Nicolas Müller, Organically Speaking
Snowboarding is the Easy Part
Last year I went to Laax, Switzerland to watch the European Open; after three days of chaos all I wanted was to find a hotel and some food. TWS Editor Annie Fast and I were accompanied on the train to Zurich by an anonymous soccer game organizer who claimed to know everybody in the snowboard community, yet nobody knew him. We were a little suspect, to say the least.
As the train moved closer to Zurich, Nicolas Müller’s name came up—he was going to pick us up at the station. Annie and I didn’t believe Mr. Anonymous for a second—Nicolas, a guy nearing legendary status, is going to be waiting by himself at the train station for this guy and two others he didn’t know?
But sure enough, there was Eco Nico pulling up in his Fiat hybrid. He got out, greeted us, turned to the car and said, “It runs on nature gas. Pretty cool, huh?” (Apparently, “nature gas” is unique to Europe and produces 90 percent less emissions than normal gasoline.) I couldn’t help but laugh—Mr. Anonymous just gained a bit of street cred. Who would think one of the best snowboarders in the world would take us around Zurich on a random Sunday night? Shouldn’t he be doing more important things, like mapping out his next riding destination?
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