Chattin’ with Jamie Nicholls - Page 1
May 27, 2008 @ 9:00 AM
Portrait: James Fuller.
It’s often easy to forget that Jamie Nicholls is only 14. His prodigious talent on a snowboard, combined with a gob full of northern wit that’s as far removed from the stereotyped shoelace-studying teen as can be, make him seem way older than he is. Regularly touted as the great white hope of British snowboarding, he is peerless in his age category – taking on proper sized park booters with backside 9s already - and you get the feeling it is only his diminutive stature that’s holding him back from dominating riders twice his age. More pies is the key, Jamie reckons. Last winter he had a small part in Blank Paper’s ‘In Short’ giving the Halifax booter a good workout and he certainly impressed Jukka Erätuli and Frederik Evensen when Onboard toured the northern dryslopes last summer, so as he starts to spread his wings and dip his toes in the icy pool of European riding, we decided to have a quick catch up with the boy Nicholls. Jamie rides for Nike 6.0, who’ve got a neat comp called Killing It that’s well worth a gander.
Onboard: Hello mate. Where are you right now?
Jamie Nicholls: In my office…
OB: Running tings ... does that mean you’re at the school IT department?
JN: No, I’m at home. In my mum and dad’s office.
OB: Where is home for you?
JN: Home is in Bradford, on a hill.
OB: For those who don’t know, where is Bradford exactly?
JN: Bradford is on the Pennines and in West Yorkshire, close to Leeds and Halifax.
OB: Right. So how come you’re so frickin’ good at snowboarding when you’re, what, 14, still in school and live in Bradford?
JN: Because I live 2 mins away from Halifax Dry Ski Slope and half an hour away from the Xscape snowdome in Leeds.
OB: And how long have you been riding for?
JN: I have been riding for nearly 8 years.
OB: Wow. Can you explain what riding dryslope’s like for those who’ve never tried it?
JN: It can be quite harsh but it’s fun, and when you are used to it you can do the same tricks that you can on snow.
OB: And how was it for you to make the transition from dryslopes and snowdomes to real mountains? Did you find it pretty easy? Stepping up to bigger kickers, pipes and so on?
JN: Yeah. At first it was quite hard but now I can do it pretty easy.
OB: When was the first time you rode real mountains?
JN: The first time I rode a real mountain was in Kitzbuel in Austria with the family, about 6-and-a-half years ago.
OB: Do you think being fortunate enough to get out and ride real parks from an early age has contributed to developing your riding?
JN: Yeah, I think that has improved my snowboarding a lot. It definitely has…
OB: Because for a lot of UK guys the first time they can spend any significant time on snow is after they finish school…
JN: Yes, but my school is very good to me because it will probably be what I do for a living hopefully but they only let me go if I catch up on all the missed work.
OB: And do you catch up on all the missed work?
JN: Of course! I’m a very hard working student [laughs].
Indy in the Laax pipe. Photo: Jools Smith.
