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JESS KIMURA THERE’S MORE TO LIFE THAN SITTING PRETTY
Queen of the urban shred, fly-fishing enthusiast, Apocalypse ready, Jess Kimura is one of the most inspirational people we have met and not just on a snowboard. She makes us want to hunt out danger, get rad, enjoy the world and be happy about who we are. Everyone is in need of a dose of danger and Jess provides it, in-fact she attracts it. Just awarded ‘Women’s Rider of the Year’ and ‘Readers Choice’ at the Rider’s Polls, this rail-riding, urban slayer is dominating the female shred scene with her bad-ass, rad lass way. And with her first pro-model with Capita hitting the the slopes next season, it’s about time we say, she’s laboured and waited long enough, it’s been a long road to the top and she’s got big plans… not all of them involving snowboarding.
Words and Portraits by Hannah Bailey 39
How, when and why did you first get on a snowboard? I grew up in a town where everything was centered around a ski hill, everyone had a pass, it was really cheap so we all grew up skiing. When I got my first snowboard, I hated it and thought snowboarding was way too hard. Then I turned up in the parking lot one day and there was a jump these kids had built. I wanted to try it; I thought it was so cool that you could go in the air on your snowboard, it had never occurred to me! The guys said ‘no, this jumps just for backflips.. go away’ so I was like, 'f*ck you guys, I can do a backflip!' I hucked one straight on to my head! Everyone was like 'holy shit!' I mean, I still couldn’t turn toe side, but from day one I was trying back flips! We can’t imagine you as a skier.. but do you think your ski start it was a good base? Just being at the hill helped me, but as far as skills go, it held me back. I couldn’t for the life of me work out how you to go sideways down a hill. I couldn't wrap my head around snowboarding, and I sucked at it! It took me so long to figure it out.
shit, I want to make snowboard videos and I want to be in snowboard videos!’ Do you have any of the old vids? I do, but I have to transfer them on to digital. I have so many embarrassing backflips on to my head! A lot of girls drop out of sport, what kept you dropping in? There was no reason for me to stop. It wasn’t even an option. Snowboarding was all I wanted to do, there is nothing that I feel as free doing. I felt so caged my whole life - as a girl growing up, there are all these messages saying you have to be one way, look this way or act this way and I hated that, it would really piss me off! Me and my friend, Dykeboy, who filmed my 'Barely' video part, we were like ‘screw you society, how dare you expect us to be this stupid way!’ Snowboarding was the one way we could get legitimate respect from guys that wasn’t about looks. We could do something! We would hide our hair, we wanted to look like dudes and just not get pigeon holed in to being like chicks. I don't even remember what the original question was….
I never honestly believed I was going to make it
How old were you when it clicked? 15. After a year. Once I’d hucked that backflip! It didn’t click in the sense I was good, but it clicked as far as ‘I don’t care if I’m good, I’m just going to try really hard.’
What was your first set-up? A 156/158 Noah Salasnek, Sims pro model from the 80s. It had a yellow base with skate trucks on the bottom. It was pretty classic, I wish I held on to it, it would have been such a collectable item. But I hated it so much at the time, the bindings were broken, it had triple straps and they would pop out and I would go flying. So I got rid of it! When I got a board that fit me, I realized, 'wow, snowboarding’s easier than I thought.' When did snowboarding become your life? My second year riding, that’s all we did. Me and my best mate, we started snowboarding together and our lives became all about it. The second year, I threw out my skies and never skied again. My parents had an old handicam and we started filming and I realized, ‘holy
Why you didn’t stop? We would have never… We used to wear large pants and try and be as repulsive to dudes as much as possible. It’s like a filtering system! If guys were down to hang out and ride with us, that meant they were down for us looking like shit. How did you get hooked up by sponsors? That was a long, twisted and crumbling road. I started really being able to enter contests when I was 16 and I didn't start riding for Capita until I was 24... So that's a long time of struggling. I used to ride for Rome, I was trying so hard but didn't get much back. I remember when I quit Rome, I was thinking I’m going to quit snowboarding or quit trying to be sponsored. But then it turned out a dude I knew started working for Capita and flowed me some boards. Then I went out and filmed a whole bunch of shit on those boards and that was the turning point. If I didn’t get that Capita hookup it would never have happened…
That's a long haul…. Shows how much passion you have for snowboarding to have stuck that long at it. I don't know why I tried so hard for so long. When all my friends dropped off, got real jobs and went to college, I just kept struggling, trying to make it. I don't know what it was, I just couldn't stop, not until I got there. I tried so hard that I over compensated, and it ended up way bigger than I imagined. I never thought I would get here. I can sit here today and say that I never honestly believed I was going to make it. Even when I won those first awards, cause I was so used to being kicked down, I was thinking, this is good for today but tomorrow no one’s going to give a shit, so keep trying. I think that helped me in the end. So how do you feel about the position you are in today? Respected, winning awards, travelling… Its crazy, I’m still getting used to it and trying to see it as a good thing. Maybe a year or two ago, I was so used to having to battle for everything, I thought this was just going to be another battle, get ready for it! But it’s not.
