Van DeWitt is a true core rider who can be found ripping it up halfway between the mountainboarding asylums of Colorado and California. The riding in the Salt Lake Valley is enhanced by two bordering mountain ranges: the Wasatch Mountains to the east and the Oquirrh Mountains to the west. This is the endless playground that Van claims as his kingdom. Van is known for "kicking it old school" on his Xtreme Wheelz setup. He leaves most pneumatic riders in the dust as he tears past them on his hard-wheel dirtboard. In addition to his flair in the dirt, Van also styles out artistically. Van is a talented graphic artist whose work has even been used by NPD Landboard.

Q - What's your hometown?
A - Salt Lake City, Utah: home of the Mormons
Q - Where can we find your favorite riding spot?
A - Salt lake city, Tanner Park in the bowl or at the BMX track.
Q - How old are you?
A - 22 and living dead.
Q - How long have you been dirtboarding?
A - 5 years.
Q - Why do you ride?
A - I started riding skateboards when I was 10. I rode on and off all the way into my senior year of high school. I always loved the feel of skating, but it always seamed like there was something missing. Then, one day my best friend Justin Piper came to school with his first XTreme off-road skateboard. I was blown away! I had no idea that there was an off-road board. After a few weeks of sharing his board I finally broke down and bought my own. Justin and I started ripping it all the time. I now had found what I was always missing on a street skateboard: never ending ride, no limits, no reason to stop. Dirt, rocks, ha ha I eat you alive.
Q - What's your favorite type of terrain?
A - Dirt, grass, and street I rally it all. I like long boardercross runs the best, like at Kratka or Boreal.
Q - What's your favorite riding set-up?
A - XT: it demands more technical skill and it takes bigger balls to go big on XT.
Q - Recently you've started riding pneumatic boards as well as XT. Which do you prefer? What do you specifically like about each?
A - Well the difference between solid and pneumatic are like night and day. In both cases you have the ability to ride off-road and street, but pushing a mountain board on flat land sucks where the XT has no problem. It's really light in comparison and it rallies urban areas. But, the XT has smaller wheels and stops on bigger rocks and it hates sand where the mountain board thrashes all obstacles in its way as long as you have the speed. The riding styles are very different: the XT is a skateboard with big wheels, and the mountain board is a snowboard with wheels. The concepts are the same but the boards are quite different. It all comes down to terrain, weight, control, and depending on where my crew and I are going determines what I am riding that day. I most often wind up taking both my boards. I just love them both so much.
Q - Describe your riding style.
A - Freestyle to slalom; I love it all. But, I have to be going really fast or really high.
Q - Who are your sponsors?
A - Xtreme Wheelz, Afroman productions, Track Live, Shocker Trucks, Salty Peaks Snowboard Shop, Hallowedground apparel, NPD Landboards, Thread & Ink Designs.
Q - What was it like being on the cover of the second all-terrain-boarding magazine issue ever produced: Off-Road Boarding Magazine #2?
A - I just happened to hear that there was going to be a new mag for dirt riders, so I got in contact with the editor Brian Bishop and sent him my whole photo portfolio. He surprised me with the cover shot. It was by far the coolest thing to happen to my career thus far. Thanks Brian!
Q - Can you describe your best day riding?
A - Well, that's the hardest question anyone has ever asked me. Any day that I don't get hurt and I stay in my groove is a great day.
Q - Do you participate in any other sports?
A - Snowboarding and paint-ball, just for fun.
Q - What are your interests other than dirtboarding?
A - Making movies with my company E.F.A. Existence For Amusement Productions, and lots of art; all the time: art.
Q - What's your occupation?
A - Graphic Artist / 3D modeling / full time student / and Dirt Thrasher; I love them all.
Q - What type of music do you listen to?
A - A lot of different types. Mostly hard-core: Pantera, Snot, and Cluch are my favorites. I also like a lot of Hip-Hop (Not Rap), and old stuff like Black Sabbath, The Doors, and Led Zeppelin, but absolutely no cookie-cutter bands. The music industry can suck a fat one right now.
Q - What or who, inspires you and your riding?
A - At first, nobody. I didn't even know there was any one to look up to. But after my first two races, I would say without a doubt that Dave Stiefvater would be the first to have shown me the way, and soon after the Robbins brothers: all of which I can say are really good friends.
Q - What do you foresee in the future of mountainboarding?
A - Well it all depends if the ATBA in gets shape and starts getting all the races organized to the point where the X-Games and the Gravity Games have to acknowledge our sport for what it is: the last board-sport and by far the most dangerous. If we get our act together and start doing what we should have had done two years ago, we will be at the threshold of a new era in our sport. The mainstream, when on any given day, you can go to any riding spot in your neighborhood and find two to three riders tearing it up. Whether or not this will be good for our sport, who knows? It might kill the scene we have going now where every rider is a brother. All I know is if it winds up like street skating where you have to be a prick to be cool, I will freak out and start killing cool people! Being cool is because you love to ride; its just that simple.
Q - Do you have a final comment to share with dirtboardX readers?
A - Any and all riders stopping through Utah should send me an email: vandewitt@hotmail.com, and I will take you to all the best spots in Salt Lake. Well, as many as you have time for. Salt Lake is chuck full of some phenomenal riding for solid or pneumatic. Keep safe, wear your helmet if you're going big, and keep rollin' hard and heavy.