Fun movie that definitely makes me want to ride Bear again (it’s been a while).

Also, did big floppy mittens suddenly become cool again? Some of these kids put Matt Goodwill to shame in the floppy glove department.

Thanks to Bear Mountain, Snowboarder Mag, and Red Bull for the video!

Winter might be just around the corner, but Forum, Special Blend, and Foursquare are kicking off the Vacation world tour with a beach party in Huntington Beach.

Check the tour dates in the press release after the break for full details

Alaska
Northern Boarder, Anchorage

Colorado
Christy Sports, Cherry Creek
Christy Sports, Orchard Christy Sports, Park Meadows

Montana
World Boards, Bozeman

New Hampshire
NOTB, Salem
Snowboard Jones, Manchester

New York
Sundown, Farmingdale
Sundown, Levittow

North Carolina
Verical Urge, Raleigh Ohio
Buckeye Sports, Peninsula
Aspen Ski and Board, Columbus

Oregon
US Outdoor, Portland
Tactics, Eugene

Southern California
K5, Encinitas
Surfside Sports, Costa Mesa
Val Surf, Valley Village
Powder and Sun, Victorville
Leroy’s, Big Bear Lake

Virginia
Alpine Ski Shop, Sterling
East Coast Board Co, Fairfax

New York
Sundown, Farmingdale
Sundown, Levittow, Wisconsin
Moda3, Milwaukee
Les Moise Milwaukee

CANADA
Montreal
Dlx, Quebec City
Free For All, Quebec City
La Vie Sportive, Quebec City

Ontario
Hustler, Oakville
Meltdown, Kitchener
Algonquin Outfitters, Huntsville

Alberta
Mission on 17th, Calgary

Vancouver
Coastal Riders, Surrey
Pacific Boarder, Vancouver

SAN LEANDRO, California—October 22, 2009—The North Face, the world’s premier supplier of authentic, innovative and technically advanced outdoor apparel, equipment and footwear, and Mountain Sports International (MSI), North America’s leading developer and producer of action-adventure sports events and programming, today announced The North Face Masters of Snowboarding presented by Primaloft (TNF Masters) 2010 Tour Dates.

In its third year, the largest big mountain snowboarding tour in the country, TNF Masters features a prize purse of $45,000. Taking place at three world-class venues, TNF Masters will return to Snowbird, Utah, January 22-25, and Kirkwood, California, February 25-28. A new stop this year, Crystal Mountain, Washington, will host the tour February 9-12. Registration for all events opens Tuesday, December 15, 2010, at 10:00 AM MST, www.thenorthfacemasters.com–age 18 years of age or above.

“Crystal Mountain features a terrific, awe-inspiring new territory and promising conditions,” said Katie Ramage, Sports Marketing Manager for The North Face. “Crystal’s ease of access will allow more riders to participate this year and give more spectators the ability to watch. Everyone is really looking forward to seeing what competitors will bring to the new terrain.”

Designed to cater to the motivation, talent and skill of world-class big mountain riders, TNF Masters serves as a qualifier for the Freeride World Tour’s Nissan Tram Face at Squaw Valley, California. The top male and female winners of each TNF Masters tour stop qualify for the event.

Gathering big mountain snowboard riders and fans worldwide, TNF Masters is predicting competitors from a number of countries and backgrounds. In addition, TNF Masters is proud to welcome back judges Tom Burt, Temple Cummins, Andy Hetzel and Julie Zell.

“TNF Masters series is in its third season of showcasing what most freeriders want to see – riders showing their skills on big mountain terrain, not just the park, pipe or rails,” said Tom, Burt, Head Judge of The North Face Masters of Snowboarding. “These competitions are tough to judge due to the high quality of riding and the variety of styles, but it is an incredible event to watch and be a part of. I am looking forward to see the next level of competition that will happen this season.”

The North Face Masters of Snowboarding Presented by Primaloft 2010 Schedule
Snowbird, Utah. January 22-25, 2010
Crystal Mountain, Washington. February 9-12, 2010
Kirkwood, California. February 25-28, 2010

Registration: www.thenorthfacemasters.com

MSI will produce same day coverage of Semi-Final and Final rounds of each TNF Masters which can be found on www.thenorthfacemasters.com. Complete videos, photos, athlete and judge profiles, detailed event schedules and registration information is available.

