Jeremy Jones

Almost ten years ago to the day I finished my season with one of the best runs of my life down Pontoon Peak. Since that moment those experiences have held a place in my most cherished memory bank. I refer to lines like this as “life time achievement awards.” The list is short for these lines, The Tusk, Grizzly Spine, The Brothel, Meteorite, Storm Troopers, Shoulder of Death, Stevie Wonder and Pontoon Peak.

It towers above the rest of the Chugach and sits all by itself as if other mountains were afraid to get close to it. Whenever I am around it I feel it gravitational pull and can not take my eyes off it. The fact that it was ridden in the early 90’s by Trevor Petterson and Eric Pehota proves to me that I was not the only one to feel Pontoons pull. At the time terrain like this was considered unridable and most of the Chugach was unridden. To top it off Trevor and Eric had to sit on the skids(Pontoons) in order to land the peak. It was so far outside the realm of what people where doing at that time that they must have felt like astronauts exploring outer-space.

I do not know when Trevor said these words, ‘THERE COMES A TIME WHEN ONE MUST RISK SOMETHING OR SIT FOREVER WITH ONES DREAMS,” but there is a good chance it was siting on the pontoons of the heli moments before being lifted to the top of Pontoon Peak.

“Airy” is the best way to describe the feeling of standing on top of the Peak. There is a weight to the air one can only get by standing on an edge that drops away thousands of feet on all sides. I felt myself crawling to my line even tough I had a few feet on either side of me.

Dropping in the rollover seemed to never end and I felt like I was riding on the edge of the world. 5,000 feet below I hopped over the bergschrund just as the shadow crept up the face. It would be my last run of the trip and was a story book ending to an incredible Alaskan experience.

Have you ever seen a better looking mountain? Whether is person or in a photo I have looked at this Peak more then any other mountain in the world. The line I hit 10 years ago is the center spine to cliff. Do to the conditions this year I started off the peak and faded to the right exiting just lookers right of the cliff.

So much sick terrain everywhere you look but it is hard to take your eyes off of Pontoon.

We landed on the bump in the center of the ridge. The 100 yard walk was the width of a sidewalk butdo to the exposure on both sides it felt like a tight rope.

I took at least 50 photos of the peak over a two week period.

A good view of the Peterson and Pehota line down the right hand ridge. The bottom of the photo is the halfway point.

Right before going up I talked Travis into getting in the Heli and riding it. He has the right mix of respect for the mountains and balls to deal with exposure. Look for him to carry the torch of legit Big Mountain riding. Being one of the biggest peaks in the range the Northwest face get the last light. We dropped in at 8:45 at night and did not get home until 10 at night.

THAT’S IT, THAT’S ALL! Check out the movie coming this fall. If you have not seen the teaser check this link. Check back in a few weeks for the new teaser.

http://snowboardermag.com/videos/flash/thats-it-thats-all-teaser-travis-rice/

The thing I was looking forward to most coming to Valdez was getting to ride some bigger lines.  Lately we have trended toward smaller lines 700 to 1200 vertical feet.  For putting lines on film this size seems to work best.  It allows riders to push it harder because the falls are a lot shorter and the risks are more manageable.  That is not to say I do not like bigger lines,  I actually obsess over the big ones.  It is just really hard to find big faces that can be ripped top to bottom as well as getting them in the right conditions.

My memory of Valdez was of huge lines that could be ripped top to bottom.  What I have seen my first few days out has confirmed this but the avalanche conditions were so gnarly I figured I would never gain the confidence in the snow pack it would take to commit to the big lines.

That all changed with a major wind event.  I always say, “take what the mountains give you.”  Today they gave us the big stuff.

The afternoon menu. The big one in the back followed by the  big spine just coming into light on the far right bowl.

A 3200vertical foot face.  This is the biggest face I have ever bombed and ranks high in the trophy case.  Think Snowbird Tram for vertical drop comparison.

The only landing for this line was in the upper right hand corner. It took me 45 minutes of billy goating over exposure to get to the top of the fluted spines on the middle right of the photo.  The reward was the longest spine of my life clocking in at 2300 feat,  the size of Kt Chair at Squaw.  Travis and Lando stepped up and hit the face to the left.

It came at a price.  My “sluff free” exit was not as clean as I had hoped and I ended up cartwheeling over the bergchrund and getting punched in the nose by my knee.

Possible lines for tomorrow? Pontoon looms in the background.  If this high pressure continues I hope to ride it.

Three weeks of unsettled weather has come to an end. It took a high pressure the size of Russia to clear things out but unfortunately the sunny skies have come with a strong north wind. It is the dreaded north wind that does the damage because it strips the north faces, the aspect we ride, of all its soft snow. It was a sad day yesterday looking at the peaks with big mohawks of snow coming of of every peak. Today the winds died a little bit and we were able to get into some low elevations lines. Our first look of the damaged mountains was not pretty but past experience has taught me that somewhere in this range of mountains is some protected snow. The good news. Avalanche went from “high” to “moderate” on the north faces.

