JEREMY JONES

Jones team rider Jonaven Moore explored some wicked terrain in Western British Columbia the past season. Check out a few excerpts from his blog about it:

Tantalus

For me, getting into the Tantalus was one of those sorts of things where you realize that for a long time you were looking for something and its been right in front of you the whole time. I’ve been kind of realizing this for a while in snowboarding, and have to thank my mom and stepdad for moving us to Western Canada 20 years ago. BC is blessed with mountains that are on par with anything, anywhere else in the world. It’s started to become starkly clear when I would go on a trip to Switzerland, or Russia or some other incredible destination snowboarding, and I would be so, so, excited on coming home.

The last couple of years for me have been about trying to get after some objectives that were closer to home. Stuff that I’d looked at for a long time, and just never quite gotten to. Well, its pretty much impossible to drive the sea-to-sky highway on a clear day and not look up at the Tantalus in awe. It is cracked ice, and jagged spires rising nearly out of the ocean that rival Alaska in every way. Living under them in the Squamish Valley only added to my once-removed intimacy with these mountains – I watched the sun rise on them nearly every morning that I woke up at home.

The last time that I was up there we rushed into a bunch of stuff with a helicopter and got our asses handed to us. One of my nine lives used up, and definitely one of Ryan’s. We had done two runs (one on Serratus and one off Tantalus) and on our third run on Serratus the whole thing fractured wall to wall (probably class 2.5 or 3) and thankfully ripped full path by itself, leaving us clinging to the top of a now icy mountain with our stomachs trying to climb out of our throats.

This time was the polar opposite of that trip. We had a bigger crew, were dropped off up there well prepared, with camping gear, and the intent to climb all of our lines on foot. The best way to feel anything out is to take your time going up it. You have to be really confident in something before your willing to spend hours climbing on it.

Likely, the coolest part of the trip for me was bivying at the top of Tantauls’ north ridge. I wanted to ride a line that I looked up at from my place, but the trick was that it got light starting at about 7am and by about 10 or so am you didn’t want to be anywhere near it – it would be getting too much sun and the avalanche danger spiking. The rumbling glacier itself only added to this, because though there was a bench to stop on, below was holes and crevasses that you wanted nothing to do with. I decided that the best plan for the line that I wanted to ride would be to climb up it in the evening, dig a bivy at the top of the line and spend the night. I’ve always wanted to wake up in the morning from a small perch, look over the edge at the line, get my stuff together, throw my backpack with my sleeping gear for a good tumble, and then ride down light to go get it.

Mt. Joffre

The first time I saw the Joffre I was 13 driving over the Duffy Lake road with my mom headed to the Westbeach classic. I was on my way to a pipe contest, and the drive over the ‘duffy’ seemed to take forever. There was a lot of dirt stretches still and I was in high anticipation of the contest we were headed to. Needless to say though, driving over the duffy that clear afternoon, there was no way that I could miss seeing the massive ‘main’ couloir that splits Joffre down the center. It is simply the most impressive peak on the Duffy Lake Road, towering beyond the Duffy lake when you approach from the east, and inspired awe in me a as a kid to see that there was a rideable line through its towering cliffs right from the summit. I think that Pehota and Trevor probably skied the first descent of it sometime around when I first saw it, but I wouldn’t learn that till many years later.

Helicopters, snowmobiles, and the bright lights of being a ‘professional’ snowboarder stole my attention away from many things, the main couloir on Joffre being one of them. This was the second time I’ve gone up it now (the first was last year). Both times were with friends, and though we tried to shoot some sort of evidence of it, it doesn’t lend itself well to photos or video. It never gets sun, and is simply too steep for too long to ride in any sort of ‘charging’ manner. That said, there is almost nowhere in the world(that I’ve stood) more impressive that at the top of the Joffre main. You are at the height of all the adjacent mountains at the base of the couloir itself. It feels like you can see to Lilloet from the top of that thing!

Photo By Chris Ankney

Whether we’re in our backyard in the Sierra, on vacation in AK, or chasing penguins in Antarctica, Jones Snowboards is dedicated to the pursuit of freeriding the world’s most incredible peaks. So when we heard about Polish rider Marcin Jaskolka’s Himalayan expedition to Nanga Parbat we jumped at the chance to support him on his quest to ride down this magnificent 8000-meter mountain in Pakistan.