It’s amazing to hear the amount of time and effort you put in to get something back. In this day and age people think things come with minimal effort, some people probably look at you and think how lucky you are… I get that from some people in the industry too, people who don't know my back story, who just think I showed up and took everyone’s coverage away from them. I get that vibe from some people. But you don't know me, don't know what the fuck I’ve been through. I guarantee it's nothing that you've ever seen in your lifetime. When you're at the top people are always going to try to take shots at you to cut you down. That's something that I’ve got to accept and not take personally and do something good with. Do you find the hater side of things difficult to deal with? Yeah, but it probably drives me a little harder. I’m going to show you!
Guys have no clue what it's like for girls growing up, with all those messages
If I look at it in a different sense, I have a chance to do something for something I give a shit about, which is girls and giving little girls a reason to look at something good, instead of this stupid nothing, this Barbie idiot. This is what I think is the raddest thing about being in this position now, just being able to have a positive influence without forcing it. When I was young I hated being told what to do, but if you just show someone by your actions, set a good example, then they will look at it and follow that way. Instead of you saying ’go to church, stop doing drugs…’
And show girls that there’s more to life than sitting around looking pretty and feeling shit about yourself? Yes, it's fucked! Guys have no clue what it’s like for girls growing up, with all those messages. When you’re young you don't really think for yourself, you just think what you’re supposed to think and a lot of that is totally nuts stuff. Its unfair but at the same time if you can break out of that. You think if I was a dude I’d be anywhere in snowboarding? No! I’d just be another one of the mix. But the thing about being a girl, and when I was younger I always wished I was a dude, is that you have a chance to be something different and that makes such an impact. More than to just be another guy that's good at snowboarding.
Do you ever feel like you push yourself too hard? Yeah, logically I guess so. But in my own mind it doesn’t feel like it. If I can step back from a situation I can think, ok that was a bit much. But if it's just me doing what I’m doing, that's how I do everything. It's the same thing with rehab and training, I go all out. I can’t do anything half assed, I just don't know how!
It seems to work… Most of the time, unless I fuck myself over. Do you ever feel like you have to control yourself? All the time. You can see it in your riding, pushing yourself hard! I’ve been going like a motherfucker this summer, I’ve never done training before but I’ve been doing a ton of rehab for my knee and getting super strong. I think that's going to help me. Being in way better shape, if I fall I won’t get hurt as easily and I’ll be able to recover faster. Sounds like your maturing as a snowboarder? Yeah. Hopefully. So I won’t be so loose! People were expecting that I’m always going to be hurt cause I’m stupid but it’s not that, I’ve just got to do things, and some people look at that and think your way too loose! Your part in Think Thank, exposed you from the shadow,
Photo: Joel Fraser
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how did it feel to go from unknown to winning awards? I knew what my part was a whole year before. I just put my head down and, thought just do this, this is the chance you have been waiting for your whole life, don’t fuck this up! That was my first time filming with the real crew, it felt insane. The first trip I went on to Alaska with those guys, I was looking at them thinking, these are my heroes! I’ve been watching their videos all day everyday and now I’m in this crew.
A properly tweaked grab or a 180, to see someone else do - any guy can do flips, but to me it’s generic to watch. For me to do, the best feeling trick is probably a cab 5 tail grab, I love that trick. A lot of other spins I’m doing, I don’t feel I know it well enough to tweak the grab but with a cab 5, something clicks. People know I can do rails, but there are so many other things I haven’t found the time to do yet or get good at. There is so much left I want to do!
So I tried so hard, every second I could. I was puking at spots because I was so beat up but still trying shit. I thought ‘this is my one shot’ and it really was. And if I had blown that, slacked that year, thought, ‘sweet I have my first travel budget ever’, it would never have happened. I didn’t even know I was going to have a full part. But then at the premiere in Hood, they start playing the movie and I’ve got the first part in Left Brain. I had a heart attack, I couldn’t believe it! First of all to even have a part in their movie and secondly to have something that they thought was worthy of putting in as a first part in a guy’s video!
Anything in particular? First off, in the streets, I want to experiment with concrete transitions more. Going up or down vert walls, instead of just doing typical down rail stuff. A good example is the thing I did in the Quebec episode of Barely (Jess’ webs series which dropped last year), the wall ride into flip things. Stuff like that. First off, the flip would have been hard enough, but you have to nail the wall ride in to it. Stuff that takes more than just a fluke, because you have to get through this crazy section into even hit the thing. So you have to nail 3 things in a row to do it properly.
