KEVIN JONES

LEGENDARY INFO:

DOB: 1/23/1975
Hometown Mountain: Mammoth Mtn., CA
Stance: Regular

Before Shaun White won everything, Kevin Jones did!

Three-time SNOWBOARDER Magazine Rider of the Year Kevin Jones, aka KJ, is a personality. Known for his antics on-camera as well as his off-color approach to snowboarding, Jones was able to not only innovate and create, but also deviate from the structure of what a pro snowboarder should be.

Newly-retired shred Lukas Huffman saw KJ’s revolutionary impact. “He did sh*t that had never been done before. All of a sudden you didn’t have to follow the rules and regulations.”

From rewinding his way to notoriety at Mt. Hood in 1993 to tackling Tahoe’s off-piste with never-before-seen backcountry tricks (including various rodeos and 900 and 1080 spins), KJ was quickly on the fast track to sideways-standing stardom.

In the late nineties, Kevin led the jibbing movement with a level of board control that was unsurpassed. X Games medalist-turned-Jones ex Tara Dakides claims, “Jibbing. He started that sh*t!” After unveiling his own variation of the 450 onto a rail, KJ became a static figure atop the podium and in film with video parts that combined humor with heroics, including a boardslide off a forty-foot cliff in Technical Difficulties.

Although Kevin may have faded from today’s contest spotlight, his influence is still strong in snowboarding. KJ and his video parts helped make Mammoth and Tahoe the freestyle destinations that they are today. Fourth-tallest regular-footer ever Chris Engelsman knows where to give credit where credit’s due. As E-Tree explains, “He would ride the Mammoth park long before all the East Coast kids moved there, dial in his tricks, stomp everything, and win every contest.” Or, as Lukas Huffman puts it, “Kevin defined what it means to be mind-blowing on a snowboard. Nobody ever shredded so futuristic.”