Here is Marcin’s first post, detailing his goals for the expedition:

Nanga Parbat (8125 meters)

Ride down Nanga Parbat? Why not!

Interestingly, the plan was born after my shoulder surgery. I used my free time after the surgery well by looking at hundreds of photographs of Nanga Parbat and planning the snowboarding route. I also knew that the mountain is not technically easy and in combination with the strong wind, which often occurs at the top, the snowboard attached to my backpack will be a great load during the expedition. I think that the number of miles I’ve ran has at least doubled. Running has been, beside riding and climbing, the base of my preparation. Condition, condition, and again, condition! I know that if I want to take the board with me I have to be two times stronger than the average climber without a board.

Nanga Parbat (8125 meters) –The Diamir Wall

A few details about the project: Nanga Parbat forms the western anchor of the Himalayan Range and is the westernmost eight-thousand meter peak. It’s name translates to “Naked Mountain” in English. I plan to climb the peak via the 1962 Kinshofer (German) route which ascends a buttress on the left side of the Diamir Face. This face is one of the largest in the world – towering over four thousand meters above base camp! After I summit, I’m going to try to ride from the peak on a snowboard.

I will choose the exact snowboard route while climbing, taking a few things into consideration like the risk of avalanches and places lacking in snow because of wind-blown. For the expedition I’ve chosen The Flagship 161 cm, which should be ideal for the rough Himalayan conditions. The project starts in the end of June and will last approximately 2 months. Keep your fingers crossed for a successful mission!

- Marcin Jaskolka

Click here to view the embedded video.

Every time I got on the Twin this year there was no stopping me, the mountain felt like my own personal skate park. This board feels insane. Backcountry kickers, cliffs with powder landing, resort runs, and heavy
lines with high speed run outs. The Twin handled it all. The board feels extremely solid under foot
and tons of pop in the flex for maximizing the shred.
Twin tip progressive freestyle shape, CAMROCK flex, Mellow Magne- Traction edges.
It’s my go to board for riding everything. Here’s a teaser of the  Jones Mountain Twin in action.
This day was a sweet kicker session with friends. Hiking it for the love of snowboarding.
It doesn’t get much better than that.
I can’t wait for winter again.

2010 has already been a big year for Jones Snowboards. Our boards haven’t even hit the shops yet the buzz about our freeride specific designs has begun to grow deafening. No surprise all of you are excited though. We’re chomping and anxious to share what we have created, especially considering the amazing success our team found while testing the boards this season…

That would be Jones team rider Ralph Backstrom walking away with second place overall in the 2010 North Face Masters of Snowboarding series. Backstrom piloted the 161 Flagship to impressive results at all three contests including a 3rd at the first stop in Snowbird and a 2nd at the series finale in Kirkwood.

Mid-April, Backstrom stepped it up again at the King Of The Hill comp in Valdez, AK. He narrowly missed the podium taking home fourth amongst a stacked field. You can get a taste of the AK contest terrain he was riding in this POV edit :

Click here to view the embedded video.

Backstrom wasn’t the only Jones rider on the podium…

That would be Ryland Bell and his 164 Flagship taking home third place at the Squaw Valley stop of the Freeride World Tour in February. Bell also fared well in the North Face Masters series snagging fifth overall including second place at Snowbird and fifth place at Kirkwood. Check out his 2010 FWT line down Bungee Bowl at Squaw Valley:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Hopefully you’ve caught some of the “Deeper” reports that have been popping up in cyberspace this season – like this one on TWSNOW.com and this at ESPN Snowboarding. We really appreciate the response and support we’ve received about the Deeper project. Not to mention that the hard work feels all the more satisfying when you’re rewarded with stuff like this:

Those would be two pages from the new Frequency Mag. If you haven’t picked up a copy yet don’t sleep!

Frequency: The Snowboard Journal is always chock full of rad stories and photos and this issue is no exception. I am thrilled to have contributed three shots of Jones’ team riders in action, including this bottom image of Jones climbing the “Psycho Pinner” in the High Sierra. Ryland was featured with a cool article and image introducing him as well.

