The premier issue of Kronicle Magazine is out and Grassroots Powdersurfing is stoked to have some content in the magazine! Check out the “Primal Pow”story for the goods!
When Kronicle Magazine contacted me about running a story on our boards I was stoked to say the least. This would be the debut issue for a new magazine focused purely on backcountry snowboarding and I knew their readers would be the ideal audience for what we have created.
I supplied Kronicle and their writers with a grip of photos to choose from and a lengthy and detailed interview about powsurfing, our boards, and the direction we are headed.We were stoked to see my photos of Craig and I slaying pow on our Grassroots Powdersurfers in the finished article. The written content ended up blending us in with a couple of other companies that were building hand made custom snowboards (with bindings) so that was a little confusing. Then there were the dreaded relations to “noboarding” in there. No offense to “noboarding” but what we are doing is NOT noboarding. We are riding boards that were designed to be ridden without bindings and we are not using ropes to hold the boards to our feet. We are not just throwing a rubber pad and bungi cord on an old snowboard.. there is a huge difference! With 75% of the photos being bindingless riding on our boards, It would have been nice to go into a little more detail about what sets Grassroots apart, but you don’t always get what you want. Although the written article ended up to be mostly about these other companies, we are grateful for the coverage that what we did get and super stoked on the opportunity. Big thanks is due to Mike Horn, Seth Lightcap, and Jesse Huffman!! ..and Kronicle Magazine
I never thought I would have my photo in a mag next to Johan Olofsson!
I was pretty stoked to get published in a world wide mag both as a photographer and and athlete. Technically, it was the second time I have had an action photo of myself published in a major magazine. The first was a photo of me in the Northface Masters competition at Snowbird a few years back…kicking out a big method off of a cliff onto a bullet proof landing and of course the photo was labeled with someone else’s name… just my luck! They didn’t even bother to correct their mistake. Lame.
We were delighted for coverage in such a widely distributed magazine. So much so that we bought our first ever add to run in the mag. Cost was very high for a small company like myself.. hopefully that investment pays off down the road.
Surely this add makes you want to buy a powsurfer right?
A nice little write up on Grassroots Powdersurfing in “Powder Propaganda” called “Surfing Powder…. Literally”
There are a few inaccurate lines in there, but what can you do. It seems that many journalists don’t want to send out proofs before they publish.. but I think if they did things would work out better for everyone!
November dealt us quite a few storms early on, and then things dried out for a few weeks. We had 3 feet or so come quick but with little to no base this still made for low tide conditions. This time of year is rad because there are so many little features and bumps that normally just get covered up. There is an extra challenge knowing that if you slam there isn’t much cushion in between you and the rocks, dirt and stumps under the shallow snow. This just adds to the excitement.
Wackin’ weeds in early november.
The first couple of rideable days this year we had about a foot to ride on. 12 inches of snow is pushing it for a base especially in light and dry snow, but the width of a powsurfer takes advantage of all 12 of those inches and makes for a pretty sick ride. The snowboards were carving down into the dirt, the bi-deck snowskates and powderskates were sinking to the bottom like rocks in the light deep pow, scraping the dirt and rocks,s but the float of the powsurfer made these early days awesome.
Hiking in the stoney grove
One of the things I dig most about early November pow is that it is usually super cold and dry, and the angle of the sun gives very interesting light and long shadows… it makes for some cool shots.
Milking the slivers of late light
Backside 180 over the sliver of light
We’ve been hitting up the classic early season spots… the hits in the “stash park” have been hitting, the tree weaving has been a blast, and the mellow grassy fields are always rad for ripping switch and trying tricks. The steep shots have been dealing up early season face shots! Now is the time for getting into those because the snowpack doesn’t really have slab layers yet. It’s just rotten “loud powder” all the way to the ground. Love that stuff, it rides really well and sounds rad when you slash it.
Jeremy – Kickflip in the powsurf “stash park”
KICKFLIPS!
Zach Shepherd poppin’ ollies
360 shuvit – Zach Shepherd
The upper fields are always holding
shooting tubes of cold smoke and rad light
Bobbing and weaving the tight trees is another familiar early season past time. These pines are so thick that the snow stays super good and a layer of pine needles softens the ground and makes it possible to rip thru them in super shallow snowpack. It’s rad how playful and agile the powsurf rides, you can weave trees like never before.. even without bindings I can get thru spots that my snowboard would get hung up on. There are a couple of chutes/ditches running thru these groves of trees that really get the heart pumping. Fallen logs, shallow snow, tight walls and no exits make for a wild ride.
Zach shooting out the end of the gauntlet
Flying out the upper gauntlet – the blur in the shot tells the story.. a fast and wild ride!
