jjue
12-13-2009, 10:03 PM
Big sierra storm cycle last few days and my son and I went up to Sugar bowl after the biggest dump for a little white room session !
Here is the magic carpet transporting us up to the white room ... .
http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l88/jjue/IMG_0984.jpg
Here is the morning ride , folks just couldn't figure me out , weird giant snowblades on my feet , telemark boots but no telemark binding , weird front bale binding , WTF is that ???????
http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l88/jjue/IMG_0985.jpg
This was the first time I had the Condors in deep pow and they lived up to all my expectations .. . wonderful dropping in on the white room , got some untracked steep and it was smooth as silk bouncing from turn to turn down , later the stuff got tracked a bit , and when a big dump like this gets tracked it gets to be a serious undulating ocean with big drops were folks have cut the snow with their skis and snowboards, mixed with huge mounds of untracked in between . I was amazed at how well the tiny Condors navigated the stormy ocean , just pick up a bit of speed and plow through .. Yes , not as well as the Sherpas ( more on that later ) but simply astounding for such a tiny board.
And yes I MEAN tiny . The Condor was defintely tiny compared to the monstrous powder skis lots of folks were sporting today . My son on his big powerful Winterstick pow snowboard , felt I was going too slow and should switch to the Sherpas post haste... but I was having too much fun to do that ...
see on a shortboard like the Condor I just love making tons of turns , it just seems to be more fun that way , so of course on a 110 skiboard I make twice as many turns as my son on his 168 snowboard , and yes it takes me a little longer to get down the slope but who is having more fun ????
(Condor set up :Line ff pros , with telemark t2 boots , set back 2 cm on the binding )
In the afternoon it was time to switch out to the Sherpas .. Wow these things feel BIG compared to the " tiny " Condors that I had on my feet all morning ..
http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l88/jjue/IMG_0987.jpg
BUT taking them up to the white room , let's me understand the magic, once more , of the Spruce longboard project .. This was to give skiboards a bit more length to give them added stability in variable snow and some increased speed but to retain the magic skiboard feel . Jeff , of course , managed , that in spades with the Sherpa .. It feels and turns just like a skiboard , just like my Condor , just bigger . The increase in stabiility in variable terrain of 20 cm extra length is not a small matter , it is huge . There is a whole lot less work to control fore and aft pitching in variable terrain . This leads to a more relaxed ride . Think of short board surfers , compared to longboard surfers ...
shortboarders make shorter turns , are more active ... longboard surfers have a classic smooth style ... on the Sherpa my turns are wider in arc in the snow ,
Float in both boards is about the same .. I really do not need to weight the tails much on either board .. but I do have to shift my body weight on the fly more actively front and back to control fore and aft pitching in variable broken deep snow on the Condors , this is not hard to do and actually is fun , but it leads to a different FEEL to the ride .. Which board is better ? There is no better board , they just have a different feel .. the Condor is way more skateable and more manuverable especially with a non releaser binding , it responds quicker to my body motions then the Sherpa , but the Sherpa is more stable in variable terrain , they are both all terrain boards and equal favorites of mine . In their own ways with the design of these two boards G and Jeff Singer have hit bulls eye with producing true all mountain skiboards that are fabulous in white room conditions and yet carve up a storm on ice and groomers.
On the Condors in deep pow " I float like a butterfly and sting like a bee "
on the burly Sherpas I AM the TERMINATOR ready to roll over anything in its path , on the Condors I am on a super fun all terrain motorcycle , on the Sherpas I am on a HUMMER...
Later we go from some side country exploration outside the ski area boundaries. and suddenly realize why I carry collapsible poles on my pack .. it realy is helpful walking on flat backcountry trail cut my some previous riders ...
http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l88/jjue/IMG_0989.jpg
Here is my son trying to take his snowboard off and walk a bit and instead sinks into the snow ...
http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l88/jjue/IMG_0988.jpg
I lend him a pole and he scoots a long the trail on his snowboard
http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l88/jjue/IMG_0990.jpg
Powder is a rare commodity and out west we can get big dumps of the stuff and when that happens , the white room is open for business !!!
