Welcome to ‘Winter Missions’ – A series where we pair up professional and not so professional snowboarders with interesting people from all walks of life – celebrities, influencers, athletes, Olympians and more. The goal is to take them on some rad Aussie adventures – in and out of the resort boundaries and just about everything in-between.
Missions have been forever deep rooted within the culture of snowboarding. Here at Transfer, our mantra is to mission and we’re bringing to you some of our favourites that any boarder can revel in, with some awesome people thrown into the mix.
To kick off the first Winter Mission, we paired up professional snowboarder and Jindabyne local, Jye Kearney with the fast growing, hilarious and insta famous duo from Inspired Unemployed. The mission – embark on Jye’s perfect day at his local mountain, Thredbo Resort.
Jye Kearney is lucky enough to call Thredbo his backyard, growing up and riding there for 15 years! When he’s not travelling around the globe filming video parts and shooting in the backcountry and streets – he’s sure to be seen ripping around Thredbo. If there’s one person who knows the secret spots and where to score the goods…it’s Jye.
Matt Ford and Jack Steele, the deadly duo from the Inspired Unemployed hail from the South Coast region of NSW and have been regular snow goers for some time now – family trips, weekend strike missions and have even done a few winter seasons abroad in both Europe and Canada.
After the awkward introductions in Jindabyne, we headed straight to Jye’s go-to spot for some morning fuel, Birchwood Cafe. Jye’s a pretty high energy guy and he swears that the coffee at Birchwood is the best you can get…everyone agreed. Coffee and crew, we headed to Thredbo Resort for what was about to be an all time day ripping around and exploring the mountain.
Earlier in the week Thredbo received around 80cm of fresh snow across the entire resort, setting up a nice base and filling in some of Jye’s zones he wanted to show the crew. Upon arrival the clouds were pretty socked in, excitement is always somewhat dulled when poor visibility is a thing. After checking several weather apps, we were confident the sun was going to pop in the hour. To wait it out, we hit up Jye’s top breakfast spot at the base of the mountain, Avalanche Cafe to fuel up, yet again.
After the bacon and egg rolls and another shot of coffee were had, we headed up Thredbo’s new Gondola to get after it. As we got higher and higher up the Gondola, the clouds dissipated and the sun popped out…it was game on.
Although we could barely walk the next day, the Winter Missions trip was one of the better days we’ve had on the mountain. Jye and the crew were all such legends, keen to do it all again soon! – Inspired Unemployed
It was Matt and Jack’s first day back on hill and Jye did not hesitate to throw them into the ‘deep end’, taking us to some of his iconic spots around the mountain to jump, turn and burn. Jye’s approach, as always was to fit as much as he could into one day – hot laps around the resort, backflip after backflip, lunch at Australia’s highest restaurant followed by some serious afternoon antics out at Dead Horse Gap.
By around midday we had covered almost the entirety of the resort with Jye continually pushing both Matt and Jack to go harder and faster each lap. Jack that morning claimed that he was going to put down a backflip at some point, still yet to deliver…Jye took the crew up to Eagles Nest, Australia’s highest restaurant to refuel and gain some liquid courage.
Fueled up and liquefied, the banter begun to build even more. Having ticked off a tonne up at Thredbo, Jye decided it was time to hit Dead Horse Gap for Jack to step up and have a crack at a backflip. The ride down to the car was one for the books…a battle of speed post lunch, always a little dangerous.
Dead Horse Gap is located just over 5 kilometres from Thredbo and is well known for it’s iconic slackcountry run that you can access from the top of Thredbo as well as it’s snowy base…perfect for a backflip jump. Why’s it called Dead Horse Gap? It’s a bit depressing but it was where wild horses would get trapped in a snow storm and perish.
Upon arrival, in true Transfer style…it was time to après! How do we like to après? Well, we definitely wouldn’t turn down a ritzy hotel in the European alps somewhere to enjoy a frothy (send invites to editor@transfermag.com) but because we’re in OZ and doesn’t look like we’ll be travelling anytime soon, we can still do après proper – in the back tray of our dope Ford Ranger, with a ginormous YETI cooler filled with Pirate Life cans…crème de la crème
After the après station was setup, it was time to get to work building the backflip booter. Jye’s built hundreds of jumps before, so he got to work telling both Matt and Jack what do, as he kicked back from the comfort of the Ford Ranger.
“I’m a huge fan of the guys! When I found out I was going to be linking up with them for the Transfer mission…I knew this was my chance to break out and show everyone what I’ve got. So naturally, I got naked and did A backflip whilst blindfolded. You should see the followers I’ve got now Baby…” – Jye Kearney
The jump was built and it was game time. If Jack landed the backflip, Jye earlier in the day said that he would do one also…semi-naked and blindfolded. Jack rips on a snowboard, so he had no hesitation getting stuck into attempting the flip with some coaching tips from Jye. After the fifth attempt, Jack stomped it…clean! He then ran back up and stomped another one, beer in hand.
Jye, regretting his words was now standing at the top of the jump in his bonds underwear and blindflolded by the strap of his goggles. We all thought this was going to end in some terrible way, however the ‘true’ professional Jye is, he nailed it and rode it all the way out to the car. A moment in time that no-one who witnessed will ever forget.
We finished up with a final beer to toast the rad day, the crew was exhausted to say the least. A telltale sign of a successful mission.
Huge shout-out to our partners for making these winter missions possible! It’s a pretty crazy time right now to be supporting a travel series and it’s rad to see brands we love, support what we love. Thanks to Ford Australia for the wheels, Go Pro for all the cameras, YETI for all the gear and Pirate Life for the frothies to end the day in style.
Host: Richie Carroll
Rider: Jye Kearney
Guests: Matt Ford & Jack Steele
Filmer & Editor: Boen Ferguson
