Behind the Shots of 'Swarm' - The Covilles in Connecticut

Street snowboarding, at the end of the day, is about getting clips. Few snowboarders know what it takes to get a 3 second clip in the streets (or backcountry for that matter). Finding the spot in the first place, setting it up, mental battles hyper-fixating on anything that could go wrong, smooth-talking angry property owners and police...the actual riding can end up being the easiest part of getting a clip!

To help those that don't know what it takes to get a street clip (and maybe even inspire some young rippers to get clips of their own), we're here to break down how some of our favorite clips in 'Swarm' came to be.

Starting things off with two fan-favorite clips that just so happened to be filmed not only in the same day, but at the same Connecticut school. Read below to learn about Noah Coville's 50-50 to fence to 50-50 and Micah Coville's kink rail frontboard.

Photos & story: Max Lyons

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A fairly rare good snow year on the East Coast led to a pretty nice home field advantage for the Covilles. Finding themselves in Connecticut from late-January to late-February due to a combination of good snow levels and untapped spots, by the end of the trip there were very few spots left on the checklist.

Thanks to a day of rain and then a night of freezing the week prior, snow was at a premium, and snow at spots the crew wanted to hit was even slimmer. Checkout day of the AirBNB was upon the crew and it was looking like it was time to find a new zone. Driving around checking remaining pins was proving unfruitful. No snow at most spots, 'get-off-my-lawn' residents in apartment complexes, and rails that landed directly into busy roads: it was looking like the crew was going to strike out.

There was one final school spot to scope before calling it a wash, but driving there wasn't exactly inspiring confidence thanks to minimal snow patches in the surrounding neighborhoods. The front of the school was bare but pulling around to the rear where the rail was opened up to a usable stockpile of snowbanks. Antsy to get going, Noah and Micah (along with Derek, and Casey) hopped out and got straight to work.

"This was on a Sunday, the day after Heavy Metal in Boston. I remember this, because we almost went, but decided to skip out to hit a couple school spots we'd been eyeing up. Snow was dwindling and this would be our last chance to hit any of these spots. (Derek) Lemke somehow had found what we thought was a triple kink via aerial view on Google Earth. Seriously, I don't know how this guy finds these things, but he's good.

When we pulled around the school to check this thing out, we immediately recognized it. Savannah (Shinske) had 50'ed it in Bookclub's video 'Townie' a few years prior. The colorful and textural design of the building is unforgettable and that clip of Sav is so sick. It's always cool rolling up to a spot in person after seeing it in a video, especially when it's one of your homies that rode it." - Micah

East Coast spots are hard to come by thanks to inconsistent snow levels, and East Coast-based crews are even harder to find. Thanks to this, and maybe some East Coast homerism, any up-and-coming New Englander watches crew videos like Bookclub and Keep The Change religiously: and getting the chance to tack a trick onto any spot in those videos is a rare and exciting opportunity.

Noah Coville - 50-50 to Fence to 50-50

"We showed up to the rail that Micah ended up front boarding and there was absolutely no snow on it. There was some snow in the field near it and a decent pile up in the parking lot...we decided to take a walk around the school and that's when we found the spot I ended up hitting. It was way shadier back there so there was way more snow available, so we started with that." - Noah

Initially setting up the backside 50 to ledge, which was quickly deemed not worth it, Noah hopped on the frontside 50-50 a few times to feel out the feature. Not an inconsequential spot, it took a bit of time to figure out if the spot was even doable in the first place.

The gap between the rail and the fence was only two boards wide and the rail supports were not forgiving. The fence curved in towards the pathway directly as the rail ended forcing a split-second decision if he came off early in order to safely bail out. Not to mention the exposed top of the chainlink fence meant catching himself with his chest or hands to slow down was not an option. Just to round it out, the square stock of the kink rail made it that much harder to pop over to the fence.

"I was pretty scared doing that one and was having trouble getting myself to commit to jumping back to the rail from the fence. I felt like I was either gonna get impaled by the fence or get stuck between the rail and the fence. Just kept thinking of that Krugs clip in Rated R." - Noah

Photo: he may look cool and collected but Noah was shakin' in his boots for sure.

