Union Strike Mission

Dan brisse, Johnny O’Connor, Phil Jacques and Anto Chamberland in Chicoutimi

- E-Stone

In early March my phone rang and the voice on the other end said, “Book a ticket to Québec and head up to Chicoutimi.” It was Dan Brisse, he was doing one more jib mission before he headed up to Alaska and switched modes from the streets to powder. I was already done with urban missions for the year but over my career I have learned that when Dan calls you to do something, it’s always going to be a good time and well worth the trip. This season, Dan was filming a part for the Union Moview called Stronger; This was Union's first crack at making a full-scale snowboard movie project and they had a sick roster of shredders who were all working hard to get an insane video part in the film. The crew for this  trip was Brisse, Johnny O’Conner, Phil Jacques and Anto Chamberland. It all sounded like the recipe for a perfect mission but where is Chicoutimi and why had I not heard of it? I had been to Montreal and Québec City many times but never heard anyone mention Chicoutimi. I’m always down to check out new spots and in March, not too many cities are still holding good enough snow to shred so I was stoked to join up with the crew for a week.

After a long journey to Québec I still had a two hour drive up to Chicoutimi. At the airport while asking for directions I learned that in 2002 the old city of Chicoutimi was merged with Laterriere and Tremblay and is now called Saguenay with Chicoutimi being one of three boroughs in the area.