Check out TGR’s interview with Jones here: http://www.tetongravity.com/blogs/Interview-Going-Further-With-Jeremy-Jones-5251349.htm

You can also check out our interviews with Jeremy from last year: Part 1 and Part 2

Find out more at http://www.nixonnow.com/jibfest

If you missed the premiere you can still join the party and grab Standing Sideways on iTunes for $5.99: Burton Snowboards: Standing Sideways

Read the full press release after the break

Boulder, CO (Jan. 29, 2010)—Jeremy Jones, eight-time Big Mountain Snowboarder of the Year visited one of the most world renowned hills in the world, this time without a snowboard. On Wednesday, January 27, Jeremy Jones along with a coalition of winter sport filmmakers and industry representatives shared a new perspective on climate change with lawmakers on Capitol Hill: the economic, social and intangible values of winter.

Jones represented Protect Our Winters (POW), the environmental non-profit he founded in 2007 as a voice for the winter sports community in the climate change discussion. Jones was joined by Chris Steinkamp, Exective Director of POW, Steve Jones, Founder of Teton Gravity Research (TGR), Elysa Hammond, Director of Environmental Stewardship of Clif Bar and Elizabeth Burakowski, Complex Systems Research Center at University of New Hampshire.

The two-day agenda included a screening of Generations, a short film about climate change and winter released this fall by TGR and Protect Our Winters and sponsored by outdoor industry leader, The North Face. Generations discusses climate change through the perspectives of those for whom snowy winters have a deeper personal significance. Featuring ski resort owner [name], climatologist Elizabeth Burakowski, and some of the world’s most accomplished ski and snowboard athletes, the film humanizes and contextualizes the debate on climate change by exploring the intrinsic value of snow to people across generations and cultures.

In addition to the numerous awards won by Generations on the film festival circuit, the film received hearty congressional applause Tuesday evening among a theater of Congressmen, aides, staff and local environmental leaders, after being introduced by Congressman Jared Polis. Following the screening, Jeremy Jones, Steve Jones, Hammond and Steinkamp hosted a Q&A on their experience with climate change in the field and how winter sports enthusiasts everywhere can be part of the climate change solution.

The coalition met with key lawmakers and staff largely from US mountain states who are also leaders on climate change and in key positions on the hill to influence the direction of this issue. Together, they shared their experiences, illustrating first-hand how climate change has had direct effects on the winter sports culture and the $6 billon winter sports industry. Participants included Congressman Jared Polis (D-CO), Representative Peter Welch (D-VT), Congressman Jay Inslee (D-WA), and senior energy and environment staff for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Senator Michael Bennet (D-CO), Senator Max Baucus (D-MT) and Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-NM). The members and staff that the group met with are all key players in the climate and energy debate, most holding senior positions and even chairmanships on the central committees of influence.

The film showing, combined with one-on-one meetings, provided the Capitol Hill community with a fresh perspective of climate change, through the eyes of those on the front lines.

“When we started production of ‘Generations’ with The North Face over a year ago, the goal was to communicate the climate change we all see every day, to as many people as possible. Being here on Capitol Hill a year later, talking with the individuals who are literally deciding how climate change will effect us for generations is one of the most important things I’ve ever done,” said Jeremy Jones.

“The perspective provided by “Generations,” and the teams in the meetings this week, provided valuable and often overlooked component of the climate change debate in Washington,” explained Congressman Jared Polis, (D-CO). “The ski industry is the lifeblood of my district and climate change is already taking a toll,” said Polis. “These athletes are on the front lines of this crisis, watching snow, ice and communities disappear all over the world. In sharing their story with Congress, they are sharing the stories of many communities who are all desperately watching their way of life disappear with the warming planet. While the loss of skiing isn’t the worst consequence of climate change, these individuals show us how we all stand to be personally affected by this global problem.”