Think Thank are so creative. What inspires your line? Just trying to think of something different. A lot of the time there’s not enough snow or you’re getting kicked out of spots or everyone’s hit this rail...but is there something apart from the rail you can hit? Is there something you can jump onto then jump onto the rail? That’s the kind of mindset. It’s those little things that end up being some of the best things ever, and that’s what Burt and those guys encourage, that’s the kind of environment they foster. Just creativity and looking at things a different way.
That trick, the wall ride in to flip in Barely was amazing, by the way! Tell us how it came about? It took us a whole day to film it, it probably took like 20 tries. I was so desperate at that point, so tired and hurt. We’ve got to get this! I put my head down and we got it in less tries than I thought. Never done that trick before… If you didn’t nail the backside wallride, which was pretty hard to get, you wouldn’t have enough speed for the second bit.
What’s your favourite trick visually and to do yourself?
Did you visualize the trick? Yes, originally I wanted to do a backside wall ride and frontside hand plant on the other wall. But it was hard
to get my hand down. A bunch of other Quebec railriding dudes turned up, it was so embarrassing. I just wanted them to go the fuck away. Then I just closed my eyes and hucked it. Got to my feet and was like sweet! Lets get this going and get the hell outa here. Then the next day I blew my knee… What’s with the name, ‘Barely’ anyway? It was based on Jake Blauvelt’s project, which is called ‘Naturally’. Jake is so good, but me, I have to work a lot harder for things, it doesn’t come as naturally. So we were just joking around and Burt was like, you should call it Barely. We wanted to call it the Dickless Wander, but Transworld weren’t stoked on that… So we went with Barely. Did you enjoy having your own series? Yes and no. It was really stressful and a lot of pressure and really really hard to do. It took a lot out of me. I felt like I was done after the end of last season, I was so beat. Cause it’s all on you! I was the only rider there with a photographer and two filmers. They were like, ‘ok, go!’ but I wanted to go hide in my bed. I’m not complaining, it was a great experience and I’m glad I did it. But it was really difficult to do and I feel like we barely pulled it off. Everything was so barely. We were scratching to get by! So no plans for series 2? No, not yet. I want to go back and film a video part. But you’re working on the Nike movie, is that your big focus for the season? The Nike thing’s going to be a feature length film with their team, they have a pretty heavy team right now so I think it’s going to be crazy. I’m also doing Real Snow X Games, the girls’ version. Two snowboarders, two skiiers, two surfers, two skateboarders and we all go up against each other. I’m going to film for that and see how that goes. Some people may say, ‘your pretty good for a girl’ or ‘you are legit for a girl rider.’ What do you think about that? I’m not concerned with labels. It doesn't really bother me like it would have maybe 10 years ago. I would have been like… ‘girl, GIRL! Who you calling a girl?’ Anyone that says that and really thinks that was can go fuck themselves. Why do you think snowboarding makes the world a better place? It brings people together and it gives kids something to do besides fuck up. A lot of people look at people
who are snowboarding as messing up, but they’re not. Its something so rad. To me, it’s all about hope, there is hope in it. You can have these dreams, like becoming a pro-snowboarder, and you can take this path and blaze your own trail. I think that's important for kids to know that that is out there, that option, and just to get those ideas from snowboarding and take them in to art, design or whatever career they have. Having that open mindset is something that can be really important for your whole life! And what other things snowboarding? I can build stuff. I can build my own shit. My nets, everything in my build.
do you like or do apart from use any power tool and I can furniture, racks for stuff, cabihouse I try to customize and
Are you building anything at the moment? I have way too many projects I haven’t quite finished yet…I could do everything to build a house except for the electricals and plumbing. Is that a dream? Absolutely, I’ve got to get some of those shipping containers, take a plasma cutter, open up the inside and put some doors and windows in. So why is being Jess Kimura’s good right now? Fishing. I got into fly fishing this summer and it’s all I really think about right now. It’s going to give me something to do on all the days when you’re waiting around for the weather to clear and you can’t ride, I’m going to be out trying to get salmon. I’m practicing for the apocalypse; I’ve got my survival kit mapped out and my escape route. I guess I’m kinda hoping something will happen so I can go live in the wild, how I really believe I should be. I’ve just been doing outdoor things to practice, get all my survival skills down, not necessarily for the apocalypse just cause I like living in the woods. What do you think you will be doing in 20-30 years? I hope I will be doing something which is halfway between art and a trade, like welding crazy metal pieces for something. I dunno. Bringing the artistic sides into a trade, that you can bring something new and cool into. Maybe I’ll be a tile setter that does crazy mosaics or maybe I’ll build skateparks. Something that takes hard work as a trade but you can put your own twist on it and do it your own way. Either way, no matter what 45