The North Face supports big mountain sports around the world including The North Face European Ski Challenge, The North Face South American Freeskiing Championships, The Masters of Snowboarding and the Subaru Freeskiing World Tour.

The North Face Masters Presented by Primaloft is supported by Subaru of America, Snowbird Ski & Summer Resort, Kirkwood Mountain Resort, Crystal Mountain, Crystal Mountain Hotels, and Snowboard Magazine.

Want more? Check out www.thenorthfacemasters.com

About MSI
Mountain Sports International (MSI) is a private company, founded in 1997, to develop and produce action/adventure sports events and programming in North America. MSI owns and produces the U.S. Freeskiing Series, the U.S. Skiercross Series, and the Freeskiing World Tour, in addition to several other properties and concepts. MSI provides event management services for Burton, Salomon, and Red Bull and has provided infrastructure and expertise for the NBC Gravity Games and ESPN Action Sports Projects, including the Tony Hawk Gigantic Skatepark Tour. MSI specializes in matching clients with events for brand penetration into target demographics, developing product identification and loyalty. MSI matches brand and culture, company and credibility to create sought-after events that help to define the action sports culture.

About The North Face
The North Face, a division of VF Outdoor, Inc., was founded in 1968. Headquartered in San Leandro, California, the company offers the most technically advanced products in the market to accomplished climbers, mountaineers, snowsport athletes, endurance athletes, and explorers. The company’s products are sold in specialty mountaineering, backpacking, running, and snowsport retailers, premium-sporting goods retailers and major outdoor specialty retail chains.

Tara Dakides at Mammoth. Photo: Julien Lecorps, Mammoth Mountain

SBG: What’s the park setup for opening day?
Mammoth: 8 boxes on Forest Trail, no rails or jumps yet.

SBG: What terrain/runs are open for beginning riders?
Mammoth: Forest Trail, Mambo, St. Anton

SBG: What terrain/runs are open for the park riders?
Mammoth: Forest Trail

SBG: What terrain/runs are open for the freeride riders?
Mammoth: Cornice Bowl, Broadway, Fascination

SBG: What should visitors to Mammoth over opening weekend look forward to?
Mammoth: Skiing/Boarding from the top of Mammoth Mountain in October. Snow conditions up high are very good right now.

SBG: Anything else our readers should know?
Mammoth: We have a big celebration planned around what our originally scheduled opening day was. On November 14th, we will be premiering our new video “Hot Laps” for free in The Village at Mammoth followed by a concert by Shiny Toy Guns at Canyon Lodge. More info: http://www.mammothmountain.com/ResortActivities/SpecialEvents/OpeningDay/

For more information on opening day you can read the official press release. For more about Mammoth Mountain, visit MammothMountain.com or call 800.MAMMOTH.

* Mammoth Mountain opened for skiing and snowboarding today, Friday, October 16, 2009.
* To celebrate opening day, skiing and riding was FREE for everyone.
* Today marked one of the earliest openings on record for the California resort.
* Mammoth has a base of 12-24” of natural, machine groomed packed snow and is open top-to-bottom.
* Three chairlifts ran today – Broadway Express (Chair 1), Face Lift Express (Chair 3) and Chair 23.

Photo: Mammoth C.E.O. Rusty Gregory loads chairs on opening day at Mammoth Mountain (Credit: Peatross/MMSA)

Broadway Express (Chair 1) fired up at 8:30 a.m. and within an hour Facelift Express (Chair 3) was also open providing access to more than 10 runs from mid-mountain to Main Lodge. Chair 23 began running at 12:45 providing access to the top of Mammoth Mountain. The Unbound Terrain Park crew was also hard at work to provide an array of rails and jibs for anxious skiers and snowboarders.

“I’m amazed not only by the number of people we had here today, but also by the level of riding I’ve see in the park today,” said Oren Tanzer, Director of Youth Action Sports at Mammoth Mountain. “People are picking up right where they left off last season like they never missed a beat.”

