Jeremy Jones earned his status as a pioneering snowboarder by literally carving the path for others by boarding unnamed peaks. He is known for big mountain free riding and pow surfing – which is binding-free snowboarding and frequently finds himself at the top of peaks that require every one of the 30+ years of his experience to navigate. Jones founded Jones Snowboards in 2009, a company whose mission is to innovate performance standards, making the best gear in their field. That’s something we can get into.
Q:
What goes through your head when you first wake up in the morning?
A:
On the days I am going into the backcountry my minds first thought when I wake up is always about the biggest hazards I may face that day. I take a few moments to go through the day and think about what hazards/red flags I could possibly miss. Then I look outside and evaluate if the weather did something over night that I was not anticipating.
Q:
Where is your favourite place to snowboard?
A:
I have been around the world snowboarding but right now my home range, specifically the High Sierra, has my full attention. I love exploring never before ridden terrain and the fact that the majority of my home range has not been snowboarded really excites me.
Q:
Tell us a favourite story from a day out snowboarding.
A:
Late in the season I broke through a mental and physical battle in the High Sierra that I had been trying to do for years. It was late in the day, we were 5 days from the trailhead and we travelled into a valley full of un named peaks that had never been ridded. At sunset I dropped into one of these lines and fulfilled a dream of mine to climb and ride a first ascent/descent on an unnamed peak in California.
Q:
How do you up your game year after year?
A:
Since I started snowboarding 30 years ago I have always been driven by evolving my snowboarding. I love finding myself in places that required my life time of skills to get too. To be on a peak that I could not have stood on a moment sooner in my life because I did not have the knowledge of the land or the right set of skills. I generally achieve this a handful of times a year. This is where all my focus is. It is for others to decide if that evolves the sport or not.
Q:
If you could do anything better, what would it be?
A:
I could be more organized. Especially out of the mountains. I struggle focusing on the mundane tasks of life.
Q:
What haven’t you accomplished that you aspire to do in your lifetime?
A:
I aspire to achieve the same highs I get in remote dangerous places in simple, mundane places. To need less to get me screaming at the top of my lungs with joy.
Q:
If there is any love-hate relationship with any aspect of what you do, can you describe what that is?
A:
I hate that I have had so many friends die in the mountains. And I love and hate getting out of a warm sleeping bag in the middle of the night, putting frozen boots on and walking into pitch black mountains.
Q:
What sound or noise do you love?
A:
I love being in place where you cannot hear the sound of humankind.
Q:
What would be your day job if you weren’t doing what you currently doing?
A:
I have no idea. I had no plan B. But I guarantee I would still be earning a living in the outdoors.