Lance Mountain

Robert Lance Mountain (born June 13, 1964) is an American professional skateboarder and artist who was one of the prominent skateboarders throughout the 1980s, primarily due to his involvement with the Bones Brigade.

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 (most prominently under the Tech Deck brand).

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".

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 (1982).

• 2nd in 1982 Rusty Harris Pro Contest at Whittier: Pool

• 4th in 1982 Rusty Harris Pro Series Overall Results: Pool

• 1st in 1982 Summit V Open Ramp Contest at Nor-Cal: Highest Air

• 1st in 1982 Summit V Open Ramp Contest at Nor-Cal: Add-On Competition

• 3rd in 1982 Christmas Classic Contest at Upland Skatepark: Pool

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.

• 1st in 1983 Summer World Series at Del Mar, Doubles (with Steve Caballero): Pool

• 1st in 1983 Turkey Shoot Contest at Upland Skatepark: Pool

• 3rd in 1983 St. Pete Ramp Jam: Vert

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" (a style of skateboarding that involves skateboarding on a vertical "u"-shaped ramp) and "freestyle" (a style of skateboarding that involves technical skateboarding on flat ground) parts; the segments depict Mountain as he skateboards throughout the streets of Los Angeles, US.

Mountain's self-identified faith is Christianity, and he has been married to Yvette Loveless since November 31, 1984.

The couple are parents to a son, Lance, Jr.

• 1st in 1984 NSA Summer Series at Upland Skatepark, Doubles (with Steve Caballero): Pool

• 4th in 1984 Massacre at Tahoe Contest: Vert

• 5th in 1985 Vision/Sims King of the Mountain Contest at Virginia Beach: Vert

• 3rd in 1985 Skateboard Plus Pro Contest at Little Rock, Arkansas: Vert

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.

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 (the final video was the 1991 production Eight).

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.

As of October 2012, Mountain is sponsored by Flip, Independent Trucks, Spitfire, Nike SB (announced on May 7, 2007), and Stüssy clothing.

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.

Following the demise of The Firm, several former team members were recruited by the Flip company—Mountain, Burnquist, and Teixeira (all three skateboarders appeared in the Flip full-length video Extremely Sorry (2009) ).

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."

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.

In July 2023, Mountain participated as a special guest artist in the Los Angeles art and music collective Surf Skate Roots Rock, reuniting with fellow skateboarding pioneers such as Tony Alva, Steve Olson, Lonnie Toft, etc.

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.

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" (a collection of all of the art shows that Mountain has produced, with titles such as "Locals Only" and "Love & Guts"), "Art Owners" (displays photographic portraits of people who own pieces of Mountain's art), and "Random Stuff" (includes Mountain's work with items such as coffee tables, stencils, and oil paint).

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.