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Photo: Tim Zimmerman<\/em><\/p>\n Matt Cummins has the longest running pro model in snowboarding\u2019s history, 25 years and counting. He has used this opportunity to continually push snowboard designs from the earliest skate influenced twin tip MC Kink to today\u2019s powder hungry Nootka. His designs, priorities and style forever changed the sport and paved the way for generations of pros.<\/p>\n \u201cHis board was a ground breaking concept. It spear headed twin tip freestyle snowboarding, it created a genre. To have that kind of a brick in the foundation of snowboarding is truly a special thing. Matt deserves and is owed every ounce of that brick and it\u2019s a big one. Matt and what he stood for and the way he rode and why he rode Lib Tech made me want to ride and be a part of what he stood for as well. Throughout the years having him build such a legacy with his board, he packaged all that awesomeness up, put a nice little bow on it and handed it right off to me and for that I can\u2019t thank him enough. I owe him everything. What I\u2019ve been able to achieve in my career came from Matt Cummins. I don\u2019t think he get\u2019s enough credit, so this is the opportunity, Matt, thank you so much brother.\u201d -Jamie Lynn<\/p>\n Japow! Photo: Endo<\/em><\/p>\n So, is it going to snow in Washington this year?<\/strong><\/p>\n Well, I hope so. It needs to snow. We had a Northwest Snowboard\/One Ball party and burned some snowboards, so we\u2019re hopeful.<\/p>\n It can\u2019t\u00a0be worse than last year, right? Have you lived in Washington you\u2019re whole life? Have you ever seen a season like last year<\/span>?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Yeah, if I\u2019m not mistaken it was the worst snowfall on record, and as far I can remember it was warmest and nicest summer ever, so I don\u2019t know.<\/p>\n Same in Oregon – it\u2019s been really nice, but doesn\u2019t instill you with faith for a lot of snow fall. But we can definitely hope!<\/strong><\/p>\n Yeah, we\u2019re hopeful. It\u2019s starting, looks like Stevens and Baker are getting some snow already.<\/p>\n The precipitation levels seem to be getting back to\u00a0normal, hopefully it was just the Fukushima blob and that\u2019s going away. That was what was\u00a0warming up the air, I think it is dissipating and it\u2019s gonna be good<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Is that what they\u2019re saying?<\/p>\n No, that\u2019s what I\u2019m saying. The blob is real, but I don\u2019t know if it was actually the Fuskashima fall out still.<\/strong><\/p>\n You would think that, with Fukushima that was what, like, four, five years ago? We were actually over there two days before it happened.<\/p>\n Crazy. What were you doing there?<\/strong><\/p>\n I put on a banked slalom there every year. It\u2019s called the Tenjin Banked Slalom. It\u2019s all this mountain that\u2019s really good it\u2019s called Mt.Tanigawa, it\u2019s all hand made and I think it\u2019s the largest snowboard event in Japan. We had to cut the entrance off at 400 people and it\u2019s a 2 day event so it\u2019s pretty massive. The LBS. Photo: Zimmerman<\/em><\/p>\n How long have you been running that?<\/strong><\/p>\n I helped start it the same year the big tsunami was. I wanna say this year will be the fifth year. This year it\u2019s March 5th and 6th.<\/p>\n What\u2019s the secret to doing well in banked slaloms?<\/strong><\/p>\n I think riding a lot. The guys that are on the hill all the time have the best twitch reaction, and are just dialed in. That\u2019s the most important part.<\/p>\n I think it\u2019s drinking a beer before you go.<\/strong><\/p>\n I don\u2019t know, a lot of people try but maybe one to calm the nerves but after that you get into dangerous territory.<\/p>\n You have the longest running pro model in snowboarding. Is that crazy or are you just so used to it now?<\/strong><\/p>\n Yeah, it\u2019s disturbing that time has gone by that fast. It\u2019s been fun, I\u2019ve done a lot of things. Especially going through finding photos and and pictures, it\u2019s like damn, that doesn\u2019t seem that long ago. But it gets to the point where you\u2019ve done so much stuff that you start to forget some of the trips and some of the stories. I don\u2019t know how many times I\u2019ve been to Japan. Under 15, but you can\u2019t distinguish one trip from another almost. I\u2019ve been at it for a long time, but it\u2019s rad to see people getting hyped on all the old boards. It\u2019s amazing how much trading is going on and how collectors are really into it, it\u2019s really cool.<\/p>\n Modeling his models. Photo: Tim Zimmerman<\/em><\/p>\n Definitely seems like there\u2019s a resurgence. I think its because the second generation of snowboarding is getting to that age where you start to get nostalgic.