This spring in Utah I was committed to checking out an area rumored to have some fun pillows. On a down day, I had Neil Provo meet me for a mellow mission to head up and explore. The pillows ended up being too low in elevation so we kept going not knowing what we would end up finding. We got to where the trail ended and had to turn back due to a late start. I did take a photo of this line that ran all the way from the top through a extremely spicy diagonal ramp that ended in an apron. I couldn’t get it out of my mind and I immediately put it to the top of my hit list (conditions permitting). Jump forward to a 5:30 am start – it was a solo mission, I was determined to complete the objective. With 2 ice axes and crampons I made my way up, tackling a scree field with loose rock near the top. Go time. Completely focused my mind turned off. It was me and the mountain. Coming into the diagonal ramp there was no room for error. Ice axe in hand I made it through the crux. Riding out the bottom, the stars aligned, I was thrilled that the line came together. When you’re splitboarding the connection to the mountains is like no other.

Signature line

Photo by Zach Clanton

Halfway through The Firing Squad

Photo by Zach Clanton

For the past year my memory has been haunted. Not by something terrible or ugly, but by the most beautiful spine line I have ever laid eyes on. Its name… Corrugated!!

Over the winter I would often find myself drooling over pictures. Even on good powder days imaginings of shredding that face would creep into my psyche.
So a year later standing on top looking through the five foot deep slot, cut out in between cornices with Xavier de la rues shovel, it was all too surreal. I remember asking myself, “Am I really here? Is this really about to go down?” Perhaps its because I have never had so much time to ponder a line.
I thought back to my first plane ride into the Fairweather mountain range last April. Jonaven Moore and myself swinging by a new spot to have a good look on the way to camp. He pointed and I laughed, I then became ashen as I realized he was serious. Were these guys really looking at that face as a possibility?
Dropping in it all became very real. Pushing off the edges of the cut out cornice; into a ten foot vert ramp; into 60 degree spines.
Each turn memorized from a year of contemplation. Cut over; get on top, heelside…. Toeside… watch the sluff, oh shit!
Whew made it… stay on toeside…
heelside…
another whiteroom.
A third of the way.
I remember bashing into walls of snow coming in and out of the whiteroom, thinking, “Holy Shit!! Its neck deep!!!”
Literally choking on snow; breathing hard; fighting with everything I got to stay on top.
It stretched on for hours, and was done in moments.
We had done it!
Finally!!!
Corrugated was no longer a dream, it had become reality.

The Approach

CORRUGATED

How the f#*k did I get here, I asked myself. There I stood on top of another Alaskan backcountry bowling ball. It rolled right off and the next thing in sight was a few massive glacial crevasses on the valley floor 3000 feet below.
I took another step craning my neck in hopes of gaining anything more in terms of a view of my line. The bottom half came into view, holy shit it looked good. Deep and steep each snowflake catching the sun at a different angle sending up a shimmering array of color… enticing!!!
Another step gave me as good of view as I was willing to get. I could see the tiny chute I stood above; my only hope of a drop-in, ending in deadly exposure. There was this spine, though. It bordered the chute on the riders right and I could tell as long as I got over it I would be safe from being sluffed to certain death.
A few deep breaths, my mind racing, questioning whether or not it was the right move. I could still go back to the mellower couloir we had climbed. No!! I was ready; conditions were perfect, it was time.
“Ten seconds,” I said over the radio.
“Copy ten,” came the reply.
Drop…
For that one moment as my board teetered on the edge I thought again about turning back, it was too late, I was on slope and in my line, time to react.
I crossed the spine: safe. I began to descend, my face only inches from the slope, my back arm over my head dragging in waist deep blower. This was gnar. An image from my camera was burned into my head… don’t cut too hard right… stay out of the pepper!!!
Made it through the first crux, time to cut over hard and get on top of the main spine ridge. It was a battle, each spine taller and deeper than the last, I was breathing hard. I clutched at each spine trying to maintain control and keep from being pulled over backward by gravity. These things were getting steep!!!
“This is so sick!!!” I shouted at my helmet camera, “This is all I ever want to do!!!”

The feeling of riding spines that steep in snow that deep is indescribable. I have never felt anything like it, and for hours and maybe even days I was left with a strange sensation that permeated my entire mind and body. What a rush!

