Girl On: Victoria Jealouse

Apr 17 2008 / Los Angeles, CA Riding Life Better Than Ever

In sports like snowboarding, surfing and skateboarding, few athletes seem to have incredible staying power in the media. It’s more like flavor of the month, where you hear a name for a season, and then they disappear into the abyss.

Sure you have your Tony Hawk’s and Cary Hart’s who have surpassed the sport, but then where are the legends like Shawn Palmer and Terje who dominated the 90s? You’d be hard pressed to answer who won the first gold medal in snowboarding. Or who were the first guys to charge big mountains in Alaska. There is one name who seems to have made it, at least within the world of snowboarding, through the 90s and into the new millennium and interestingly it’s not a guy, it’s Victroia Jealouse.

I’ll never forget hearing about her when I worked at TransWorld publications. She was the first woman on the cover of TransWorld Snowboarding. Guys wrote in about how much they loved her. One guy even sent in a pic of a shrine he created for Victoria. That’s serious hero worship.

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There were many reasons why Victoria was adored then and has managed to be in the spotlight still after numerous years snowboarding. First of all she is beautiful. No one would deny that isn’t part of the allure of her. But more importantly, she’s doing the near impossible. About a year ago I remember talking to her and she told me that she  thinks she might have most heli time than any other woman snowboarder or skier in the world. Somehow Vic has managed to not only stay on top of the big mountain scene, but every year she just seems to get better and drop scarier and scarier lines.

How she could top her amazing run in one of the Standard films in 1995 where she charged down a sketchy mountain in Alaska, the snow broke loose and she found herself in a huge avalanche only to be lucky enough to duck in behind a rock while the avalanche swept over her. She pulled out of that one shaken, but it only strengthened her resolve to learn how to master big mountains. Of that run she told Maxim magazine a few years ago. “Breaking bones is the least of your worries in the back country. It’s avalanches that scare me. I got caught in one above a 1,000-foot chute with car-size rocks in the middle and house-size rocks at the bottom. I tumbled, doing two backflips and then clung to some rocks to avoid getting swept...”

Fast forward to 2007. It’s winter and Victoria is of course impossible to get a hold of. For a month I’ve called her regularly hoping to get an interview with her, but alas she is no where to be found. There is rumor of her sledding in the interior of BC, filming with TGR. She could also be in Alaska. It’s been a rough snow season around the nation, but you can bet wherever the snow is, that’s where you’ll find the snow goddess of all snow goddesses hanging out. But of course she's busy -- she's currently a Burton Global Team Pro Rider and has piled up a stack of at least two dozen film appearances.  Maybe that's why she's tough to find.

Lat34 finally caught up with Victoria in between heli trips while she was re-fueling at her home in Whistler and here’s what she had to say about her life.

Lat34: You snowboard really big mountains. What does that feel like? Do you get emotional up there?
VJ: It’s not one feeling. You run through so many emotions in the course of a day. Excitement, joy, terror, worry. When you are standing on the top of a mountain you feel it all. I guess I could say it’s really exciting and I look forward to it when I wake up in the mountains. But I’ll admit at the same time I have the opposite feeling. Like I wait for it to get blue and sunny, through the bad weather, and I am like yeah this is it.….and then it’s like, oh shit.

Lat34: Why does that happen?
VJ: Because you just don’ know what is going to happen on a big day. The people I ride with are the best in the world and they are always pushing their limits in a very intense way in challenging terrain, so you go out there knowing it’s exciting, but it’s not just a lollying heli ski. It’s for real. You are excited, but there’s also fear. Lots of things can happen. And not just for me. With your crew and with other riders. The guys are crazy and sometimes I get worried about some of the lines they chose. They are capable, but they are always pushing the limits. I like to take it in steps and they charge.

Lat34: I remember a few years ago seeing you do a line with a serious avalanche following behind you. Does that happen a lot?
VJ: That was sketchy. It wasn’t the hugest avalanche, but it was deep and 30 feet all around me and I was on a flank at the top of a chute in a no fall zone. I was getting swept, but before it gained momentum I dug in my edges and tried to cut out of it and I popped out on the side and clung to a rock. I luckily found myself in a no go zone where the snow held and was able to cling to something solid. If the rocks hadn’t been there I would not have lived through that one. That was a milestone for me. A memorable moment for me where I was very aware of what I was doing and the dangers. When an avalanche happens to you, you really think about the risks you take and why you are taking them.

