Red Bulletin UK

VENTURE
Travel
Steel edges carve the snow
better and give harder
bite when side-stepping
uphill, says Jones: “And
when the board is
connected, traction tech
gives added structure.”
SPLITBOARD SOLUTION, ANDREW MILLER, ALAMY MATT RAY
Solid snowboards use 3D
contouring to ‘spoon’ the nose
for better performance, but
no splitboard has had that
until now. “It took five years,”
says Jones, “and at times I
questioned if it was possible.”
I read their subtle signs and understand
their moods, because splitboarding is
a zero-mistake game. The mountains
can change fast, and I need to be hyperpresent
to see those changes. Still, I’ve
experienced rolling down an unrideable,
rock-strewn face where I shouldn’t have,
which almost cost me my life. My mistake
that day was overconfidence – I was in
a rush and not present. Since then, I’ve
developed a backcountry mental checklist.
First, “mountains speak, and wise men
listen” is a [19th century US naturalist]
John Muir quote I live by. Am I present
enough to read the signs? Next [on the
checklist] is patience. Your agenda
needs to be thrown out the window – the
mountains don’t care that your only day
off is Saturday. I don’t say, “I’m going to
ride X,” rather that, “I’m going to look at
X”. I don’t become mentally attached to
a line until I’m dropping into it.
Look for reasons to back down, and
anticipate that the turnaround point
may be at the top of a line you just
spent hours hiking to. Late Norwegian
snowboard legend Tommen Bjerknæs
summed it up best: “Tomorrow is good,
too. Ride for tomorrow.”
Jeremy Jones is a US pro snowboarder
and the owner of Jones Snowboards;
jonessnowboards.com. He’s also the
founder of Protect Our Winters, a nonprofit
working to reduce the effects of
climate change; protectourwinters.org
NEVADA
San
Francisco Sierra
Nevada
Mountains
Las
Vegas
CALIFORNIA
L.A.
Riding the
Sierra
Nevada
Although the mountains are
a backcountry splitboarding
paradise, the best place to
learn may be in resorts
such as Mammoth Mountain
and Palisades Tahoe, which,
on average, get 10m of snow
per year. You can hire
mountain guides to take
you through the process of
walk mode and transitioning
into ride mode. Also, next
door to Palisades Tahoe is
Alpine Meadows, which is
known for its wide-open,
off-piste bowls. All these
resorts are accessible with
the Ikon Pass, which covers
a host of resorts across the
US and Europe.
ikonpass.com;
mammothmountain.com;
palisadestahoe.com
THE RED BULLETIN 75