Snowboard Magazine - Grilled: The Influence of Jeremy Jones

http://snowboardmag.com/stories/personalities/grilled-the-influence-of-jeremy-jones

Grilled: The influence of Jeremy Jones

April 15th, 2013 by Nate Deschenes

Jeremy Jones has moved big mountain riding and exploration to levels beyond any other snowboarder, blah, blah… he’s a living legend, blah, blah… you don’t need a tutor to bring you up to speed on this concept. However, the process of taking his missions Deeper, then Further and now, Higher, must reach a zenith, right? Well that’s what they said about freestyle and now look at it, we can’t even give those new tricks cool names anymore, they’re just based on math. In the freeriding arena it is no different and as long as Dr. Jones is at the helm, it’s safe to say he’ll be getting after some terrain that was never designed for human consumption. Though a turn will still be a turn by any other name and if he gets even more gnarly or goes super fast we will simply add an “er” to the end of the word to describe his feats. With the beginning of his new project about to fire, I caught up with the man and Grilled him with a few simple questions I was curious about.
What has impressed you recently?
This year I have been riding with two younger kids, Frank Knaab and Jimmy Goodman, both 21, out of Mammoth. Their diversity as top tier freestylers, and jibbers to charging lines and becoming really proficient backcountry riders is some of the most diversity I have seen in a really long time. And I’m not just talking about riding down either, but their whole approach, attitude and all. They are not afraid of long, big treks into the mountains to get the goods.
What does snowboarding need more of?
More rider owned companies.
Less of?
Mega-corpo companies.
What do you think about the Olympics?
I think they are really fun to watch on TV! I think they have changed competitive snowboarding pretty drastically. One cool thing though is the offset of the über Olympian deal with these incredible soul comps like the Dirksen Derby. Snowboarding has naturally kicked itself in that direction as a result I think.

Photos: Jeff Curley
Do you have an agent?
Negative.
What is your best pow day so far this year?
The last one! I think there’s a level of days that hit that top tier and it’s almost disrespectful to the others to claim, “Toady was the day!”
See Also: Jeremy Jones receives “Champions of Change” award from The White House Do your musical choices vary with terrain and/or conditions?
If it’s like the “day of days”, meaning it’s two feet of really good powder and stable, that day I’m naturally on such a high because they don’t come around all that often. I know already that I’m going to send it those days, so I’m listening to some real mellow stuff just to calm myself down internally. And then on those hardpack resort days it’s more of a heavy metal vibe when I need to get amped up to charge some groomers.

What is something you never leave home without?
Ideally my boots… but unfortunately I have left those behind a couple times.
What is the business plan over at Jones Snowboards?
I started Jones snowboards because I wasn’t getting the product that I wanted. I didn’t go out and have any roundtable meetings with shop guys or reps and ask them what would sell. No, my boards come directly from me and what I want to ride. All of the shapes are extensions of me saying, “I want to ride this kind of board.” Hopefully other people like them too, but it’s really starts with myself. So it’s a selfish business plan I suppose.
Deeper, Further, Higher… what more realistically will you do with this next movie?
As with my entire life in snowboarding it’s just a continued evolution, both mentally and physically. Climbing that internal ladder, hitting more dream lines and coming home safe.

Outside - The Future of Skiing - Jeremy Jones

http://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/The-Future-of-Skiing-Jeremy-Jones.html

 

The Future of Skiing: Jeremy Jones

The big mountain skier and founder of Protect Our Winters

By: Berne Broudy

Photo: Courtesy of Jeremy Jones

We’re coming into time of snow decline, but it’ll be offset by punk rock kids who think going outside is cool.

In 25 years, we’ll be in the hands of the next generation—the generation of kids that Protect Our Winters has been talking to at school. That gives me some hope that we’ll see some definitive change as a society. Our school programs lay it out: this is the world you’re growing up in, here are facts, here are solutions.  We’re working to raise awareness in kids, working to get the next generation to embrace the outdoors and the mountains. It’s a simple concept, but a super important one.

