“I’m not new to this, I’m true to this.” – Jeff Anderson
I woke up at 8:00 am on Friday morning in my overpriced and illegal Venice studio. (Not super illegal, but illegal enough that when the housing authority comes once a year, my landlord tells me that I have to move my bed into the garage.) Then I went about my usual morning routine: checking my Instagram. (Sweet, no new followers. #Ruthless. #PleaseFollowMe. #HelpMeImPoor. But, seriously, follow me…) In-between updating my feed and brushing my teeth, I checked my email time. And there it was, the green-light. I got the thumbs up from fellow Venice boys at The Inertia to cover the third annual JLA Banked Slalom up at Mammoth. Don’t get me wrong, I love my current digs, but nothing compares to mountain life.
Back in fall of 2006, I made my pilgrimage from the icy slopes back east to Mammoth Lakes, California. Growing up in the northeast my local “mountain” consisted of one chair lift and three trails. Myself and the townie wrecking crew would jump garbage cans along the trail and build our own jumps, all while managing to piss off every mountain employee. Jumps, rails, terrain parks, and powder weren’t our vocabulary. We used terms like ice, hard-pack, broken wrist, or bruised tailbone. But I really can’t complain too much; learning to snowboard were the best years of my life.
Not too far away were Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine, but my daydreams at school took place a lot further from home: I always held Mammoth Mountain on a pedestal. But it made sense. For a sixteen year old who practiced snowboarding as his religion, Mammoth Mountain was the undeniable mecca — after all, at the time Mammoth was in the backdrop of every video part and magazine cover I came across. More importantly and ultimately influential was the talent being produced at the mountain. I knew I had to be here.
But, ultimately, this story isn’t about me. This is the story of Jeff, and Billy, and the rest of the Anderson family.
Prior to Billy (11) and Jeff (8), there was their uncle, Bill “Billy” Anderson. Uncle Bill was a pioneer of snowboarding and terrain park progression. In fact, it was Uncle Bill that built the first snowboard park at Mammoth Mountain.
During an era when snowboarding was still considered to be rebellious and, quite frankly, dangerous to ski resorts, the elder Bill Anderson was building jumps on the backside of Mammoth for himself and other “extremists” that were sliding down the hill sideways. The run is still there today — it is called Secret Spot. And it was Uncle Bill that crafted the first Pipe Dragon built half pipe at Mammoth. Unfortunately, Uncle Bill is no longer with us, having passed away in December 2013. But he is not gone. A 40-year veteran of the Mammoth Lakes Fire Department, Bill “Billy” Anderson loved his family above all else. And that love, along with his legacy, live on.
But this supposedly inherent passion for snowboarding didn’t pass down so easily; the first time Uncle Bill took Jeff out, Jeff unstrapped, threw his board down the hill, and walked.
On Saturday morning, riders across all race categories found themselves in the MCC conference room at the Main Lodge of Mammoth Mountain. Billy Anderson, Jeff’s older brother, was there to welcomed all participants.
In the third year of the event, tears quickly fill Billy’s eyes as he briefly reminisces that this very conference room is where Jeff’s funeral reception was held. On that overcast spring day in March 1, 2003, 600 of Jeff’s friends and family show up to celebrate the life of Jeff “Jeffy” Anderson, then 24. They took the lift to the summit, 11,053 ft above sea level, where Billy lifted Jeff’s snowboard above his head. The sun broke through the clouds, the only time the sun came out that day.
I try to find a descriptor that I might use in place of “legend,” but can’t. There isn’t another word that can more aptly describe what both Jeff and Billy Anderson have done for the sport of snowboarding. They are legends in the truest sense.
We break from the conference room and the 2015 JLA Banked Slalom is officially on its way. During the five hour ride up from Los Angeles, I was received notifications in the way of texts and social media comments that the course was built on Forest Trail (an intermediate grade trail) and that it was going to suck because lack of speed and size of the run. That sounded about right. The first year, the course was built on Upper Dry Creak along Chair Five; second year along Chair Twelve on the backside of Mammoth Mountain. Both locations: steep, long, and a bit gnarly. This year’s course location was in for a rude awakening.
The top consisted of some tight bank turns, not too much of a pitch, but enough to get warmed up on. However, after making a few tight turns and getting those legs warmed up, the course spits you into the trees for a couple steeper/tighter turns, then rudely drops you into what locals were calling the Toilet Bowl — a ten foot drop into a tight spiral section consisting of steep abrupt wide banked turns, which respectively, had people shitting themselves. A few casualties took place, but luckily none hospital worthy. If you made it out the Toilet Bowl with clean underwear, you were graced with a couple more mellow bank turns right before being dispatched into 30 yards of knee busting rollers. Congrats, you survived what you thought was going to be the more mellow of the JLA courses. The fastest time of both runs combined (among all heats) was your JLA 2015 winner; participants were allowed to receive their time from the first run. Times were immediately being transmitted on the chair lift and egos were being crushed when it came to light that 15-year-old Brock Crouch could have stopped to wax his board, have a coffee, and still beaten your time.
All jokes aside, the JLA Banked Slalom is a contest put on by the riders for the riders. There is no uptight or uncomfortably competitive feeling in the air — it is honestly a celebration of Jeff Anderson, and a chance to catch up with old friends.
Post competition, the MCC conference room was filled with joy. More high fives, beers, and smelly spring time snowboard boots. Volcom artist Mike Parillo drove up from Los Angeles to bless us with the amazing trophies he created. Taking home first place with a combined time 1:40:27 was Mammoth born-and-bred Trevor Jacob, with Brandon Davis in second, and another Mammoth athlete, Olympian Greg Bretz, in third. Holding it down for the women were Elena Hight, Maddie Mastro, and Kiwi Stefi Luxton.
I caught up with Trevor for a couple words: “There is so many people in this room who are fortunate enough to travel around the world on the professional level of our sport, but there is no better event by far. It’s amazing to know all the heart that is behind this event, it comes from so deep down with so much passion, it means so much more to us than any other snowboard event. You charge as hard as you can, but at the end of the day it’s about riding with your friends and having fun.”
Once the room cleared and everyone went their separate ways, I finally managed to get some words with Billy. He explained how Jeff Anderson was a phenomenal artist. You might not even know it, but his art could very well be on your Volcom shirt, jacket, or pants. When his pro snowboarding career started taking off, he had to decide between art and snowboarding. He made the decision to put art on the back burner.
Billy explained that carrying on Jeff’s spirit meant fully committing to your passions, whatever they are. For Billy, that means snowboarding, working at Burton, and being a dad. Day 2 of the banked slalom saw a younger demographic of shredders, with the course toned down. Billy’s two daughters were out there in full force, and both claimed spots atop their respective podiums. Tears of joy filled his eyes as he called his youngest daughter, Jeffery, accepted her trophy.
To see more of Chris Moran’s work, be sure to check out his website, TheGrimLab.com. And don’t forget to follow him on Tumblr and Instagram.
