Still Sending It
There’s a group of snowboarders led by local ex-pros in their 40s and 50s — and they’re still making films. Or rather, even though they’re past their athletic prime and the big paychecks stopped coming in over 20 years ago, they are making films again.
Started by Blaise Rosenthal and Chad Otterstrom, the group rides as Midlife Crisis (MLC), and they shot their first full-length film, Fast Forward, last winter. Per the organization’s website, theirs is “a movement that aims to extend the shelf life of every shredder out there, and a philosophy that says no matter what generation you’re from, you belong.”
“It’s all about community and about getting people out snowboarding,” Rosenthal said.
MLC is out to spread the stoke of making turns all through life. Rosenthal, now 52, grew up in the foothills, found great passion for snowboarding early on and moved to the mountains at his first opportunity.
“It was kind of natural; if you wanted to push snowboarding, you moved to North Lake Tahoe,” he said.
He pushed it hard and got good and became a pro. In the ’90s and 2000s, Rosenthal enjoyed a prolific riding career, with seminal segments in films like Stomping Ground and Simple Pleasures by Mack Dawg Productions and The Revival and Destroyer from Kingpin Productions — but noted that after a while, as he grew older in a young person’s sport, the “industry burned him out.”
When the paychecks stopped coming, he moved to Santa Cruz and didn’t snowboard at all for a few years. “It felt like you were losing the thing you cared about most by aging out,” he said. “It was kind of just easier not to be around it.”
Rosenthal returned to Tahoe/Truckee a few years ago and started snowboarding again, once more finding the ability to have fun in the sport he loved. “Now I snowboard every day,” he said. “And I feel like I’m snowboarding better every day. I’m more open minded, the data base is bigger, and the ability to collect and process more information is better.”
There is still little to no holding back when we ride. It’s just more calculated and thought-out. Not much room for error these days.”
~ Mike Burton
MLC’s Fast Forward is an old-school-style snowboard film shot in Tahoe and throughout the Sierra, the Mountain West, and Japan. It is a park and big-mountain-pow focused film with a soundtrack ranging from rap to Paul Simon that features some hilarious antics and lots of seriously skilled riding. The snowboarders did let all-time skiing great Tanner Hall join in some segments, but the film is snowboard-led, to say the least, and features middle-aged human beings going big and getting after it.
In fact, if you skipped the movie’s opening scene in which the riders humorously chop it up about how old they are, you probably wouldn’t think you were watching athletes in their 40s and 50s.
The group has been filming all winter for its second full-length movie. “Oh yeah, were making another film this year,” Rosenthal said enthusiastically. “We don’t have a title for it yet, but we have new riders we’re bringing in. I just tend to reach out to people [of my era] and be like, ‘hey, let’s do a video part.’ [Our films] are a reflection of the time period we grew up in.”
The behind-the-camera work is a shared team effort, and riders have been eager to accept Rosenthal’s invitations.
One such Midlife Crisis snowboarder is Mike Burton, who’s on-screen stoke in Fast Forward is palpable. “Snowboarding brings me so much joy,” he said. “It’s an instant escape from your everyday life. As soon as you strap it in, all goes out the window, and you are in the present moment.”
He credits staying active over the past 30-plus years in snowboarding as a key factor in keeping him young at heart.
“There is still little to no holding back when we ride. It’s just more calculated and thought-out. Not much room for error these days,” he joked.
MLC also sells merch, hoodies, and T-shirts, and Rosenthal puts on snowboard camps both locally and around the world.
The riders spoke about how snowboarding has allowed them to meet and interact with so many people and places in their life. MLC is about not quitting something that you love to do just because you’re getting older.
Rosenthal summed it up this way. “I mean, if you told me when I was 25 that I would still be snowboarding at 52 and doing some of the same tricks — and be better at some of them — I’d be like, ‘that’s pretty cool.’”
~ To learn more about MLC’s projects, to watch Fast Forward, or to check out the merchandise or other content, visit midlifecrisissnow.com.
