"Jeremy Jones is an alien. He's just inhumanly good at snowboarding." So lives the legend of this pioneering big-mountain rider. We heard this comment this week from an Alaska-based ski/snowboarding operator, but the sentiment is one that rings throughout the snowboarding world.
Once a pro rider hitting a different big-mountain location every week, Jones's ethos have evolved over the years. Instead of heli-assisted first descents, he now prefers to go the old-fashioned way—on foot or splitboard. "The reality with going on foot is that it can take days to go do one run. It’s definitely a quality over quantity deal," he says. His film trilogy Deeper is aimed to show that you can do world-class freeriding without a helicopter. Further, part two due out September 2012, shows some of the best riders exploring the backcountry the slow way, which makes for a more a richer, more personal snowboarding film.
This falls right in line with Protect Our Winters (POW), a foundation Jones started in 2007 to unite the snow-sports industry and fans to fight climate change. With 30,000 members and some of our favorite athletes as ambassadors, Protect Our Winters is taking their message to the classroom and to Congress.
To kick off skiing and snowboarding season, we caught up with Jones to find out the latest on POW, what it's like to talk to Congress about climate change, and his favorite places to ride. —Mary Anne Potts
Jeremy Jones takes Terje on his first splitboarding mission ever up in the Arctic Circle
By Seth Lightcap | ESPN Action Sports
The second episode of Jeremy Jones' "Further Unplugged"
web series delivers an introduction to quite possibly the most epic
shred mission undertaken last winter. If backcountry snowboarding in a
polar-bear habitat, or the 190-kilometer, 30-hour approach over sea ice
didn't clinch that "epic" title, then the rarefied riding partner Jones
brought along on his adventure sure did.
In April, Jones connected with the legendary Viking shred Terje Haakonsen
for an expedition to Svalbard, an archipelago of mountainous islands in
the Arctic Circle off the coast of northern Norway. The pair of
pioneers spent three weeks camped out on a glacier snowboarding lines
they had climbed. The trip marked a lot of firsts. Namely, it was the
first time the two had ridden together, and it was the first time Terje
had ever been splitboarding. As you can imagine, some heavy first
descents went down.
While waiting for the snow to
fly in the Sierra Nevada, Jones spoke to ESPN about what made the trip a
dream come true, despite a shaky start.
ESPN: What drew you to Svalbard?
Jones: I had heard rumors of this island with really good steeps,
really close together with flat run-outs. Turned out it was all true and
then some. Svalbard has amazing terrain, 24-hour sunlight, you can
cross most valleys in 10 minutes, and the maritime snowpack sticks to
the mountains, making for a relatively safe [avalanche] cycle. There is
also a lot of glacier ice, which is key. If you don't have glaciers,
you're not going to find cold pow that close to the ocean.
Jeremy JonesSvalbard:
where the mountains meet the ocean in the Arctic Circle, the polar
bears outnumber humans, and people use sleds instead of cars to get
around.
Getting into the mountains proved to be the catch. What made the approach such an ordeal?
The zone we wanted to ride was a 190-kilometer snowmobile ride away from
the nearest town. We weren't sure how long it would take but we
estimated about 10 hours. It took us 30. At the 10-hour point it started
raining and a river formed in the glacier we were trying to climb up.
The snow scooters kept getting stuck in the slop, so we decided to set
up camp and get some sleep. When we woke up and started moving, we
immediately got stuck 100 yards out of camp. It took us another eight
hours to go up the glacier.
“
The first time I saw Terje was at the U.S. Open in 1990. I was a
groveling am and he nearly won the pro halfpipe contest. I was blown
away. If you had told me on the side of that pipe that in 20 years we
would be riding together for the first time, filming for my movie in the
Arctic Circle, I would have never believed you.
”
-- Jeremy Jones
What are snow scooters?
Snow scooters are like nothing I had ever seen. They are really beefed
up and geared down snowmobiles made for hauling. It's how everyone gets
around, gets to work, gets everywhere in Svalbard. We were able to put
two people and all our gear on each one. You're traveling on a frozen
ocean so we averaged about 30 miles an hour when the ice was smooth.
What did it take to convince Haakonsen to join you on the trip?
I talked to Terje right when "Further" became a reality. He was down
from day one. Over that next year I would get random calls from him from
the mountain shop: "Do I need crampons? What kind of ice axe should I
get?" He was new to it all but came in really gung ho.
How did he take to climbing lines with you?
Terje is an insane athlete and super fit. He had never been on a
splitboard or climbed with an ice axe or crampons, but he adjusted to
the climbing really well. He was running around the mountains in no
time.
