Outdoor Central Oregon January/February 2020 | Page 17

JAN/FEB 2020
17
P: Pete Alport
OOM: Since your dad was a pro
surfer from Australia and your
mom a pro mountain biker do you
think your fate was sealed early?
JE: I think I knew from a pretty
young age that I wanted to be doing
the snowboard thing. Having par-
ents that were involved in that realm
for sure helped reinforce confidence
in what I’m doing. Very supportive.
They’re the best.
OOM: Did you go for any tradi-
tional team sports as a kid or
were you always just into stand-
ing sideways on boards?
JE: I played soccer and still do. A
nice change of pace from the snow/
skate/surf thing every once in a
while.
OOM: Tell us about your time in
Montana. How did it compare to
Bend?
JE: I spent close to 14 years of my
life there. It’s a super interesting
place, very different lives people
are living there. I think I had a pretty
amazing childhood living there in
the woods with my brother, biking
around the neighborhood and what
not. The snowboard scene there
is super funny sometimes, at least
where I was. Lots of country folk hit-
ting the slopes.
OOM: So then the Elston crew
picked up and moved to Bend.
How old were you and what drew
the family to Bend?
JE: I would’ve been 13 when we
moved here. There wasn’t much for
us in Montana and it made sense
to move here with the lifestyles we
have. We did one trip here and we
were really excited about it, it was
time for a fresh start for us.
OOM: When you got to Bend did
you start right in with the home
schooling or did you do some
public school?
JE: I went to Summit High School
for a sec, but didn’t make many
friends there. My snowboard friends
were all doing high school online
and snowboarding every day, so I
just did that with them for the rest of
high school.
OOM: Who was in your mountain
crew when you were coming up?
JE: SLOTH- Dru Brownrigg, Wi-
ley Jones, Van Allen, Gabe Ferg,
Nathan Jacobson, Mikey Klautzsch.
Miss riding with all those fools.
OOM: What were some of the
snowboard films that influenced
your style of riding? Who were
some of the pro shredders who
got you stoked?
JE: I say this a lot I feel like, and as
corny as some people might think it
is, the Travis Rice movies changed
everything for me, especially Thats
It That’s All. I think after watching
that, I was like “Ok, I want to be a
pro snowboarder.” I really liked the
standard movies as well.
OOM: In the beginning you
chased the contest scene around,
when did you realize contest
weren’t for you and that you could
progress your riding in a differ-
ent direction? Were you getting
recognized as a contest kid? Or
did the recognition start when you
started to just freeride and film?
JE: Basically I was starting to gain
traction doing these higher level
competitions, but in doing so, got
pretty bummed on snowboarding
with how jocky it was. Obviously
such a cliche in snowboarding but
that’s how it went. It was Decem-
ber of 2016 and I had a decision to
make on whether or not I wanted
to pursue competitive snowboard-
ing, and to me it kind of seemed
like that was the only route I had
available to “make it” in snowboard-
ing. But I was approached to film
for Crab Grab’s Crunchtime by Max
Warbington and Tyler Orton. I think
I made my decision that day to quit
contests for good. I filmed for that
month as hard as I could and that’s
really where I think I got my start.
A few years later and I’m travelling
the world snowboarding. Absolute
dream come true.
OOM: You have won the Big Wave
Challenge twice and got to take