emsedal, Norway -
On May 9, 2005 Mads Jonsson blasted himself into the snowboarding history books with a monumental solo session on a 40 meter (130 feet) table top stomping a huge backside 180 and the smoothest and most stylish monster frontside 360 seen to date. If anything could be compared to Danny Way’s skating or Laird Hamilton’s big wave surfing, this was it, and it was epic. The once in a lifetime 40 meter table was scouted, designed and built by Hemsedal legend and snow cat master Lars Eriksen. The jump took approximately three weeks to build and took advantage of a perfect backcountry mountainside, which allowed Mads to drop in and obtain the necessary speed without aid from a snowmobile.
The session commenced at around 6:00 pm on Monday evening after two solid weeks of shooting various terrains on and around the legendary Hemsedal Ski Center Resort. There was no doubt, however, that the main goal was to get a session on the big table that sat luminously in the backcountry waiting for the perfect conditions. Monday’s bad weather started clearing around 5:00 in the afternoon and at 5:45 pm I received the call that in was on and Mads was making a move towards the jump. The setting sun basked the jump in an orange glow. Silence intensified the anticipation of what was about to unfold. Two and a half hours later, it was over, and in the books as the largest and most impressive tabletop session to date. Snowboarding history had been made.
After fine tuning the kick in the cat with Lars and testing the speed several times, Mads stepped up with a solid straight air that put him perfectly into the now shaded landing. Quick sled shuttle up, another test straight air, and then BAAMMMMM, Mads lit up the glowing evening sky with a rock solid backside 180 that threw the collected group of riders and lucky observers, not to mention the photographers and cinematographers, in a exclamatory rage.
57 meters (187 feet). Stomp. Silence. Intensity. Stoke. Mads floated a perfect frontside 3 indy which was immortalized by the best still photographers in the snowboard industry and filmed by Standard Films and Burton Snowboards cinematographers. Mads Jonsson - stomping his way into snowboard history and taking snowboarding once again to the next level.