“That line was a battle for my life!!” I panted into the radio.
I made it, I was clear and in a safe spot, out of breath and pumping adrenaline hard. Later I would name the run “BarenJager”. I knew then and know now that it was the craziest line I have ever ridden.

“Looking at Ryland on top of the Baren Jager was the first time I have ever really been concerned for him.  He had been talking about this line for weeks but I never took him serious until the momemnt he was standing on top of the line.  It was the first time  have ever really been worried about him.  The size of the line was what had me freaked out.  All it would take  for him to get worked is for him to get  rejected by a spine, get sucked into a runnel and have the sluff grab his board and he would be at the bottom instantly.  I am not sure if I have ever seen someone ride a spine wall that big and that sustained.  He definitely earned his spine badge on this one.  Here is 2/3rds of the way to safety but far from done done wit this beast ” Jeremy Jones

So I know all of you want to feast your eyes on shots of the “Real” Jeremy Jones boardsliding a 60 degree razor spine or Ryland Bell slashing down a 2000 ft fin over fatal exposure, but well…that ain’t happenin’ right now. Gonna have to wait till Deeper drops next fall! Until the dinner bell, I thought I’d serve an appetizer plate of equally savory, but not so spicy images that describe some of the juicy details of our epic AK adventure.

The Fairweather Range of Alaska is home to the sickest spine walls on earth. Man-eating fins like these don’t form up just anywhere because it takes a rare combination of maritime snow in ridiculous quantities to make it happen. There is no doubt Jeremy would hang out in a tent for 19 storm days for just one day of riding such wicked snow features. Thankfully, we spent 9 days tent bound for 11 days of riding these virgin spines.

Towards the end of our trip we were visited by several flocks of noisy snow geese.  The geese didn’t seem to mind flying in white-out conditions but we did hear them turn around abruptly after flying into unseen mountain faces. They were the only wildlife we saw the entire time we were out there aside from a mysterious house fly outbreak that coincidently appeared just after Lucas Debari arrived at camp. We let Debari off the hook after finding flies in places he hadn’t been but strange nonetheless.

You’ll never look through Jeremy’s goggles but if your lucky he just might share a glimpse of what he’s seen on his Sony HD helmet cam. Same goes for his journal that sits to the right. You’ll never read it, but on occasion he’ll open it and share his inner vision.

Of the 13 splitboards we brought with us on the trip, 2 were broken. Neither of the deceased were Jones’ Solutions. Lucas Debari sent this one to heaven slamming into an unexpected chunk of glacial ice on a high speed runout. RIP.

Needless to say, after three weeks without a shower and hiking 14 hours a day, we all got pretty stinky. The freezing temps kept the stench at bay however as sweat never had the chance to waft out that far. This picture symbolically depicts the funkiest funk we encountered on the trip by most votes, Bell’s boots and Burt’s ass.

You might think we were roughing it out there on the cold glacier, miles from nowhere. But really, no. We had a toliet with a bitchin’ seat and we ate damn good food including this tasty scallop veggie curry served up by Burt and Tero Repo.

While we didn’t have to battle gaping bergschrunds at the bottom of our lines, us media folk fought for fresh batteries and clean memory cards. Laugh away, but it was no easy fight. At any given time there were 8 cameras rolling not including the ipods and point-and-shoots that the athletes carried. Batteries got drained daily and cold laptops didn’t last long trying to dump memory cards. Five solar panels similar to the one shown here kept us alive and shooting.

Ryland got us all hooked on the candy sweet taste of Baren Jager, a honey liquor that was lip smackin’ good and too easy to swallow. Mr. Bell took his passion for the nectar one step further however, naming the sickest line he did all trip after it.

If you ever get the chance to fly with Drake outta Haines you just might see this ornament of a jolly cat on a sleigh sitting alongside his pilot-side window. It perfectly describes Drake’s flying style  – nimble, smooth and seemingly effortless. Touching down and taking off on crevasse strewn glaciers is no problem for the former professional race car driver nor are pitched banked turns 50 feet from jagged alpine faces.

We saw sunrise and sunset on the move many days. A 2:30 am wake-up and an 8 pm arrival back at camp was not uncommon. Long days on the glacier were always rewarded however, usually just as soon as the sun cracked the horizon.

