Oil and Water - Phil Casabon

03:19 min • 23/09/2024

Phil Casabon's segment from Armada skis 2014 video, "Oil and Water". New Armada movie releasing fall 2025. https://www.instagram.com/casablunt https://philcasabon.com https://d-structure.com/pages/b-e?srsltid=AfmBOoojHl-d9bPCINUntEZPtdQBhgV3mKE97_98f_Mv0sI87DXIzSai Shot by : Corey Stanton and Brandon Husak Edited by : Corey Stanton

Athletes

Philip Casabon

Profile and significance

Philip “B-Dog” Casabon is a Canadian freeski icon from Shawinigan, Québec, whose style-first language—presses, butters, nollies, reverts, and shiftys that breathe—reshaped modern park and urban skiing. He rose through night laps at his local hill, Vallée du Parc, and became one of the most influential riders of his generation by proving that creativity, definition, and flow can outweigh brute force. His cultural footprint is matched by hardware: back-to-back gold medals at X Games Real Ski in 2018 and 2019, plus the 2018 Fan Favorite nod, cemented his status as a peer-elected standard. In the same window, he released the widely praised film “En Particulier” with Brady Perron and was named Freeskier’s Skier of the Year, a rare double for a rider focused on film and street. Casabon matters because he made style specific and teachable—clips that hold up frame by frame and a movement language that any progressing skier can study and apply.

Competitive arc and key venues

Casabon’s competitive résumé is unconventional by design. Early in his career he tested himself in slopestyle at Aspen, making multiple Winter X Games appearances when the discipline was still defining itself. As urban skiing’s broadcast moment arrived, he shifted to segments and rider-curated showcases that better matched his voice. The pivot paid off: his 2018 X Games Real Ski gold, delivered alongside the Fan Favorite award, was followed by a repeat gold in 2019—rare back-to-back wins that confirmed his dominance in the all-video, all-street format. In the culture-defining B&E era at Les Arcs, he collected “Best Style” honors in both 2014 and 2015 on a skate-inspired setup designed to reward touch and originality. Those landmarks—Aspen’s spotlight, Real Ski’s medals, and Les Arcs’ style awards—map the arc of a skier who used competition as a proof-of-concept for ideas refined in edits.

The places tied to his name help explain the skiing. Vallée du Parc gave him the repetition and switch comfort that show up in his lines. Aspen’s big-build tempo at Aspen Snowmass taught wind calls, long decks, and pressure management under cameras. The B&E park at Les Arcs encouraged butters into spins, long presses, and transfers that value feel over amplitude. Together they shaped a rider who reads features instantly and turns modest speed into full sentences of skiing.

How they ski: what to watch for

Casabon skis with economy and definition. Approaches stay tall and neutral. He sets rotation late, locks grabs early—often with unmistakable tweaks—and lets the trick breathe rather than rushing the set. On rails, the signatures are square entries, long-held presses and backslides that are obvious to the eye, surface swaps with minimal arm swing, and exits where the shoulders stay aligned so momentum carries into the next feature. Even when the spot is complex, he organizes edge pressure early to keep the base flat through kinks, which is why his landings read inevitable rather than rescued. On jumps and side hits the same patience appears: pop comes from the feet up, grabs are defined before 180 degrees, and the upper body stays quiet so the skis do the storytelling. The result is a blueprint any rider can study—calm entry, patient pop, early grab definition, square-shoulder exit.

Resilience, filming, and influence

Casabon’s influence runs through films and community projects as much as medals. He built a decade-long catalog of replayable segments, culminating in the late-2010s run that paired Real Ski golds with a festival-tested film presence. The work emphasized honest speed, horizon awareness, and compositions that make slope angle and body organization clear—choices that help viewers learn, not just watch. In the B&E era, his partnership with Henrik Harlaut created a platform where style was the scorecard, then pushed those ideas back into parks, streets, and product design. Interviews and long-form conversations from this period reveal a method that prizes durability over hype: habits you can repeat when conditions are imperfect and cameras are rolling.

That durability—plus a willingness to mentor—keeps his influence alive in a generation that learns from edits. Coaches use his clips to illustrate patient setups and clean exits; riders break down his presses and shifty timing to build their own lines. He is both reference and proof: you do not need the world’s biggest jump to show world-class skiing if your movements are organized and your choices are clear.