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Protect Our Winters (POW) is a tax exempt, non-profit organization dedicated to reversing the global warming crisis by uniting the winter sports community and focusing efforts towards a common goal of winter preservation. POW was founded in 2007 by Jeremy Jones, a professional snowboarder who is passionate about preserving winter sport industry and culture for current and future generations. Built on the snowsports culture’s inspired dedication to reversing climate change, POW has become an innovative leader in sponsoring effective renewable power, progressive environmental education, and organizing and enabling unique grassroots action. www.protectourwinters.org

Teton Gravity Research (TGR) is one of the fastest growing brands in the action sports industry. Founded in 1996, TGR has produced 18 award winning feature length films, numerous television series for Showtime, NBC, Fox Sports, and Fuel TV, and is known for its cutting edge media and lifestyles clothing line. TGR films showcase the world’s top snowboard, ski and surf athletes including Jeremy Jones, Ian Walsh, Sage Cattabriga-Alosa, and Seth Morrison. TGR is a proud member of 1 Percent for the Planet and strongly believes in protecting the environment in which the team works and plays. TGR’s online presence, TetonGravity.com, is one of the leading online destinations in the action sports industry. www.tetongravity.com

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.

Continued from: Go Deeper: The Jeremy Jones Interview Pt.1. If you haven’t read it already, you might want to go there first.

Jeremy Jones rappelling into a chute. Photo: tgrsnowboarding.com

SBG: Speaking of Deeper, your personal convictions about the environment prompted you to change your own lifestyle and riding habits, and this has led to what we keep hearing about as a different video. What can you tell us about Deeper?
Jeremy: Deeper is something that I’ve wanted to do for a while. Over the last couple of years I’ve realized that the biggest high I get in snowboarding is getting away from everyone, into these new worlds, and hiking what I ride. It’s always been a huge part of my snowboarding, it’s just that the snowboard world only sees 10% of that time; the Alaska time basically. A lot of the spots I was filming had gotten pretty crowded for us; we we’re battling with lots of other helicopters, and the exploration side of things was no longer there. There’s really this small little piece of terrain that everyone battles over, and I just wanted to get past that terrain and into the vast unknown; to get away from helicopters and get back to first descents.

SBG: How was the transition from helis and snowmos to accessing all of your terrain on foot?
Jeremy: The actual going out and hiking and riding has made up the majority of my winters in the past, but when it came time to film I would hop on a snowmobile or go take a helicopter, so it was a more a mental change. For instance, when that “Day of Days” would come into Tahoe, we couldn’t just jump on a snowmobile and have 5 shots in the can before 11. It was changing my mindset from that to going out the day before, camping, and putting so much energy into hopefully getting one or two shots that day. Same with Alaska, we couldn’t set up camp until it was sunny, because we’d take a plane and land out there to get set up. To get to where we were going we flew through the heli zone, and it was run after run after run of lines that I’ve been on in countless movies. It’s where I’ve done a lot of my work, and if I was in a helicopter, I’d be landing and be  snowboarding right away. Instead, I’m in a plane, and I’m going into the unknown and having to set up, and I’m at the minimum a day away from even thinking about dropping into a line of any seriousness. The change was mental.

Jeremy Jones' definition of Snowboard Camp. Photo: tgrsnowboarding.com

SBG: Was it hard to get filmers on board to hike with you and capture the footage?
Jeremy: The existing film crews had their reservations already, which is why it took me a little longer to make this change and it didn’t come instantly. I realized I really had to do my own thing and find my own film crew. There are a ton of filmers out there who love the idea of camping and getting out deeper. Some of them have worked on existing snowboard movies for years and some are a little new to the game. I wouldn’t try to talk someone, whether a rider or filmer, into a trip. Either they were jumping off the roof to do it, or I was going to find someone else.

Jeremy with some deep thoughts. Photo: tgrsnowboarding.com

SBG: Last year’s film “My Own Two Feet,” from Leeward, started down this path you’re following with Deeper. Did Leeward’s film inspire “Deeper”, or was the concept something you had already considered? How does Deeper continue the story?
Jeremy: Last year I did 5 movies, I think, one of them being Leeward’s, and it was really the one movie that I was most looking forward to at the beginning of the season, and the one I had the most fun working on. I had been wanting to go in that direction, but as a pro snowboarder my job is exposure. I can’t just draw a line and say “I’m done working with all film crews.” What Leeward showed me was that the project could be done. It was great working with Chris Edmands from Leeward. That helped give me the confidence to go in a direction that I had been longing to go in.

