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John Gerndt

John Gerndt and the Things That Matter Most

Some people like to set alarms, wake up early, beat the traffic and do whatever it takes to score first chair. John Gerndt is not one of those people. As a renowned board designer for Burton Snowboards, a father, a husband and a man who’s done everything he can to be close to the mountains, he knows some things just aren’t worth stressing. He never sets alarms. He goes riding regardless of the conditions. John, better known as “JG,” is going with the flow. If he’d had it any other way, snowboarding as we know it wouldn’t be the same.

“It doesn’t matter when you get here,” he says, “as long as you get here.”

We’re settling onto the FourRunner Quad at Stowe Mountain, VT. JG’s out for the day with his 8-year-old son, Zaine. It’s noon, and we’re just taking our second lap. Stowe got about five inches of snow last night, which means the parking lot was nearly full before the first chair loaded.

“Let’s do that same run,” Zaine says.

“The one where we ducked all the ropes?”

“Yeah!”

JG admits it was his idea to duck a few ropes. They’d been out all morning pow surfing in their front yard. Zaine has access to his dad’s extensive quiver of pow surfers (boards designed to ride without bindings) and gets a gummy bear each time he hikes back up the hill. How’s that for dangling a carrot?…

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