In the "Stalefish" column of issue 15.4 we had a fine catch-up with Norwegian legend Mads Jonsson about his first ever pro model snowboard (hard to believe) The FlyFisk, the new surf/shred/hunt/good times lodge that he is now running with JP Solberg and an interesting breakdown and explanation on the vibe surrounding the massive kicker they built at Hemsedal in 2005. We ran a shortened version of our conversation in the mag, you can read the whole discussion below.
Cover photo: Frode Sandbech

Hey Mads, what’s new in your world?

What’s up man! Things are good these days. Real different, but real good. About a year ago I packed up my bags in California, finished my last helicopter exam and went to Norway to start shifting my energy toward my homeland. I am a travel lover, for sure, but it felt like the right time to make the move. For years JP (Solberg) and I have been planning this concept where we could keep living our lifestyles as snowboarders, surf all the time, work at home and most importantly, start exploring one of the most unexplored zones left in the northern hemisphere—Norway! The plan was set and we were going to start up cat skiing in the mountains and go into business with a friend of ours who has been running one of Norway’s surf hostels for the past decade; a real pioneer in cold water surfing.

So you and J.P. bought a farm and set up a tour company?

We’ve finally gotten the project off the planning table and into the first phase of running it. It’s been a lot of planning in so many directions, so it’s great to see the pieces fall into place. We had already worked about a year to make cat-accessed riding legal here in Norway and magically met a small ski resort with a municipal county mayor that was behind it 100%. It’s still not all legal, but he found a way to make it legal for our operation. We were ready to start showing our friends from snowboarding this beautiful place this past winter (2014), but Norway’s west coast had the worst winter in 60 years, so we only got out with the cat one day. I can’t wait for it to snow again and get back at it. The ski resort will also give us full freedom to make the park we want and we get the key to the lift and cats!

Meanwhile we are working on the other part of the project—the surf destination.
Renovation and construction was pretty much all I did for much of last year. We now have what is the beginning of our surf lodge with a full kitchen and the rights to serve food and drinks! Both destinations are very close to each other and it only takes one and a half hours from snow to surf, or the other way around. Check it out on our page www.Stadsurfing.com or the ski resorts page www.Harpefossen.no

Moving up here on the coast we needed to find a place to live. Really randomly we ended up looking at this farm. It had a lot of cool value, like our own forest, 34 cabin parcels, sea trout terrain and deer hunting. As if that wasn’t enough, it had a huge slaughterhouse built in 2006 and 40 sheep standing in the field. We ended up being farmers real quick! We are here, set up, and learning about our new life every day. Fishing is 100 meters from the window, hunting starts 100 meters from the front door and waves are 30 minutes away. On the right winter day, we can ride all day long on our own private mountain behind the farm. If the snow is not good here, the hill is one hour away with a park and cats. In very short time we will also start producing organic food for our restaurant at the surf place, and of course we already eat very well. It’s really the good life!

Sounds epic. So you guys will be the guides then? Is this for just for pros and media or will this be for anyone?

It’s as epic as it gets! It will be possible for anybody to book cat time as soon as we get everything dialed with guides and safety measures. That will hopefully be streamlined for next season. Meanwhile, we will be inviting friends from snowboarding and surfing to help us try the runs and get the place some exposure. We can also run the ski resort on any day when it’s closed to the public, which is Monday through Thursday. It’s something I have dreamt of since I was a little kid.

You still hold the world record for hitting the biggest jump from when you sent it 57 meters (187 feet) on that table top in Hemsedal in 2005. How do you get ready for something like that?

That session stands out for me, for sure. It’s the only thing I did as a snowboarder that still scares me a little. I jumped that kicker on the ice with no helmet and scorpioned (laughs). It could have gone very different, but it went the way it did and totally built my whole career!

It all came together kind of randomly and wasn’t really an attempt to break any records, just an urge to challenge snowboarding and myself. Lars Eriksen (the cat driver) and I were messing around with the jump after he had made the biggest landing I’d ever seen. We piled up a bunch of snow and started shaping away to create the actual kicker. Usually we measured jumps kind of roughly based on what looked right for the landing and then we measured with an actual tape measure. This one ended up 38 meters to the beginning of the roll over, which was always our reference point. No jump had ever been over 31 meters at that point. We looked at each other and laughed, like “Oops.”

The rest of the crew from the shoot came to look at the jump as we were shaping it and the team managers were happy as fuck. The riders were not! I got called out left, right and center. “Nobody can jump it, and if so, it was only possible to do straight air,” is what I was told. I remember it making me real mad! I thought to myself that all the guys are such pussies and it just gave me a lot more motivation to hit it.

The day after shaping, having spent a whole night getting told I was crazy and ruined the shoot for everybody, I decided to go up there and hit the jump alone. Only me, Kier and Lars were present. When I got down and everybody heard that I had hit it, things turned around pretty quick. Team managers were assembling, commanding and doing their thing. All of a sudden everybody was standing back at the jump helping shape it up. Jussi patted the whole thing down with his board like a backcountry kicker and it was ready to ride! I was starting to get real comfortable on the jump the more I hit it and the fact that everybody was now standing there high-fiving me and giving me mad props gave me so much motivation! I did some BS 180s and then went for my 360. Then I was going to really hit it and do a good rotation. Coming around on my BS 7 I could see that clearing the knuckle was not going to happen and ended up with a broken hand. Season was over but I was pumped!

You just got your first pro model ever from Gentem Stick, The Flyfisk, shaped by Taro Tamai. How does that feel and how does it ride?

Hell yes, it finally happened! 24 years after I started snowboarding. Taro is such a rad shaper and snow surfer! The year after I was let go from Burton I was on a trip with Mark Carter in Niseko and Rip Zinger was our guide. I had met Taro, Rip and the Gentem boys the year before with Burton and was introduced to the Gentem boards then but had never really tried one. I rode the Big Fish for a week and it was the most fun week I’ve had snowboarding in forever! Later that season I met Taro, Rip and Domi from Gentem at ISPO. We chatted a bit about how sick it was to snow surf, and then, out of the blue Rip said, “We should make a pro model for Mads.”


Taro was interested and we started talking. After having many good conversations with JG at Burton over the years, it felt real cool to be back involved with the board construction stage. Our goal was to make a pow board that rode like the Big Fish, but could handle my style of riding and was more air-oriented. It turned out to be more than I could ever wish for! The Flyfisk has been a board for two seasons now and I have gotten to take it to a lot of different terrain. It’s so sick! It handles everything. The only thing it’s not good for is doing spins bigger than sevens and anything more than one flip. If you’re looking for a classic-style ride for methods, threes and backflips, this is the sickest board out there. Due to Taro’s abnormally tuned eye for detail, the board rides with absolutely no resistance for the rider. I’m truly blown away. It’s reminded me that after all these years I still have so much to learn about why and how boards should be made.

Last words?

Other than Taro and the Gentem boys that deserve all the props in the world, I don’t have any sponsors to shout out. I would like to thank everybody that has made my career possible and put me in the positions I’ve been fortunate enough to experience! It has all made it possible for me to get my life dream going and put me in a place where I feel more like a snowboarder than I ever have! I will be forever grateful!