SBG: Next, the hot topic: Jones Snowboards. You were with Rossignol for a long time, is there more to the story in that split that you can’t talk about or aren’t talking about, or were you just ready to do your own thing?
Jeremy: I have had a growing desire to do my own thing, it had been building for the last year or two. Rossignol has had some tough times with ownership changes in the last couple of years, and the combination of issues really inspired my decision.

Jeremy Jones Tahoe Steeps. Photo: Seth Lightcap

SBG: Did you already know that you wanted to work with Nidecker, or did you go through a selection process?
Jeremy: I talked with a few others, but Nidecker gave me the confidence to start my own company. With all the situations I was considering it was clear to me that working with Nidecker would result in the best boards.

SBG: What will differentiate Jones Snowboards from everything else on the market? What’s your selling point?
Jeremy: Jones Snowboards is 100% focused on freeride boards. I feel like there’s a lot of room for new design coming out, and we’re very focused on the freeride market. The whole company is set up towards freeriding, instead of most of these other companies that have a single board in their line and it’s a little bit of an afterthought.

SBG: How will you be working your environmental principles into the company?
Jeremy: For starters, Nidecker is doing some pretty cool stuff with their factory; they’re pretty advanced compared to what some other companies are doing. It all starts with the production and goes to the product. In year one, all of our boards will be at the top-end of the environmentally friendly scale. I can’t say we’ll have the single most environmentally friendly board available, but as a whole, if you compared our board line to another company’s board line, our line will be one of the most environmentally friendly. And that’s just the baseline to start with. It was important to me with that Nidecker wasn’t done moving forward on this front, and they’re not; we hope to continue progressing in that area. They’re will also be a big connection to POW, with a percentage of sales going to support them. We’ll be working to follow through on all facets of the company.

SBG: Often, new board brands are just the same boards the manufacturer is already pressing, but with different graphics. Are we going to be looking at re-packaged Megalight, or are you doing your own board design.
Jeremy: I will be doing totally different board designs, start from finish, with new presses.

Jones Snowboards' Splitboard Prototype? Photo: Seth Lightcap

SBG: What do you want to be putting out in your boards that isn’t on the market right now.
Jeremy: I’ve been really involved with my Rossignol snowboard design in the last 10 years and taking steps forward. The board I’m designing now is the next phase in this evolution that I’ve been working on. One thing that’s frustrating with snowboards, all snowboards, is that it’s really hard for us to develop new, un-proven designs because the cost of molds is so expensive. So for example, with Rossignol if I make a new mold, I can fine tune that, but I’m basically stuck with that mold for the next 3-5 years. I’m pretty excited to make a step that I would have normally had to wait another 3-5 years to take with the evolution of my freeride board. We’re still in the testing phases for the powder board, but it will definitely be very unique to the market. We’re doing a splitboard; there’s not a lot of options out there in splitboards, so we’ll be bringing in fresh shapes and stuff into those boards. Then we’re doing a freestyle freeride board; we’re in this testing process and I’m all over the map with different profiles. Everything is open and on the table, and it’s great because where that testing process ends up, I don’t know yet.

Jeremy Jones Tahoe Barrel Photo: Seth Lightcap

SBG: Are you doing much with rapid-prototyping? Is that technology there yet for being able to test snowboards shapes?
Jeremy: Not as rapid as say the surf industry. Certain companies can do stuff faster; Nidecker is willing to do that. It just takes more time and man-power, so if a company is more strapped on time, they can’t go down that road, but Nidecker is really excited and is putting in the energy to develop next level stuff.

SBG: So going forward with Jones, do you think you’ll have less than that 3-5 year period to continue bringing out new shapes?
Jeremy: I do, and just in this prototype phase for example, each of these models, the difference between model one and model five is really drastic, and we’ll get into the fine-tuning sidecuts and flexes along the way. In the past you’d get five boards made and they’d have this teeny little change; you’d spend half the time just trying to figure out what the difference was between to boards.

SBG: Will you have your full line at SIA in January?
Jeremy: Four model line in January is our goal.

SBG: When you get knocked down, what motivates you to get up and try again?
Jeremy: I’d say the motivation for me is in snowboarding. I feel like I’ve been given an incredible opportunity, I know a ton of people would love this opportunity, and I think it’s a disservice to not give everything I have to it.

