Let’s start with the basics – Name, Age, Where are you from?

My name is Hermann Stene, I’m 24 years old from Larvik, Norway.

Backside Noseblunt in San Diego on his first trip with the crew. Photo Gabe Morford

What is skating like growing up in a small town town in Norway? It snows there during parts of the year right?

Growing up skating in Larvik was really fun. When I started skating it wasn’t any skate parks or anything in Larvik, but we had one outdoor skatepark that wasn’t so far away and we did get an indoor one after a little while. So I was skating a lot at my school and outside my house and in the winter I was a lot in parking garages. It snows so much here, it’s like almost a half year with winter, which sucks so bad! But it can be fun to try snowboarding sometimes. I try to just travel as much as possible in the winter, either to The States or somewhere in Europe.

Close quarters Backtail to Fakie. Photo Alexandre Pires

You seem to spend a lot of time in the states – ever thought about trying to make the move full time?

Yeah, I like traveling to the states. I have thought about it but getting a visa for that is hard. So I don’t know if that is gonna happen but i can be there for 3 months go home and come back. It’s gonna be a lot of trips to the states in the near future. I love being in Europe though!

You spent a few months living at Double Rock in SF – What was that like? Any crazy stories from living there?

Double Rock was sick! First time I got there I couldn’t believe that I was at Thrasher’s skatepark and that I was gonna sleep there for the next 2-3 months. It seemed pretty sketchy around the area where it was and I heard some sketchy stories from Redder about shootings and stuff around there but I never witnessed any. One thing I was tripping on was that crazy Alarm thing that went of once every week. The first time I heard that it felt like a war was gonna breaking out or some zombie apocalypse stuff was gonna happen!

Dodging puddles for a big Backside 360. Photo Alexandre Pires

What was it like skating all the SF spots you’d seen in videos for the first time?

Skating all those spots was amazing and especially see them and remember what people have done on a lot of the spots. Just skating SF in general is the best! All those crazy hills and rugged spots are so sick. It’s my favorite city in The States for sure.

Charging past the locals for a big gap to 50-50 from the curb cut. Photo Alexandre Pires

Recently you came to San Diego on your first REAL trip – how was that?

That was so fucking sick. I never thought that I would ever happen! Being in the van with almost everybody on the team. It was a dream come true.

Had you met a lot of the guys before or was it your first time?

I knew some people from before. But most of them I didn’t know at all. I knew Jafin, Ishod, Jack, Zion and Harry but I didn’t know them well. I’m starting to know them pretty good now!

Nosegrind to shut down the session. Photo Gabe Morford

Luckily for you Jake Donnelly wasn’t there – anyone make fun of you?

Haha! Nobody made fun of me I think or at least it didn’t feel like it.

Favorite memory from the trip?

Going to the factory in Mexico to see how the boards got made and to get a custom made board was so sick. And skating that bowl/bank they had outside there that was so fun and just skating in general with everybody.

Recently your Mom opened up Mamma’s Skateshop in your hometown in Norway – how did that come about?

My Mom is always been known as the skate-mom in Norway and before we used to have a local skate shop that got shut down. After a little while without a skate shop in my hometown my Mom figured out she wanted to open a little one down in the indoor skatepark, so people could get boards and stuff without driving to the next city. So she asked me and my brother and some other people about what she should do and what boards she should get and all that. We figured she should just call it Mamma’s and that was how that shop got born!

Mamma’s Skate Shop Jam with Hermann Stene and the crew.

Has your mom always been super supportive of your skating?

She has always been super supportive about my skating. My Mom and my Dad. They always drove me and my brothers to contests or to take a road trip to other countries so we could skate. We’ve done road trips to Barcelona just so we could skate there! It couldn’t have been better than that.

50-50 for the homies at Mânejordet Skatepark in Larvik in Norway to celebrate the release of the new Mamma’s Skateshop X REAL board. Photo Simen Fauske

Your brother skates too – Did you guys grow up skating together?

I have two brothers that skate We all kinda started skating at the same time and were skating a lot in front of our house when we started. We skated everyday together for sure. I didn’t have that many friends at my age that skated, so I was always out with my brothers and their friends. My Mom had a videocamera that we borrowed a lot too so we filmed a lot and made skate videos.

REAL x Mamma’s Skate Shop decks now available at the shop in Larvik, Norway. Special thanks to the Stene family and Final Supplies for making it happen!

Any last words? Anyone you’d like to thank?

Just keep skating and have fun! I would love to thank my Mom, Dad, my brothers Jens and Dan, all my homies here in Norway, all my sponsors, Nate, Jim, Neil, Stefan, Adidas, Anders Sollie, DLX, Alec, Redder, Thrasher, Brage, Pekka, Bjørne, Assi, Tina, Mathias, Didrik, everybody that I forgot!