BoardSport Source Issue #104 Dec 2020
On the cover: Dragon Lodge Snowboarding’s John Bassett. Photo Owen Tozer.
EDITORIAL 104
We took a three issue COVID-enforced print hiatus this year, but we’re delighted to return to board shop toilet magazine stacks everywhere with this one. I’ve loved this analogy since the first time I heard it from a good friend of mine and Dragon Lodge Snowboarding honcho, John Bassett, AKA John Dragon. The thought of BSS Mag being read on the toilet by shop staff, sales reps, marketing managers, media etc is oddly satisfying. It’s gems of insight like this that make John one of the best dudes in snowboarding and yet one of the most underrated. Dragon Lodge in Tignes has been a snowboarder’s haven for 20+ years and what John’s done for British snowboarding in that time is next level. I was lucky enough to work for John at the Dragon Lodge for a number of seasons and saw first-hand the number of snowboarders he’d let crash on a couch for a week and drop by for a few days that turned into weeks and even months. John’s an all-round shredder, with one of the finest turns in the biz and putting John on the cover of the mag is what makes the job worthwhile. Big up to you John!
Back to bizniz, and where SOURCE has excelled this year is delivering news and insight during an information vacuum. However, at the time of writing (December 10) our path forward has never been so unclear. While print is timeless and allows us to reach folk sat on toilets in a way not possible by phone, it does mean by the time you read this, things will have (hopefully) gathered momentum. The second wave of the pandemic is well and truly upon us and with big question marks still surrounding ski resort openings across Europe, Switzerland is currently the only place with chairlifts open and Austria is set to open its uplifting system (for locals only) from Christmas Eve. Missing Christmas has been the worst-case scenario for both brands and retailers and here we are with the majority of snowsports nations still totally unsure of what lays ahead. The USA has been a shining light until now, with lockdown restrictions seemingly far less stringent than here in Europe meaning snowboard retail has been busy across the pond. I couldn’t possibly write an editorial in December 2020 without mentioning the boom in splitboarding, and now that the snow has finally arrived here in Europe this looks set to continue on its upward tack while resorts remain closed.
I’ll report back in January, when hopefully everyone is going snowboarding.
Always Sideways
Harry Mitchell Thompson
Ed-in-chief
