If you haven’t checked out Kronicle backcountry snowboard magazine yet then you are missing out. This is a great magazine, packed full of mouth watering photography, backcountry gear reviews and great stories. This mag is geared towards people who love exploring the backcountry and riding fresh pow. We highly recommend buying a copy or two of their print material and following them online. Last week Jeremy Jensen, owner/creator of Grassroots Powdersurfing sat down with Kronicle Magazine to talk about the history of Grassroots and what the future holds for binding-free riding. Click the link below to check it out, and don’t forget to subscribe to their feed, their facebook page and their print mag. You will be glad you did.
Reading the title of this article I was a little estranged. “Local business owner creates extreme sport” seemed like a pretty big claim. It’s a stretch to put a finger on who “created” powsurfing, or the act of sliding sideways down mountains on boards free from bindings and ropes. It’s kind of like saying someone invented playing catch, or was the first person to run or skip. The concept and practice of binding-free snow sliding dates back centuries at the least. What we at Grassroots have done is create a tool (or toy) to encourage and enable riders to take this form of snow sliding to new levels, incorporating contemporary skate style and more of a true surf style than what we had seen in the past. We felt that if you were going to ride a bindingless board then it should be a board designed specifically for that task (rather than throwing a pad on a snowboard that is designed and built to be ridden with bindings) and you may as well be able to take full advantage of not having a board strapped onto your feet. Spin it, flip it, ollie it,.. make the most out of your ride to the bottom. If that’s what constitutes the creation of a new extreme sport then I guess we’ll wear that hat with pride.
Out of nowhere came an email from the Canadian National Television station wanting to do a story on Powsurfing. They said they couldn’t send a cameraman down to Utah and needed someone in the Whistler area to do the interview. As luck(?) would have it, Scotty Arnold and I just happened to be in the Whistler area at the time! I’ve only been to Canada twice in my life and this was a pretty crazy coincidence. I knew it had to be done so we set aside a day of our trip to do some PR work.
Bob Nixon, Scotty Arnold, and Simon ready for action
Avalanche conditions were high with a fresh couple of feet on top of a deep layer of surface hoar. We weren’t about to take a TV crew deep into the backcountry and put them and ourselves at risk. We had to settle for some very low angle slopes completely out of harms way. All the obvious signs of fresh wind slabs breaking everywhere, cracking, collapsing, etc confirmed our decision. On the approach to a relatively small but steep slope we remotely triggered numerous fresh slides that were a few inches deep, two steps later while crossing a creek the snow cracked loudly, breaking 4 feet deep and sending me into the creek bed below. One knee and one arm plunged into knee deep icy water. That sealed the deal and we relocated to another zone, very low angle and out of the way of any hang-fire.
The TV crew interviewed myself and Scotty Arnold about the history, the how, and the why. Really good interviews that kind of ended up butchered in the end, but so goes the mainstream tv world. The action shots were very mellow due to the sketchy conditions that day. We hiked a couple of short low angle lines and jumped off some small drops for their cameras and called it a day. Not the most epic day by any means but good for the PR machine. We were just stoked on the opportunity to spread the word about what we love to do and help Grassroots continue to grow.
Luckily we found a couple of little drops out of harms way for the TV crew
https://www.powsurf.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/CBC2.jpg7421080Jeremy Jensenhttps://www.powsurf.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/grassroots-powdersurfing-logo.svgJeremy Jensen2013-02-21 22:53:572015-09-16 06:05:47CBC TV Interview and Story on Grassroots Powdersurfing
We are stoked to have the support of more and more shops around the world. Salty Peaks has been a leading retailer in the industry for decades and we are proud to have our products on the shelves and in the museum. Check the Salty Peaks interview with Jeremy Jensen (founder/owner) of Grassroots Powdersurfing, pics and videos here!
https://www.powsurf.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/SaltyArticle.jpg570736Jeremy Jensenhttps://www.powsurf.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/grassroots-powdersurfing-logo.svgJeremy Jensen2013-01-18 02:59:562015-09-16 06:13:10Jeremy Jensen Interview on Salty Peaks Blog
“Treeline” is a Backcountry.com project dedicated to bringing you an elevated perspective—spotlighting the designers and craftsmen whose passion evolves the outdoor lifestyle. Grassroots Powdersurfing is stoked and proud to be working with Backcounty.com. They have supported us since our early days years ago and this means a lot to us. Big props to them for believing in what we do. Click here to check out the Backcoutnry Treeline Project. Check out the feature on Grassroots Powdersurfing below. Click Images to view full size.
Newborn Snowskate Magazine is born! This new magazine out features snowskating and all types of binding-free snow riding. Newborn is packed full of great imagery, artwork, interviews, product reviews and more. We are proud to be a part of issue #2. Below is an interview with Jeremy Jensen, creator and owner of Grassroots Powdersurfing.
https://www.powsurf.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/369257204_640.jpg480640Jeremy Jensenhttps://www.powsurf.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/grassroots-powdersurfing-logo.svgJeremy Jensen2012-12-13 18:25:502013-08-31 18:56:22The Future of Powsurfing and Binding-free Riding – Jeremy Jensen Inteview with Buoloco
Grassroots came up big in the latest issue of Starfish Snowskate Magazine with the cover, a full page ad, and an 8 page interview with Jeremy Jensen – Founder/Owner/Designer/Shaper/Builder/Cinematographer/Photographer/Web Designer/PR Guy/etc.. of Grassroots Powdersurfing. Jeremy is obviously a very busy man (which would explain the lack of blog posts this year) but he (I) found some time to sit down and answer a few questions about surfing powder, videography, photography, and Grassroots Powsurfers.
I had watched many interviews with top snowboarding pros over the years on Buoloco.com and I was stoked to get the call from Eduardo for a quick ichat and story.
https://www.powsurf.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/grassroots-powdersurfing-logo.svg00Jeremy Jensenhttps://www.powsurf.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/grassroots-powdersurfing-logo.svgJeremy Jensen2012-01-13 06:40:002013-08-31 20:08:11Buoloco.com Interview with Jeremy Jensen and Story about Powsurfing
We were super stoked when the writers for ESPN.com contacted us for a story. We provided them with a grip of unseen photos and some very detailed answers to a list of questions about what we are about and why we do what we do. They decided to start the new year off proper by running our story on the first day of 2012.
While the photos did not make it into the story (??) and many details were left out of the responses, we were pumped to have a story ran on such a major media outlet. Editing is necessary… especially when someone like me is rambling on and on about this obscure activity that is foreign to most people (powsurfing)… but it’s a bummer when points get missed or lines are used out of context. Journalism is a double edged sword.. Things can get pretty twisted around and the readers of these stories don’t realize this.
The response to our product, the films, and powsurfing in general has been overwhelmingly positive and it feels good to know that we are spreading stoke and opening minds in the world of snow sports. The few negative reactions we have seen are mostly due to misunderstandings. Dealing with the media is a funny thing.
https://www.powsurf.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/grassroots-powdersurfing-logo.svg00Jeremy Jensenhttps://www.powsurf.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/grassroots-powdersurfing-logo.svgJeremy Jensen2012-01-03 06:18:002013-08-31 20:14:46Grassroots Powsurfing on ESPN!
Grassroots Powdersurfing
