Stoke in Stills: An Interview with Ethan “E-Stone” Fortier

Not many have had a career trajectory as unique as Ethan “E-stone” Fortier. As a snowboard pro, owner and operator of Technine, accomplished photographer and now co-host of The Bomb Hole podcast with Chris Grenier, Stone’s existence within snowboarding is boundless, ever evolving and driven by a culture-first approach.

Stone’s snowboarding journey began from a place of necessity within the Technine universe. “In the early days of Technine, Blotto (Dean “Blotto” Gray) was our Team Manager as well as a rider on the team. When he left, he sat me down and handed over the camera—I grabbed it and never put it down. I’m so thankful that photographers Kevin Zacher and Nate Christenson were down to show me the way around a camera,” he says. Stone took the opportunity to be a part of a snowboard brand, shoot for their marketing and run with some of the most prominent snowboard crews around.

“I sell prints from my career. It has been super rad to see the support and to know my images are finding a place in people’s personal lives.”

Stone’s role in the most iconic snowboard days to date allowed him to work with the industry’s best and travel the world while doing it. “I was involved with some of the heaviest videos in the sport from 2005–2019,” he says. “If you watch videos put out by F.O.D.T, Videograss, Kids Know, Absinthe, Kingpin Productions and X Games: Real Snow edits, there is a 100% chance you will see me in the mix shooting photos and an 80% chance you will see my funny-looking mug somewhere in the credits.” Stone’s photography genius lies in understanding location and a rider’s capabilities and talent. “What I look for specifically is a situation where you could remove the rider from the photo and it’ll still be insane and something you want on your wall,” Stone says. “It’s not always the scenery that makes the shot. It can just as easily be the lighting on the scene that turns an average shot into something extremely special.” For Stone, a good photo is about picking angles that cleanly show the trick and give context to the rider’s direction in the moment.

When transitioning from photopro to podcast host, Stone relied on practice and consistency. “We had just got the ball rolling on the concept of The Bomb Hole when the pandemic hit and we had two options: push forward as we had originally planned or, out of fear of the unknown, pack it up and give up while we still could.” Stone and Grenier got the first 15 episodes under their belt, which served as the litmus test of whether the podcast had legs. At over 150 episodes, more than 10 live shows and a plethora of event recaps and watch parties, The Bomb Hole has steadily become a staple in the snow sports world.

“It’s not always the scenery that makes the shot. It can just as easily be the lighting on the scene that turns an average shot into something extremely special.”

With The Bomb Hole in full swing and the western U.S. snowboard community having one of the best seasons in decades, Stone has no plans of slowing down. “I have been working hard on my personal website where I sell prints from my career. It has been super rad to see the support and to know my images are finding a place in people’s personal lives,” Stone says. “I have also been really stoked on sharing my photo knowledge with up-and-coming photographers that reach out to me on social media. Anything I can do to help usher in a new guard of shooters that will carry the torch and keep document – ing this amazing sport is something I’m down to focus on!”

Stone’s charisma and dedication to snowboarding is felt from his photography to his podcast hosting. Keeping the grassroots culture within the snowboard world alive is key to the sport’s progression and integrity, and Stone exemplifies that to a T. Be sure to check out Stone’s website, e-stonephoto.com, as well as The Bomb Hole podcast on all major platforms or thebombhole.com.

Park City pro rally car driver Ken Block (pictured in this article), friend of Ethan Stone and Chris Grenier, passed away early January 2023. We would like to take a moment to honor and thank Ken for his contributions as a legend in action sports.

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