A Dario Burch Interview

Interview by Gian Sutter

Photos by Wietse Thomas

Do you want to tell the readers who you are and where you’re from?

My name is Dario. I’m from a small town just outside of Lucerne, pretty central in Switzerland. Now I live in Zurich with Gian and some other friends

I feel like most people heard of you for the first time after we did Escape 4 You. Do you want to talk about how that winter was? Also, how was it to start getting recognition outside of the homies and Switzerland?

That was probably the best winter for me so far. I only got injured at the end of the season and not at the beginning haha. I think it was just kind of special because a bunch of our friends from the Escape crew took off the winter and we fully just focused on that video. Nobody had any other projects except for the escape video and the snow was just crazy in Europe. We had the heaviest snowstorm in Zurich in like twenty or twenty-five years. There was snow everywhere. We were able to go to different parts of Switzerland we weren’t usually able to go to. I don’t know, everything just seemed to work out pretty well. We had one trip to the Ukraine for a week, to Kyiv, which was also special. Especially now, looking back. That was a crazy experience, getting to know some people there and keeping in touch a little bit after everything went down. 

Yeah, that was the last trip for the video, I think. I mean, to this day that was probably one of my favorite snowboard trips I ever went on. 

Yeah, that was…like we were only three people, just me, you and Lou and we had some locals helping us out. That was crazy, it was so much fun. Everything seemed to work out pretty well even though there wasn’t that much snow. That was a nice trip, probably my favorite one as well.

Do you feel like once the video came out something changed for you? In terms of support or recognition or opportunities or even maybe motivation?

After that video, there were definitely some changes. Like, even just getting a lot of messages from people I looked up to. It was mainly just getting some recognition outside of Europe.

I think it felt special to us as well because we totally didn’t expect it. We just tried to make the best video for ourselves and then we won the Torment.

Oh, true I forgot about that one. 

 Just like the messages from people...I remember when the video came out, we were tripping. 

Yeah, and I feel like we didn’t really change the approach to the video in comparison to the years before, but everything seemed to work out really well that winter. That’s why we were taken by surprise because for us… I mean it felt good, but it didn’t feel crazy.

And now that last thing that came out from you was RADAR, the Ride Europe video. That was your first time filming with other people than just your homies right?

Yeah, yeah it was. I didn’t really know what to expect going into it because up until that point, I was only filming with my long-time friends. I’ve gotten to know some of the people from Ride Europe before, like the Brust guys. It was definitely weird at first, to go on a trip with different people. Because with Escape I feel like we all kind of know our role in the crew and we work well with each other. But it didn’t even take a while. It felt really natural really quickly. I basically only went on one trip with them for the RADAR video but it worked out really well. I feel like we all got really close on that trip and we found our groove pretty quickly.

The video turned out super cool. On the second trip, you hurt yourself, and since we’ve known each other, which I would say is almost fifteen years maybe, throughout the years you had a couple of injuries where you had to take longer breaks. It’s super hard to always find a new motivation and know why you still want to do it. I know that we’ve talked about this a bunch but I feel like you always take a break from snowboarding but then decide to come back. What do you think gives you the motivation to do it again after you miss a couple months or even years of snowboarding?

I’ve never really thought of it in that way. For me, it was always easiest to...like, once I get injured and I know I’m going to be out for a while it was easiest to just kind of disconnect from snowboarding and try to put it to the side for a while. When I was a bit younger, I never questioned if I wanted to keep doing it. I just knew once I’m healthy again I’m going to come back. But now—over the last few years—there have definitely been times where I thought about maybe just quitting and doing it more as a hobby and not really pursue any goals or achievements if you can call it that in snowboarding. But, I don’t know, I still think going on a street trip where everything works out is one of the most fun things you can do. Yeah…I just try to…to recreate the good memories I’ve had.

