Eero Chilling In So Cal Double E Swings By Oakley To Catch Up w/ The Crew Eero Ettala is having one of the longer summer's of his career coming off ACL and MCL surgery from back in early May. Since then Eero has been chilling and trying to rehab his knee, by staying off it for the first few weeks in May and then working out and skating as much as possible. Ettala stated that he is back to almost 100%, at least when it comes to skating – which he has been doing a lot of since he landed in the states back on August 11th. Currently, Eero is staying up in West Hollywood with his girlfriend who works as a senior designer at DVS Shoes. Which is perfect for Eero because DVS is one of his sponsors and they have a mini skate park of sorts that he can session on his down time. Double EE had never been to the Engine Room, so Chris Hotell, Oakley Snowboard Sports Marketing and myself took Eero to the infamous room to catch up. The following is an excerpt from our discussions in the ER. What have you been up to since you got back in the states?
I have been bouncing around since I landed back on August 11th, I have been skating at DVS, MySpacing, hanging with my chick, went to Transworld yesterday to visit the Photo Editor Nick Hamilton and now Chris and I are going to Snowboarder Magazine to visit Bridges later today.
You did an interview with Outside Magazine just a little while ago, how did that go?
It was pretty cool, we mostly talked about me growing up in Finland and riding the Finnish Resorts, and how that is different than US Resorts. It was really mellow, actually it was really cool – I am stoked to see how it turns out.
Also, Men's Health is looking to do a small feature on you in their "Autonomy of Disaster" based on your gnarly crash that took place just a few days before Winter X this past season… tell us a little bit about that crash?
That was the worst pain probably when I landed, I heard something snap – kind of a pop inside my knee on impact and right away I knew something was wrong. So, I hiked back up those 50 stairs I just rode, climbed into my car and drove four hours home. I was trying to tell myself that it was not very serious, and I went to the pharmacy to get some drugs to ease the pain. But when I got to the states to compete at Winter X, I knew something was up… and of course after competing I went to the doctor and they told me I had no ACL at all. So, I put on a knee brace and rode all season long to finish my part for Mack Dawg Productions new film "Picture This." And then this May I had surgery on my knee for a torn ACL and MCL, and I am doing a lot better.
Make sure to check out Eero's part in "Picture This" coming soon to a snowboard shop near you in the next few weeks, as well as his interview with Outside Magazine and feature in Men's Health coming out this fall.
Words & Photos: Matthew Murray Oakley: Sports Marketing Media
