Janna Meyen
Will you state your name, please?
Janna Meyen.
Where are you from?
Big Bear Lake, California.
How long have you been snowboarding?
Twelve or thirteen years.
I hear you recently bought a house out in Oregon.
Yep, Bend, Oregon.
Are you excited?
Super excited--I think it's too much responsibility for me.
(Laughs) How was your season (2001-02)?
It was good--some good surprises here and there. I'm stoked, I had good projects to work on this year--some goals from the beginning of the season to the end. I think it was a good program for me to be on.
Are you going to be focusing more on contests next year, or just go to a couple?
I think my main focus next year will be filming again, but I'm definitely going to do two or three of the bigger contests, just because I did those this year and they went over pretty well, and I figure I may as well go back and try to do the same. But, for the most part, just filming and photos. I'll definitely go to X Games and The World's, and probably something else.
Who are you filming with?
Mack Dawg.
What motivates you to ride, to go out every day and get up on that hill and deal with the weather and hassles of going out into the backcountry or whatever?
For the most part, it's probably having fun. But, I got a lot of coverage last season and seeing all the photos and the finished product kind of motivated me. I was like, "Whoa!" I looked at last year and I didn't think I really put that much effort into it, but the outcome at the end of the year was that I got a lot of stuff done and I was like, "Oh, that's kind of cool." That kind of motivated me going into this season. I was like, "I only put this much effort into it last year, if I try a little harder, maybe I could get more out of it this year and stoke out my sponsors more." I don't know, it just feels good when you look back and see what you've done. Last year, I didn't have a video part, but this year I will. So, I'm sure I'll be happier with my season.
How much longer do you have? Are you going to be filming until the end of the Summer?
Yeah, pretty much right now we'll be filming every day through Spring 'til the middle of June. Then up at Mt. Hood this Summer. Whenever something's built that kind of looks cool, I'll make a phone call, have a filmer come up and try to get a shot.
What are you plans for the Summer? Are you going to be guest coaching anywhere?
Yeah, I'll be coaching at High Cascade Snowboard Camp the first couple of sessions, and then go guest coaching for the rest of the Summer.
What are the dates?
The first day on hill at High Cascade is June 13.
Do you plan on going to the Southern hemisphere in the Fall or anything like that?
No. But last year I said no, too. Later, as the Summer came all of a sudden, trips started coming my way. I don't know, if something comes up, I'll probably go. But right now, no. I have no plans set in stone, or anything.
Who do you like to ride with?
That's probably the hardest question, cuz you travel a lot and you're always workin' with different crews. Different people you ride with always bring out a different element in you. I like to ride with Tara Dakides a whole lot because, obviously, she rules. We only got to ride together a handful of times this year before she got hurt, but before that happened, I thought that we pushed each other well, you know what I mean?
Sometimes we'd be out shooting and there'd be something super crazy and I'd be like, "Are you going to do this?" She'd be like, "Are you going to do this?" And I'm like, "I don't know if you're doing this, but I have to do it." We'd kind of go back and forth. There were definitely times when we wouldn't have done it, but the other one was there and we were like, "If she does it and I don't, I look like a puss." So, we would both step-up and do things. That happened a couple of times, so I thought for sure that riding with Tara was good for both of us.
So, you guys helped push each other to the next level?
Yeah, totally, cuz I know that's the goal for both of us. We want to take it a little bit further. Sometimes it's not fun when it's your job and the fun factor gets left behind and the scary factor steps in and you're like, "Why am I doing this again?" You seriously want to vomit sometimes, you're so scared, getting ready to drop in for some gnarly whatever it is--rail or kicker--and you're just like, "Why am I doing this? This is not fun! I'm scared to death right now." But then you remember, it's my job and if I want to get to the next level, I've got to step it up right now." When you're riding with someone like that, you can both keep each other in check. Sometimes I ride with other people and it's really easy to look at things like that, when the fear factor gets in there and they're like, "I'm over it. Let's just go home," and you're like, "All right, cool. I'm over it, too." And you never push it any further. So, I definitely like to ride with Tara.
Who do you look up to in snowboarding? Who helps you push it to that next level?
I always grew-up--like a lot of people, obviously--looking up to Jamie Lynn a lot, cuz he just had that super powerful, smooth, fluid style. Even though no one sees that much of him nowadays, that's always been an image in my head since day one. Whenever I think of any trick or whatever, I think of Jamie--just smooth, solid, powerful and it's awesome. So, I've kind of always been inspired by Jamie to ride solid. As far as now, there are so many people out there pushing it. I think Eddie Wall's amazing, Matt Hammer's amazing--there's so many people, it's hard to even...you put one name out there and then you're like, "Damn! There's ten more right after that!" So, it's super hard now, because the level is so high. There are so many people on that same level, not just one person. But, Jamie Lynn, for the most part.
Nice. He's one of my favorites, too. You've been riding for a long time and I'm sure you've got to see a good portion of the globe, what are your favorite resorts or mountains to ride?
Snow Summit is obviously going to be my first pick, because I grew up there. That's my home mountain and all of my friends live there, work there and it's always sunny. Whenever I go there, I can hook up with some old friends and we can just go out and have fun, you know? I always have a good time at Summit no matter what's going on. Actually, with all the traveling I've done, I'd never really been to Mt. Baker until this last year. I went there for the banked slalom in January and it was amazing--the first day we got something stupid like twenty-four inches of fresh, the next day was fourteen inches and the next day after that was twelve. It was dumping the whole time.
Sometimes, it was snowing so hard on the course that the snowflakes were triggering the laser at the finish line. They had to stop the race a couple of times for half an hour because it was just dumping. It was rad, because every single turn you made was just whiteout. It was cool to be riding Baker and following Matt Cummins and those guys around, cuz I don't really know 'em that well. They were letting us tag along with our group and I was just like, "Whoa!" It was cool. So, I think Mt. Baker is awesome and I can't wait to go back there next year. It's always cool to go anywhere new. Japan's always rad because the people are super friendly and outgoing. Wherever I go is fun, but I'd say Snow Summit and Mt. Baker.
How much of the year do you live out of your bags?
The majority of the time, seriously.
Does that wear you down?
No, I don't really mind sometimes. It's almost weird sometimes when I get home. I think I'm stoked to get home--and maybe I am for the first day or two--but sometimes I start to panic again after a week or two, like, "All right, I'm just sitting here. What am I doing?" cuz I'm used to always waking up in a different hotel room in a different town and living out of the bag. Sometimes it funny, because I'll go for a months on that program, then I'll be like, "I want to go home!" Then, like I said, a couple of days after I get home, I'm like, "I gotta get out of here!" So, I don't think I like home as much as I say I do. I think I've adapted to traveling--it's been eleven or twelve years of this lifestyle, so I've got really used to being on the go in a different place all the time.
What is your advice to up-and-coming kids out there that are struggling to pursue snowboarding as a profession?
I think they should just try and have fun, for sure, cuz kids who try too hard annoy me. I don't know how team managers feel, but I just know that some kid that's pestering me and bugging the hell out of me is probably not going to get as far, because there's always going to be that one kid who has a good attitude and is way better than you and surprises the hell out of everyone. That's the person I'd rather see be successful. So, just go out there and try to have fun, you know? That's pretty much about it.
What do you like to do in your off time?
Mostly just hang out with my friends or family, no matter what we're doing--hanging out watching a movie or whatever. But, as far as activities go, I skate every once in a while. I wouldn't call myself a skater--in the Summertime maybe I skate a little bit, but mostly probably riding bmx or moto-x.