Once he started getting into the session it looked like he would be able to get the trick pretty easily. Hopping to the fence basically every try, it looked like smooth sailing. Unfortunately though, that isn't how street snowboarding goes.

The wire holding the chain link on top of the fence and the top of the fence were messing with his balance, and on transfer rails your balance and timing is everything. With each slight bump throwing his weight off, Noah battled for hours.

After a close call where he popped from the fence and landed in the narrow gap, he was over it. Frustrated that nothing was working and exhausted from hours of no food and hardly any water, Noah took a seat.

"There's a million things I could say about setting a spot up, but I think it's important to note that we put a lot of effort into setting up spots as safe as possible...being strategic with how you set things up is all part of the craft." - Micah

Photo: not a very friendly runout should things go sideways.

Photos: Micah making sure the angle was just right, the Agent Pro is both Coville's board of choice, spot pizza is still an undefeated move to raise the vibes.

A true gentleman (or maybe just hungry himself), Casey was kind enough to DoorDash pizza and wings to the spot. While not the classic luxurious New Haven style pizza Connecticut is more known for, the greasy cafeteria pie started to bring the vibes up. There were a couple hours of daylight left and there was a pretty perfect (and picturesque) kink rail on the other side of the building.

"Casey's a legend...definitely wouldn't have been able to do it without some grease in the system." - Micah

Micah Coville - Frontboard

"I think Noah knew I really wanted to try the frontboard on the other side of the building, and wanted to be a team player and not waste time. For me, though, it was definitely one of those situations where I was equally, if not more, invested in the (Noah's) spot because I knew how sick it would be.

The whole season I was looking for a good triple kink to frontboard. I've been thinking about that trick for a while so when we pulled up I immediately knew it was a perfect opportunity. I remember being a scared at first, but seeing Derek try the most f'ed up cab 270 into an even bigger kink the day before I really didn't have any excuses." - Micah

Not a huge battle, Micah landed one in what felt like 30 minutes. After checking the clip he realized he could lace it up just a bit cleaner, and another 30 minutes later he was riding away towards a nice cold can of Coke (shoutout Casey for the assist).

"After landing and reviewing the clip I knew I could do it better. I slid over to my back foot on the last kink and it just wasn't really what I envisioned. It also worked out way easier than I thought so why not give it a few more tries to get it better? I got completely fixated on getting it the way I wanted...after a couple more tries I slide a good one on my front foot and rode away. Being a bit of a stubborn perfectionist I even gave it another handful of tries to get it without my hat coming off because I didn't like that I missed the hat grab. *laughs*" - Micah

Photo: hat on for the photo, not the clip.

Micah's setup in the clip

The sun was setting after Micah's spot but there was still 30 minutes of daylight left. With the spot still setup and a hard cutoff before heading back to Vermont for a well-earned rest day, Noah said he was feeling inspired by Micah's clip and wanted to give his transfer a couple more tries before he called it a day.

With the crew feeling pretty upbeat after Micah put the heels through the kink, everyone was down. After a few halfhearted attempts to make sure the legs were still working, Noah stomped shortly after like it was nothing.

"It was pretty dark by then but I figured I'd have at least 10 tries before the lighting really sucked. I just fully committed to it and ended up getting it in a couple tries. That was a good day." - Noah

"That was easily one of my favorite days filming all last year. Got to check a trick off my list and film and absolute heater of Noah! Also not having to drive around all day and get two clips in one location is pretty sweet." - Micah

Taking the outrun all the way past the school building, there was nothing but hype, and I'm glad Noah stepped back up. One of the fan-favorite clips in Swarm (shoutout Squid, Grendys, and Meyer on the Bomb Hole watch party), Noah's part wouldn't be the same without it.

Noah's setup in the clip

What happened next? Everyone got in the car and started looking for the next zone. Rumors of pockets of snow in Canada had everyone excited. Just as quickly as the stoke for the clips emerged, it subsided with the hunt for more. The hunger to go all out was on full display in Swarm and the final result truly speaks for itself. Hit the link below to watch Swarm now because as sick as these clips are, there's a whole video full of 'em.