VBS catches up with Mike Ranquet in Chicago after post-hip replacement surgery at Northwestern. Mike’s hip (only age 39) had deteriorated so badly that the doctors were shocked he could walk through the door. Ranquet gets to talking about why snowboard halfpipes sucked so much back in the day: apparently the midgets were to blame. We also find out that Mike, in the early 90’s, had the most significant vert ramp in the Seattle area, coined “The Nature Ramp” due to it’s proximity to the woods and commune-like atmosphere. There, Mike leads a one-man crusade of skateboard snobbery against all whack, non-skate related moves in snowboarding. Ranquet’s old Seattle buddies chime in, saying that teenaged Mike was basically like Bobby Budnick from “Salute Your Shorts”—a relentless troublemaker.