Robert Lance Mountain is a professional skateboarder and artist who was one of the prominent skateboarders throughout the 1980s, primarily due to his involvement with the Bones Brigade. As of August 2017, Mountain continues to skate professionally and his sponsors include Flip, Nike SB, Independent Trucks, Spitfire Wheels, and Bones Bearings.
Lance Mountain took first or second place in almost every amateur contest in which he participated. Mountain's first skateboard deck sponsor was Variflex, a company that he joined in 1981; Mountain then moved to the Powell-Peralta team in the following year. It was during his time with Powell-Peralta that he formed a strong friendship with Stacy Peralta, the team manager and director of the Bones Brigade video series—Mountain appears in eight Bones Brigade videos, including the well-known video The Search For Animal Chin. Mountain gained further eminence when he won the Upland Turkey Shoot contest at Upland Skatepark in 1983, an event in which fellow team riders Steve Caballero, Mike McGill, and Tony Hawk also competed. This was followed by Mountain's 1984 appearance in skateboarding's first, full-length company video The Bones Brigade Video Show, in which Mountain filmed the segue segments for all of the "vert" and "freestyle" parts; the segments depict Mountain as he skateboards throughout the streets of Los Angeles, US. In the early 1990s, the skateboard industry underwent a major transformation; the popularity of street-style skateboarding superseded that of vert skateboarding, thereby diminishing the status of the Bones Brigade while the prominence of the next wave of skaters increased. In 1991, Mountain left Powell-Peralta to cofound his own skateboard company "The Firm" and, together with former Powell-Peralta teammate Ray Barbee, recruited a team of notable skateboarders that included Bob Burnquist and Rodrigo "Tx" Teixeira. Following the company's further development, The Firm signed a distribution deal with Blitz Distribution. Following four videos and over a decade of existence, Mountain announced the end of The Firm on March 13, 2006.
Flip
Following the demise of The Firm, several former team members were recruited by the Flip company—Mountain, Burnquist, and Teixeira. As of March 2013, Mountain and Burnquist continue to be sponsored by Flip. As a team rider for Flip, Mountain is one of the professional skateboarders featured in Tony Hawk's Proving Ground, an appearance that marked Mountain's first appearance in the Tony Hawk series of video games.
Sponsorship
As of October 2012, Mountain is sponsored by Flip, Independent Trucks, Spitfire, Nike SB, and Stüssy clothing.
Influence
In Transworld SKATEboarding's "30 Most Influential Skaters Of All Time" list, Mountain was selected in the eighteenth position and Skin Phillips, the Editor-in-chief of the magazine, commended Mountain for his ability to "put a smile" on the faces of skateboarders over four decades of professional skateboarding. At the time that the list was released in December 2011, Mountain stated in response: "I feel like I’ve influenced in the sense that if you want to do it, do it. If you don’t want to do it, don’t do it. But don’t rely on what people are saying you can do or saying what you can’t do."
Artist
Mountain is a prolific artist and, as of March 2013, a catalog of his work is featured on the official Lance Mountain website, lancemountain.com. The catalog is divided into three sections: "Art Shows", "Art Owners", and "Random Stuff". In 2011, Mountain and his son contributed pieces to an art exhibition that celebrated the life of Joe Strummer, the former band member of The Clash who died in 2002. Mountain also provided graphics for a Peralta-directed television movie named When Disaster Strikes.
Inventor
Mountain is often cited as one of the inventors of the fingerboard, as he fashioned the prototype out of cardboard, pencil erasers, and a disassembled Hot Wheels toy in the late 1970s. Mountain's invention was featured in a Transworld Skateboarding magazine article, as well as the Powell Peralta video, Future Primitive. The fingerboard was initially created as a fun do-it-yourself project, for which kitchen sinks were used to emulate pool riding, and has since evolved into a major toy category that has sold multiple millions of units. Together with Caballero, Mountain was the co-designer of the Independent "Stage V" skateboard truck; Mountain is also the co-inventor, with Neil Blender, of the transitional skateboard maneuver the "Gay Twist".
Contest history
All contest results are covered in Thrasher Magazine and can be checked at the Thrasher Magazine Archives.
Mountain appears in a brief, uncredited cameo role in Lords of Dogtown, in which he appears as a "bobby" police officer in England, United Kingdom, during a scene that portrays Tony Alva filming a commercial.
Personal life
Mountain's self-identified faith is Christianity and he is married to Yvette Loveless; the couple are parents to a son.