I dream that in 25 years we’ll be fully embracing green tech, clean energy, energy independence and everything along those lines. But if our ski areas all go to solar and nothing else does, it doesn’t mean a damn thing. In a perfect world, ski areas and skiing and snowboarding come together and demand we make changes. Collectively, we could be a powerful force and have a big voice on Capitol Hill, with the ultimate goal being clean energy throughout every facet of life.

On the equipment front, we’ve come a long way. Jones Snowboards uses FSC wood cores, recycled sidewalls and bases, wood topsheets. The next improvements are going to be trickier; the big stumbling blocks are the resins used in laying up boards, the glues. In 25 years, there will be a spotlight on manufacturers environmental practices. In the future, companies won’t be able to get away with cost effective prices with no concern for the environment. Skiers and riders are going to demand environmentally produced product, and all products will fit this description. Sustainably harvested wood cores will be the norm, not a category.

In 25 years, the snowboard boot/binding interface will change—we’ll have other options. I would have lost a bet 20 years ago that that interface would be different. I am willing to re-up on that bet.

In 25 years, the backcountry segment will have grown significantly. It’s already happening. Sugarloaf, Maine, did a sidecountry expansion, Burnt Mountain. It doubles the resort’s terrain without a single new lift. It’s progressive thinking. Fifteen years ago, I’d ask, "Why didn’t that lift go to top?" Now I like it better if there is a half-hour hike. Closed gates need to go away. Resorts need to embrace the rich 40-year old who embraces powder and wants to go into the backcountry.

Everyone will have an airbag in 25 years and we won’t be bombing for avy control. We’ll have automated snow control, like on Teton Pass, but everywhere.

The next generation will be full tech and social media addicts, but eventually this trend will ebb and flow, and social media will be lame. We’re coming into time of snow decline, but it’ll be offset by punk rock kids who think going outside is cool.

A huge thing I dream of is that mountains will embrace snowparks. Right now parks are one-dimensional. I’d like to have skatebowl-inspired parks, like in Japan—surfy-snake enhanced groomers. You need to be really advanced to go high, but anyone can ride them. There will be quarter pipes cut into the edge of trail. Instead of smoothing out the terrain, it’ll be an enhanced cat track with playful elements.
Jeremy Jones is the owner of Jones Snowboards, Big Mountain Rider and founder of Protect Our Winters.

"Champion of Change" Award from The White House and President Barack Obama

http://protectourwinters.org/pow-founder-jeremy-jones-honored-at-the-white-house-2321

 

 

 

 

 

 

POW FOUNDER, JEREMY JONES HONORED AT THE WHITE HOUSE

Washington, DC - April 12, 2013 – Jeremy Jones, pro snowboarder and Founder of the global nonprofit, Protect Our Winters was honored yesterday at a White House ceremony along with other “Champions of Change,” in recognition of “ordinary Americans doing extraordinary things in their communities to out-innovate, out-educate, and out-build the rest of the world.”
Jones is being recognized for his contribution to raising awareness about the impact of climate change on the winter sports industry by creating Protect Our Winters, a foundation established in 2007 to unite and mobilize the global winter sports community against climate change.
The ceremony took place at the White House on Thursday afternoon.
Twelve Champions of Change were honored for working to prepare their communities for the consequences of climate change. These individuals are leaders and innovators working tirelessly to build community resilience by preparing for increasingly extreme weather and other costly climate-related impacts.  The Champions of Change program was created as a part of President Obama’s Winning the Future initiative.
“As we take action to reduce carbon pollution and speed the transition to more sustainable sources of energy, we must also take action to prepare for the impacts of climate change we are already seeing, including more frequent and severe extreme weather,” said Nancy Sutley, Chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality.  “This week, we look forward to welcoming Champions of Change who are doing smart, innovative work to protect the health, safety and prosperity of their communities in the face of climate change.”
“This nomination and to be recognized by the White House is an absolute honor for me.  It’s also a testament to the work that we’re doing at Protect Our Winters and how important fighting climate change is to the future of our sport and economy,” said Jones.
Additionally, earlier this week, Jones and 75 other winter sports athletes also sent a letter to President Obama today urging the President to take action on climate and clean energy.  The letter was hand delivered to the White House in a separate meeting after the Champions of Change ceremony.
“Without a doubt, winter is in trouble,” the letter states.”  At risk are the economies of tourist-dependent states where winter tourism generates $12.2 billion in revenue annually, supports 212,000 jobs and $7 billion in salaries.  Those are the jobs and businesses owned by our friends and families, generators of billions in federal and state income.”
The letter calls on Obama to follow through on the promises he made in the State of the Union address to fight climate change. He can do so by using executive authority currently available to reduce carbon pollution emitted by America’s power plants, the largest source of carbon pollution worsening climate change, and by rejecting the Keystone XL pipeline, which would add millions of tons of new carbon pollution to the atmosphere.

