Go out with a BANG. That’s how we like to do it at Transfer. For the final mission of the series, we rounded up a crew of guests we knew were hungry to go hard and soak up the spring vibes. This is the product of pulling together three pretty crazy humans in a pretty out of control environment. Taking the term “jump off shit” to a whole new level…
First port of call was Nate Johnstone, Winter Olympian competing in the 2014 Sochi and 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games in halfpipe. Nate also boasts the 2011 World Snowboard Champion plus won the Grand Prix/World Cup in 2013. All round good guy and one of the best on the board, Nate’s taken a different path the past couple years focusing on family and his trade. Less competing, more time soul boarding and enjoying the pressure free life of a freerider. Nate’s been on the Rip Curl program for some time now and has travelled around the world filming for their feature films. He’s done it all, so it was time to get him on a Winter Mission.
We handed the Ford Ranger keys over to Nate for the day and paired him up with two rad and crazy characters. Alex Hayes is a man who wears many hats; influencer, surfer, DJ, producer, hell man and now reality TV Star. Alex was all in on the mission, but there was one condition…he had to bring down his partner in crime, Cooper Chapman. Cooper is a pro-surfer and ambassador for mental health, recently kicking off his new platform ‘The Good Human Factory‘. The crew all parked up at Rydges Jindabyne for the night and tucked in early for what was about to be an action-packed spring shred day up at Perisher Resort.
Nate kicked off the day early with the Winter Mission ritual coffee run for the crew. Gave Alex and Cooper a little more time to get their shit together. When you don’t ride often, it is crazy how much time you need to prep all your gear – boots, bindings, board, jacket, pants, gloves, goggles…the list goes forever. Once Nate rolled up, Alex and Cooper were eagerly waiting – already psyching on the sunshine, solid forecast and what the day was about to bring. Add in the hit of caffeine and they were buzzing in the car the whole ride up.
Shooting the shit and catching up on old times is the best way to spend the 20 odd minute drive to Perisher. Upon arrival, it was boots on and game time. Nate opted to head straight up the quad chair to warm the guys up – best thing for surfers who haven’t been on snow in a while – take them ‘snow surfing’.
Nate showed Alex and Cooper the banks, berms and natural waves he’s been hitting since he was a kid. After a few burner laps, it became obvious both Alex and Cooper were stepping it up each run and were scoping the next challenge – the terrain park awaited.
Riding the park is Nate’s bread and butter, it’s clear when he stylishly flows through the entire park with power and prowess. It was his first lap through the park all season, and it was the final week of the season…seemed like he’d been riding it all winter. Alex and Cooper followed suit – both never really having ridden the park on a snowboard much before, they dived in deep and got straight into it.
When we say straight into it, we don’t mean straight airs and grabs. Alex, who was sporting a busted shoulder, went straight into backflips and Cooper had his eyes glued to sliding the steel. Give these guys a few seasons on the board and they’ll be turning heads no doubt.
After some stomps and some bails, the spring sun was doing it’s damage and it was time to cool down and jump off some other stuff. As you do. The crew took the scenic ride down to Guthega where the Winter Mission car awaited with a YETI cooler filled with ice cold Pirate Life beers, towels and a monster ledge to jump off.
Both Alex and Cooper are into ‘jumping off shit’. They jump off crazy rocks, out of planes, now off park jumps…pretty much anything with an element of risk attached to it – they’ll jump it. They were out of their snow gear and into boardshorts in a heartbeat. The sun was cooking but the water temp was incredibly cold, again…they weren’t slightest bit phased.
Cooper led the charge and it was then game on. Alex was dropping double backies and Nate was pulling off some crazy stuff that looked like what he did in the pipe when he won the world champs. After an intense and somewhat hectic session, the crew wrapped it up – absolutely wrecked and celebrated the rad day with a frothy to end on a high.
Huge shout-out to our partners for making these winter missions possible! It’s a pretty crazy time right now to be supporting a travel series and it’s rad to see brands we love, support what we love. Thanks to Ford Australia for the wheels, Go Pro for all the cameras, YETI for all the gear, Tourism Australia for the get around knowledge and Pirate Life for the frothies to end the day in style.
