Snowboarding
Take a deep dive into Canada’s urban snowboarding mecca with Seb Toots
For Toutant and other riders hailing from la belle province, the appeal of snowboarding within city limits is rooted within culture, climate, geography, and architecture.
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Our environment doesn’t always define our style of riding. But in most cases, it does. Just as west coast riders excel in the backcountry, Québecois riders are known to excel in the realm of urban snowboarding.
Take Louif Paradis, Laurent-Nicolas Paquin, Jeremy Cloutier, Yan Dofin, and the late Dillon Ojo… All highly influential rail riders; all hail from la belle province; all drove snowboarding into new creative realms.
The same goes for Montreal-born Sebastian Toutant, who recalls jibbing in the streets of his hometown just days before winning the Empire Shakedown’s Big Air competition at the age of 13. Even today, any time away from his hectic international competition schedule is dedicated towards filming urban snowboarding in the streets of Québec.
Toutant performs a hard way switch frontside 450 bagel
© Yann Roy/Red Bull Content Pool
“Urban riding has always felt natural to me,” explained Toutant. “While I became well known for my competition riding, I’ve always loved filming in the streets because there’s no rules. It’s all about chasing new firsts, and using your creativity to turn anything and everything into a snowboard feature.”
For Toutant and other French Canadian snowboarders alike, a push towards snowboarding within city limits is a result of the province’s deep-seated street culture, as well as it’s geography, climate, and architecture.
Although Québec lacks waist-deep powder days, steep couloirs, and other ingredients common to world-renowned snowboard destinations, it does boast a unique set of characteristics sought after by a particular group of jib-friendly snowboarders.
Continue reading to learn about how Québec became an international Mecca for urban riding.
In Québec… urban riding is natural.
The unofficial début of Québec’s jibbing revolution dates back to the late 90s, when Patryck Bernier, a famed snowpark builder, launched the Rossignol Air Tour. Bernier and a team of Rossignol riders travelled to resorts across the province with a medium-sized rainbow box and a six-foot-long flat bar. Their goal was to popularize the sport and display the possibilities that existed on a snowboard.
“I remember that event like it was yesterday,” said Yan Dauphinais, who was riding Saint-Sauveur at the time. “It was our first time ever seeing rails, before that we’d only session picnic tables and small jumps in the park.”
Around the same time, Dauphinais was following urban snowboard pioneers Mikey Leblanc and JP Walker in the early Mack Dawg Productions and Kingpin Productions films. He realized that snowboarding didn’t have to be confined to the ski hill, and that he could snowboard on anything. Alongside fellow snowboarder Max Legend and filmer Mathieu Cowan, the crew began snowboarding in the streets everyday.
“When we realized that we could snowboard on anything, the opportunities and spots seemed to be endless. Even in the summer, we rode ice rink snow,” said Dauphinais. “We became so committed to filming that most new tricks were learnt in the streets.”
In 2001, filmer Mathieu Cowan began releasing annual films showcasing Dauphinais’ and Legend’s progression and creativity, and drew mainstream attention in 2005 when he founded Sunset Films. Riders such as Antii Autti and Danny Kass travelled to Québec to film with Cowan.
Even 13-year-old Sebastian Toutant joined the crew.
“I was introduced to street riding at a super young age because of Sunset Films,” said Toutant. “Yan Dophinais and Max Legend were my biggest inspirations as a kid and they showed me what was possible.”
According to Toutant, snowboarders growing up in Québec are surrounded by other riders who are pushing the limits of street snowboarding.
“It becomes so easy to look up to street riders here because they are so talented,” he added. “It doesn’t take long until you want to get involved yourself.”
Toutant performs a backside rodeo while doing his street video
© Yann Roy/Red Bull Content Pool
In Québec… spot selection seems to be endless.
Although Montreal and Québec are two of the most popular filming locations in the world, year after year, snowboarders continue to think outside of the box and build features that have never been hit before.
This is because spot selection seems to be endless — thanks to the province’s perfect geography and architecture.
Québec as a whole has a hilly landscape and boasts an annual average snowfall deep enough to bury any cityscape. In Montreal for instance, the city’s streets gradually rise from sea level to peak of Mont Royal, which sits at 233 metres. To a snowboarder, this means natural speed, a lot of handrails, and ideal snow conditions to build even the wildest urban set ups. This allows snowboarders to turn almost anything into a rideable feature.
Most cities in Québec also have a French architectural influence. This means old-school cobbled streets, historic monuments and buildings, and massive stone walls are a common occurrence. These unique component make for creative and highly aesthetic features.
Due to Québec’s uniquely jib-prone characteristics, finding new spots can be as easy as driving around an unfamiliar area of town, or scouring up-and-down the streets with the help of Google Maps street view.
In Québec… filming in the streets is a way of survival.
According to Toutant, the draw towards urban snowboarding in Québec is attributed to a survival mentality.
Icy resorts, low elevations, shortened daylight, and bitter temperatures are just some of the reasons why people flee east coast winters. The resorts aren’t the most exciting, and they are typically coated with ice — overall it can be a rough environment. But for boarders living and thriving in la belle province, missioning to film the next-best-street-part can be an all-encompassing source of motivation and purpose.
“Filming in the streets can push you through those long, cold winters,” explained Toutant. “When you’re outside riding, building, or hiking, you’re always sweating and completely focused on getting the job done — even if it’s minus thirty outside.”
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