*** Official Snow Surfing Thread ***

$kully

Duke status
Feb 27, 2009
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6 hours of wet soggy powder and I am Shawt. And thank goodness for Epic pass “buddy pass” credits. Was “only” 125 each instead of like $180. Really is insane but they do make the Epic and Ikon passes super affordable. But not everyone can hit the mountain several weeks a winter; many might only ride a handful of days. And fudge me do they rob you blind for those few days.

in protest I must have filled my coffee thermos 5 times but only paid for 2 (which was still eleven goddamn dollars lol. For coffee!)

Not many pics yet, it was rainy and snowy today. Tomorrow will be soft and perfectly groomed and sunny. Light wind. A foot of fresh natural snow fell in the last 12 hours. Wet and heavy but will make for fun groomed carving tomorrow and some of the glades are stashed and fun

first one is for Pickle

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Guinness 0.0 is a delight in such a venue
You riding a skeleton key?
 

$kully

Duke status
Feb 27, 2009
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In a somewhat redemptive move, I just picked 5/8 of an ounce, made up of 5 examples of Vermont’s finest genetics. Blackberry kush is da-vine.

also, my little dogs absolutely love Vermont with 10 inches of snow on the ground. They are both tiny little mutts rescued from puerto Rico, yet here they are going all white fang, calling the wild, chasing squirrels and chit

they’re now passed out and will sleep for the next 18 hours
I'm pretty heartbroken we never got to take pickle to snow. If he recovers well enough for surgery it's something I'm still hoping to do while we can.
 
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Subway

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You riding a skeleton key?
Yeah 154. Love love it, especially once visibility cleared and the snow got lighter in the trees on Friday. Such a fun nimble board that a surfer “style” snowboarder like me can easily carve and depend on the rail
 

$kully

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Feb 27, 2009
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Yeah 154. Love love it, especially once visibility cleared and the snow got lighter in the trees on Friday. Such a fun nimble board that a surfer “style” snowboarder like me can easily carve and depend on the rail
I have the OG Craigs edition in my quiver and I’ll never part with it. It’s a perfect fun yet capable board.

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If I recall correctly didn’t you used to ride the landlord? I think we have very similar taste in boards.
 
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Subway

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I was still too fat for the landlord. It was amazing front side, but was too short to hold a sturdy heel edge on backside carves. now the archer has worked his way down to a size and athleticism to warrant such equipment

I rode a rossignol oneMag for years that was perfect for a fat yet experienced rider such as my old heavy self. Had those serrated edges like wavy bread knives that could handle my weight carving into even the nastiest New England ice
 
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Chocki

Phil Edwards status
Feb 18, 2007
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Planet Earth
I was having the occasional blowout on heelside turns and M2 had just come up with something. The way he finds a solution by replicating the problem is genius.


His new short turn vid is dank as well natch and I’m looking forward to working the dolphin edge change drill. Working on tech on the groomers has paid back beaucoup dividends in the pow, steeps and gnar


Stocked you guys are having a good trip. When there’s snow New England is dank. Bulletproof ice is not chill.
 
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Bob

Michael Peterson status
Apr 23, 2001
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What in the living fook is all I have to say about this last weekend at Tahoe. The parking lot at Kirkwood closed at 8:30 AM, half an hour before the lifts open, on a non-powder day?! Been going there for about 30 years and never even seen anything remotely close to what that sh!t was. CHP managing traffic was also a complete dick - I hope he is haunted by my daughter sobbing uncontrollably in his face. Luckily could refund my kids lessons as we couldn't even park until 1 PM. Kids did snowplay in one of the turnouts. Had to leave at 7 AM on Sunday morning and still jammed traffic getting into the mountain area.

I can't comprehend why adult learners without kids would go to Kirkwood. There is no logic to it whatsoever.

Bright side is we got run after run on Timber Creek side and the kids were STOCKED once they got onto the mountain. They progressed with every run and were amped the entire time, can't wait to get back up there but just not on a weekend. Getting that powder day the previous Thursday still had me satiated so I was just as stocked teaching the kids and helping them progress.

PRCD underestimates the Bay Area techbro faggotry. It actually cannot be overestimated. If this is the new normal, holy hell. fook Vail in every fucking orifice for trying to turn Kirkwood into a destination resort when it is not designed for that at all. And they better not even think about creating a reservation system. :mad:
Its getting screwed up everywhere. Both Cottonwood Canyons are maxed out. Lots of money to begin to fix it.
Go Lauri!
 