For the weekend, Mammoth expects to operate Broadway Express, Face Lift Express and Chair 23 from 8:30-4:00pm. Other services available at Main Lodge include Broadway Marketplace, Tusks Bar, Rental and Retail.

To help skiers enjoy the great early season conditions, Mammoth is offering First Tracks lift and lodging packages for as low as $99 per person per night based on double occupancy. Please call 800.MAMMOTH or visit MammothMountain.com to book.

Early season obstacles exist. Visit MammothMountain.com or call the Snow Report at 888.SNOWRPT for all the latest weather and snow conditions.

Mammoth Mountain Ski Area is the leading four-season mountain resort in California. With 1.2 million annual skier visits, Mammoth Mountain is currently the third most frequented ski resort in the United States. The company owns and operates a variety of resort businesses including recreation, hospitality, real estate development, food and beverage and retail. Specific businesses owned and operated by Mammoth Mountain include Mammoth Mountain Ski Area, June Mountain, Tamarack Lodge and Resort, Mammoth Snowmobile Adventures, Mammoth Mountain Bike Park and the Mammoth Mountain Inn. Mammoth Mountain also operates Juniper Springs Resort, the Village Lodge and Sierra Star Golf Course in Mammoth Lakes, California. For more information on Mammoth Mountain, visit MammothMountain.com or call 800.MAMMOTH.

Adding to the excitement of the second earliest opening day ever for Mammoth Mountain, skiers and snowboarders will be able to ride for free on Friday, October 16, 2009. Broadway Express will open at 8:30 a.m. servicing a base of 16-24 inches of machine groomed natural snow.

“We are so excited to start the season nearly four weeks ahead of schedule and to be able to reward our guests with a free day on the slopes,” said Howard Pickett, Chief Marketing Officer of Mammoth Mountain. “Mammoth`s high elevation will pay off for skiers and snowboarders who have been anxiously awaiting the coming winter.”

Broadway Express will be open from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily providing access to Broadway, Forest Trail, Mambo, St. Moritz, and Main Park with assorted rails and jibs. With the large snowpack at higher elevations on Mammoth Mountain, more chairlifts and terrain will be added as soon as possible. Other services available at Main Lodge include Broadway  Marketplace, Tusks Bar, Rental and Retail.

Mammoth will be offering First Tracks lift and lodging packages for as low as $99 per person per night based on double occupancy. Please call 800.MAMMOTH or visit MammothMountain.com to book.

Mammoth Mountain Ski Area is the leading four-season mountain resort in California. With 1.2 million annual skier visits, Mammoth Mountain is currently the third most frequented ski resort in the United States. The company owns and operates a variety of resort businesses including recreation, hospitality, real estate development, food and beverage and retail. Specific businesses owned and operated by Mammoth Mountain include Mammoth Mountain Ski Area, June Mountain, Tamarack Lodge and Resort, Mammoth Snowmobile Adventures, Mammoth Mountain Bike Park and the Mammoth Mountain Inn. Mammoth Mountain also operates Juniper Springs Resort, the Village Lodge and Sierra Star Golf Course in Mammoth Lakes, California. For more information on Mammoth Mountain, visit MammothMountain.com or call 800.MAMMOTH.

Jeremy Jones. Photo: tgrsnowboarding.com

Age: 34
Year’s Riding: Last time I did the math it was 26 years
Home: Lake Tahoe, California
Sponsors: O’Neil, Scott, Swatch, Cliff Bar, Backcountry.com, Highball Energy Water, Bern Helmets

SBG: 26 years ago, what made you decide to take up snowboarding, and how did you learn?
Jeremy: 26 years ago I was obsessed with skating and surfing, even though I didn’t know how to do it. I had been skiing, and when I saw my first snowboard I remember being like “It’s about time, I’ve been waiting to stand sideways on snow.” It took me forever to learn; probably about 4 years before I linked my first turns. I’d never seen anyone do it before and had to figure it all out myself. Basically self taught at the beginning.