Geography that built the toolkit

Place explains the method. Shawinigan’s Vallée du Parc is a human-scale hill where repetition is abundant and mistakes are obvious. Night laps there forged the switch comfort, precise edging, and patience that define his rail game. The spotlight and wind at Aspen Snowmass layered in big-feature timing and composure. The creative modules at Les Arcs rewarded a horizontal vocabulary—presses, butters, wheelies—that Casabon helped popularize, proving that expression at low to medium speeds can be as compelling as amplitude. When you trace the map, you see the fingerprints in every clip: local-hill repetition, big-park patience, and skate-park creativity applied to snow.

Equipment and partners: practical takeaways

Casabon’s long relationship with Armada extended far beyond sticker placement. His pro model BDog and the experimental BDog Edgeless in Armada’s Zero Collection were designed to serve his priorities—predictable flex for presses and butters, confidence on switch landings, and swing weight that stays honest on slower-speed pops. The gear lessons for progressing skiers mirror that logic. Choose a true park ski with a balanced, medium flex you can bend without folding. Detune the contact points enough to reduce rail bite while maintaining dependable edge hold on the lip. Mount close enough to center that presses sit level and switch landings feel neutral. Keep binding ramp angles that don’t tip you onto your heels. Then build a process that matches the hardware: film laps, compare shoulder alignment and hip-to-ankle stack against a short checklist, and repeat until the movements become automatic. The setup is the scaffold; the habits are the house.

Why fans and progressing skiers care

Fans care about Philip Casabon because his skiing ages well. The clips prioritize timing, organization, and line design over noise, which is why they survive slow-motion scrutiny years later. Progressing skiers care because the same choices are teachable on normal parks and real snowpacks. If your winter looks like night laps on a small hill, weekend missions to a destination park, and a few street sessions with friends, his blueprint shows how to turn limited speed and imperfect conditions into memorable skiing. The medals—back-to-back X Games Real Ski golds and Fan Favorite in 2018—are milestones; the lasting takeaway is a method: calm entry, patient pop, early grab definition, square-shoulder exit, and a flow that connects a run into a single sentence. That is why B-Dog remains essential viewing for anyone who cares about freeskiing’s style, substance, and future.

Brand overview and significance

Armada is widely recognized as skiing’s pioneering athlete-founded brand. Launched in 2002 by a crew of influential freeskiers and creatives, it set out to build equipment around how modern skiers actually ride—park, powder, streets, and big, natural terrain—rather than filtering innovation through traditional race heritage. The brand’s identity has remained anchored in rider input and film culture, with a product line that mirrors the creative, playful approach that reshaped freeskiing in the 2000s and beyond. In March 2017, Amer Sports acquired Armada, bringing the label into the same winter portfolio as other major ski manufacturers while preserving its athlete-led philosophy and distinct design language.

Armada operates from the Wasatch and the Alps, with day-to-day brand life connected to Park City Mountain in Utah and a European hub near Innsbruck. That cross-Atlantic footprint helps shape a catalog that feels at home in North American freeride zones and on the varied snowpacks and park scenes of the Tyrol. Culturally, Armada remains closely tied to athlete films, creative web series, and team projects—touchstones that communicate the skis’ intended feel as much as spec sheets do.

Product lines and key technologies

Armada’s lineup is organized by intent, not marketing buzzwords. The ARV/ARW family represents the brand’s all-mountain freestyle DNA; Declivity and Reliance (directional all-mountain) serve resort skiers who want confidence at speed and on edge; Locator targets fast-and-light touring; and signature freeride shapes such as the Whitewalker translate film-segment creativity to deep snow and mixed terrain. Within those families, Armada refines behavior with a set of in-house technologies that have become calling cards.

Two construction ideas stand out. First, rocker/camber profiles like AR Freestyle Rocker and EST Freeride Rocker blend long, forgiving rockered zones with positive camber underfoot to preserve edge hold. Second, base and sidewall details tune how the ski releases and smears: Smear Tech adds subtle 3D beveling in the tips and tails for drift, pivot, and catch-free butters, while AR75/AR100 sidewalls and tailored cores (including lightweight Caruba in touring models) balance mass reduction with damping and strength. Together these choices explain why Armada skis often feel both lively and composed—easy to pivot yet trustworthy when speed comes up or the snow gets choppy.

