Born in the sleepy coastal town of Bergen, Norway, JP was already demonstrating a love and a talent for the sport by the time he was fifteen. This talent granted him entry into one of Norway's Sports Schools for snowboarding at fifteen, before being head hunted the following year to a fledgling specialised Snowboarding School. In the early days, one of JP’s mentors and riding partners along with Mads was Daniel Mikkelson, who encouraged him to get out and travel more, which lead to his first international trip to Innsbruck in 1999 (as described above) and the scene was set for the second global Norwegian invasion since Terje– third if you count the Vikings! Being an annual participant at all of the early now infamous Hemsedal sessions, it was often Mads and JP who contested for the “Guinea Pig” of the year award (one strangely absent in award calculations) stepping up first on kickers that went daily from silly, to ridiculous, to stupid, to irresponsible, to “are you off your fucking head!?!” bagging more tricks in a single week than many riders do in an entire career. JP’s compact, flat spin, boned style in association with his Travis Rice style stomp made him one of the most effective, professional and rewarding riders to work with. Always cheeky and chirpy, relishing any opportunity in the early days to take his shirt off and break into the latest song he was working on for his yet-to-be-formed Boys Band, he soon graduated from the snowpark to the back country with devastating effect. Riding partners and mentors such as Gigi Ruff, Mads, Romain de Marchi, DCP and the late Jeffy Anderson took his confidence and skills to a whole other level. By the time he had bagged the Road Gap cover for Absinthe’s Film’s, “Transcendence”, one of eight covers that season, there was little surprise that he was voted in as Transworld Snowboarding’s “Rookie of the Year”.

JP consistently bagged some of the best rider parts for several years, before suffering a career threatening shoulder injury three years ago that resulted in his progression being put on hold but gave him time to work on his new project, “YES Snowboards” with Romain de Marchi and DCP. We spoke to him at home in Encinitas, California, and he said, “Damn Dude, I am feeling so good right now. Finally, I’m seeing past the shoulder and can see everything is possible again. I can feel the progress...” He said. “Damn, there were three years that I really didn’t know what to expect, not just for snowboarding, but just every day shit. It was tough, both physically and mentally, you know, sort of a lot of negative questions – if it over – and the like over that time, so I’m feeling on top of the world. It’s also given me time to fall in love with riding again, I’m really hungry for it every time we head out and I’m out there to prove stuff tom myself. It’s less pressure and more fun and I’m gonna be ripping it until I’m 50 or something...ha, ha, ha...that’s not true but you know what I mean. But if I was to thank some people for helping me get here, I’d have to give a heads up to all of the Media Department out there, especially TWS, who have been awesome to me over the years, and to the filmers and the photographers, particularly David Vladyka and Shane Charlebois – those guys lug the sacks and do all the work. Yo!” He concluded.

Fighting fit again YES we are going to see more of JP, YES in Absinthe Productions and YES riding something completely different.

www.yesnowboard.com/