Conditions were perfect, roll in set up camp, 1 and a half feet overnight. Bluebird and cold. We poked around on a nice mellow face we named preschool the day before and it was time to step into the 1st grade lines of “The Spinal Institute”. 2 and a half hours of waist deep spine tunneling, and it was time for our first real AK lines of the year. I can’t describe the feeling of riding AK in a zone so close to where I have and will spend my entire life.

Killer snow and killer weather = epic. I passed 1st grade with flying colors, now it was time to scope middle school. A great meal and a good nights sleep, and we were ready to go for it the next day.
Bluebird again… Yes!!!

Dirksen boarding with poles, heading out to Middle School

Middle school: I stood at the top, last one to drop, so nervous. I remember talking to the helmet cam telling it this was going to be the run of my life and I already knew it. 3 feet blower on 55 degree spines. Standing there alone, shaking waiting for my turn, I puked.
It was…. The line of my life… (up to that point).
We hit the glacier running, we had a west face that was too good to pass up, and with 5 hours to go and 7 miles to skin and snowshoe we had the rest of the afternoons work cut out for us. Exhausted and low on water we made it to the West face Jeremy would later name “Freefall Wall”

Freefall Wall

Twice in the same day I stood talking to my helmet cam, knowing this was going to be the run of my life, “Freefall Wall”… 70 degree hold on for dear life spines.
“Ten Seconds”
Shit Edmands Battery went dead.
Waiting for 30 seconds when you’re that nervous is like a 7 hour layover in Calcutta.
Stoked!!!
Made it!!!
We left camp at 6am and I rolled back in at 9pm, with no more than a 5 minute break in between, exhausted, but ready to do it all over again.
I think it’s not often you ride two lines in a day that as you stand on top of each, you know it will be the run of your life.

I got the call at 8 am. Groggily I listened to filmer, Chris Edmands, “ It’s a go, Jeremy is in the air scoping a camp.”

I rolled over on my friend Lucks’ couch and groaned, “I’ll be down there in 20.” My hangover was pushing in, and I hadn’t slept much.
We had all been in Haines for 3 days waiting for the right weather window to fly into Glacier Bay for a month of winter camping. It was here, I was stoked!!! I threw my last few things in a bag and headed to the hanger to meet the crew.

The weather was off and on with big puffy clouds rolling through. As the day wore on, it was down to photographer Seth Lightcap and myself sitting alone on the runway. The planes had been grounded for over an hour and it was getting late. I started to wonder if the weather would break long enough for us to make it out. It did, but barely, we flew out through squalls and low clouds, missing much of the usually spectacular views.

Steeps

Glacier Bay

We made it!!! We were 65 miles from Haines and about 30 miles from Elfin Cove, where I grew up commercial fishing. If something went down out here we were about a day away from any sort of serious help. This was it, we were Deeper.
Mt. Bertha, and Mt. Crillon, two of the massive peaks that make up the Fairweather range, loomed overhead. The only separation, the most disgusting spine faces on earth. An hour later as the sun left the high saddle where we camped, I took some time to soak it all in, we were in paradise. Later we would name it “The Spinal Institute.”

A glimpse at Mt. Fairweather

Soaking it in

Glacier Bay National Park,  Day 9

3,000ft above the glacier floor and a 6 hour hike form base camp.  Ryland and I are tucked under a rock cliff, dug into the snow and hidden from a cold north wind that rages an arms reach away.  200 ft to our east is the starting point to the “Wall of Walls,” quite possibly the most amazing face I have ever considered riding.

If you told me 5 days ago I would be in this position I would have thought you were crazy.  In my head I figured the “Wall of Walls” would have taken weeks not days to unlock but the weather gods have blessed us with 5 straight days of sun and we have been able to climb the terrain progression ladder faster then I thought.  The price has been 14 hour day after 14 hour day and both my mind and our bodies are running on reserve.

Six hours ago it was looking like this was a dream that would not make it to reality.  Our original plan to get over the bergschrund failed, as did the second, and our third and final option looked hopeless until I found a snowbridge that could support our weight over the dark cracks below.  Once on the face my brain and body took over and before long we were 2,000 ft off the deck, the sun was long gone and we were hanging onto twilight trying to top out before total darkness. Our homes were on our backs, the ocean was not far below, huge peaks dotted the horizon and we had know idea where we would sleep or if we could make it up the last steep pitch of the climb.