Jeremy Jones. Photo: tgrsnowboarding.com

SBG: Shout-outs or final comments?
Jeremy: Huge thanks to my family and my sponsors, without both of them I wouldn’t be able to live this life, and a big shout-out to Chris Steinkamp, Executive Director of Protect Our Winters.

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 more information about Jeremy Jones and his projects you can check out:
Jeremy Jones’ Website/Blog | Jones Snowboards | Protect Our Winters | Teton Gravity Research

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.

“I wanted to get back to solitude, adventure, and new descents,” Jeremy Jones said. “By hiking past boundaries set in place by helis and snowmobiles we were able to get into bigger mountains, away from people and back to first descents

Editor’s Note: We have an interview with Jeremy Jones coming out early next week.

Watch the Trailer

The filming of Deeper will take over two years and requires an extraordinary commitment from the production team to travel to remote locations. In order to capture the lines and footage on film, cameramen are required to climb alongside athletes, without the aid of helicopters or other assistance.

During one shoot, Jones, Travis, and the rest of the production crew spent 27 days camped on a glacier in Alaska. On another shoot in the Swiss Alps, Jones and De La Rue started hiking at 10 at night in order to ride a line at sunrise the next morning.

The production crew must also use solar chargers and other technology to be able work for extended periods in the backcountry, away from the comforts of modern society. “Being away from electrical outlets for such long stretches really forced us to plan differently. But if it wasn’t for all that, Deeper wouldn’t be half as unique,” said Director of Photography Chris Edmunds.

The filming of Deeper proves that world-class freeriding does not require huge financial investment. “We hope this inspires people to continue pushing beyond what has been done and to realize how much is still left to do.” Says TGR’s Steve Jones.

Teton Gravity Research is one of the fastest growing brands in the action sports industry. Founded in 1996, TGR has produced 18 award winning feature length films, numerous television series for Showtime, NBC, Fox Sports, and Fuel TV, and is known for its cutting edge media and lifestyles clothing line. TGR films showcase the world’s top snowboard, ski and surf athletes including Jeremy Jones, Ian Walsh, Sage Cattabriga-Alosa, and Seth Morrison. TGR is a proud member of 1 Percent for the Planet and strongly believes in protecting the environment in which the team works and plays. TetonGravity.com has become one of the leading online destinations and communities in the action sports industry delivering over 5 million pages views a month.

Based in Squaw Valley, CA, Jones Snowboards is the product of Jones’s desire to develop a line of snowboards catering specifically to freeriders.

Drawing on over 25 years in the snowboard industry and the peer proven talent that won him Snowboarder Magazine’s Big Mountain Rider of the Year Award an unprecedented eight times, Jones will combine his passion for freeriding with his vast research and design experience to deliver authentic products that far exceed today’s standards of freeride snowboards.

“I have started Jones Snowboards to develop the highest performance all-mountain snowboards on the market,” says Jones. “Freeride boards that reflect everything I’ve learned both on the snow and in the factory. Every snowboard we produce will be born of my passion and our designs will mirror the performance demands of my riding matched with the environmental demands of my conscience.”

The 125-year-old, family owned Swiss manufacturer Nidecker was chosen to engineer and manufacture Jones Snowboards because of their long-standing reputation as one of the most innovative and technologically advanced snowboard producers in the world.

“Jeremy’s talents have always inspired us here at Nidecker,“ says Henry Nidecker, company president. “We are excited to collaborate with him on this new project and offer Jones Snowboards both the award-winning technologies and the commitment to quality that we’re well known for after 25 years of building boards.”

With prototypes already in production, Jones Snowboards will make their first appearance at SIA and ISPO 2010. Expect worldwide distribution for the 2010-2011 winter season.

Contact: Info@jonessnowboards.com; www.jonessnowboards.com

As of today I am no longer working with Rossignol Snowboards. It has been an amazing experience and I want to thank everyone at the company for supporting me the last 19 years. You always gave me the freedom to do what I wanted with my snowboarding. Off the hill I learned a ton about how to develop snowboards from the start all the way to the snowboard shop. This has been my college education.
I want to give a special thanks to Francois Goulet, the North American President. He was pivitol in helping me get Protect Our Winters of the ground and always supported my ideas. It has been an amazing learning experience watching him lead the company.

I have so many great memories from my time with Rossignol and I wish them the best of luck in the future. Hope to see you all in the mountains.