Chocki

Phil Edwards status
Feb 18, 2007
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I’m wicked high rn so IDK what to make of the forecast rn for us. It could be worse I guess.
 

92122

Michael Peterson status
Jul 29, 2015
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Mammoth wind crust report:

2 day strike revealed stupid amounts of snow. All this snow is now 2 weeks old and the mountain has endured several days of *heavy* east wind that made anything not groomed basically unskiable rock hard wind crust crud.

Top opening was delayed but they eventually fired up 23, but the only thing anyone was going down was through the enormous entrance notches they groomed on Cornice and Scottys, which were wind scoured to a level of hardness found only on World Cup downhill runs. Thanks to to the upsloping winds blowing about 50 up your nose, it was tough to drop in, and the wind did not ease after 2 or 3 turns down. So not much fun was had off of 23.

Bombing furiously on the groomers down below was tons of fun though, at least in the morning before they got cut up.
So many of my 2-day Mammoth trips are exactly this. Like, oh boy there's all this snow, and then you go off the top a few times and you're kind of over it.

Steepest lines I've ridden off the top of Mammoth (nothing that gnarly) were in spring conditions. I've never got it as fresh soft snow everywhere.
 

$kully

Duke status
Feb 27, 2009
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sushipop

Michael Peterson status
Feb 7, 2008
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The Dagobah System
This is insane on so many levels…

That gave me anxiety on multiple levels.
 

Chocki

Phil Edwards status
Feb 18, 2007
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12”+ newish snow. Got there relatively early, already tracked from yd and/or this morning still wicked fun. Tried to go to 11 much as possible on the 166cm pow slayer, not just going fast but riding like I get paid to turn. Highlight of the day was leveling up skill wise and being able to shred through some choke points td that I couldn’t previously.

Endless white waves to myself
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Rode some gnarly trees
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Found the launch pad again and was about to send it but I guess bc it was a victory lap I decided against and was stocked I didn’t go for it bc it’s a solid 15’? drop when I thought it was 6’. Where’s Waldo?
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Chocki

Phil Edwards status
Feb 18, 2007
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Had to pull the bindings and diamond file smooth the spot I fucked up one edge riding down the launch pad yd. Not a scratch on the base, Amplid quality? I can’t count how many times I’ve thought I fucked either board‘s base running over wood or stone only to find a tiny scratch. There was a little tree in way yd and said fuck it and just ran it over.

Cant say enough good things about the performance and convenience (swapping/removing) of the Now Drives. I did have to swap out the cushiony straps for Unions along with wanting better ratchets. Finally got them tweaked (strap length) to the point where everything is on lock down and the pain has receded to where it’s comfortably numb.
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Reference stance moved toward center front and back, +21deg front +6deg rear (both boars).

not sure if mentioned, burton step-ons are sweet
How are those to get in and out of in deep snow? At one point yd I lost momentum like a total loser in a spot where I shouldn’t have (easy entrance/start of tree run) and had to unstrap move then climb back on and restrap for a standing start. Was nice to have a stomp pad. The cool kids seem to have abandoned them. It was also nice to only have to move a few feet to get started again. I’ve been experimenting with what I call the snowmobile where you crawl with your hands on your board in front of you.

My bro loves his Clews? The convenience factor must be wicked. Not sitting down saves a shitload of energy over the course of a day. I’m getting way better at strapping in standing. It’s tricky. It helps a lot to pick the right place and/or kick dig the heel edge in real good.
 
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Kento

Duke status
Jan 11, 2002
68,684
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The Bar
Flipphone photo of a beautiful day yesterday up at Kirkwood.

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A day of chasing the sun; was in mid-30s but windy. Top was mostly windpack; the few inches of snow that fell had some remnants in the trees but it was only a few inches. Nice to be able to get there at 10 and have plenty of parking available. Aside from the top being windblown, rest of the mountain had relatively decent snow. Was mostly a day of high speed groomers and fucking around in the gullies, which are always fun no matter what.

On way up 88, saw a wolf cross from just around a corner, apparently clamber up an 8' snowbank that was just out of view, and as I look by thinking was that what I thought it was, there it was staring right me as I drove by. Trippy - they're out there all right.

The new Union bindings worked well; glad I got them.

Regarding old bindings with straps missing/broken here and there, what do you all do with them? I hate to just throw them away, I can't sell them with a straight face, so... ? Donate to local shop for them to cannibalize?