Looking back the last two seasons I now realize how much I have learned.  Without the endless days of splitboarding  in my home range, the Sierra, and without last season’s AK trip or the rope work in Chamonix and the bergschrund lessons of Antarctica, I would not be here.  I am  big mountain riding on a level I never imagined. My whole body is aching, my boots are frozen, my feet or soaked and I could not be happier.

The Wall of Walls.  “Can we climb it?  What is the safest way….?”  Free Jones Snowboard hat for the first right answer.

The boot pack.

The top

The Bivy.

The reward.

What a treat.  Time to relax on a sunny day and dry our boots, have a huge breakfast that was brought to us by TB and take a nap.  We had five hours to kill before we needed to start hiking to our evening lines and we we were to far to go back to camp.

GLACIER NATIONAL PARK, Alaska.  Day 4. Today we took a big step up the terrain progression ladder considering it is only our second day on snow.  We are surrounded by big terrain.  Finding step-in runs is an issue even though the snow pits show a stable snowpack and there has not been a single red flag.  It is still hard to put ourselves on big faces.  We avoid them at all costs and wallow in the safety of the spines even though it means waist deep tunnelling is in order.   We stepped into one of the mellowest bowl’s in our zone and stretched our legs on some wide open spines. Each time out we learn more and more of the terrain.  Next up is the “Wall of Walls.”  We will start with the mellowest lines on the corner of the wall and how far up the terrain ladder we move up will depend on how long the high pressure holds.  Today I was able to see the top ridges and think I found an access coulior to the top of the main ridge.  Depending on what we can access there is no limit to how far we can take our riding.

Half way up our first line of the trip and looking back at Ryland Bell.  This shows why we hike spines.  Two totally different aspects right next to each other.  The sunny side was heating up making the it dangerous so I stayed on the shady side.  Some days it is the other way around.

This is the view of the same face from below.  Ryland Bell getting his AK legs back.

It was awesome having Lucas around.  He is so full of energy and ready to jump anything.  I can see the influence of all the Baker legends before him.  He is doing the Mt Baker Hardcore’s proud with big natural drops and high speed lines.

Josh Dirksen has one of the best turns in snowboarding.  Alaska is a great place for him to show it off.

Our camp is at the top of the glacier to the center left.  We did not want to go home the way we came because it was steeper and more exposed then we thought.  Eventually we found a way up on the face to the right.

The last rays of sun 11 hours into our day and three hours from home.

I climbed mountains to know myself better and to find my own dimension, driven by the beauty of alpine nature, by its charm, and by the thirst for knowledge.” Walter Bonatti Italian climbing legend.

GLACIER BAY NATIONAL PARK, Alaska.  For sixteen years I have made an annual pilgrimage to Alaska every spring for 4 to 7 weeks.  On average I spend more days in Alaska then my home mountain range and it has become a second home to me.  Alaska has always been the place I judge my snowboarding. Everything else leading up to it is just a warm up.  No matter how epic my winter has been once I hit Alaska it all seems irrelevant.

The quest has always been to ride the best mountains I could find and to always ride new terrain.  It started in Valdez 16 years ago and as new lines dried up there the search led me Girdwood, Skagway, Haines, Tulsequa and the Tordrillo Mountains.  A long the way I learned what ranges are holding the goods a lot about what combination of conditions is needed to create the real trophies lines.  This knowledge is what has directed me into the Fairweather Range 65 miles outside of Haines.  It is hands down the most impressive range I have come across and has captured my imagination and has motivated me more then any other range in the world.

On April 4th trusted bush pilot Drake and I lifted off from Haines in search for a place I could call home for a month.  Setting out to find a base camp is one of the more daunting tasks I have ever done.  You can scour maps all you want but once you are up in the air none of that matters.  Time is limited because we are so far from town that there is not a lot of extra fuel to explore before the plane needs to go back for fuel.  In the plane was all my gear and ten days of food and fuel incase the weather came in and the rest of the group would not be able to meet me. Tom Burt, Ryland Bell, Josh Dirksen, Lucas Debari, Camera men Chris Edmands, Garry Pendygrass, And Seth Lightcap stayed back until I had made the call.