Jeremy JonesJust a mellow little 190 km sled slog.
Had you ever ridden with him before?
No. The first time I saw Terje was at the U.S. Open in 1990. We were
similar ages, but I was a groveling am and he nearly won the pro
halfpipe contest. I was blown away by him. If you had told me on the
side of that pipe that in 20 years we would be riding together for the
first time, filming for my movie in the Arctic Circle, I would have
never believed you. Every run we took on this trip I was still that
little kid on the side of the pipe excited to watch him ride. He's hands
down one of the best snowboarders to ever strap in. I still can't
believe he was on the trip.
We give the Mountain pulpit to:To find out more please visit: protectourwinters.org Photo by Seth Lightcap Jeremy Jones Founder/CEO, Protect Our Winters (POW)
In
2001, I was waiting out a February storm in northern British Columbia,
and went for a hike up a closed ski area. It was nothing but grass, but I
didn't think much about it until I ran into a local skier and he
started telling me stories of his childhood on the mountain.
"Why
did it close?" I asked. "It stopped snowing," he said. The ski area
relied largely on manmade snow, he explained. As temperatures got
warmer, the rain/snow line moved up and they couldn't make snow anymore.
By 2001, maybe one storm a year dropped enough natural snow to ride the
mountain. The story wouldn't have hit me in the gut if the local had
been 80 years old, but he was only 30. If he saw this much change in his
youth, what would we see in the next 30 years? Would my home mountain
be next?
I decided to get involved. I called a friend at the
Surfrider Foundation to direct me to the right organization. He told me
the last thing I wanted to hear: "You need to start a foundation."
This
was not the answer I was looking for. I barely graduated high school. I
am not a lifelong environmental activist. I knew nothing about
nonprofits or how to solve climate change. For two years I did nothing.
Then I spent a year making phone calls and asking questions. It was
clear that it couldn't be the Jeremy Jones foundation. However, skiers
and snowboarders are on the front lines of climate change, and we should
be leaders in fixing the problem. Glaciers are disappearing. Winters
are getting shorter. The past decade was the warmest on record. Everyone
has to own a piece of this.
Protect Our Winters launched in 2007
to engage snowboarders and skiers against climate change. Since then,
we've gained support from thousands of committed individuals around the
world and some of the largest companies in the industry. We've raised
awareness, made grants to community-based organizations fighting climate
change locally, developed programs that fight dirty coal, and inspired
high school students to become the next generation of climate leaders.
Our board is made up of some of the smartest minds from winter sports,
nonprofits, and science, including Auden Schendler from Aspen Skiing
Company, Olympic snowboarder Gretchen Bleiler, and Matt McClain from the
Surfrider Foundation. It's truly a collaborative effort and we're
making an impact. If we can mobilize a significant percentage of skiers
and snowboarders, we can use our leverage to demand a transition from
fossil fuel and become leaders in a clean energy economy. Our
congressmen and senators need to hear from a community that has so much
to lose.
Yet in a time where we need solutions, we're still
fighting skeptics who argue manmade climate change is some sort of hoax.
But if we listened to skeptics instead of scientists, we'd still think
the Earth was flat. Climate change is happening. It's right before our
eyes, in places we visit each year and in the mountain communities we
love. Just ask that BC skier hiking on grassy runs with only fading
memories of his snowy youth.
From snowboarding to caving, rock climbing to ice climbing, these six films from the Banff Mountain Film Festival highlight unique, adrenaline-charged expeditions by extreme explorers.
Meet the Filmmakers and Athletes from Extreme Expeditions
Jeremy Jones, Athlete
There are a number of words to describe Jeremy Jones: environmentalist, big mountain free rider, film star, husband, father and now entrepreneur and board designer. As the preeminent big-mountain free rider of today, visions of Jones about to drop from the peak of a knife ridgeline are ingrained in the minds of every snowboard film fan. Legend status is locked down for the 34-year-old as the eight-time Snowboarder Magazine “Big Mountain Rider of the Year,” winner of numerous big mountain and extreme contests, over two dozen awe inspiring video parts in the library including five in 2008 alone.
For the Squaw Valley-local’s new film project, Deeper, he’s traveling the globe from interior Alaska to Antarctica in search of new lines reached on his own steam. Both major ventures, Jones Snowboards and Deeper, relate in their principles back to Protect Our Winters, the non-profit Jones founded in 2007 dedicated to reversing the global warming crisis by uniting the winter sports community and focusing our collective efforts towards a common goal.
The Film: Deeper Deeper tracks professional snowboarder Jeremy Jones and other top free riders as they travel to some of the best and most dangerous locations to snowboard.