SBG: After a few years of laying somewhat low and doing your thing, you’ve been generating quite a bit of buzz this year, and it seems like there’s a whole new batch of people confused about there being two Jeremy Joneses. A few days ago I overheard someone saying “Yeah, I guess Jeremy Jones left Burton to start his own snowboard company.” Do you get a lot of that?
Jeremy: I think it’s something I’ll always have to some extent, seems like it’s mellowed out from what it was 10 years ago, but there’s still confusion out there.

Jeremy Jones in the High Sierras. Photo: SethLightcap

SBG: Describe your perfect day:
Jeremy: The perfect day for me is to wake up in a tent in the dark, far away from everyone. Start hiking to a peak I’ve been looking at for a long time, getting on top and shredding a sick line. Come home to a warm tent and ready to do it again tomorrow.

SBG: Let’s talk about your non-profit organization, Protect Our Winters. There has been a good bit of research coming out in the last few of years that speaks directly to the snowboard industry, saying that within 10 years there may not be enough snow at mountains below 5,000 ft to have much of a ski season. What was the eye opener that led you to become involved in the environmental side of things and led you to start Protect Our Winters?
Jeremy: It had been an ongoing thing, but I was walking at a resort in the middle of February with a guy that was 30 at the time, and who had grown up skiing at the resort. It hit me how this guy who is relatively young had seen so much drastic change at his local mountain. The resort had closed 5 years prior, we were walking on grass, and there was a golf course at the bottom. That was an eye-opener.

Jeremy Jones emerges from a powder cloud. Photo: tgrsnowboarding.com

SBG: What do you think about real vs fake environmentalism in the ski and snowboard industry? What I mean by that is there is the “eco-friendly” fad: the boards that are “better for the environment,” and the resorts advertising which of their lifts are wind powered; the marketing gimmicks. But then there is also the group of riders, the soul snowboarders, who are quietly living it.
Jeremy: I think a lot of companies have good intentions about doing things more environmentally, and a lot of them have taken the first step towards cleaner products or cleaner mountains, or what have you. However, I think that if they keep waving this big environmental flag, but don’t continue evolving their products, then the truth will come out in the wash. I think it will all work itself out naturally. A year or two ago it seemed like a lot of people felt like they had to be doing something environmentally to be in the industry, and I think that over the next couple of years it will become really obvious which are really serious about it, and the ones that aren’t serious about it won’t be waving that flag.

Jeremy Jones Donner Summit. Photo: Seth Lightcap

SBG: What’s is your vision of a more ecologically friendly snowboard industry? What’s your ideal?
Jeremy: The thing with the environment is that it’s everything, so all aspects, from products to resorts, how we get there, what we’re eating at the cafeteria, every facet of it. If the industry improves just 10% in the next 10 years that’s huge. It doesn’t sound like much, but it’s a start. You have to look at it in long term, say 50 year chunks of time, because these results will take a long time. We’re taking the first step and we have a lot more to take and some take a long time.

SBG: Which resorts do you think are actually doing a good job at making themselves more environmentally friendly? Who gets the A’s?
Jeremy: Of the resorts that I visit and go to, Grand Targhee is doing a phenomenal job. Protect Our Winters works very closely with them, so I’ve gotten to see first-hand, not only what they’re doing now, but what’s in the plans for the future, and it’s been pretty wild watching the changes at that resort the last 5 years. The other ones, and not quite at the Grand Targhee level, but I’ve also been excited to see the changes that Jackson Hole and Squaw Valley have made over the past 5 years. Past that I know Aspen puts a lot of energy towards it, and I know there are a bunch of other ones out there.