MID NOVEMBER
The snow finally stacked up enough to close down the road so at this point the sled season begins, at least for the approach. It’s not quite deep enough to climb anywhere on the sleds so a 7 mile road ride gets us to the base where the hiking begins. 30 minutes later we are on the top of some mellow grassy slopes, perfect for early season slashing.
Rolling up to the base camp packing a small quiver of powsurfs
A few minutes later we summit on foot, take a few minutes for our heads to adjust and the slashing begins
Roosting thru the upper fields
Another positive aspect of low snowpack is the amount of features that exist. Under deep coverage these natural jumps and drops would just be buried, so now is prime time for hitting up all the features that will soon disappear. The landings can be a bit sketchy cause there is just a couple of feet to cover the dirt and rocks beneath but that is just more motivation to land on your feet and ride away.
Cliff drop/Bush Ollie bottom angle
Top Angle
FS air
Slashing in the November light
LATE NOVEMBER
Late november arrived and it still hadn’t really snowed for weeks. We were basically shredding the same pow for 3 weeks and it was becoming harder to find good snow. It had stayed cold so most aspects were still holding powder but with only 3 feet of coverage the options were pretty slim. We became so desperate that we decided to brave the poor coverage and creep around on our sleds. All it takes is one big rock to do serious damage to the suspension on our snowmobiles so we crept around treading as lightly as possible. We managed to find some good fields to test out some of our new shapes and some fun features to bag some hammers on.
Creepin’ with with a quiver. One on my back and 3 on the sled.
The Phish shapes I had designed over the summer were riding pretty cool, not my favorite ride but interesting nonetheless. I shaped a diamond tail, a square tail, and a couple of swallow tails, all with a variety of different waist widths. The diamond tail 130 (pictured above) rode fast and straight. It is a relatively narrow board with a flat tail so it was responsive but still seemed to turn more like a snowboard than I would prefer, not as agile and playful as some of my favorite shapes. But it rode fast and had it’s own benefits in certain conditions. The swallows were interesting but again, not what I’m really after… they would probably sell good to people who didn’t know any better… because they look cool. The more testing we do the more we realize how much snowboarding has confused people when it comes to what makes a good shape for a powsurfer. People think that a long board with a giant nose and a long swallow tail is going to be the ultimate powsurf shape.. this is so NOT the case! It’s cool to have a board with a unique shape, but function always outweighs fashion if you want a good ride. I’m not saying the swallow tail boards don’t perform, they just perform differently and the ride you get is much more snowboard-like feel and not very “surfy” if that makes any sense. As far as Grassroots Powdersurfing is concerned, we are not trying to imitate snowboarding. We are bringing something new to the game of snow-sliding and that is what keeps things fresh for us. If we wanted a snowboard feel, we would ride a snowboard (with or without the bindings). We want to make boards that offer a new and unique feel, without factors that limit the way you can ride and the tricks you can do. That is what powdersurfing is all about.
Having a snowmobile doesn’t mean you don’t ever have to hike to get to the goods.
Almost there…
From the top we rally some open pow fields on the way down to some features we found to play on. Slashing the fields is rad but we always want a challenge so we try to get freestyle on the way down. Kicktails! I don’t know why you wouldn’t want one. Crusing pow is great and all but who likes to be glued to the ground the whole time? The ability to ollie is a priority in the design of our boards adding agility to the overall ride, allowing the rider to ride backwards and putting some pop under your feet. Even on flat slopes you can get some air time without the help of a bump or jump.
FS air on the 120 “Slasher”
Pop shuvit over a hippie track on the 140 Twin Powder Skate
Hard to tell what the hell is going on here. I’ll give you a hint, its deep, sunny, and the pow is some high quality shit!
We arrive at our features and it’s game on. Slam a few times, stomp a few times.. its all fun. If you’re not slamming you’re probably not learning so there is no shame in eating shit once in a while… or a lot. I really wanted to bag some good kickflips on both stills and video so I sought out some drops with good takeoffs and got to it.
I’d been wanting the nose angle of a kickflip for a while, makes for a sick shot on video as the world spins around and the rider stays upright… trip out… (see video below)
Ollies… the root of all freestyle
One last kickflip to cap off another fun day
November was great despite the lack of snowfall late in the month. We had lots of sunny cold days in some unique and interesting terrain. Although our options grew smaller every day, this just meant we had to get creative, and creativity always leads to progression.
https://www.powsurf.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/03.jpg360480Jeremy Jensenhttps://www.powsurf.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/grassroots-powdersurfing-logo.svgJeremy Jensen2011-11-26 17:35:002023-09-15 19:06:21November 2011 in a nutshell – MEGA POST
Introducing “The Powsurf Chronicles” a series of short films about powsurfing. We will be dropping Chronicles throughout the winter season to keep the stoke running high and share with our audience the things that set Grassroots Powdersurfing (and powsurfing in general) apart from the rest of the world of snow sports.