So much to do, so little time. I could spend days just looking at these mountains.

The north wind doing its damage. Frostbite warning was in effect. I spent half the day swinging my feet trying to keep from losing my toes.

Bouncing around in the heli getting blown off of every landing we got close to Nicolas said what was on everyones mind, “lets go surfing. ” Travis stuck to his guns, found a landing low down and built a jump. This is the start of the in run. Landvik is dropping in and will point it to the jump below hitting speed upward of 50 mph.Travis gets creative with a cornice jib.

Landvik sends it.

Nico wraps up the jump session just as the wind dies down and the evening light starts to light up the north faces. We headed across the way to the spines in the background in hopes that the Tusk(the peak in the middle) would protected them from the wind.

The only way to tell how wind hammered this snow is to ride them. With no real exposure I was willing to give it a go.

My track. Even though it was not that deep the wind was ripping up the face making my last four turns totally blind. The snow is about boot deep and gives us some hope that we will find more of it.

From the moment I got of the plane the memories have been flowing threw my head as vividly as if they were yesterday. It was here in Valdez 14 years ago that my life got redirected on a coarse that I am still on today.

The real moment came toward the end of my trip on Meteorite Peak. I was standing on top of the biggest blind role I have ever seen and about to drop into what I still consider the best run of my life. I looked over to my brother and said, “everything has changed.” I was already on this coarse but it was here that all doubt was put to rest once and for all. Any hopes my parents had of me living a traditional life were over. One way or another I was going to be snowboarding as much as possible in Alaska.

Over the next seven years Valdez became my home for the month of April. It was on these grounds that the doors of pro snowboarding opened up for me. I went from sleeping in tents on the pass, living on a Clif Bars to an established pro snowboarder.

After a long break (7 years) I am back in Valdez filming with Travis Rice for his new movie That’s It, That’s All. Travis is pushing the envelope of riding and film making with his new movie and I am grateful for the opportunity to be apart of it.

Travis and his toys. The camera ship and the rider ship in the back. Planet Earth meets snowboarding.

We were worried about stability so picked this short line with isolated terrain features, a clean out run and plenty of islands of safety.

My first run in Valdez in seven years.

Travis on his first line of the day. We were worried about this pocket sliding and it…

…. slid. Thanfully Travis cut it perfectly and made it to his island of safety.

Afternoon session. Travis and Nicolas digging a pit to check the stability.

Landvik, Nicolas, and Travis watch as our guide Dean Cummings gets ready to make a ski cut.

The results of the ski cut.

You can look bu you can’t touch….until the stability gets better.

Eight years ago we had a problem on our hands. Valdez, the place that changed our lives and became an annual pilgrimage every spring was getting played out. Those endless horizons of unnamed peaks where no longer a mystery and any peak worth a dam had a staked out landing that belonged to one of the 4 heli operations. Our lawless dreamland was becoming over run with rules and film crews. You had a better chance of getting a first descent in the Tetons then the Chugach and we were re-shooting the same terrain year after year.

The desire for a new world led us to Skagway, 40 miles from Haines. Our new world turned into our worst trip ever and after three weeks we tucked our tails and drove threw the night back to Valdez . It was not all for nothing. Total desperation had set in and we found ourselves flying away from the rock strewn, wind hammered peaks of Skagway toward “the white” in a fixed wing plane. “The White” turned out to be 30 miles outside of Haines with a gas station/restaurant sitting perfectly in the hart of it. A year later we made an agreement to base out of 33 Mile Road House and the rest is history.

We did all we could to down play Haines calling it South East Alaska and claiming the weather was way worse then Valdez. The footage contradicted our claims and after a few year people caught on. The 33 Mile Road House is now over run with riders and acts as a makeshift lodge. Roner and Morrison do the 3 hour meal in hopes of an afternoon session.

If you want to ride in Haines you better know Sean Dog. He started the operation so he could ride with his friends. His operation is “AK Style.” You will not be picked up in a fancy car or served hot chocolate on the glacier but with any luck you will ride the best run of your life.

For years you would be hard pressed to see another pro rider in Haines. In the hart of the season there will be up to 50 pro skiers or snowboarders milling around outside the roadhouse. Fredi K ready at a moments notice.

A typical day in Haines. Up at five, flying at 7, milked out by 8, freeriding/digging pits until 10, 2 hour lunch at 33 Mile, 1 hour nap in the car, slight clearing at 3, taking this photo of Roner at 4…..

…..glassed off and filming by 5. The terrain park. Not a bad way to wake up from a nap.

Where did this thing come from and how come I have never seen it or ridden it? It sits behind one of the most frequently ridden parts of the range. I was not ready to step up to the spine line off the peak so I settled for the knob to the right. The landing was the size of a cocktail table and cleared any lingering cobwebs left over from my nap. We got back to base at 7, hotel room at 9, alarm set for 5AM. Calling for blue skies tomorrow.