One of those real special days today ... thanks G and Jeff for making such fabulous boards , that help making playing in the white room so special !
Here is the magic carpet transporting us up to the white room ... .
http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l88/jjue/IMG_0984.jpg
Here is the morning ride , folks just couldn't figure me out , weird giant snowblades on my feet , telemark boots but no telemark binding , weird front bale binding , WTF is that ???????
http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l88/jjue/IMG_0985.jpg
This was the first time I had the Condors in deep pow and they lived up to all my expectations .. . wonderful dropping in on the white room , got some untracked steep and it was smooth as silk bouncing from turn to turn down , later the stuff got tracked a bit , and when a big dump like this gets tracked it gets to be a serious undulating ocean with big drops were folks have cut the snow with their skis and snowboards, mixed with huge mounds of untracked in between . I was amazed at how well the tiny Condors navigated the stormy ocean , just pick up a bit of speed and plow through .. Yes , not as well as the Sherpas ( more on that later ) but simply astounding for such a tiny board.
And yes I MEAN tiny . The Condor was defintely tiny compared to the monstrous powder skis lots of folks were sporting today . My son on his big powerful Winterstick pow snowboard , felt I was going too slow and should switch to the Sherpas post haste... but I was having too much fun to do that ...
see on a shortboard like the Condor I just love making tons of turns , it just seems to be more fun that way , so of course on a 110 skiboard I make twice as many turns as my son on his 168 snowboard , and yes it takes me a little longer to get down the slope but who is having more fun ????
(Condor set up :Line ff pros , with telemark t2 boots , set back 2 cm on the binding )
In the afternoon it was time to switch out to the Sherpas .. Wow these things feel BIG compared to the " tiny " Condors that I had on my feet all morning ..
http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l88/jjue/IMG_0987.jpg
BUT taking them up to the white room , let's me understand the magic, once more , of the Spruce longboard project .. This was to give skiboards a bit more length to give them added stability in variable snow and some increased speed but to retain the magic skiboard feel . Jeff , of course , managed , that in spades with the Sherpa .. It feels and turns just like a skiboard , just like my Condor , just bigger . The increase in stabiility in variable terrain of 20 cm extra length is not a small matter , it is huge . There is a whole lot less work to control fore and aft pitching in variable terrain . This leads to a more relaxed ride . Think of short board surfers , compared to longboard surfers ...
shortboarders make shorter turns , are more active ... longboard surfers have a classic smooth style ... on the Sherpa my turns are wider in arc in the snow ,
Float in both boards is about the same .. I really do not need to weight the tails much on either board .. but I do have to shift my body weight on the fly more actively front and back to control fore and aft pitching in variable broken deep snow on the Condors , this is not hard to do and actually is fun , but it leads to a different FEEL to the ride .. Which board is better ? There is no better board , they just have a different feel .. the Condor is way more skateable and more manuverable especially with a non releaser binding , it responds quicker to my body motions then the Sherpa , but the Sherpa is more stable in variable terrain , they are both all terrain boards and equal favorites of mine . In their own ways with the design of these two boards G and Jeff Singer have hit bulls eye with producing true all mountain skiboards that are fabulous in white room conditions and yet carve up a storm on ice and groomers.
On the Condors in deep pow " I float like a butterfly and sting like a bee "
on the burly Sherpas I AM the TERMINATOR ready to roll over anything in its path , on the Condors I am on a super fun all terrain motorcycle , on the Sherpas I am on a HUMMER...
Later we go from some side country exploration outside the ski area boundaries. and suddenly realize why I carry collapsible poles on my pack .. it realy is helpful walking on flat backcountry trail cut my some previous riders ...
http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l88/jjue/IMG_0989.jpg
Here is my son trying to take his snowboard off and walk a bit and instead sinks into the snow ...
http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l88/jjue/IMG_0988.jpg
I lend him a pole and he scoots a long the trail on his snowboard
http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l88/jjue/IMG_0990.jpg
Powder is a rare commodity and out west we can get big dumps of the stuff and when that happens , the white room is open for business !!!
One of those real special days today ... thanks G and Jeff for making such fabulous boards , that help making playing in the white room so special !