<\/strong><\/p>\n Everything\u2019s been done, magazines go through the pros so fast, unlike any sport that I know. There\u2019s guys that are so good that don\u2019t get a chance to be pro. The media, or social media or whatever just cranks through pros. And then it\u2019s like, well, how do you be really weird and zany, how do you get attention? There\u2019s tons on insane riders that don\u2019t wear whatever sort of clothes or act a certain way that nobody\u2019s ever gonna hear about. It\u2019s just a weird time, so I think people are looking back and going, oh what is this guy doing, where\u2019s this guy been? My whole thing was I did\u2019t care about pictures very much. I didn\u2019t film, I rode the halfpipe because I grew up skateboarding halfpipe and nobody really cared. And then it went to the Olympics and was already over it. I just rode powder in the Northwest, so my body is in relatively good shape compared to some of the guys that do some of the gnarly street stuff. I don\u2019t know why my program stuck. I think that I really enjoy deigning products and I own One Ball as well, I started that back in 1988, so I get to just sit around and come up with ideas and design products and learn how to do graphics. To design boards and find the art you want on the board and have people ride that equipment and go, this is sick. Back in the day people hadn\u2019t seen twin tip or double ended snowboards, so it was like whoa, why? But that was kinda my thing and it still is my thing, just continue to be really creative and have it somehow support you financially is kind of a dream job, really.<\/p>\n Probably helped that you ride for Lib Tech and not some other company\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n Yeah, I\u2019ve been with those guys the whole time. I bought my first board from them in 1986. They\u2019re my friends and they\u2019ve helped me out and it\u2019s been awesome.<\/p>\n Your board this year is a DIY blank board<\/a>. What was the inspiration for that?<\/strong><\/p>\n I go to Japan every year and I have some friends and there\u2019s a small company from Japan called TJ Brand<\/a>. One of the owners is Yosuke. He\u2019s like my age, iconic Japanese snowboarder and in the summer he\u2019s a surfer. And he\u2019s an OG kind of dude. He would show up to the Banked Slalom and help dig, I didn’t really know him at first or what\u00a0he was about. He would make these boards that were 140ish, really short, and I don\u2019t know if they were horizontal laminate or a single piece of maple, but he would get em wet and then prop the nose up with some weights and put a nose kick in it. It was just a piece of wood, no edges, no ptex, you would just have bindings on it, but they were low backs. He was in my class, pro masters or old guy class, and he would almost beat everyone on this board with no edges. This super short thing. He couldn\u2019t stand up and rail and turn, he would have to get really low and just be like flowing around the corners. I don\u2019t know how to describe it but it was basically like he was surfing on a snowboard and I was like like, woah. What is that? The next year he showed me a blank and was like, we want you to make a board out of this blank, and we\u2019re gonna give it away as a prize. So I made one and I just started thinking, why aren\u2019t we doing that in the States? Everyone wants the powder board, everyone wants a bunch of boards, but very few people can afford it, and why not offer one? This has been in the works for five years. They\u2019re just coming out now. People want to get creative and they want to make their own stuff that works for their resorts, and everyone likes to ride powder and instead of paying $600 or $700 for a really elaborate futuristic- or old school – depending on how you look at it powder board, you can just make your own for a couple hundred dollars. The big question in everyone\u2019s mind is well, don\u2019t you need edges? But you really don\u2019t. It\u2019s already so sharp that unless you\u2019re riding on ice – which, I don\u2019t ride on ice – you\u2019re gonna be fine. It totally works. So that\u2019s where it comes from.<\/p>\n I saw that at SIA and was psyched. I wanna play with one, although I probably shouldn\u2019t be allowed to use power tools.<\/strong><\/p>\n Yeah, it\u2019s not for the faint at heart. Because you\u2019re trying to keep it within really tight tolerances. But it you have a guy that does wood working, he\u2019d be able to make no problem because he has all these really sharp powerful tools.<\/p>\n Wheelie boarding. Photo: Endo<\/em><\/p>\n Let’s talk about One Ball. When did you drop the Jay from the name?<\/strong><\/p>\n We\u2019re still figuring that out. People just refer to it as One Ball, so we said, ok, we\u2019ll just do One Ball. And we got the icon that’s just o-n-e inside of a ball.<\/p>\n Were you the first wax company?<\/strong><\/p>\n We coined the term snowboard wax, and starting making snowboard wax and surf wax in 1986 to put on some snowboards we made I think in 1983-84. We were like, we can make our own snowboards and skateboards, so why don\u2019t we make our own wax?<\/p>\n And that\u2019s your main gig these days?<\/strong><\/p>\n Yeah, that\u2019s my main income. Kinda my desk job. It\u2019s cool, the flexibility to go there whenever, stay home if you\u2019re sick.<\/p>\n You also ran a snowboard shop for awhile, right?