We are approaching the general area that I saw from across the way last year and had been looking closely on the maps.

The terrain was amazing but a ton of the outruns were littered with crevasses and cornice covered ridges making a lot of the faces unridable.

This is our airport and our home. I hardly looked at the zone before declaring it good to go but I had seen what I needed to on the first pass;  dark white North faces with clean out runs at the right elevation (above 3000 ft) and surrounded by tons of glaciers.   So with low fuel and in and out clouds I told Drake to set it down if he could. With in ten minutes of first seeing the zone I was now on the ground, by myself, and 65 miles away from the closest person.  Even though there was a lot of work to do like pack a runway or build tent platforms I could not stop drooling over our new home.

The Fairweather Range towers over the coast and creates its own weather making forecasting very hard.  The day I landed the weather was in and out but the weather Gods were on our side. The landing strip would open up just  the rest of the crew approached the runway. The snow was so deep that even on our split boards it was thigh deep.

Mapping out an area takes a ton of work.  Everything is new.  Everything needs to be analysed, dissected and discussed.  We start with the smallest and safest lines and work up from there.  Our first mission was to  “Town Hill” the closest and safest line in our world.  We are getting ready to put Tom Burt on belay to go dig a pit on the North Face.

Stay tuned for more updates.

Click here to view the embedded video.

I went up to Thompson Pass for the King of the Hill and Tailgate Alaska (I ended up getting 4th place behind Travis Rice, Rob Kingwell, and Scotty Lago) and got to check out some REAL mountains.  I had both my 164 Flagship as well as my 161 Solution.  I’ll be honest; it felt a little weird using the Solution with so many gas guzzling machines scurrying past me and flying over me.

So I stayed off the sled highway whenever I could, cranked my tunes, and enjoyed the sh** out of the plentiful scenic views.

Aside from the excellent exercise and enjoyable views, I also benefitted from all the time I spent looking at the competition venue for the King of the Hill as I skinned past it, getting a really good feeling for the size of,  and distance between features.  Here I am with the venue behind me.  My two lines are right above my left shoulder.

I took advantage of the easy sled access and got a few more laps in, shooting some photos with Jeff Hawe (check out his gallery on ESPN).  It’s really amazing how high the sledders can get; I overheard a pilot say that he landed on a really high peak and there was a guy in jeans drinking a beer on his snowmobile on the same peak!  This was a fun face, albeit a bit short.  I aired off one of the rocks right below the peak.

It’s so inspiring and motivating to get into the big mountains up there!  Sick lines and terrain features everywhere!  Needless to say, both boards felt at home up here.

By Jeremy Jones.

Haines, Alaska. The Dream has changed.  Since I can remember the dream was always about getting paid enough snowboarding so I could spend the spring in Alaska flying in helicopters and making snowboard movies. After starring in over 45 movies the dream was starting to wear off. The challenge was gone and I was getting bored.  No longer was I having the “best day of my life” every time I went out and although I was riding some of the best lines of my life it did not feel like it at the end of the day. (Cry me a river…I know.)

Now the dream is about taking a plane deep into unridden mountains, setting up a base camp and hiking and riding first descents on foot. It is a much more intimate experience with the mountains because I am not retreating back to our hotel rooms when nightfall comes or a storm blows in. I see every layer in the snowpack form as it falls.  We watch our projected lines day and night for weeks on end and get to learn their moods and hopefully solve their problems.  The big lines are a complex chess game with mother nature that keeps us adapting each step of the way and require total focus.

The complexity of the lines leave me turning back on more lines then I actually get to ride.  From a “getting the shot” perspective we come home more days empty handed than holding the goods.  Thankfully I love the process, and the people I am surrounded by do as well.  At this point in snowboarding less is more.  The reward of riding a new “dream line” that I have worked so hard for is the ultimate reward for me in snowboarding.  After 25 years of riding this is where I am; getting my greatest highs in snowboarding. That is the whole point of it.  He who comes home at the end of the day happiest wins.

Jonaven Moore moments before the payoff.

“Heat up some hot water for my tea” was the last thing Tom Burt said before dropping into this line.

