Jesmond Dubeau – No Looking Back

Jesmond Dubeau is a well-rounded rider to say the least. Over the years, you'd be as likely to find him on a contest podium as you would deep in the Whistler backcountry or hitting rails in some far off land. He goes fucking big and throws down the landing gear when it counts. Back when double-corks were still practically unseeen, Dubeau was not only throwing them but he was actually making them look nice. His Alterna Action Films video parts were always highlights of each year's release and he continues to get out there filming all season long, last year with a part in SBC's Relax and most recently dropping a "re-edit" of his footage last year, which was the catalyst for me to catch up with him this week.

 

Wallride – Photo: Jussi Grznar (Top one too)

 

The North Bay, Ontario-native made the big move out West five years ago and hasn't looked back since. Although never quite breaking the "glass-ceiling of Canadian snowboarders", he's continued to support himself through the winters shredding and shows no signs of slowing down. In fact, just the other day I was shown a fresh A+ banger of a shot of Jesmond stomping the shit out of what had to be an 80-foot backside dub-1080, smooth as butter. Clearly not slowing down!

 

Back-dub 1080 video screengrab in the sun courtesy of Brad Sarauer

 

I'm gonna cut the love-fest off here, Jesmond is not the kind of rider who needs a lot of fluff. Here's what he had to say to me to my dumb-ass questions, followed by his 2012 video part released last week, with a heaping topping of epic still images from Jussi Grznar and Cam Hunter. Enjoy!

33MAG: What motivated the re-edit and release of a full part online?

Jesmond: Well last season was super weird for me. there wasn't any solid plan for a video project, but I did have a plan to do a web series with Alterna. I had a filmer who would come out with me, and I did a few trips to try and just stack footage and it was going well. Then, I'm not really sure when or how, but the web series fell through and it left me with nothing to do. Luckily SBC decided late in the season to produce a film. I wasn't supposed to be in the film originally but those guys really helped me out and used what they could and I'm super pumped on that. After everything, I still had quite a bit of footage that hadn't been used so I figured a re-edit would be wise as that's the new trend, right?

You've been around the scene for quite a while now, quietly doing your thing. Are you content with how your "career" has been playing out or do you have grand plans of world domination still up your sleeve?

I mean I'm content that I've be able to do what I love most for as long as I have – but there are for sure things I wish I had done differently now looking back. You know, I wish I knew how to market myself better and stuff. But I've never snowboarded to dominate the world just to have fun and hang with the friends. That's the plan now – to keep my career going with fun times and hopefuly keep producing video parts that people will respect, and push myself harder this season.

 

Photo – Cameron Hunter

 

There's a huge lack of Canadian snowboard film productions going these days. How do you feel about that and what do you think it means for the overall scene?

The lack of snowboard films isn't just in Canada anymore. Even the bigger films are shutting down and I think it sucks. Web series' or edits are awesome and are needed its the new wave of our generation, but if you're just filming the same rails in the same park, how is that better than someone who spends their entire season putting in hours of dedication and dealing with injuries to produce a video part? I think not having these production companies are putting even more stress on the riders to find new ways to market themselves. Mind you, that is a good thing but with so many people riding now you need the films to seperate the different skill levels. I guess there are a lot of pros and cons to both, and that's probably why I have mixed feelings about it.

Movie on the DVD player once a year or web-parts dropping daily – and why?

Both. You need those web edits to keep you interested throughout the season, but they should never take over a full length movie that showcases an entire season someone worked hard at.

 

Photo: Jussi Grznar

 

How has this season been going? Any fun projects to talk about?

So far this seasons been pretty relaxed, I was able spend the better part of the begining in Quebec city filming street with the Nowamean crew who are super rad dudes, and now I'm back in Qhistler working on back country shots for that variety. I haven't really locked down any project yet but if all else fails, I know there is a lot of talented riders with nowhere to put there shots so maybe a rider-edited rider driven film could be in the works. 

 

Photo – Cameron Hunter

 

 

2012 "Full Part"

Jesmond rides for Billabong, Salomon, SPY, My Pakag & Beaver wax

Follow Jesmond on Instagram @jesmondd

To see more of Jussi Grznar's amazing photography check out his site at www,jussigrznar.com or find him on facebook HERE

To see more of Cameron Hunter's amazing photography check out his site at www.cameronhunterphoto.com or find him on facebook HERE