Lat34: Was there ever a moment you wanted to give it up?
VJ: Not at all. Avalanches in Alaska are largely predictable and they are part of what we do. Looking back on any avalanche I’ve been in or around, there’s always an obvious reason. On top of that you learn whether it’s a coastal pack or an interior snowpack, that they slide differently. No matter what kind of mountain you are riding you always have to know and ride like you are aware of the maximum potential of what could happen. No matter how bomber it is you have to think could this line go and is this a line you could survive? Or is it certain death.

Lat34: So is big mountain riding always a roll of the dice?
VJ: I try not to think of my big mountain riding ever as rolling the dice. I try to always think when I drop in that it’s a line I am prepared to deal with. We never ride a line thinking it couldn’t slide. It’s snow and sometimes snow surprises you. In Alaska it’s largely predictable because of moisture in snow. It always makes sense on the coast. In the interior doesn’t make sense. It’s weight and strength. It’s not as obvious. Snow breaks in weird places in the interior so it’s a much more serious situation there. That’s why I stick to the Maritime snowpack for the big mountain stuff.

Lat34: You do a lot of snowmobile snowboarding too right?
VJ: Accessing back country terrain on a snowmobile is the next best thing other than a heli. Snowmobiling is a lot more work and time, but it does give you a lot faster access than hiking or skinning into the mountains. I would prefer the mountain experience that is quiet, but when I am trying to film I need a snomobile. You get about ten days of filming if you are lucky in a year when it’s all on, so you can’t spend time hiking for hours to get to a spot.

Lat34: So are you good at wrangling your snow mo?
VJ: I can hold my own. They are pretty powerful these days and easier to drive. So for me it’s a tool. I love them because they get me to where I want to go. I would rather go hiking or skinning if I want a nature day. Honestly I do feel like a pig riding one sometimes because I am really an environmental person in many ways and try to conserve in a lot of ways. That just happens to be my livelihood. A lot of people get take out food in a styrofoam container and I drive a snowmo instead a car in the day to do my job.

Lat34: You live in Whistler. What do you think of it?
VJ: I love living here. It’s got serious mountains, tons of terrain, the resort is huge, the riding is endless. You have big mountains all around, it’s a cool crowd, all of my friends live here. It’s close to the ocean and close to the interior of BC. It’s a fun town. For being healthy and sporty and into doing stuff Whistler is great for this. There is every sport you could want to do here.

Lat34: What’s this spring looking like?
VJ: I am going to Alaksa with TGR and it’s the same old same old. It’s always the most exciting time of my life. While I am gone the mountains seem to get taller every time. It’s so amazing there.

Lat34: What’s the feeling like of AK?
VJ: When you approach the Chugach Mountain Range in the winter it really does feel like another planet. It’s like wow why do I never see pictures of these? You see the Canary Islands or the Himalayas, the terraces in the Philippines. They are a natural wonder. They are low elevation but coming right out of the ocean and snow covered. It looks like another planet. I feel like every time I go there even though I have been there so many times I am equally impressed. My memory never serves me well enough.

Lat34: What’s the craziest place you have ever been to snowboarding?
VJ: Russia. It’s such a different place. It has gone through so much in the last 20 years and talking to the people in the rural mountain areas, you really get that they are on their own. It feels like the wild west but in modern times. In a remote area young people are stoked on democracy and they are all starting business the old people are too old to capitalize and they are struggling now. They are the ones suffering because they are not buying the democracy. So they are really poor and destitute. The mountains are incredible they are huge and a lot like AK but drier and sketchier. The helicopter scene is crazy. They use big MI8s and they don’t even count how many people are in there. It’s so funny because local people just drop on for ride. They just hop on board. If the heli is not full they just take anyone along.

Lat34: Do fans get flabbergasted when they meet you?
VJ: Yeah more and more over the years because I have been in snowboarding for a while. It warms my heart, especially when girls are excited about meeting me. I love to encourage snowboarders and that’s what my job is all about. I like to let people know you can aspire to do great things that are much bigger than what you imagine you can do.