Ethan Morgan has been bangin' on the proverbial pots and pans for a while now. He is quite young still but he stands out with style and consistency on the biggest kickers out there, which in turn has led to some of the biggest brands in snowboarding asking him to sign on the dotted line. Ethan broke his collarbone at Hintertux a couple of days ago but had good times this summer in NZ and has plenty of other stuff to tell you about. This kid has a bright international future (similar to his past). Check his moves from last season to get an idea how homie rolls....

You were in NZ this summer,  it’s your 5th time there. What kind of tips can you give a first-timer on what's good to do and what's not?
Well, New Zealand is all about the scenery, action and golf… Last year I went skydiving in Wanaka, it’s super fun and cheap, and totally worth it. Nevis Bungee is the second-highest (134m) bungee jump in the world, I did it this year and it was amazing. I live right next to the golf course every year, so I go almost every day. You can get cheap season passes here, also worth it if you play golf. And the nice thing about Wanaka and Queenstown is that the scenery is beautiful wherever you go.

Ethan about to drop 134 meters just to get that funny feeling in his pants

Tell everyone what the D Pad session is and what went down in 'Fonna.
The D-Pad session was an invitational event set up by Nike 6.0 and Friday Films, based on trying to get as many tricks down as possible on one jump, with a second hip and heli film session. We had 1 week up in Folgefonna and tried to land spins in all four directions, from 180 up to 1260 and double cork 1080. Depending on how many four spins you landed, the more D-Pads you collected and the more airmiles you won. It was a perfect set-up, super fun to ride with all of the big cheeses like Jake Blauvelt, Eero Ettala, Mason Aguirre and Terje Haakonsen. Good times.

D-Pad launch pad. Photo by Frode Sandbech

You just had a well-deserved summer break in Jamaica too, did you get down with the locals or did they laugh at your white boy steez?
Hard to say, we hung out a lot with the locals and at the end of every nice conversation you think, "wow this kid is nice", but then he asks for some money, so typical… But I have to say, I almost got seen as a local, I got so tan down there. It was painful because I went through a lot of sunburns, but I got to where I wanted to be. Stoked. And my girlfriend is also almost black, so that helped us out in many ways, haha.

Ethan kickin' it with Jib-Vid Winner partner Fredrik Evensen

You have an American father, were born in Japan but raised in Germany. If World War III was to start with everyone on the same sides as WW2, who are you backing?
Depends in which state each country is in. Germany messed up really bad back then, the US was trying to get their fingers into every pie and Japan were just fighting America out of principle. At that point I would be thinking, "why am I not from Canada" or something, where everything is way more grown up when it comes to politics. But Germany is really nice now, and since I grew up there, I would consider myself more as a German.

Taking off like a Luftwaffe fighter plane. Photo by Frode Sandbech

You started out as a lil' rail monkey but recently you have been riding pipe and park. What would you say is the strongest side to your riding?
I don’t know if I really used to be a jibber. I maybe had that XXXXXXXXXL steez and liked to ride rails, but I have been riding kickers from day one and pipe for the last 5 years or so. I would say my main thing is kickers now, but I always try to ride everything and keep my skills on a same level in every terrain.

All grown up, in grown-up clothes doing grown-up things.

Speaking of pipe, you just missed the cut for the Olympics, were you gutted or was it just another comp for you? Will you try to make it  for the next Games?
Hard to say. I got pissed off at first because after all the work I did for 2 years to go I ended missing it by 3 places, but on the other hand I just figured whatever and went straight to riding to kickers again, ended up shredding jumps all spring with the Euro Forum crew.

So much better than an icy Olympic halfpipe. Flying high in Folgefonna. Photo by Frode Sandbech

You had a couple of stand-out tricks in last year's Forum movie, especially that double cork back 10.
Well, I actually didn’t mean to cork it out, I wanted to do it flat but everyone said the double cork looked so strange but in a sick way, so I kept doing it until I landed one. I haven’t really done it since, but I was stoked about it and happy it made the movie.

Double dipper in Hintertux last week before snapping the ol' clavicle. Photo by Christian Brecheis

You roll with all types of different riders. Can you give us some dirt on one of those dudes, inquiring minds want to know!
Mario Kappeli wants to get a Prince Albert. He is crazy, haha!

You shred with your little sister all the time, what's up with that?
I enjoy cruising with my little sister, she started riding with 6, and is now 8. It's kind of funny to jump with her over little kickers. I was in Mayrhofen at Snowbombing at this little baby jump session and sent her over it, everybody was so stoked, haha. She started crying then because everybody was cheering her on.

Ethan's 8-year old sister rides better than you! Snowbombing 2010

Who would win in a fight between you and Niki Korpela?
Niki for sure, his little bro wrestles, so I don’t even try to go there with Niki.  But I am working on my skills, hehe.

You used to dress pretty gangster but toned it down a bit nowadays, do you look back at old photos of yourself and cringe yet?
Oh, I look at those pictures daily, they crack me up, I looked like a stick trying to be a ball. Good times though, we were coming up with crew names and even made jerseys with our names on them. At one point a few friends and I started a crew called 3 Bucks. Some foodcourt gangster-type shit, hahaha.

Eh?

Do you have secret tricks up your sleeve to blow everyone away with this season?
I have been working on my nosegrab steez. It's been working out quite well, so I might want to pull that one out more often this season.

Turning up the style dial at Hintertux in October. Photo by Christian Brecheis

It's 2026 and the human race has been enslaved by the machines. The global robo-government mandates that all human males tattoo one word (of their choice) on their penises for identification purposes. So which word would you tattoo on your junk?
I would write “supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” but one word isn't really enough… It might look weird having it only go halfway down the shaft, you know? Might piss off the machines....

What is the hottest thing in snowboarding right now?
I am not up to date when it comes to being cool...

Last word is yours...

Thanks to my sponsors, family, girlfriend, Weaver, friends, buddies and everyone who helped me get where I am now.

Interview by Tom Kingsnorth