Jeremy Jones uses a rooster to shield him from a Sierra Death Ray. Photo: Seth Lightcap

SBG: A few years back we started looking at adding a quarterly print edition of SBG. We eventually decided against it, and one factor for us was that environmentally, glossy photo magazines are pretty bad; even on partially recycled paper. We find areas we can make a difference, for example, we host our site with a company that’s aiming for net-zero and we ran a bunch of free advertising for POW last winter. What should snowboard media be doing to promote more environmental awareness, and to be more eco-friendly themselves?
Jeremy: The magazine has been around for a long time, and I don’t think it’s fair to just dig in and say how lame all mags are, and they are doing better stuff, but I would like to see more from them. They’re pretty powerful and they have ways to get the message out, they obviously can’t make their whole mag about it, but starting to implement more content, maybe highlighting companies that are doing good stuff environmentally, or ways that snowboarders can reduce their footprint. Things that we’re seeing a little bit of already. Protect Our Winters was a part of the Transworld Rider Poll award last year, and we raised $10,000; that’s an example of the power of these companies. It didn’t take a lot of their energy to do something like that and that money went far.

Jeremy Jones ripping down Shackelton Spine. Photo: tgrsnowboarding.com

SBG: You have a great list of general purpose tips for saving energy and living more environmentally friendly on the POW website [read 10 Things You Can Do Now on POW]. What are one or two things snowboarders can do within the industry to encourage the development of a more environmentally friendly industry?
Jeremy: Support companies that are putting in the effort to make sustainable products and run a cleaner business. Every purchase is a vote with your dollars, and this is the only way to really get companies to become more eco friendly. The same goes with the resorts you choose to ride; if your home mountain is coming up short, let them know with a comment card. Lastly, I encourage everyone to become a member of Protect Our Winters. Our strength is in numbers, and the more members we have the more it shows the industry that the environment is important to riders.

SBG: Looking forward to this year, what will be your highlight of the winter?
Jeremy: I’m so excited for year two of filming Deeper. We’ve got an incredible team in place now, and we’re continuing to refine our process; we’re learning a lot about going deeper, and I’m really excited to continue down that road.

Continued in “Go Deeper: The Jeremy Jones Interview Pt.2″

In part two of this interview, coming later this week, Jeremy talks about his two year video project, Deeper, and his new snowboard company, Jones Snowboards.

This interview is transcribed from a live interview on October 9, 2009. The questions and answers have been edited for clarity and readability.

Thanks to Teton Gravity Research (TGR) for use of their images.

For any readers not in the know, there are two Jeremy Jones. The Jeremy Jones we’re interviewing is best known for his contributions to big-mountain freeriding, and his company Protect Our Winters, a snow-industry focused non-profit working to unite and mobilize the winter sports community with the goal of having a direct and positive impact on climate change.

Helping Donny will be his hand picked Rep cartel known as The Active Labor Syndicate, which include; Jodi Judson, Adrian and Earnie Peachay, Adam Portue, team riders Ashley Thornton and Forrest Devore. Donny has over ten years of Action Sports Industry experience which consists of a great track record and not to mention he rips at snowboarding as well!!

While many snowboarding companies have spent a lifetime trying to fit-in, FLOW has spent its time standing out. Born from originality, FLOW is defiant against the norm of tradition. The world has witnessed how this one time “binding” company has progressed into the leader of innovative products featuring a complete line of “speed entry” bindings, performance proven boots and award winning snowboards. The future is here and the future is FLOW.

Our third encounter was a charm! The Lift Operators were most excellent. What a great experience we had. We met a couple of lift operators, I believe their names were Nancy and Jeff. These two made our experience so wonderful, as they were friendly, experienced, patient, courteous, and FUN! They helped start off our day in a positive, exciting and fun manner. They both were cracking us up. We enjoyed most of our day skiing the freestyle terrain, and riding on the lifts. We only encountered one bad experience the whole day and that was with a Ski Patrol by the name of Larson. He acted with total disregard to our enjoyment. He was belligerent and made one to many, sexual, rude, and downright nasty comments to us. My girlfriends and I were a little scared of this guy. He is supposed to representing Skiing as a National Sport that offers fun and safety to the customers who pay money to ski at their mountain. My friends and I won’t be back to Boreal, because of this guy’s belligerent behavior toward us. When we told him not to speak to us, he then got very angry. We were concerned for our safety at Boreal because of this man. Boreal you started our day off great but it ended in fear that we were going to get sexually assaulted by your Patrolman Larson. Great freestyle terrain and great for Borders, but we will ski elsewhere from now on. Thanks anyway.