Rolling Stone - Snow Athletes Fight for Climate Change

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/winter-is-in-trouble-snow-athletes-fight-for-climate-action-20130411

'Winter Is in Trouble': Snow Athletes Fight for Climate Action

'The least of our worries will be that skiers and snowboarders don't get to go play,' says pro boarder Jeremy Jones

Jeremy Jones in Alaska

Greg Von Doersten

By Brooke Jarvis

April 11, 2013 11:46 AM ET

Winter may be coming to Westeros, but here on Earth, it's in jeopardy.
That's the message of some 75 professional skiers, snowboarders and climbers – Olympic medalists, world champions and X Games winners among them – whose chosen sports' dependence on snowy winters makes them particularly worried about the effects of climate change.
The athletes have signed a letter to President Obama "on behalf of 23 million of us who love winter and depend on it for our economic livelihoods," asking him to live up to his inaugural promise to take meaningful action to slow climate change. Specifically, they ask him to block the Keystone XL pipeline, which would import carbon-intensive oil from Canada's tar sands, and to require carbon cuts from power plants. "Without a doubt," the letter states, "winter is in trouble."
"It wasn't hard to get people to sign," says Jeremy Jones, a 10-time Snowboard Magazine "Best Big Mountain Rider of the Year" and the founder of Protect our Winters, the nonprofit group that coordinated the letter. "We could go out and get 98 percent of mountain guides to sign on tomorrow. People who are in the mountains on a daily basis see undeniable changes to our winters."
Jones will deliver the letter today while being honored as a White House "Champion of Change." He founded Protect Our Winters after being shocked to witness the loss of snowpack in northern Canada in 2005. "It was a slap in the face," he says.
The Fossil Fuel Resistance
The letter notes that a changing climate won't just harm winter sports fans; it will also threaten jobs and small-town economies across the country. A report by Protect Our Winters and the Natural Resources Defense Council estimated that winter sports add more than $12 billion to the U.S. economy and support more than 200,000 jobs. A number of studies have shown that climate change is not likely to be kind to the ski industry, which is already struggling through short seasons and unpredictable snowfall – the result of drought as well as milder winters. According to one study, no resorts in Massachusetts or Connecticut are likely to survive the next 30 years. Park City, Utah, may have no snowpack left by the end of the century.
Of all the expected casualties of climate change, the winter sports industry may not be the most morally or existentially stirring. But its importance to fans makes it a rallying cry –and the same changes that threaten its long-term viability also put drinking water and agriculture at risk. "If we get to the point where the ski resorts all close because there's no longer any snow," says Jones, "the least of our worries will be that skiers and snowboarders don't get to go play in the mountains."

Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/winter-is-in-trouble-snow-athletes-fight-for-climate-action-20130411#ixzz2fBBMwygq

Grind TV - Jeremy Jones and the evolution of snowboarding

http://www.grindtv.com/weekly/70641/ 

Snowboarding legend Jeremy Jones talks about his early days, and his recent big-mountain adventures.