Lot's of new heads coming up in snowboarding and they are hungry. Nick Sibayan is one of those hungry snowboarders, he justed turned 18, loves snowboarding, and has a lot of tricks under his belt already. Enough tricks in fact, to get 6th in the Mammoth Grand Prix this past January in a stacked field. Nick is Southern California born and raised, Wrightwood in fact, right next to Mountain High so yea, it does not hurt living next to a mountain. Nick's a ripper, you will see him coming up through the ranks.
Nick up at Mammoth, crushing
Name: Nick Sibayan
Age: 18
From: Wrightwood, CA
Lives: Wrightwood, CA
Sponsors: Powder and Sun Board Shop, USASA Pac Sun Team, Mountain High, Billabong, Von Zipper, Signal, Monster, Neff
SR: How long have you been snowboarding?
Nick: For twelve years, so I started when I was 5
SR: So you are 17 and ride all the time, how does school fit into that program?
Nick: Home schooled, graduate this month actually, ½ a year early, so I can get some riding in
SR: Obviously home schooling is advantage for snowboarding, are there any down sides to not going to school?
Nick: There are both advantages and disadvantages; it's cool to be able to ride everyday. It also sucks that you don't get to hang out with your friends in school everyday but it all works out in the end
SR: How is growing up in Wrightwood, next to Mountain High?
Nick: I actually grew up 30 minutes from here, in Ontario, CA and just moved up here a few years ago
SR: With your parent's or runaway style?
Nick: Yea, with my parents
SR: Did they move up here so you could snowboard more or because they wanted to live in the mountains
Nick: They moved up here to help me snowboard and progress
SR: Nice, where do they work?
Nick: My dad works in Riverside and my Mom works in Fontana
SR: If you were living in Ontario, how come you got started in snowboarding
Nick: I would have to say my Dad, who skied a long time ago and just wanted me to be on the snow
SR: So you have been getting some results: 6th at the Grand Prix at Mammoth, what else?
Nick: Just took second place at the Burton Am contest at Big Bear, pretty stoked on that, a few years ago I won the am division of the Triple Air, 4th last year in the pro division
SR: Did you win any money?
Nick: about 1,500 at the Triple Air
SR: So when you were up in Mammoth at the Grand Prix were you thinking “I am in the same final with the likes of Chas Guldemond”
Nick: Yea, I was super stoked to be able to ride with him, just pumped on watching him kill it
SR: Is living in Wrightwood motivating or is it easy to get complacent and not ride?
Nick: I am motivated pretty much, just 5 miles up the road to ride every day
SR: You think about moving at all
Nick: I think about moving to Mammoth when I finish high school. Start going to college, ride
SR: So that is coming up right
Nick: Yea, I finish school this month and I turn 18 two days before the Triple Air (Triple Air was Feb 20) so hopefully I can move out
SR: Good plan, get the big money and move out
Nick: Yea, $10,000 move to Mammoth, that would be sick
SR: Who do you ride with here at Mountain High?
Nick: Spencer Link, Cory Whetstone, Cory Cronk
SR: Influences?
Nick: Danny Davis and Scotty Lago, they both have the sickest styles and they are just down to earth people
SR: Music?
Nick: Metal! Lamb of God, Three Inches of Blood
SR: Nice, You are like they first person in a while that does not listen to hip hop
Nick: I do listen to other things but I have to say my favorite stuff is Metal
SR: Favorite tricks?
Nick: Cab 9 tail and front 10 melons
SR: You were saying you got double corks too,can you learn all that riding here?
Nick: I can do all nines and stuff here, for double corks I go to Mammoth with jumps that are a little bigger. You can get all the fundamentals down here in So Cal
SR: Goals
Nick: To be in the next Olympics
SR: For pipe?
Nick: For both, I think they are having slope too
SR: Wow, it's good to have big goals, you better start riding like 9 hours a day
Nick: Yea
SR: So a little closer than 2014, what else do you hope to do?
Nick: Try and get top three at the Grand Prix's, Triple Air, do well at the Aspen Open, USASA Nationals, start college in the summer
SR: That's a lot for a 18 year old, where has snowboarding taken you so far?
Nick: I went to Switzerland for the Billabong Junior pro, that was fun
SR: How was going to Switzerland?
Nick: Going to another country and seeing how other people live was great and the jumps were really good
SR: Would you ride without sponsors or are you just in it for the glory?
Nick: I love snowboarding so much, it's not about the sponsors really, it's about being out there and having fun
SR: So the sponsors are a bonus?
Nick: yea!
SR: Who do you wanna thank?
Nick: Chuck Allen up here at Mountain High, he's always got a smile, my brother Mark Sibayan out in the Army serving for us, of course my parents
Cruising his home mountain, Mountain High
Sick method air at dawn
Nick has a good sense of style when riding
In the Cholula Triple Air