The first of twelve "Further Unplugged" webisodes takes us to Japan
Last year Jeremy Jones took us "Deeper"
-- into the wilds of Alaska, the heart of the Alps and the steeps of
Antarctica -- but that was only the warm-up. Now the big mountain
snowboarding pioneer is poised to shred right off the map in "Further,"
the second installment of the backcountry snowboarding video trilogy
from Teton Gravity Research that will debut in the fall of 2012.
Jones
and the TGR crew had a stellar season filming last winter, bagging
productive trips to Japan, the Arctic Circle and the California High
Sierra. Good weather and even better company bolstered Jones' success,
with the likes of Terje, Josh Dirksen and Forrest Shearer riding along
with Jones on the expeditions.
Those who can't wait to feast their eyes on these rarefied backcountry
adventures are in luck, as the TGR "Unplugged" videos are back in
action. The teaser series will offer a behind-the-scenes glimpse at the
challenges Jones and the crew face as they venture into the unknowns of
the alpine.
LightcapDirksen, Shearer and Jones cherish the sun filming "Further" in Hakuba, Japan.
Press play on the first episode, "Exploring Japan," and you'll join
Jones, Dirksen and Shearer as they mob through hip deep Ja'Pow and
battle gale force winds splitboarding in the Kita Alps above Hakuba,
Japan. With the help of local backcountry guide, 'Yeti' Dave, the crew
gets a taste of the terrain before setting their sights on bigger,
badder lines. For a quick lowdown on the mission, we caught up with
Shearer for a couple questions:
ESPN: How would you describe the terrain in Hakuba?
Shearer: It was pretty similar to the Wasatch range in Utah in a
sense. There was great forested terrain just outside the resort
boundaries, but the high alpine lines we were after were more
challenging to get to. Picking lines was tough as the avy danger on the
open terrain was serious. Storms hit the high peaks hard so the snow
conditions were constantly changing.
Heavy winds seemed to change a few plans on the trip. How was it dealing with the wind?
It was crazy. Gusts would blow you straight over and the wind-packed
snow was difficult enough to climb up as it was. The winds were probably
60 plus mph one of the times we tried to push up the ridge. We turned
back pretty quick at that point. It was not a good day to be climbing
any higher.
Look out for a new "Further Unplugged" episode every month until the film drops Fall 2012.
Jeremy Jones has conquered the slopes as a snowboarding superstar, and now he’s set his sights on the environment. He created Protect Our Winters (POW), an organization bringing awareness to climate change issues that impact a wide variety of industries that rely on the cooler climates of mountainous communities—from snowboarding to wineries like Alamos Wines, which he also supports.
In his new movie Further, set to release next year, Jeremy and his team takes viewers along as he explores some of the world’s most beautiful and extreme terrain in the Arctic Circle, Japan, the High Sierra and the Pickett Range. Jeremy’s body and mind were forced to face some of nature’s most unimaginable tests during this journey.
Jeremy gave me the scoop on POW, his film and his fitness secrets.
Snowboarders and Winemakers Team Up to 'Protect Our Winters'
I am among the 21 million skiers and snowboarders in the US anxiously awaiting the start of the upcoming ski season. After almost two decades, I still get excited by the first snowfall and my first ride of the season, despite the sport being my livelihood. There is also a more serious side to my life as a pro snowboarder: the role of being a climate activist.
Protect Our Winters (POW) is a nonprofit organization I started in 2007 to unite and mobilize the global snow sports community against climate change. I wanted to get the conversation going about how it affects the winter sports community on so many levels, not only the environmental implications but the economic repercussions as well.
What many of us out there may not know is that the winter sports industry, which generates $66 billion a year in revenue, depends on consistently snowy winters to maintain over 600,000 jobs within our industry, at the resorts and throughout our mountain communities. Some would say we're doing this to protect our powder days, but those powder days are serious business for hundreds of thousands of people. And, while I may have cameras following me when I ride, Protect Our Winters has a direct mission. POW was founded on the idea that the collective power of the winter sports community is massive, and if we can all work together, the end result can be revolutionary.
My new-found role has recently taken me to Washington, DC where I met with members of the House and Senate for a second time. I am realizing that as a pro snowboarder, I have an amazing opportunity to be a role model for others in the winter sports community and use my position to inspire others to be climate activists too; this includes individuals, but also my corporate sponsors.
"Jeremy Jones is an alien. He's just inhumanly good at snowboarding." So lives the legend of this pioneering big-mountain rider. We heard this comment this week from an Alaska-based ski/snowboarding operator, but the sentiment is one that rings throughout the snowboarding world.
