Jessica Weiss
My first-time snowboarding was self-taught. I skied before but I never snowboarded before. So, I went to the top of the mountain at Okemo, Vermont with my friends and they were like, “Oh, you can figure this out. You got this!” So, I’m watching them as they go the down the hill and they couldn’t really snowboard either. Then I was watching other snowboarders going down the hill and I’m like “Okay, toe side, heel side looks like they are kind of bending their knees.” My first turn was really a toe side turn I would say than heel side turn. I was mostly a toe side hero for a long time. Then I got more comfortable and started making more turns. The east coast is the ice coast. It is not the most forgiving snow.
I was an instructor at North Star for 11 years. I came out to California not knowing anybody. I never been to California before. I had never been to Tahoe before. I stayed in employee housing and did this program called EA. We did training with the group of half skiers and half snowboarders. At the end of the program, we would take out Level 1 exam. I wasn’t ready for it, so I ended up opting out of it with the group. I ended up taking at the end of the season which was way better because I probably would have failed. I had a lot of fun teaching my first season. I learned a lot. I learned about my stance and how to ride better and to be more confident talking in front of people because I have no confidence at all talking in front of people.
What is your favorite part about snowboarding?
Just being on snow and being outside and looking at beautiful views every time I go up the mountain. I just feel so thankful every day that I do this kind of sport. My mother is a really good tennis player and my aunt used to be a really very good tennis player as well, I think I get the sports thing from her. She is a division tennis player and brags all the time. She once played 7 games and won them all. She is really awesome with sports and stuff. I would just say everything about snowboarding is awesome to me. I get to meet new girls to hang out with new people to make me feel more confident about myself and about me being on a board.
What is an interesting experience you have had snowboarding?
I was at Palisades one time with a girlfriend of mine and her and I were snowboarding and this guy comes up to me and like, “Hey are you, Jessica?” and I was like “Yeah, who are you?” he was like, “Its Justin!” and I was like “No way man I haven’t seen you in over 20 something years. You were the person I learned how to snowboard with in the nineties!” He just rocked up to me with all my gear on and recognized you. And he was like “How could I ever forget Jess? We were the ones who learned to snowboard together.” We hung out and he told me how his girlfriend stood him up at the airport and he still went anyway. He hired a videographer at Palisades to video him and have a good time and I was like “That’s awesome dude!”. He invited us back to his hotel room and we went hot tubing and hung out with him. He was so stoked that he had seen me and I was so stoked because I just would have never thought that I would see him. Him and I learned to together how to snowboard and it was really cool to see him.
What did you want to be when you grew up?
I didn’t really have a plan. I had a hard time in school. I just wanted to be me. I just wanted to grow up and be me. I never really had a path. A lot of people told me that I had excellent hands to be a massage therapist and so I guess that came into my life now I’m a massage therapist. I don’t teach snowboarding anymore but I do every once in a while, I teach my friends or try to teach my boyfriend but he has so many injuries in the past that I’m good that he doesn’t want to snowboard. It’s okay, I’d rather him not. It’s my thing. Cooking is his things and he likes to cook for me.
Tell us a fun fact about yourself.
I am usually very confident about myself. I’m a redhead, redheads don’t really age that much. I’m dating my high school sweetheart.
What’s your favorite color?
Green.
What kind of music do you listen to?
Really heavy metal music like you can’t even understand what they are saying. I like Lamb of God and the lighter heavy metal like Metallica and Nirvana. I like really heavy metals of music. I went to a show in Reno and it was pretty crazy. It was Megadeath and all these bands. My boyfriend and I had a blast. He is into that kind of music too and he loves it and I am into that kind of stuff too. We don’t say I love you to each other, we say I hate you. It’s so metal.
What is your favorite movie?
Spaceballs. I just love the comedy in it. It’s just funny. “We are surrounded by assholes.” I love all movies, but that movie is my favorite. I will watch it over and over again, it never gets old.
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