The teaser is just the tip of the iceberg and it should give you a small glimpse of what’s in store for the future. With so many bangers, hammers and hum-dingers to sift thru, it took a while to get this little teaser done. We are stoked to pump out a few short videos this year that offer a little glimpse into what we have been up to over the past few years. The good times, the bad, history, direction, evolution, potential… there are so many avenues to base these films on.. the hard part is picking one and sticking with it.
So here’s the tease… and stay tuned for more. We will crank these out the best we can with the limited time we have. Hopefully they will open some eyes and minds, and get people stoked to go outside, grab a Grassroots powsurfer, and go get a face full of powder.
Shot, Edited, Directed, and Produced by Jeremy Jensen.
Other cameras: Josh Surna, Aaron Hunt, Craig Stevenson, Kanika Koh, Erik Haberstick, and Dave Smellie.
It’s super rare to get such brilliant colors frosted in white. Beautiful drive.
The first early season tease of snow fell on October 7th 2011. We rallied up to the “sacred grove” to check the depth and were delighted to find enough pow to snowskate the campground and powsurf the upper fields.
Check the video!
These early season sessions are what motivated us to start riding bindingless over a decade ago. We were always super excited to ride some pow, but we were bored with riding the mellow grassy slopes while strapped into our snowboards. After a decade of evolution, we are having more fun than ever surfing and skating the snow up here. Ditching the bindings has made it so much more challenging and rewarding.
Kickflip on that same ol bump in the earth I hit every year around this time.
Dave Smellie and I tested out some new shapes.. Look out for the “Phish”, our newest directional shape. Super fun ride, flat swallowed tail… makes for some nice drawn out turns. (and of course it makes a really cool looking track)
Where would board sports be without the ollie? So crucial.
Looks can be deceiving.. I rolled up a couple days later to bluebird conditions, only to find the white stuff was crusted solid. Can’t wait for the next storm!
https://www.powsurf.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/05.jpg360480Jeremy Jensenhttps://www.powsurf.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/grassroots-powdersurfing-logo.svgJeremy Jensen2011-10-09 19:28:002015-09-26 18:58:26Early Season Weed Wackin’
The October issue of SLUG magazine just hit the shelves and there is a nice little two page story on Grassroots Powdersurfing. Big thanks to Slug mag and Shawn Mayer for coming up to Logan and checking out what we do.
Slug magazine has been supporting the local underground and music scene since 1988, and I must say they do a damn fine job of it.
We have been hard at work stocking up on boards for the upcoming season. Over the past spring and summer we’ve been playing a bit with some new shapes and styles.. . taking advantage of some of the scraps that are lying around. We are excited to get some of these on the snow. There are a few that we just built for fun and they probably aren’t the best everyday boards.. but they will have their days where they rip for sure. Unfortunately we will have to wait for snow to fall to find out.
“The Blue Bomber” is just one of a bunch of experimental shapes we’ve got brewing.
Makeshift kick tail support for the flat backed boards. Helps keep the feet on but we are finding that the flat tailed decks are not super playful.
We have built and tested 30+ different shapes and sizes and it’s pretty cool to discover all of the differences in the way each one rides. Some subtle and others are very apparent. Some ride great and some will do better hanging on a wall somewhere. Shape is key.
A small collection of the quiver that has built up over the past 4 years.. the room wasn’t big enough for the whole quiv.
We decided to stick to a few shapes and sizes that have been tried and true for the 2011 line.
Shaping is a blast but we had to narrow down what we were going to offer to the public for now. There are a couple more that we may release after they have been properly tested and dialed in but this will likely be the line.
Adam in AZ is an old Winterstick rider from the 70’s. He saw what we have been doing and liked what was amped to have a custom board made for him. I customized this “Rocket” for him shaped for his height, weight and foot size. I wish I could have taken a few rides on her before I sent it off.
Custom “Red Rocket” built for Adam in AZ.
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 Jensen2011-09-07 14:41:002012-11-29 05:26:40Shapes, scraps, and customs… decisions.
Production has been in high gear since the season finally came to an end. I’ve revamped and updated the website, processed hours and hours of footage and photos, and pressed as many boards as possible. I have a grip of new experimental shapes and sizes and I can’t wait to take them for a test drive.
We are involved in a bunch of new media about to hit the magazine stands, the television, and the interwebs this fall. It will be interesting to see how “the masses” react to this stuff. Maybe they love it, maybe they hate on it.. Either way, It won’t affect the amount of fun I have surfing the pow.
