Jamie Nicholls THE RISE OF THE BRITISH SNOWBOARDER TEXT Emma Gaffney PHOTOGRAPHY Nathan Gallaher & Cyril Muller
“A lot of people are starting to notice that English snowboarders are really good,” claims nineteen year old rider Jamie Nicholls as he takes a break from feeding his cousin’s dog to talk to me from his Yorkshire home. This former child shredding prodigy might have been making a name for himself around the world since he was twelve but he’s still doing chores at home. Away from his parent’s house, in the world snowboarding circuit, Jamie is a huge reason why people are starting to take more notice of British riders. It started after he had his first snowboarding lesson for his seventh birthday and before long he was winning against adults in competitions despite still being in primary school. “I was the only kid around when I was younger,” explains Jamie. “Everyone else was adults but they looked after me. The people older than me like Wayne Taylor and Richard Barrow – they taught me properly.”And it paid off when he turned pro after he left school at 16 with Nike, Red Bull and Solomon sponsoring his riding antics. Now Jamie’s in his third pro season and he’s starting to rake in the podium spots. This year he’s landed a first spot at Burton Rail Days, third at Oakley’s Air And Style and narrowly missed out on a podium spot on home turf at London Freeze Festival. And now Jamie’s eagerly looking forward to the X Games having been the only UK male to be invited to Tignes this year. Since he was nine he’s spent most nights riding at
Halifax dryslope and it’s this slightly unconventional background in dryslope that’s given him pretty gnarly skills on both slope and rails. “I got into riding because it was something different. Every kid goes and plays cricket or football because it’s introduced to them at school. But it’s just cool to do something different. And it was easy for me to get into it having a dryslope just 10 minutes down the road.” His dryslope skills were even famously shown off in David Benedek’s film In Short after David and the Blank Paper crew headed to Halifax to film the reasonably unknown 12 year old Jamie on his home dryslope. “In Short was absolutely massive. I didn’t know how big it was going to be all over the world,” claims Jamie. “I was known as dryslope kid everywhere. Thankfully that’s worn off now.” Maybe it’s Jamie’s grounded nature which is evident when he talks about his normal family life and growing up in Yorkshire, or maybe it’s the unusual way he got into snowboarding, but this guy has a brilliantly refreshing perspective on his sport. By the time he was sixteen Jamie had already mastered double corks and now triple corks are on his todo list. But that doesn’t mean he’s giving in to the idea that a double cork makes you the best. “It’s like the sport has peaked now and everyone is just doing double corks. Everyone’s doing the same and it’s nothing new. For me now it’s more about trying to stand out, trying to be the one that’s creative and different to everyone else. If
“For me now it’s more about trying to stand out, trying to be the one that’s creative and different to everyone else”
everyone’s doing doubles why not go back to doing everything flat? It can score the same. Judges seem to have noticed that everyone has started doing doubles and it’s getting boring. “I wouldn’t mind giving a triple cork a go because it’s pushing the sport and I want to keep pushing the sport. But I don’t necessarily want to turn myself upside down three times all the time.” These days it’s not just riding that’s got Jamie obsessing. “I just love the outdoors. I climb as well now,” he adds as it becomes apparent he is completely incapable of sitting still. Sport isn’t just a hobby for Jamie. He’s now an ambassador for ROKT Climbing Gym. And that’s not a title he’s loosely wearing. He’s climbing a lot. And Jamie’s even managed to put his stamp on ROKT where you can now sit on an array of benches made from his old snowboards. But mostly it’s just impossible to miss Jamie’s enthusiasm for riding. He knows exactly what he wants to achieve in his riding career; from film parts to a spot on the Olympic team in 2014. Any politics and pretentious opinions around the different aspects of snowboarding don’t seem to
matter to Jamie. He just wants to ride. But Jamie is very aware it’s not so easy for everyone these days. “It’s so expensive for people to start snowboarding these days,” explains Jamie. “There needs to be that next generation of snowboarders but it’s getting harder and harder. You literally have to put in the effort everyday to go pro. I was at Halifax Snow Club every night. But these days thirty-five quid to ride for two hours is mental. “I remember when I was younger it was quite cheap. But now the sport is getting noticed and more people want to do it it’s getting more and more insane. I know it costs a lot to run indoor snowparks but the prices are still too ridiculous. The kids that are good should be getting supported by these snow domes and getting in for free. It would also be nice if the government would help fund the sport. It would help so much.” But Jamie’s deflated attitude to the subject of finances show he knows the same as the rest of us; it’s a money making game these days and snowboarding is at the bottom of the list for the Downing Street suits.