DANYALE PATTERSON PARTIES WITH HUMP DAY

Photos: Ashley Rosemeyer

Of all the action sports, snowboarding is probably the least misogynistic, but that’s not saying much. It’s still a man’s world. It’s not that women in snowboarding are asking for special treatment – just a non hostile environment where it’s cool to be yourself, and maybe a lower contest entry fee if they’re competing for a smaller prize purse. And it will get there, especially with motivated girls like Danyale Patterson to pave the way. With ear muffs on to block the haters, and the drive to make just about anything happen all by herself, Danyale is someone who will be remembered in snowboarding long after her body gives out (the streets are a harsh mistress, ya know.) It doesn’t hurt that she’s singlehandedly making a women’s street video happen right now, either. It’s been a long time coming, but this is Dangy’s hump day.

What do your parents think about your chosen life path? Are they supportive?

My parents are the dankest and just want me to be happy. My dad taught me how to snowboard and is pretty much the same as me. He’s in mags for like ice climbing a stuff.  My mom is such a sweet heart. She wants me to go to school and get a real job, but my happiness is most important. My mom dropped me off at a weed trimming scene last summer.

ha! How was that?

Well I was fresh outta knee surgery, but I wanted to make some paper. So she drove me to Cali and dropped me off. She’s an angel.

What percentage of the snowboarders you see in videos do you think support their snowboarding by trimming weed?

70%. That and drug studies

What’s the job like? Gimme your average day.

It’s so boring. Just sit there with lil fiskers and trim away while Listening to radio lab. Roll up. Collect finger hash (Your fingers collect hash from handling the weed). Get money.

A highly athletic switch nosepress at Sugarbush.

Do you worry about being a bad influence on younger girls?

No. I don’t do anything that bad. Weeds legal, drinking’s legal. I’m straight.

Do you feel pressure from the industry to clean up your image and be a nice girl? Do you think if you weren’t into partying you would have an easier time getting support for your projects?

Of course. I get so harshed for partying. I don’t get it! We all party! God, the cover of that 32 movie was Dylan Alito puking. We aren’t doing anything that sloppy. Why can’t girls party?! I mean they all do but we aren’t allowed to show it?? Why? It’s fun. It’s really fun. I have a lot of priceless stories and memories of partying with my friends. When I edit I like to show those good times. They make me smile. I meet a lot of good people while partying. It’s a douche bag male run world and women are supposed to be clean lil virgins for the boys. Grow the fuck up, bros. It’s not offensive, it’s fun. I don’t drink or get high while snowboarding. Apres, dawg. If you get worked up over a flipping Too Hard edit your life must really suck and you should go have some fun. But yeah sponsors are always saying wack noise like “can’t help you out cuz your image is too risky.” Guarantee no dude is hearing weak stuff like that. If you ask me they should be shut’n the hell up and enjoying the show.

Are you an idiot, or a genius?

Genius.

How do you figure?

Cuz I can solve like almost any Sudoku.

Ha. How did you get Vice to do a series on Too Hard?

I impressed them with my Sudoku skillz and they were like, “Whoa! We gotta do a series on this baddie.” JK. That was all Lukas Huffman. He worked pretty hard too. I just chilled.

Are you happy with how it came out?

I am! I mean it only showed some sides of Too Hard. I wish it showed how much fun we have. I’m not usually hurt and bummed out. It was definitely a super fun trip and so cool to be on Vice and even cooler that Lukas chose us. Such an honor. He’s a legend.

You girls definitely took some flack for it – was it discouraging?

Yeah. But not really. Like it is when people say shit like, “ignore the hate girls, you rule.” Or like how you just asked that question. The hate comments don’t bother me, it’s the fact that people think it bothers me.  I don’t notice the hate until people like shove it in my face, I guess.

Yeah, don’t feed the trolls. If you let it bother you, they win.

I’m not really a pussy when it comes to that, cuz I also get a lot of love too. Sometimes I get more hate and sometimes I get more love. You win some you lose some. You just gotta try your best.

Life in the streets is hard for a playa. Photo: Ashley Rosemeyer.

How did you get that shiner?

I was in Quebec at a house party. My dude friends got in a fight and I tried to join in haha. I tried to punch a guy and then he punched me. haha. I flew into some bushes. And then the bro ran into the house and locked the door. And my friends broke the house windows. OMG such a funny night though. Just a brunch of idiots and fighting outside and breaking windows. I bet the neighbors were like WTF!

How did your knee hold up this season?

Not great. I had a fucked up surgery. So I had to have two surgeries. And then my rib started popping out. But because my rib started popping out, it forced me to stop boarding. And now my knee feels really good. I’m the healthiest I’ve ever been now. I’ve been skating and I don’t get tired as fast as I used to and I ollie way higher.

What happened to your rib? That sounds gnar.

I just got bucked and landed on it. It started popping out. And I didn’t stop riding or drinking. I was in Quebec and just couldn’t stop sending it and it was next level painful. Every time I laughed or did something with my abs it would pop out. After two weeks I forced myself to go to AK and chill. Now my rib is fine.

Seems like you’re always at the gym, did you work out or do any training before you got hurt or is this a new leaf for you?

I’ve always been into physical fitness. Papa bear raised me that way. But actually I usually work out a lot every summer. And last summer I just skated way more, I kinda think that made me weaker. I don’t skate tranny either so I’m just ollieing non stop. Might have wrecked my knees. But shit happens. And I don’t get to work out a ton in the winters. I’m either filming some one or getting filmed or helping at a spot or editing. It’s a full time job.

Yes, you can wear pink and be a bad bitch.

What was it like filming in Yonkers? I remember you said it was one of your favorite spots.