Being out at night and watching the sunset and the moon ride is one of the best parts of camping.

Climbing up the lines is an amazing experience but it is still all about the down.

Evolution of My Snowboarding Dreams

1982 Getting a snowboard for Xmass.

1985 My Backhill had metal edges and a P-tex base

1986 Snowboarding was allowed on my home mountain.

1989 Getting sponsored.

1991 Going out west.

1992 Being a pro snowboarder.

1993 Moving out west.

1994 Going to Valdez,Alaska.

1996 Being in Standard Films movies

2000 New terrain in Haines Alaska.

2009 Riding first descents in Alaska, accessed on foot.

2010 See below…

Jonaven Moore has long been one of my favorite people to snowboard with.  His mother had him doing backcountry trips from an early age and it has given him a feel for the mountains like I have never seen.  When I started Jones Snowboards Jonaven Moore was the first person I asked to be involved.  Jonaven embodies the spirit of Jones Snowboards on and off the hill.  Craig Kelley said it best, “Jonaven charges big terrain with such fresh style and exuberance that you can’t help but get excited to ride with him. It’s time for a changing of the guard in big-mountain freeriding, and it makes me feel proud to see the torch passed on to someone like Jonaven.” – Craig Kelly

Craig would be proud if he saw what Jonaven has done with the torch.  He was a staple for many years in the Absinthe FIlms movies charging critical lines in big mountains.  Two years ago he went off the pro snowboarded map. .  Jonaven follows his hart more then anyone I know and his hart was no longer into having his whole snowboard world revolve around Snowmobiles and Helicotpers.  He could not get film companies or photographers to follow his path and he fell out of the spotlight and lost some key sponsors.  However when I tracked him down at the start of the Deeper project he was totally rejuvenated on the sport thanks to his split board and riding a ton.     The irony off this is that our friendship was born on the heli pads of Alaska but both of us at similar times, with out talking to each other, had turned our backs on Heli’s and sleds and started tackling mountains on foot.

To top it off it was these very mountains, filming for the Rome movie were he decided to change his approach to snowboarding.  He had rushed up to the mountains chasing a blue whole and on his third run his riding partner kicked off a class three avalanche that they both barely got out off.  He felt he was rushing things int the mountains and was taking big risks for other people.  Since that time he has longed to get back to these mountains and ride them his way.  Three years later the star aligned and we are back  with our camping gear and splitboards.

Going into this trip I figured I would get a good tune up for Alaska.  With in an hour of leaving our base camp I realized we were in terrain every bit as intense as Alaska.  Blind rolls, knife edge ridges with huge cliffs on one side, big bergschrunds to cross, intricate crevasse riddled glaciers to navigate,  extra steep spines walls to climb up, and complex sluffs to manage on the way down.  With perfect weather and a stable snow pack we were able to get after it right away.  (We were in the Coast Range not in the Canadian Rockies where the high avalanche danger was)

Our home.

The Wizards Toque.  Thanks to a 3:30 AM start I was able to stand on the peak of this line at sunrise.

Jonaven and Garry go over logistics for the next mornings session.  Afternoon heating kept us out of the mountains from the peak warming hours, 1PM to 5PM.  Jonaven ended up hiking up the far wall in the evening and digging a bivouac on top of the line so he could ride it at sunrise.  So well we were travelling the glaciers at dark trying to beat the sunrise, Jonaven was sleeping soundly on top of his line.

The beauty of being out all day is you get to see the terrain light up and react to the warming temperatures.  It is the best wide screen, hi-def TV you will ever watch.  This wall only got about 30 minutes of light and the glacier had to many open holes in the outrun making the consequences to high for us.

I forgot how hard and scary it is to cross Bergschrunds.  This thing looked really mellow from far but it was 15 ft deep.  This is why we always get roped across them.

Why do we cross Bergschrunds? To get to then goods.  When I started to climb this line  I assumed I could not get up through the spines or the gut because it cliffed out.  After an hour and a half of clawing my way up it I was standing on top.  This is the climb of the year for me.

Thanks to the Canadian crew for showing me their amazing world. Mikey, TIm, Jonaven, Garry, Melisa, and Dan.

Check out this web series, The Season, to get a behind the scene’s look of Jonaven’s snowboarding this winter