Grassroots Powdersurfing Sweatshop – Manville, USA
The “Red Rocket”… aka “The Bomb”
Given the MANY hours I spend building these boards, I get pretty attached to them. I have a hard time letting them go really. Hopefully they find find happy homes and live up to their full potential.
Late season snowstorms and cold temps were back in full swing in late May. I was due to leave for Kauai on a surf filming mission this weekend so I decided to leave a day early in hopes of bagging some late season pow at the bird. It had been dumping hard for 3 days and snowbird was due to open up on friday with 30 new inches. I woke up stoked and I waited patiently for the road to open after the avy control had finished up. The road opened on schedule and just as I was about to race to the car the bad news hit… Snowbird was not going to open today because of too much snow! They have been running weekends only for the past few weeks so they had not kept up with their avalanche control work and they decided it was too dangerous to open that day. I was pretty pissed after driving all the way from Logan and getting my hopes up to slash 3 feet of pow in late May.
I settled down and got on the phone to everybody I knew in the area to try to find a buddy to go hike some powsurf lines with. I had brought a couple of extra powsurfers with me for friends to ride. Nobody was into it. Who could resist a waist deep pow day in late May?! So I went at it alone. Not the smartest thing to do given all the red flags of the day – snowbird choosing not to open, 3 feet of new snow in May, potential for major warming…etc. However, 20 years shredding the backcountry has taught me that safe travel is still possible if you’re smart about it.
Luckily, Alta had been running their snowcats and had been grooming throughout the week so I didn’t have to hike in waist deep snow. I marched up the groomer passing ski supremacist hippies left and right. (Alta is a “skier only” resort, snowboards are forbidden)
The groomer made the hike up a walk in the park.
I love hiking with the powsurfers becasue they are so light and minimalistic. Of course I get all the awkward looks from people muttering things like “what the hell is that?” and “how do you ride down without bindings”…. I reply with “it’s a powdersurfer” and “gravity”. Some people are intrigued and stoked at the concept and some people can’t quite fathom it (especially your average hippy at Alta). They get all sorts of confused when you blow by them on the ride down.
Balls deep at 10,000 feet
Top of Collins Chair – Strictly Forbidden area for snowboarders
Looks like I’m authorized
Visibility was pretty poor so I decided the trees beneath the Collins chair were a good bet for good pow and better vis. The wind was raging so I quickly gave praise and dropped in for a warm up run. I knew it was going to be pretty deep but I didn’t expect it to be nearly waist deep.
After a short warm up run it was on! Conditions were epic – even for mid winter. Now where to go?
Decisions decisions….
The signs were very helpful…
I ripped a bunch of lines down “sunspot” under the collins chair. Nicely spaced trees kept the pow safe from the wind and the visibility good. The snowpack was so high that I nearly hit my head on the chairs as I slashed by them.
Tree barrel
Almost hit my head on the chair
After 5 runs on the upper mountain I was spent. I headed for one of my favorite zones at Alta for my lower descent. The Wildcat zone holds some sick steep shots with tons of features to launch off of. I had to do some trailblazing in waist deep snow to get there but it was well worth the effort. The snow was pretty saturated on the lower mountain so I needed a good steep run. Although the snow was not as good down here, this was still the funnest run of the day. Super steep chutes with fun buttons left and right- all the way down to the parking lot.
Faceshots galore, fun bumps everywhere, I was in powsurf heaven. I left super stoked to get a nice deep pow day that could be the last of the season. 10 hrs later I hopped on a flight to Kauai and spent the next 10 days soaking in the sun, surfing, and chilling out in a tropical paradise. Pretty epic ender to another epic season.
Peep the footy below!
https://www.powsurf.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/07.jpg360480Jeremy Jensenhttps://www.powsurf.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/grassroots-powdersurfing-logo.svgJeremy Jensen2011-05-21 22:28:002012-11-29 05:56:16Alta is for Powsurfing
It has been 5 or 6 days since the last storm so I kept my hopes low for the day. We rode strapped for the morning and I scouted for deeper pow in the afternoon. Turned out we found some pow just deep enough to surf on the highest north facing slopes.
Earning my turns
I managed to grab a few good still shots with my remote trigger as the sun fell low into the sky. Too good to put on the blog… gonna have to stay tuned for those. My battery died in my remote as the light became just perfect so I was a bit let down. I managed to get some pretty nice video instead.
Slashing above the Mt. Naomi Wilderness
Aaron and I spent the morning snowboarding/skiing. There were some lines we had been waiting all year to hit. They were finally safe enough to shred, but the pow was not quite deep enough to powsurf.
We have been looking at these lines off of Mt. Magog, waiting for the right day. It could be years before they fill in good enough to ride. Hopefully we can nail this one in the next few weeks.
Grassroots Powdersurfing