<\/strong><\/p>\n Yeah, unfortunately we just closed it about a month ago. We had some of the oldest handful of shops in the world. We started those in 1988, it was our family store and we had up to three. But with the online buying habits and the lack of support from brands. Everyone\u2019s just going completely vertical with their sales model, distribution is just wide open. It would be interesting how many mom and pop, core stores have gone out of business. I don\u2019t know, but I wanna say it\u2019s 300-600. It\u2019s massive. It\u2019ll be interesting to see how it all unfolds. Quiksilver and Billabong, all these\u00a0huge companies that have blown out their distribution. It hasn\u2019t worked. But who knows, I\u2019m no expert, but at this time, the risk is too much. You buy the stuff, try to make a little bit of margin, you have insane competition from every chain store and online thing that you can imagine, and then you made your little bit of money and you pay back the brands, and there\u2019s no money. Unless you have a retail store by a resort or by a big city, it\u2019s really hard to do.<\/p>\n It seems like something, industry-wise is gonna have to chance if shops are going to survive.<\/strong><\/p>\n We didn\u2019t know, so we just checked out. We got outta here with no debt and just walked away and said, alright.<\/p>\n What will you miss about having a shop?<\/strong><\/p>\n It was just a family thing for so long, so it\u2019s kinda what we were, who we are and what we came from. People just being stoked on snowboarding, as simple as that. Everybody just gets older and you gotta weigh the consequences vs the reward of why are you doing it. It\u2019s a rough question. But it was a cool family thing for so long. We had a snowboard team forever and that part of our lives was huge for almost three decades.<\/p>\n On the hunt. Photo: Endo<\/em><\/p>\n So your brother Temple is kind of a big deal. Is it just the two of you?<\/strong><\/p>\n I have another brother, Mike, he\u2019s our middle brother. I\u2019m the oldest.<\/p>\n Did you ever beat Temple up?<\/strong><\/p>\n Probably. And then Temple got stronger and bigger than me and I laid off him. All brothers beat each other up. You\u2019re boys.<\/p>\n Tell me about your documentary that\u2019s coming out in January.<\/strong><\/p>\n It was cool. I think they\u2019re touting it as 25 or 26 years with Mevin. Stanny – Tim Sanford – he did a good job of scrounging up photos and footage and putting together a history of where I came from and how I came up, and then my development of working with Mervin and the tech of the modern twin tip. I talk about that and a little bit around the graphics because the graphics are really big. A lot of big time Lib Tech riders have some parts, and it turned out killer.<\/p>\n How involved were you in the making of it?<\/strong><\/p>\n I kinda stayed out of it. I\u2019ve worked with those guys long enough that they know what I\u2019m into and what I\u2019m not into. So I just tried my best to round up the footage, but Stanny did all the work. As far as my involvement I watched it, said, yeah this is killer, let’s change a few things. He came over to my house and worked on it one day and that was it.<\/p>\n Luggage life. Photo: Endo<\/em><\/p>\n Having ridden in Washington for 30 years now, how have you seen it change?<\/strong><\/p>\n It\u2019s more crowded, for sure. I don\u2019t know about the next movement of young people coming up. You have guys like Blair [Habenicht.]<\/p>\n I think he\u2019s old and washed up now.<\/strong><\/p>\n Is he?<\/p>\n No, but I wouldn\u2019t describe him as next generation anymore – he\u2019s the it generation.<\/strong><\/p>\n So I don\u2019t know, that\u2019s a good question. Where I\u2019m at, I try to go up on powder days and work when it\u2019s bad and get my powder days when it\u2019s good. If there\u2019s a big social thing I\u2019m not really part of it. I don\u2019t know how it\u2019s changed, I\u2019ve always just done by own thing. I come in, get it, and leave and go do something else. I don\u2019t really hang. In terms of the scene, at Mt. Baker, when I was growing up, it was 3 or 4 hours away, so I would drive up there, crash on someone\u2019s floor, ride as long as I could with the local Baker guys. There weren\u2019t many people. Some pros would travel up sometimes but it was primarily the Baker guys. And then I would have to leave. I would ride locally around here if I could. But the young crew of rippers coming up, there\u2019s some guys, I\u2019m just not super tuned into it.<\/p>\n I think that\u2019s one of the things thats cool about Washington is it is easy to be super into snowboarding and not involved in it at all at the same time.<\/strong><\/p>\n Right it\u2019s kind of like being in Hawaii. If you\u2019re in Hawaii you\u2019re going to be involved in surfing one way or another because it is surfing. In Washington, it\u2019s some of the best riders and some of the best snow and the best mountains really close. It\u2019s all right here.<\/p>\n Definitely. It’s the best. Well, let’s finish this up with some shout outs and thanks.<\/strong><\/p>\n Thanks to my family, Mervin Mfg, the crew at Oneball and Northwest Snowboards. And thanks to these guys for keeping me looking good – Union, Pow, AFDicegear, Dragon and Ninja Suits.<\/p>\n Hit Matt with a follow on Instagram @Smashingpowder<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n![\"IMG_5757\"](\"https:\/\/yobeat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/IMG_5757-764x517.jpg\")
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