LEFT TO RIGHT “Last January, when a slower-than-usual start to winter in Japan pushed us out of familiar zones on Hokkaido, we steered our eight-passenger Hiace van toward a tiny hamlet that had a ryokan complete with sprawling onsen, a 7-Eleven directly across the street and some snow. The ryokan offered an unreal dinner buffet with all the curry, udon and tempura you could eat. The 7-Eleven was our stop for coffee and snacks each morning, where we loaded up our pockets with rice triangles and gummy candy to power us through long days of hiking and riding. And the snow, well, we found it, thanks to the uncanny abilities of Jess Kimura. She led us into the woods where we uncov-ered rolling terrain rife with opportunity, as long as we were willing to make it happen. On the first day out, Jess found this tree and saw potential through the branches. The effort was well worth the reward, as it always is in these situations, because sometimes to really see the forest, you just need to go through the trees.” Photo: Mary Walsh “When traveling to Hokkaido, the north island of Japan, it’s hard not to head for the famous terraced barriers we’ve all seen in so many snowboard movies. This was the first thing we shot on this particular trip, and in true Jess fashion she sent it several times deep into the pocket. The thing I love about Jess’ riding is her tenacity and willingness to put it all on the line to get what she wants.” Photo: Mike Yoshida Most people don’t make it if they’re already in their 20s… I’d been told nobody makes it when they are over 20. I got out of the hospital and they said, “Don’t snowboard because your liver has a weak spot; you should be careful even walking down stairs.” I moved to Whistler and figured I could train by skating. I moved into a closet for $500 a month and met Dave Rouleau at the first King of the Bowl skate contest. I didn’t stick to my staying-on-the-ground promise. I was hucking meat out of the bowl, doing fly-outs. Dave was like, “Oh, you’re kind of crazy. Want to film for Gnar-Core?” 1 I couldn’t afford a season pass and I worked at the recycling center, which was dope. That’s how I met Ben Bilocq, who I live with to this day—[Laurent-Nicolas Paquin] also worked there. I was looking for street spots around Whistler. Then my roommate, Emily—she lived in a room above my closet—had a Canada West pass for ski racing. She would go get her day ticket in the morning, get on the gondola, and I’d wait on the road. She’d drop her glove out with this pass in it and I’d get on then drop the glove to my third friend. We’d go up and film each other. Then Dave got you on the Gnar-Core program? I tried to shoot on every street spot I could find around Whistler and I went on a few trips with dudes like Beau Bishop and Chris Ras-man. At the time I was so pissed off. I felt like I had these important years stolen from my life and I probably wasn’t going to make it as a pro snowboarder because of it. So by the time I came to Whistler, I was in full-on don’t-give-a-fuck mode. If I was going to go down, I’d make sure I went down swinging. It might not have been the best approach, but it was an approach. 1 An underground Whistler production from the late 2000s to the mid-2010s. Did you even have a sponsor then? I was getting boards from Rome. I hit the team manager up a bunch of times with my big, lofty, “here are all my dreams and how I’m going to make them happen” email. I never heard back. Then he came to Whis-tler and his truck broke down. I was living in a room with four other people, maybe 20 in the house including a couple dudes who rode for Rome. The [team manager] came to stay there. We had a setup in the yard and he was filming the guys. He’d put his camera down when I would drop in, wouldn’t even film me. Finally, he needed a ride into town because his truck was still broken. I drove him there. I thought this was my chance and said, “I see what Marie-France Roy is doing. She’s my hero. I’m going to be like that. I’m going to do everything I can to change everything for girls.” And he was like, “Yeah, there isn’t really anyone besides [Marie] that’s going to do it. Don’t bother.” He stopped sending me boards shortly after. I was 24 and it looked like the end of the road. I decided to finish off that winter then go back to school. Shortly afterward I happened to tag along with a friend of mine who was picking up some bindings from a distributor in Vancou-ver. When we walked in, Mikey Scott was sitting there on a computer. He recognized me from SilverStar because he grew up riding there. He said, “We are distributing for this new company. Would you be down to ride a board? It’s called Capita.” I was like, “I will take this snowboard and I will change the world with it!” He’s like, “You can just ride it in the park. That’ll be good enough.” I went straight home, built a quarterpipe in my backyard and got to work with a photographer. I sent [Mikey] photos of me riding the board later that week. As spring turned to summer, I was working construction so I was only able to ride one or two days a week. When I’d get up on the [Blackcomb] glacier I would go crazy, hiking everything because waiting in line for the T-bar was taking too long. 076 THE SNOWBOARDER’S JOURNAL
The Snowboarder's Journal The Snowboarder's Journal 18.4: Page 76
