Hope everyone is getting after it and enjoying winter to the fullest. My season has been a busy one. I’ve been getting in some great days riding the new Flagship and all I can say is wow! It’s the sickest freeride board known to man.

Here are a couple sneak peaks of the Flagship in action:

The Flagship really came in handy on this line in the Wasatch. I was dealing with some technical turns down the face and a lot of exposure. Photo by Ian Provo.

I took this pic at the bottom of a mach speed run in Utah. The Flagship charges at high speed and the directional rocker in the nose kept my tip floating. Insane board!

A few trips into wind-whipped High Sierra cirques reminded us how thrilled we are to offer the first ever Magne-traction splitboard. Whether you’ve had good experiences, bad experiences, or no experience with Magne-traction, please let us re-introduce this innovative edge design as a concept that cannot be denied. Multiple sidecuts equals better edge grip. Period. Magne-traction is especially beneficially with rockered boards as you lose effective edge with an early-rise tip or tail. It’s also great if you damage an edge as the multiple sidecuts allow the edge some grip even when rounded.

But like many of the best things in life, we feel Magne-traction is best applied in moderation, hence ‘Mellow Mag’. Unlike most Magne-traction boards, Jones snowboards will feature a few large radius edge bumps instead of several short radius bumps. The ‘Mellow’ bumps noticeable improve the edge hold over a straight sidecut but don’t hook-up nearly as aggressively as traditional Magne-traction. The Solution will take our ‘Mellow Mag’ design one step further as the inner and outer edges will have unique bump patterns. The inner edge bumps will be mellower than the outer edge but defined enough to give you added gripping power on icy traverses and switchbacks. Up until this point we’ve all been skinning and sidehilling on a perfectly straight edge without the benefit of any sidecut so the inner Mellow Mag will undoubtedly provide a significant new climbing advantage.

After much debate we decided the initial two sizes for the Solution will be a 164 cm and a 168 cm wide. These two lengths seemed ideal to begin with as we wanted to offer a nimble but surfy board for the majority of backcountry rippers out there. Plans are in the works to offer several more sizes once we get production dialed so don’t worry if you didn’t see the size you were looking for. Be patient and we’ll get you the perfect sized Solution as soon as we can.

So beyond the sweet ride and the design details, the Solution has us smiling ear to ear because it also represents our first step into a world that feels ripe for revolution. More snowboarders than ever before are exploring terrain outside the resort boundaries while the selection and performance of available backcountry snowboarding gear has remained relatively stagnant for arguably a decade. Backcountry snowboarders deserve a dedicated commitment from the industry towards progressive design improvements. Jones Snowboards is poised to lead this movement one innovation at a time. The Solution is but our opening move.

The High Sierra continue to overwhelm me.  Pick any drainage and be prepared to have your hit list grow ten fold.  This valley is one of the better natural half pipes I have ever seen.

This line has been on our hit list for over a year.  With 10 inches of fresh and now wind we decided the time was right to tick it off.  It is a 34oo ft sustained chute (Snowbird is 3000ft), and I wanted to split up as far as I could.

Forrest Shearer at the half way point.

Seth Lightcap an hour later.  This thing just kept going.

We were dealing with 10 inches of fresh snow on bed surface.  We came around the corner for the summit push and it got to be knee to waist deep.  This not only slowed us down quite a bit but for the first time of the hike I became concerned with a pocket pulling out.  A quick pit and snow test confirmed the pack was deep but bonded very well.  Non the less we put it into over drive and got off the face quickly.

It was so fun blitzing this thing.  It took five hours to climb up, two minutes to ride down.  Our legs were feeling it but Forrest still had enough left to get his slash on.

The best things in life are free…once you have the gear. Fired up to get my first ever factory made split board the Solution in some big terrain.

The wind came up on our second night.  It made for a rough night of camping and blew the snow to the Nevada Desert.

Sierra eye candy.

Check out www.deeperfurtherhigher.com for more info on Deeper.

Onboard's Crossfire Linked here

Remember a couple weeks back we put the shout out to you guys to fire in your questions for big mountain legend Jeremy Jones?

So we hooked up with Jeremy at ISPO fresh off the plane to promote his new board brand Jones Snowboards, and put what you wanted to know to him. Some we cut but most are left in. That dude’s got some great answers for sure.

Now hear what the man’s responses were…
Part 1

Up first, Jones hits you back about his boards, tight pants, Deeper, the other Jeremy Jones, and whether you can get free stuff amongst other gems.

Part 2

In this second installment, Jeremy tackles your questions about his potentially meeting his maker, Protect Our Winters, how to evaluate risk and much more.

The line that did this to me is called McConkeys. It was formerly called the Eagles Nest until the recent passing of Shane McConkey inspired Squaw to change the name. The line it self has alluded me for over 15 years because it requires the perfect combination of conditions.

Hiking up to the line there seemed to be added weight to the air.  Seeing the Eagle gave me calming effect.  Dropping in the first turn was much harder then I expected but things improved quickly, I got through the crux,  got off the bottom air clean and landed in a bed of bottomless feathers.

I have passed by this line hundreds of times the last 15 years but it is so rarely in form that I never really give it much thought even though it is one of the more critical and probably steepest lines on the mountain.

This morning I arrived to the KT lift line at 6:30.  With 24 inched new and storm totals around 5 ft it was sure to be the best day of the year and worthy of a long wait.

