JAMES JACKSON

In case you don't already know, James Jackson is: a bad-ass snow shredder for Nitro, a core shop owner, a park guru, the man in charge at High Cascade snowboard camp, Janna Meyen's unofficial coach ("We ride together a lot and I get to yell at her sometimes," Jackson laughs) and an all-around good-natured human being. He also likes using impressive dictionary words like "copasetic"!

What was your role at the Gravity Games?

JJ: Basically, I was brought on to put together the rail section of the slopestyle. I Just made sure everything looked and rode really well.

How did it feel to watch everyone ride the course you put so much work into?

JJ: That was actually the coolest thing. But the whole night before anybody got to ride it, I didn't sleep at all because I kept stressing if anything was too close or too far or if the jumps were too far away from the rails. But then the next day when it worked out, it was such a huge weight off my shoulders and I was so ecstatic that people could do everything that I envisioned them to do. I really wanted to put together a course that flowed really well, where you wouldn't have trouble getting to this or that. And it wasn't such a crazy thing, no circus rails. I hate circus rails and stupid stuff like that.

How do you really feel about circus rails?!

JJ: I don't think there's a need for them in snowboarding. It should be a pretty straight forward but creative rail and that's what I wanted to do. I just wanted to have people be comfortable to up the anty and really go off and to showcase their ability and not just showcase the rail and how circusy and rollercoastery it could be.

You're pretty rare in that you actually ride the course you work on.

JJ: Right. That's also another thing I think is important. I refuse to learn how to drive a cat because I really feel that if you're putting together a course like this for riders, you should be able to ride the stuff. One of the benefits for me is that I'm riding the course all day, I'm listening to what people are saying, people are giving me feedback and I can be like, "Well, I just hit that jump and I made it no sweat, so maybe you should try this," kind of thing. Or, "I just cased the crap out of that six times in a row. It needs to come down." I definitely can make those changes and make it work out because I'm going through it and hitting it all.

How did you like working with Pat Melandowski and Planet designs?

JJ: I've been working with Pat in retail and snowboarding with him for at least 15 years. Pat is my mentor; he has taught me a lot about life as well as everything I know, so I really appreciate working with him.

This being your first event, is it something you're going to pursue in the future?

JJ: It makes me really excited, but I am a busy, busy person. It really stoked me out to be able to do this, but if I want to put the time into it and make it work really well I have to put 110 percent into it. I could get drained, so if that's gonna happen, then something else has got to give. I know my limits as an individual and I have to make sure that I'm not half-assing anything.