FROM SNOWORLD #68 - PHOTOS COURTESY OF IAN & NEIL PROVO

Jeremy Jensen is founder of Utah-based Grassroots Powdersurfing, which designs binding-free boards that allow riders to surf the mountains “the same way surfers ride waves and skateboarders ride streets.”

Q: What got you interested in riding without bindings, and why is it important to “return to the roots of snowboarding”?

A: "Riding without bindings provides a feeling of freedom and a unique challenge that freshened things up. I loved riding powder more than anything from my decades spent skiing and snowboarding, and creating these binding-free boards allowed me to mix powder riding with my other passions: surfing and skateboarding. It transformed the way I viewed and interacted with the mountains, and it brought back those priceless childhood feelings I experienced in my youth while learning to skateboard and snowboard."

Q: How do people react when they see you riding without bindings?

A: "I get all types of reactions when people see me riding without bindings. In the beginning it was mostly looks of disbelief, head-scratching and “Wow, what the hell is that!?” comments about the boards. Now that Grassroots has been around over a decade, many people have seen our films or photos and they are stoked to see it in person. Lots of hoots, hollers and high fives. It’s all been 100-percent positive from the skiing and snowboarding communities."

Q: Do you think binding-free snowboarding lowers the barrier to entry for snowboarding and could even help grow the sport?

A: "Powsurfing can certainly be a less expensive way to ride mountains because like surfing, you often travel under your own power to access the zones with the best “waves.” The simplicity of it varies greatly on where you are riding them. Very simple to ride local backyard hills, local parks after a storm and the roadsides of mountain passes, but it can get more complicated when you want to venture deep into the backcounty where some of the best slopes and conditions are at."

Jeremy Jensen catches some air, sans bindings. Jensen was blown away by his snowcat-driven adventures in the Monashee Mountains. "To have these guys driving us up in a party wagon and dropping us off at the top of this unreal powder field full of jumps and trees and waves of snow, it's incredible."

Jensen and Ian Provo head up in style in the snowcat for the next run of the day. According to Mustang Powder Lodge, there are at least 15 catskiing destinations in British Columbia.

Provo crash-lands. He got into surfing (the liquid kind) because of his time surfing on snow. "One of the funnest parts of powder surfing is that it really makes you feel like a kid again - that stoke and enthusiasm you had when you were young just messing around, falling all over the place."

Pro snowboarder Scotty Arnold, who calls Utah home along with the Provo brothers and Jensen, makes his way through a landscape dotted with snow ghosts. The lifetime skateboarder and snowboarder compared the experience: "Getting on a powsurf links skateboarding and snowboarding together; you feel like you're a beginner again and if you even make it down the hill, it's such an accomplishment."

Ian Provo with the Old Man winter himself.

Neil Provo skirts the top of the world, or at least the top of B.C.: "To come up to a place like Mustang Lodge and ride this terrain with these boards is just out of this world."

-