Friends and family gathered on the peak this fall to unveil the Eagle and make the name change official with a scattering of Shanes ashes. Since that time not a day has gone by that I have not been in the valley and payed my respects to the Eagle. It has become a place of healing for many of us.

Note: Shane was a big inspiration behind the shape of the Flagship.  I  talked with him more then anyone about rocker and profile and how his shapes could be adapted to a snowboard.   It is fitting that the first serious line I rode on the Flagship was named after him.

With great excitement we made our public debut last week at the 2010 SIA Snow Show in Denver, CO!

Response was through the roof as a steady stream of buyers, media, and industry folk came by the booth to check out the 10/11 lineup. Jeremy was all smiles walking people through the finer points of the four new board models.From Left to Right: The Flagship, The Mountain Twin, The Hovercraft, The Flagship, and The Solution Splitboard.

Seeing all four finished boards in one lineup was a huge moment for us as we have been cranking non-stop for five months to pull it off. Unfortunately, the bliss was short lived as some chump stole the Solution splitboard prototype on day two of the show. Little did the thief know that the Solution he stole was virtually un-rideable as it had been hastily t-bolted just to get it on display and the bindings were two different sizes. If you ever see a T-bolted Solution in the backcountry please let us know. Wouldn’t want to ride that board in even a moderate risk snowpack with his karma…

Aside from showing off the new shred sticks, the other highlight of SIA was watching Tom Burt accept the 2010 Legend Award at the Transworld Riders Poll Awards. The Legend Award hadn’t been given out in four years and Jeremy got to introduce Tom. The crowd erupted in a standing ovation when Burt took the stage. It was awesome to see so much genuine respect for a freerider from a crowd that was undeniably 95% freestylers.

But as good as it felt to finally get the boards on display, there was no time to rest with bluebird skies forecasted for the Sierra. Six hours after we got off the plane from Denver we laced up our boots at sunrise…Jones Snowboards product testing will never end.

While the basic designs of the 2010/2011 Jones Snowboards lineup are the result of nearly two decades of freeriding experience, the finishing touches are the result of the last four months of non-stop product testing. From the first foot of new snow in Tahoe to the steep ancient snowpack of Antartica, Jeremy and the Jones Snowboards team have been slashing turns and boosting airs in every condition imaginable as they tweaked the final designs.

After a couple good storms in late October,  Jeremy and I chased out to a favorite North Tahoe backcountry zone to test an early prototype of the Mountain Twin. High winds had consolidated what little snow there was into a dense but edgeable base making for ideal testing conditions for the CamROCK and Mellow Mag performance on the Mountain Twin. The playfulness of the flex pattern and the edge grip of the Mellow Mag got high marks as we ripped into low-tide technical chutes.

Couple months later team rider Forrest Shearer gave the Twin a spin in much better conditions and found the pop just right for these epic pillows.

The design of the Flagship reflects Jones Snowboard’s desire for a freeride board that will allow you to step to any terrain or obstacle with total confidence. To put the prototypes through the ringer every team rider spent the last few months shredding their favorite hits and taking note of the subtle rocker and profile characteristics of the Flagship. Here Ryland Bell tests the Flagship’s stomp-ability floating a back three off a classic hit at Squaw Valley.

Team rider Ralph Backstrom had his way with the Flagship as well – sending it at a secret spot in North Tahoe on the 162 cm.

And of course…Jeremy’s favorite board to test the past month – The Hovercraft. The back to back to back storms that hit Tahoe late December and early January made for epic Hovercraft testing conditions. Let’s just say a little bit of fun was had working out the final tip rocker and nose profile of the Hovercraft…

This was the first mountain we saw after 62 hours of open ocean.  I was trying to get the boat to stop so we could ride these spines.

This is as close as I got to this bowl of spines.  My best guess on size has this thing weighing in close to 3000 feet in vertical drop.

Chamonix breeds with Alaska and has a kid in Antarctica.  I took this pic from the top of a line that was about 1800 vertical feet and mid 50 degrees.  This mutant of a face was towering in the back of us making what we rode look like a pimple.

Xavier and I rode the chute in the middle of the face.  The snow was great allowing us for a rare opportunity to ride a line with out axes.  This was the only slope we tested the the pitch of.  It was measured 52 degrees.

This was taken from the bottom of the above face waiting for a pick up to go back to the boat that was 4 miles away.  The next day we rode a chute that ended right at the pointy rock.

I took this photo at 11 at night.

My dinner came to an abrupt end when we hit this channel and started passing the most radical faces I have ever seen.

The coulior in the middle of the face may be the steepest coulior in the world? It is just across the channel from the spine wall above and probably has close to a 3000 vertical foot drop.

The captain of this sail boat has over 700 descents in Antarctica.

This may be the most impressive mountain scapes I have ever seen.  Mt Francois clocks in at 9600ft and may be one of the most sustained descents in the world.  Our expedition leader Doug Stoup and one of the guides on the trip, Andrew Mclean spent 3 weeks in the rain trying to ski and climb it and never saw the peak.

This sits right across from Francois.  I am guessing it is bigger then Jackson(4139ft) in Vertical drop and 50 to 60 degrees.  I think it is the cleanest, tallest and steepest line I have ever seen.

Token Penguin Shot.
Big thanks to Ice Axe Expeditions for the trip of a lifetime