Altamont's "Texas is the Reason" Article

Altamont 1.3 750px

 

Most skate trips these days entail luxury accommodations in clean hotels and flights for all the riders. But for the new Altamont boys we had to work with what we could get. It was a very last-minute trip but there are some creative minds that manage things over there and they were able to pull some shit together and make an awesome, unforgettable skate trip happen. The goal was mainly just to gather lookbook content for the Spring ‘17 catalog so there wasn’t much pressure to get anything too crazy but we came back with way more gnarly content than we had expected. —Kyle Seidler

Altamont 2 750pxThe trip spanned a total of 12 days. I missed the first few but flew in to Austin to meet everyone three days into it. It ended up being perfect timing: everyone was ripe and fully in road-trip mode. They'd had zero showers and had been skating all day every day. That night, we settled into a campsite for the night. Chris Wimer was telling his life chronicles around the campfire; it was great
Altamont 3 750pxBucky, putting in overtime on the laptop

Altamont 4 750pxJason Salillas doing some target practice while Noel breaks down camp. That morning we got up and gathered everything to head into Austin. Randy Randall from the band No Age was rolling with us. They were playing a few shows in Austin and he was also playing with the Ratfist, which includes the Altamont team manager, Noel, on drums

Altamont 5 750pxThe first Ratfist show was at a small house that looked like a location from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre; it was rad. The boys got a little chance to unwind there and then onto skating the next day

Altamont 6 750pxShotgun!

Altamont 7 750pxDaniel figured I needed one

The next day we checked out some local Austin skate spots. Luckily, a few of us had been there before so we had an abundance of schoolyards and rails to visit

Altamont 8 750pxFrankie Heck starts the day off with a risky boardslide popover

Altamont 9 750pxChris Wimer, backside tailslide

Altamont 10 750PXWimer can get tech too

Frankie is from Texas so he got a few friends to show us some rad gems in the area.

Altamont 11 750pxVictor Aceves warms up with a back lip

Altamont 12 750pxFrankie followed it up with a kickflip frontside boardslide

Altamont 13 750pxAnd Jason Salillas got the lipslide shove it

After the boys got tricks on that perfect little rail, we had to decide whether to light up a spot and keep skating or call it a day and head to a bar. Chris Wimer exclaimed, "Fire it up," so we headed to the closest rail before indulging in the liquid nightlife

Altamont 14 750pxWimer warming up with a nosegrind

Altamont 15 750pxEyeing her up

Altamont 16 750pxAnd then knocking out the kickflip lipslide

Altamont 17 750pxParty time! Daniel Dubois, loved by the ladies

Altamont 18 750pxThe following morning we left for Dallas, stopping on the way at a few spots. We arrived at this perfect red rail where everybody in the van managed to get a trick

Altamont 19 750pxRyan Lay has a big ol' nollie. Here he is doing one into a noseblunt

Altamont 20 750pxDaniel with a backside overcrook

Altamont 21 750pxBump

Altamont 22 750pxWimer, backside180 nosegrind

Altamont 23 750pxFrankie Heck, half Cab backside 50-50

Altamont 24 750pxJason Salillas, hurricane

Altamont 25 750pxRyan Lay, nollie backside 50-50

Altamont 26 750pxVictor Aceves shut it down with a 360 flip lipslide

Altamont 27 750pxCheck, check

We moved on to the next spot where the same thing happened. The poor, unsuspecting glass rail got massacred

Altamont 28 750pxFIXVictor with a back lip 

Altamont 30 750pxJason with a very treacherous lipslide

Eventually we made it to Fort Worth and skated around that area. We met up with Frankie’s family who were nice enough to let us crash on their floor

Altamont 31 750pxDaniel messing around

Altamont 32 750pxChris Wimer, kickflip backside nosegrind

Altamont 33 750pxThe Hecks

Altamont 34 750pxFrankie, heelflip crooked grind

Altamont 35 750pxRyan with a very long nose manual

Altamont 36 750pxWe went skating that evening and ended up in the basement of a college parking garage. It seemed super sketchy but it had a really nice rail that Chris and Victor jumped onto. They landed their tricks as we were being ushered out by security. Victor back Smiths while Ryan documents it via iPhone

Altamont 37 750pxVictor sneaks a front blunt in before security arrives

Altamont 38 750pxWimer noseblunts on the way out

Altamont 40 750pxThe following day, we made our trek out of Texas but not before stopping at the Cadillac Ranch

Altamont 39 750pxJason at a gas station on the outskirts of Texas

Altamont 41 750pxDaniel Dubois, Victor Aceves, Ryan Lay, Frankie Heck, Chris Wimer, Jason Salillas and a Texas flag. “Guys, this kinda feels lame and cheesy.” “No, just look cool. You’re killin it.”

Altamont 42 750pxFor the last leg of the trip we cruised through New Mexico and made a stop at the classic Indian School ditch before heading back to sunny Southern California. See you later, road
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