You mentioned that it’s memories, like building together. Do you think it’s a certain feeling you want to accomplish again, or the time spent with the people around you, or just the act? I feel like we talked about this in summer and we both said we just want to go on trips. It wasn’t even about the snowboarding part but it was more just being in the van and looking for spots and finding something cool and starting to shovel. It’s super hard to put into words why it’s such a good feeling.

I mean you can have a fun day snowboarding on the mountain. You don’t have to try and film a video part to still do that. But I think something about street trips is really special in a way that sometimes when you’re on the trip certain things kind of suck sometimes or it’s really exhausting or shit doesn’t go your way but I think whenever I’m looking back on a trip it’s some of my fondest memories. I think that’s a big reason why I keep coming back. I just want to keep making more of those memories. Just being in the van with people and having some random conversations and looking for spots…I don’t know…it’s just some of my best memories of snowboarding for sure.

I mean it’s super funny how a lot of times moments on trips suck. You get pissed off at your homies. But then looking back I can’t really think of a trip that actually sucked unless you get injured.

Yeah, shit really has to go very wrong for you to look back on a trip and think “that fucking sucked. That wasn’t worth it.” Most of the time the good memories stay present in your mind.

I’ve noticed that throughout the years—and especially during the breaks you’ve had to take from snowboarding due to injuries—you’ve been getting more into creative stuff: music and sewing. How did that come about? 

I think part of it is, during those breaks I had to take, just disconnecting with snowboarding. I feel like up until a certain point, snowboarding was the main part of my life, especially doing competitions and shit when I was younger. It took up basically all my life. It was like a year-round thing. It was a constant thing. It was always the thing I did. I think since I stopped with the national team there were longer breaks in between snowboarding, especially summertime. I guess it was more of a thing of me maybe trying to find my identity outside of snowboarding, without it. Just experimenting with different stuff. I think it’s just a way to get to know myself better; not based on what I do but, more based on who I really am. 

 You mentioned it before but all of us—Escape—grew up competing and riding slopestyle. But all of us now film street. We are from Switzerland with the Alps but somehow, we started filming street. Why do you think that is?

When I look back, I think it’s completely natural. I think it just had to do with the movies I watched growing up. I always gravitated more towards the street parts of the street sections rather than the big mountain sections. I’ve always really liked to ride rails and…yeah…I don’t know. It never really was a question like that. It was really natural.

What were those videos growing up?

Probably the most impactful video for what I wanted to do in snowboarding was probably Shoot the Moon. That was the first one I can remember where I watched it and thought to myself, oh I want to do that as well. Watching Louif and Jed and all those guys in that video was definitely a standout moment. And after that, all the Videograss movies and Keep the Change and just everything in that lane was really inspiring to me. It made me want to do that as well for sure. 

Gian cameo because he not only did this interview but he also rips

 How has this winter been for you so far? It’s the 23rd of January now. 

It’s been alright. We went to Minnesota in November. I think it was November. Yeah, just a bunch of friends to experience the rope tows. That was super fun, definitely a childhood dream coming true because all the 1817 videos were also a big inspiration. I think on the last or second to last day we were there we heard that Zurich was getting snow, so we were pretty hyped to get back. But when we got back the snow was pretty much almost gone. But yeah we got some. We got to spend a couple days in Switzerland trying to film some stuff and then we went to Touriga for maybe a week, week and a half, to finish filming the Escape video that just came out. It was fun. We put in a lot of work but the snow conditions weren’t great so it was hard to get stuff done. But it was pretty good all in all. 

Yeah, it went so fast, the snow. So, you’re going on a trip tomorrow morning with Ride as well. What do you know about that video or project?

I don’t know much actually [chuckles]. I don’t know. Maybe it will be a short video just from this one trip. But I really have no idea.

So, it’s the one trip for now?

Yeah, I think we planned one trip for now and we’ll see how it goes. But yeah, I’m excited to go back filming with those guys.  

Is there anything else you want to talk about or say? I think the people want to know if you’re going to Salt Lake anytime soon.

I don’t think so [chuckles]. I don’t have any plans. I would like to but…yeah. We’ll see. I’d like to. I hope so. But other than that, no.