It was so kush! You don’t get kicked there. And I was with Corinne. It’s always smooth and mellow with her.

Why don’t you get kicked out of spots there?

Cuz there’s less anal rich white people.  Not to be racist but yeah, black people are chill and they are always pumped too. After the Bronx I went to Worchester (white/religious place) and no one is excited or hyped. They just want you gone. Like really? You could watch some chick eat shit or land something cool. Something you’ve never seen before and you are just pissed. They like super scared of different things, I guess.

Old white people are the worst. You spent some time on the East Coast this winter – what did you think of the scene there? A little different from Alaska…

Yeah. Everywhere is different from AK. But yeah east coast vs west coast. West is more laid back and easier. East is hard and cold and makes people more hard and cold. But they both good. West coast seems less intelligent, but happier.

Did you spend much time in AK this year?

AK is cold and harsh and dumb. Haha. But people are NOT afraid to be themselves no matter what. And yeah, because I’ve been so hurt, it’s better if I’m not around friends. So I don’t drink. Cuz if I can’t board with the homies I can only drink with them. But if I can board with them, it’s all good.

Do you think people in snowboarding are afraid to be themselves?

That’s tuff. It really depends who your talking about. I guess the majority are like Worchester, they are afraid of different things. Mostly rich white people that prob started snowboarding because it was “cool” and don’t want to risk not being cool or different.

Doing work. 

Speaking of cool and different, what’s up with Pozi Pozi?

It’s Gus and Estes project. It’s sooooo legit. They make all the music and it’s freaking beautiful And este is so good at filming and editing, they are geniuses. A full movie will be dropping soon.

Everyone is obsessed with social media and staying relevant and you’ve got it pretty well handled. Is there a secret to being popular on social media?

Yeah, Study it. You gotta know what’s cool. I mean it depends who you want to be popular with though. If you want a bunch of sheep then you just post pretty shit. Sexy pics or pics of beaches and you know tag shit and like people’s photos. If you want cool people to like you, you have to be witty and only post if it’s solid. If you questioning it, don’t post. But if go for sheep, you’ll get wayyyy more followers.

Are followers all that matters?

Depends what you want. Followers or respectable respect. I go through phases. Sometimes I’m on point and I’m witty and my gram is dope. Sometimes I don’t care and just post whatever. I always lose followers when I post though, unless it’s a snowboarding pic and I hate posting those.

Why do you hate posting snowboard photos?

Cuz when I’m snowboarding I’m not taking pics or thinking about the ‘gram. So if I post a snowboarding photos it’s like, “Hey, look at this photo of me snowboarding from last month.” I mean sometimes you can post an current snowboard pic. But the nice ones are weird to post.

What’s your favorite social network?

Snapchat cuz it’s real. Insta is too planned out and careful and fake.

A lot of people like to bemoan the internet and social media because it’s made things harder, or whatever. How do you think it’s changed snowboarding? And what opportunities has it afforded you personally?

It’s given everyone opportunity. So now people without budgets can get famous. But it’s so cluttered and such a mess now. I think it would be better if people stopped posting so much. But you have to post to keep up. And to keep posting shit you’re not even proud of sucks.

But the WORST part is that your good shit gets the same views and respect as the bad shit. That’s why I wish social media would slow down. But also, The majority of people watching don’t know much about snowboarding. So you could post the same shit over and over and most people don’t even notice and it’ll get the same hype.  On Too Hard the most popular posts are the unique ones. Not good snowboarding. Or good editing. But like just a dog pulling and girl or a girl snowboarding and drinking a beer. Stuff real life people could do. But sponsors don’t respond to that.

Sideways at Sugarbush. 

So, are you really considering trying to do contests? Why didn’t you go that route first?

I did do contests when I was younger. Like Rev Tour and Grand Prix and Opens. But now I’m just concentrating on winning le bad bitch race. But really, contests were just too expensive to travel to and it was hard to go to school and travel. I lived in Tahoe and started going to spots with Nicky v and Le BHappy crew and filming was more fun and easy to do while I was going to school. I also like editing and so it just made sense to go the video route. But yeah, contests sound fun. To switch things up. I miss jumping a lot. I’ll jump some this summer and see how it goes. Jumping is pretty magical. Like floating through space for a second.

Do you think you have what it takes to be the next Jamie Anderson?

I wish.

Do you think you could make it to the Olympics? What would it take for you to make that happen?

A complete change in my lifestyle. Steroids, training, living at breck and riding jumps non stop. But yeah I believe anything is possible.

Would you want to do that though?

I do want to jump all day. But I would never live in Breck. Hmmm. I don’t know where would be livable with good jumps. PC was the dopeness til Vail bought it. Vail ruins everything. Northstar used to be cool too. Fuck Vail, infinity times.

Yes, their $150 lift tickets are not that sweet. Which brings up another thing. There’s definitely talk that “accessibility” is important in snowboarding lately. Do you think if people stop throwing themselves off buildings more average people will get into snowboarding?

I don’t know. Not really. I think the more media it has, the more people will do it. Like if it’s in movies and cartoons or on TV, I guess. And the more of the inner city free hike parks the better! It’s something for people to do, but first they need the idea, and then they need a place that’s accessible.

Wardrobe malfunction. 

Alright, speed round: Plead the fifth or drink a fifth?

Drink a fifth

Weed or addys?

Weed

Tapout tat on your upper back between your shoulder blades or hatchetman tramp stamp?

Tapout tat, fo sho.

Whats your biggest fear?
My mom’s Roomba.

Who are your dream sponsors?

An airline company, some booshy hotel, American Apparel, Land Rover, Wells Fargo, Versace, Gucci

And your actual sponsors?

Gnu, Airblaster, Dragon, Outdoor Tech.