Ride feel: who it’s for (terrains & use-cases)

If you like your all-mountain laps to include side-hits, switch landings, and a bit of exploration off the groomer, Armada’s ARV/ARW models are designed for you. They’re energetic, smearable, and predictable in variable resort snow, with enough camber to carve cleanly back to the lift. Resort chargers who prioritize directional stability and precise edge feel will gravitate toward Declivity and Reliance: more metal and more length options yield a calmer ride on hardpack, while still keeping the Armada “surf” in soft conditions. For backcountry skiers who want to keep the uphill efficient without giving up fun on the way down, the Locator series blends low weight with real-snow suspension. And on storm days and film-project lines, signature freeride shapes like Whitewalker are aimed at powder, pillows, and wind-affected steeps where you want loose, pivotable tips, supportive platforms, and confident landings.

Team presence, competitions, and reputation

Armada’s reputation rides on the shoulders of its athletes as much as its skis. Over the years, names like Henrik Harlaut, Phil Casabon, and Sammy Carlson have defined the brand’s look and feel—style-first skiing that still handles real-mountain speed and impact. That visibility spans major events like the X Games and high-profile film releases, reinforcing Armada’s role as a tastemaker for park, street, and backcountry-freestyle aesthetics. The roster’s breadth—from urban icons to big-mountain specialists—helps keep the catalog honest: new designs trace back to specific needs revealed in segments, contests, and long-day resort laps.

Geography and hubs (heritage, testing, venues)

Armada’s U.S. presence is tied to the Wasatch—easy access to long season mileage, park laps, and storm cycles near Park City Mountain and the Cottonwood canyons. In the Alps, the scene around Innsbruck gives the team fast access to varied venues like Axamer Lizum and the Golden Roof Park, useful for repeatable park testing and quick condition changes. Historic filming staples like Mammoth Mountain continue to influence sizing, rocker lines, and the playful-but-capable feel that many skiers now expect from all-mountain freestyle shapes.

Construction, durability, and sustainability

Armada pairs wood cores and fiberglass/carbon laminates with sidewall constructions that vary by intent. All-mountain freestyle models use thicker edges and reinforcement underfoot to handle rails and landing zones; directional models lean into torsional stiffness and damping for edge fidelity; touring models deploy Caruba cores, strategic rubber/titanal binding mats, and lighter edges to keep mass down without making the ride nervous. On the softgoods side, the brand publishes “Honest Social Responsibility” notes outlining material choices in apparel and gear. For hardgoods, a two-year warranty applies to skis and most equipment, a standard that signals baseline confidence in materials and build. While any ski can be damaged by rails, rocks, or improper mounts, Armada’s construction playbook is tuned for the mix of freestyle creativity and resort mileage its audience demands.

How to choose within the lineup

Start with where and how you ski most. If your days blend carving with side-hits, trees, and the occasional lap through the park, look to the all-mountain freestyle family with waist widths in the upper-80s to mid-90s for a balanced daily driver. If you spend more time at speed on firm snow, directional all-mountain models with metal reinforcement and slightly longer radii will feel calmer and more confidence-inspiring on edge. If you tour, match Locator widths to your snowpack and objectives: narrower for long approaches and mixed conditions; wider for soft-snow zones and mid-winter storm cycles. Powder-first skiers who still like to trick and slash should consider signature freeride shapes with loose, rockered tips/tails and sturdy platforms underfoot. Size for your intent: freestyle-oriented riders often pick slightly shorter for maneuverability; directional and touring skiers typically size to nose/forehead or longer for stability and float.

Why riders care

Armada matters because it helped define what “modern” skiing feels like—and continues to translate that feel into products that make sense for real resort laps, backcountry tours, and deep days. The brand still reads like a dialogue between athletes and engineers: skis that pivot and smear when you want, yet bite and track when you need; graphics and shapes that look the part in a park edit but stand up to chunder at 3 p.m. Whether you arrive through contest clips, a team movie, or a storm cycle backcountry mission, the through-line is the same: creative expression backed by functional engineering. That combination keeps the label relevant to skiers who value both style and substance, from first chair corduroy to last-light pillow stacks—and it’s why Armada has a lasting footprint across freeski culture as well as everyday resort skiing.

Oil and Water - Phil Casabon

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Philip Casabon

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