Jones Snowboards is proud to announce a new design partnership with renowned California surfboard shaper Chris Christenson to create a line of surf-inspired snowboards. The first in the series of collab boards will be the 2015 Jones Mountain Surfer—a next-level bindingless snow surfer that features binding hooks instead of standard snowboard bindings. The 4’ 6” (139 cm) Mountain Surfer reflects Christenson and Jones Snowboards founder Jeremy Jones’ shared commitment to the evolution of the art of surfing powder.

“There is no denying the similarities of shredding pow and surfing a perfect point break with light offshore winds,” said Chris Christenson. “I’m excited to work with Jeremy to blend our mutual passions for snowboarding and surfing.”

Beyond his Southern California beach roots, when Christenson was a kid he would modify his old skateboards so that he could ride them onsnow at his parent’s cabin in the San Bernardino Mountains. He has been snowboarding since 1987 and the release of Jones’ film Deeper in 2010 ignited his love for backcountry snowboarding and splitboarding. Christenson now operates two surf shaping studios, one in Encinitas, CA and another in the Eastern Sierra Mountains outside of Mammoth Lakes, CA. The shaping room in his Sierra cabin allows him to spend his winters shredding backcountry descents by day and making surfboards at night.

The seeds for the Mountain Surfer were planted when Chris and Jeremy were sitting around a campfire talking about what aspects of surfboard design could be implemented into snowboards. The Mountain Surfer’s all-wood construction eliminated many of the restrictions of traditional snowboard design and gave Chris and Jeremy the freedom to bringsurfboard rocker profiles and subtle bottom contours to snow. These design innovations are only the beginning of the Jones/Christenson partnership.

“Just like Christenson Surfboards, Jones Snowboards will never be satisfied with design stagnation,” said Christenson. “Expect progression from us season to season.”

The Mountain Surfer comes with contoured binding hooks that can be positioned at the outside edges of the normal riding stance. Riders pushtheir boots into the hooks, which helps keep the board locked to their feet and improve board control.

“The removable hooks help widen the ideal snow quality spectrum for pow surfing and are a huge help for first timers and kids,” said Jeremy Jones. “If you are lucky enough to live in the land of bottomless perfect powder you may also take them off altogether.”

The removable binding hooks can be set at two different stance widths and the front hook allows for a 15-degree goofy or regular positive stance angle.

“The Mountain Surfer is about having fun and getting back to the basics of backyard shredding that I originally fell in love with in the 80’s,” said Jones. “The Mountain Surfer will transform your backyard, neighborhood or backcountry into a whole new playground.”

Mountain Surfer MSRP is $349 with hooks and is available Fall 2014.

For more information about Jones Snowboards and the Mountain Surfer: http://www.jonessnowboards.com/Mountain-Surfer.html

For more information about Christenson Surfboards: http://www.christensonsurfboards.com

Image courtesy Jones Snowboards