The Nevada Sagebrush

When he was a kid, JT Holmes said he loved to jump off everything, whether it was a diving board or trampoline.

On Nov. 17, Holmes became one of the first four people to ski-BASE jump off a building when he jumped off the Silver Legacy Casino at BOBOFEST, a snowboard and ski event that raised money for Make A Wish Foundation.

“I’ve always liked being in the air,”said Holmes, a 27-year-old general studies major. “It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

Most of Holmes’ professional skiing career has been full of rare chances. He said he has been lucky.

Holmes was in his first ski movie, “Snow Riders”, when he was 15. His friend Cameron Boyle recommended him to the producers for the Warren Miller ski films. Holmes got the part. He said though this film wasn’t the real start of his career, it helped push him forward to better things.

“I think I made an impression on the right people – some filmmakers and professional skiers – because I was really young and doing well,”Holmes said.

When he was 17, Holmes asked to be in a film in the letter he wrote to Matchstick Productions, who is known for its innovative, extreme ski movies. Holmes got the part.

“I knew that their movies were the coolest and I wanted to be in them,”he said.

“Sick Sense,”Holmes’ first Matchstick movie, was produced in Alaska where he worked with professional skiers and his role models – Shane McConkey, Seth Morrison and Gordy Peifer.

Now, Holmes has appeared in at least 15 films, has a contract with Matchstick Productions and is sponsored by Nordica Skis and Boots, Smith Goggles and Helmets, Porter’s Tahoe.com and Sessions Clothes.

When he is not making movies, Holmes helps design skis, like Nordica’s Super Charger Skis.

Holmes said when he watches the movies after they are produced, it makes him want to be more creative and daring on the mountain.

In his films, he has done triple backflips off a cliff, worn a wing suit and flown above the mountain terrain and reenacted a James Bond skit using real AK-47s ending in a base jump.

“JT is one of the best skiers out there,”said Scott Gaffney, a professional skier with Matchstick Productions.

Gaffney met Holmes in 1996 when Holmes was a young kid with braces following him around Squaw Valley, a terrain park in California.

“Now, he is a really smooth skier who can stick huge airs,”Gaffney said.

To stay in shape for film production and BASE jumps, Holmes swims, hikes, runs and rides his mountain bike and dirt bike.

Although he has skied in Norway, Switzerland, France, Austria, Germany and several places in the Reno and Tahoe area, his favorite place to ski is still Squaw Valley because it is where he started skiing at age 4.

“It’s home to me,”he said.

This year, Holmes said he hopes to graduate from UNR since he has been an undergraduate student for nine years. It has taken him so long to complete his degree in general studies because he takes every winter off to film.

BASE jumping, which Holmes started doing in 2002, is his favorite part of his career. He said he can only get about three seconds of maximum air time on skis, but about a minute during a BASE jump with a parachute.

“Ski-BASE jumping is just another way of pushing the limits of extreme skiing,”Holmes said, who wants to be a professional skier for at least 10 more years. “The best part is being able to be a part of the evolution and pushing the direction of the sport.”

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