The Burton Global Team was here in town last week, and pro snowboarder/big mountain legend Victoria Jealouse stopped by
SG to swap stories and kick it with us ladies. Here's a look at what's been going on in her world lately- and what's to come.
-- K.S.
So how was your summer?
Great, but sooooo busy. I finished my winter in May, then did some product meetings with Burton in June, then went to Argentina in July, then NYC, SoCal, Jackson Hole [Wyoming] (to help edit a video part), then New Zealand for the Burton Fall Catalogue shoot (I got to go heli-snowboarding with Jake [Burton]). Then I went to Europe for the European part of the Burton World Tour, and now I'm just finishing the North American part of the tour in L.A. I think I get most of November off, but I'll be riding as soon as the snow flies. I really need to do laundry.
Everyone's got one place they pray gets smacked with a big dump early in the season. What's yours?
Whistler [British Columbia]. I'd love to be home, riding in the early season. Just lapping the resort and then into the backcountry with my snowmobile.
Last time I saw you, back in the last week of March, you were heading from Shannon Dunn's P!Jamma Party to Alaska for some heli time. What are your fly-over plans for the upcoming winter?
Yeah, that turned out to be an awesome trip! Maybe even the best heli trip of my life. I was filming with TGR (Teton Gravity Research), who makes snowboard/ski films, for a part in their movie, High Life, and it turned out really well. I will probably be filming with them again this year. I will be heli-ing again in late May and for all of April. But most of the season I will be filming by accessing the backcountry by snowmobile. That is what I spend most of my time doing, trying to do all the things that people do in terrain parks in natural terrain and fresh snow -- except I have to build the kickers myself, with a shovel. It's a lot of work, but I think it's more fun. It's like a magical experience to be way out there in the mountains.
Any plans to compete this year? Where?
Well, I always hit the Legendary Mt. Baker Banked Slalom [in Washington State] -- the best snowboard contest ever! It's one I can't miss because it's the most fun and I get to see all my friends there. I will probably also hit the Jackson Hole Banked Slalom too. Last season I competed in the Adrenalin X, which was an invite-only comp for TV. It was fun, so if something comes up again like those kinds of competitions, that really test all aspects and skills of riding, then I'll probably do it.
How do you spend your time when you're not riding?
Dragging my bags through airports... Traveling, mostly. I spend so much time riding and doing snowboard-related things (like helping design clothes and boards and boots) that I have put a lot of things that I really want to do on hold for when I get old. Right now I'm so into riding, I just want to do everything I can to make sure that I get to ride as much as possible, and to be able to follow the good snow around. But I love to make things. I have a lot of tools, and someday I want to make my furniture and build a house and have horses.
B.C. looks like a washed-out wasteland right now. How do you think that will affect the snowfall and conditions this season? Did the insane weather negatively affect you or anyone you know?
Yes. My backyard flooded -- I guess it looked like a river about three feet deep that came about 10 feet from my house. All the storage stuff in my shed got wet, so I'll probably have to throw out a bunch of stuff when I get home. But my friend Kendra Starr -- she's an awesome pro snowboarder and my best friend -- had a huge river flood her basement for a few days. She said she moved all her stuff upstairs, but there is some damage and a big mess now. I heard that other friends of mine had just their roofs above the water and their whole house got underwater. I haven't been home yet, so I don't know all the details. It's sad. It just shows us how powerful Mother Nature is. One month we were in a state of emergency from out-of-control wildfires, and then the next we were in a state of emergency from floods. Pretty crazy.
