A Conversation with Markus About “Joining the Fix Global Team”

We are proud to have Markus Rustad apart of our Global Team! It truly was a no-brainer decision for us... Markus has been riding for Fix for the past 3 seasons and only positivity has risen from supporting this Norwegian style king. Markus is humble, talented, good-spirited and is one of the most versatile riders out there. Whether it's a rail jam, a pow day or even a slopestyle contest, if he's there, you're in for a treat. We'd like to give a shoutout to Andreas Grong at Jump Club Distribution for introducing him to us 3 years ago. I reached out to Markus to talk to him about joining our Global Team, growing up in Oslo, snowboarding at Grakallparken, his upcoming video project called "Semi-Truck" and more!

 

Photos by Bryden Bowley & Jens Ugland

 

How are you doing Markus? How do you feel about joining our Global Team?

I'm good! I just had dinner and now I'm on the couch listening to some music and answering this interview thing. I'm super excited that you guys wanted to have me on the Global Team! I feel honored. 

How did you first hear of us? How was your first experience on the bindings?

It was three years ago and my friend Andreas Grong who does distribution for DWD and Airlaster told me that he was bringing in this new binding company and wanted me to rep it. I was so stoked. I had never been hooked up with anything before, so you guys actually were the first brand I ever rode for. The first pair I got were the Magnums and they rode really well. 

The year before I had a competitor's bindings and my right binding broke so much that a friend had to give me one of his old binding and I ended up riding almost the whole season with two different bindings. The Fix ones I rode for one and a half season before I got new ones and I had no issues with them. It was great! 

Has your snowboarding season started yet?

We have an indoor ski dome that recently opened up. I've been there like one or two times a week the last month. No snow to ride outside yet tho. 

 

Photos by Jens Ugland

 

How has it been for you growing up in Norway? Is snowboarding easily accessible?

I'm from Oslo, the biggest city in Norway. Compared to other big cities, I would say that snowboarding is really accessible here. We have a local resort called Oslo Vinterpark which is about 600 meters above sea level. The metro in the city goes all the way up there, it's about a 30-40 minute ride from downtown. Everyone with a public transport card can get up there easily. I grew up on the opposite side of the city, but still could snowboard every day without the need to rely on a car or parents. Also we have a lot of mountains in this country which is nice. 

 

Photos by Chris Baldry

 

Let’s talk a bit about Grakallparken, can you explain to us what it is and who’s involved?

It's a rope tow snow park up in Trondheim, about 7 hours North from Oslo. Trondheim is the city where the Bad Plans crew started. Grakallen is the closest mountain to the city. Stian Karlsen set up a rope tow there about four years ago I think. With the help from friends they put it up there all by themselves! They do not have a groomer so everything is done by hand or with a four wheeler, they also weld all their own rails. That place is the sickest place on earth. As long as there's snow Stian holds it open for the public. They don't earn any money from it, they're just doing it because they want to have a good place for people to snowboard close to the city. 

I’m sure Covid-19 has affected your plans... What do you have planned for this season? 

I don't know as of right now, me and Bryden (Bowley) we're planning on making a project together this Winter, he really wanted to come out to Norway for a season, but we don't know now. I just want to film as much as possible and go where the snow is! 

What’s good with Bad Plans? Can you explain to us who’s apart of the crew and what it's all about?

It´s a crew that started out of Trondheim with Kristoffer Lerånd, Andreas Grong, Sigurd Lindquist and more Trondheim locals. Andreas who is the filmer is also the guy that hooked me up with Fix and Airblaster! I feel like Bad Plans from the start has been all about riding really sketchy street spots. Krish loves sketchy street spots. On video, the spots are never done justice.

I joined them filming for their third movie called "Energy in Motion" and ended up editing the latest one (Badplans 4) because Andreas was too busy with the distribution. I don't know of any future plans at the moment. 

 

Photo by Chris Baldry

 

You have some of the craziest jump tricks and it seems to come really naturally for you.. Where did your learn how to jump and where do you come up with these trick ideas?

Thanks, I learnt it all in Oslo Vinterpark! Haha I don't know, when I was a kid I had a trampoline in my yard and when I started snowboarding I tried to catch air and get inverted everywhere I could. I get really inspired from seeing my friends ride too, both snowboarding and skiing. 

You went to Mt. Hood last season and took part in AirBlaster’s event “SKOLF” how was it? Was this your first time at Hood? 

I loved it, it`s the coolest mountain I've ever snowboarded on. It was my first time there and we had sun and fresh snow. The snake runs and gully rides are so cool. The whole Airblaster family was there too, there was just something really special about it all. These are my best memories from this year I think. 

“SEMI-TRUCK” is dropping soon. Who’s apart of the video? How did you guys end up linking up? How was it to film for that?

Yes it is! Its me, Bryden Bowley, Ryan Collins, Dylan Oaktree, Naima Antolin, Mike Rav, Jeff Holce and more. 

The Norwegian Winter really sucked last year so I traveled to the US to link up with some friends for a month and find some snow. The two last weeks I stayed with Bryden in Utah. We had not planned on making a project or anything, we just started going out filming street and it was really fun. It was so fun I ended up not going on my flight back home haha. I stayed for 5 weeks or something with Bryden and that's when we filmed for the movie. Bryden was filming Naima for The Uninvited movie at the time too, so we crewed up. Later Ryan, Dylan and more people joined as they came back to Utah from filming trips.

 

Photos by Jens Ugland

 

Any special thanks?

Yeah, I want to thank you guys for putting me on the team, I think it's really nice of you. Also I wanna thank my friends. Thank you! :)