! Now, let's hope the DVD will be released soon! Cause I can't wait to see it again!
	Happy men: Producer Marc McCrudden and co-producer Michael Lynch. Thank you guys!
	All you can eat Sushi at Tomakazu on 201-1128 West Broadway. Kevin and Chiara made a big order and the waiter kept bringing various plates for nearly 2 hours. That dinner was absolutely hilarious. Everybody was happy, and really tired! Saturday was my third day in a row at the BP's! It was a crazy experience. Mike McGoldrick counted 27 riders. I never saw such a big crew on a hill. Despite some rather sketchy and unnecessary moments it was big fun riding all day long!
	Giants Head While hanging out in Vancouver, I was fortunate to meet Travis and Dillon. They both grew up in Summerland, which is the place of a beautiful hill called Giants Head. There's a gnarly 2.5km one lane road leading pretty much to the very top. The road got repaved about 4 years ago and the pave is hungry for ure thane! Over the last few years, Giants Head became a test piece for the BC longboarders, and being that close to the hill, I didn't want to miss the chance to ride it! We did about 8 runs that day and had tons of fun. Thanks to Dillon, Travis and Adam for the day! It was a pleasure!
	South Van Alleys A small crew gathered in South Van to shred some of the infamous alleys with banks and drops all the way down to a bus stop where you can catch a bus to get back to the top of the hill. What a day! Here's some POV footage, enjoy... And check out skateslate for another short vid.
	... and shred those freerides! Picture by Dan Pape colabo.ca / skate slate
	On my last night in Vancouver, Patrick Switzer and I met for dinner at the temple. It's an Indian temple that serves food for free. It's a nice return, a giving back, which is part of their religion... We met a bunch of longboarders and it was really funny cause stupid me washed my hands at the wrong sink and the fake indian couldn't stop staring at me... Well man, relax!
	On my trip back to Los Angeles, I saw this alarming sign here... Everybody run into the washrooms.....
	Abec 11 107mm Flywheels on an Altered Electric Skateboard This is a monster of a skateboard, and it takes you anywhere without one single push! I got to ride one of these boards on my last day in Huntington Beach and had plenty of fun. check out the Altered blog.
I had a blast riding the Malibu hills and a bunch of nice spots in and around Vancouver! Thanks to all the locals who shared their hills with me and groms, keep on pushing your limits, it's a pleasure seeing young talents! And, thanks to everybody who let me stay at their place during this trip.
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