PRESS RELEASE:

Snowboard Magazine awards Jones Snowboards, The Flagship, a Platinum Pick for excellence in design.

“If you were going to trust anybody to design snowboarding’s premier big mountain snowboard, Jeremy Jones would be the wise pick.  The Flagship is snowboarding’s response to the most critical riding on the planet.  Using Magna-Traction, directional rocker and camber under foot, this board is more of a weapon than anything else.  It’s a weapon that’s going to keep you alive when others are bound to fail.  Designed with a longer-radius sidecut and shortened running length, the Flagship comes without a speed limit yet still manhandles turns in tight situations.

If you like getting booted off the local ski hill for going too fast or better yet, riding lines nowhere near a lift, this board is it.”

-Nate Deschenes, SNOWBOARD MAGAZINE.

Here’s a good look at the three bump, “Mellow” Magna-Traction.  It is three drawn out bumps, one bump between the feet and one at each foot.  It makes for a subtle but effective edge bite that you will only feel when the snow gets really hard and you are about to fall on your ass.

All the graphics are burned into the wood.  There is not a drop of ink on this snowboard.

The Flagship will be available in five sizes: 158, 161, 163W, 164, 168W.

Get the full low down here.

All product shots taken by Greg Martin

These are the bigger shows for Europe.  Stay tuned because we will be adding more stops.  Check here for ticket and venue information.

I will be at all the shows but Gents so come party with me. – Jeremy Jones

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.

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…

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

The plan was to be in Canada but the above report led to a last minute cancellation on my part.  The   buried surface hoar in Utah also thwarted multiple attempts to flea the Sierra. The problem with buried surface hoar is that it will give you a false sense of security.  5o people can ski a bowl and deem it safe only to have the 51st hit a trigger spot and have the whole mountain come down.  This is why it is such a killer and has left 5 people dead in the last week in Canada.

The steep, deep and stable snow of the Sierra kept me close to home most of the last month.  Multiple 1 to 2 foot storms followed by cold temps made for some of the more memorable Tahoe sessions I have had in a long time.

My main Tahoe objectives slowly went out the door a I spent more and more time in the mountains and discovered a whole new area of unridden gems.  Nothing is more refreshing then backyard discoveries.  It is amazing what one will find if they just get off the beaten path and drop over the edge into the the unknown.

Josh Dirksen is one of the best snowboarders I have ever ridden with.  For years I have been a fan but to see his act in person is something special.  His time hanging out with Gerry Lopez has rubbed off.  He surfs the mountain with effortless flow and precision that would make any goofy footer proud.  It is clear that his time away from the camera the last two years  has allowed him to mature his snowboarding into one of the more well rounded approaches in the snowboarding.

Ryland Bell successfully negotiates a tricky line and pauses for a moment before leaning into one of the deepest bottom turns of his life.

The remnants of a small avalanche, a backhand bash and a  backside air.

Dirksen four off the lips in and setting up for the big finish off the cornice.

Ryland Bell enjoying the fruits of his labor.  Double overhead sprays and no one with in ten miles of us.  Solitude is easy to find in the mountains.

The gateway to the goods was through the green forest.

It took three days of skinning to session this face.  It left us all scratching our heads.  The  Lightning fast sluffs and mandatory airs made line selection critical.

Sluff management 404 and some indecent exposure  was needed to leave this exit clean.

Pausing to enjoy the last rays of light 15 hours into the best day of the year before making the final push to camp.

4 AM start. Hiking with down pants and two down jackets.
Hit a wind slab at 9AM an hour from the summit of our objective and are forced to turn around.
10 AM Find good snow and ride good lines.
1PM Sage hits a huge air….lands perfect on a small tranny and rides away clean.
4:20PM watch the sunset from a high ridge.
6 PM realize we are running low on fuel.
7:05 PM Sage saves the day, finds water.

Day two.
4AM start. Snowing hard.
5 AM ride low angle powder in the dark.
7:45 AM Sun comes out as we are standing on our first lines of the day.
10:15 AM start an avalanche on a face next to us as we skin up a ridge to our lines.
10:30 Drop 3 cornices, start three slides, and go back down our skin track to ride a mellow shoulder.
1:45 Ride an isolated spine line at lower elevation.
2:30 Ride threw a natural arch.
3:20 PM Edmands falls in a river with 8 miles left to skin.
7PM make it back after a hellish traverse that resulted in 2 gnarly falls on my split.
7:15 calculate we covered 20 miles today.

Recap.
Tetons are very big. Remind me of Europe with out the ice. Tetons are very cold. We would have to ride with water bottles under coats, Clif Bars would have to go under your armpits before they could be eaten and whiskey does not freeze.

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.

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.