Best Runs Ever? Deep pow Magic !

[jjue]

Recent storm cycle all week in the Sierras has left up to 7 feet of new snow in the backcountry . Ten or so cars at the backcountry trail head .. and a nice albeit steep skin track broken already by other riders to the summit 1700 vertical feet above our cars.

Here is the Summit .. that is Michael over there getting ready to go down .. He is on Icelantic Scouts 143 ..

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l88/jjue/IMG_0879.jpg

As we go down .. here is Billy in the trees .. he is on Hagan 130's

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l88/jjue/IMG_0880-1.jpg

To give you an idea of how deep the snow is , here is Michael just coming to a stop on the way down
http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l88/jjue/IMG_0882-1.jpg

Billy a little further down
http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l88/jjue/IMG_0883.jpg

Here are some of our tracks
http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l88/jjue/IMG_0881-1.jpg

Here is me with a big smile with my very special ride !

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l88/jjue/IMG_0884-1.jpg

Here is a little poem ...
"White Dream "

Today is a dream come true ...
dreams of untracked deep bottomless pow ,
light and cold , white smoke !

All three of us have ridden on many days , in many places ,
but today , may very well be the best !

Cold and deep , the snow supports us ...
we are inside not on top ...
flying effortlessly as if on clouds .. .

This should not stop .. this needs to go on forever !

Best day , best runs , yes , just maybe ... YES !

[slow]

Wow! I now see why you are willing to work so hard to get into the back country Jack. Looks like a dream day for you and your pals.

[wjeong]

Jack,

Nice shots. I was at Sugar Bowl on Thursday and Friday. We had this much powder on both days anywhere they didn't groom. I rode the Spruce 120's one day and the Hagans the next. The 120's with the powder plate 5 cm setback handled the powder much better than my forward mounted Hagans. Powder like this had me thinking about setting the Hagans back from my forward setting. Both days were top notch powder days.


Wendell

[jjue]

Jack,

Nice shots. I was at Sugar Bowl on Thursday and Friday. We had this much powder on both days anywhere they didn't groom. ........ Both days were top notch powder days.


Wendell

You certainly picked the best days to be there, Wendell.. Guys on the backcountry ski forums were posting pics from their resort sessions those days that looked exactly like backcountry deep pow days , without the hiking !!

[Isaac.Jarvis]

I'm jealous, riding in something like that must be incredible

[jjue]

Everyone going up the hill Saturday was sporting longer gear with more surface area then the three of us and the most common question was what gives with the Shorties , why on the best pow day of the season are we using shorties and do they float ???? One of the guys skinning up the skin track was on a spitboard (split snowboard that he puts together at the top ) each of his "skis" was the same dimensions as my Condor but his were 161cm long compared to my 110cm long Condors .

The answer , of course , is in effective use of surface area . What has been discovered is that contrary to the ever escalating use of huge surface area boards in the backcountry ,deep pow can be ridden in much shorter length boards than has been thought possible in the past . Short boards work as long as the surface area reaches a critical surface area for the riders weight and the design of the boards are such that the rider can use that surface area effectively . Of course , we always have known that tiny skiboards can work in deep pow as long as the slope is steep enough . The question has been , what is the critical surface area , that allows a short board , short ski or skiboard to be used as a generalist backcountry board including in very deep pow ?. I think the answer is in .

In Saturday's deep pow , the deepest pow we will probably ride all season , all three of us were havng a whale of a time on Shorties . Michael weighs 200lbs and was carrying a heavy backcountry pack and was on a 143 cm Icelantic Scout with a surface area of 1788 sq cm .. I weigh 190lbs and also carry a heavy backcountry pack and was on a 110cm long Revel8 Condor with a surface area of 1712 sq cm . Billy weighs 140 lbs also carrying a heavy backcountry pack and was on a 130cm Hagan with s aurface area 1463 sq cm . In similar resort pow Wendell was having fun on his Spruce 120 , Wendell weighs 185 lbs and was on a 120 with a surface area of 1508 sq cm

Billy , Michael and I were all moving down slope with about the same speed and float on our chosen rides and having a fabulous time . The advantage ,of course , of our shorties is that they are easier to hoof uphill and are more manuverable downhill ,
Yes we may be riding more within the snow then more on the surface as those with bigger surface area long skis and snowboards , and we may be a bit slower , but we are having just as much fun or more and we are all on generalist boards that are great in all conditions . not quiver pow boards.

For comparison here are some other surface areas of other skiboards ( these surface areas are all calculated the way Icelantic calculates it's surface area for its boards which is to take the side cut of the board , add the tip , waist , and tail dimensions in cm divide x3 and multiply by the length of the ski or skiboard in cm )

ALP 110 1466 sq cm , Ktp 101 1464 sqcm , Spruce Sherpa 1807 sq cm .

[ElkCloner]

I bet you had the most fun

[jjue]

I bet you had the most fun

Lot's of folks were asking me what is it like going down deep pow on a pair of super wide 110 cm skiboards . , I guess , my answer is that it is kind of like flying down a pow slope with nothing on my feet , just with a pair of magic boots ! :)!

I know some newschoolers accuse us of being "Fruitbooters" , I don't care what they call us ... Until they have felt what I felt on Saturday , they will be missing one of the most amazing feelings anyone can have in pow , EVER !!!

[jjue]

ps . my Buddy , Billy , asked what gives with the flat land "kansas" like motif on my Condors instead of mountain scenery ... I said , that it is the Midwest that is the true heartland of skiboarding ... Unlike us smug west coasters.with our big mountains , Midwesterners know that you do not need big skis and snowboards or even big mountains to have fun in the snow .. their revolutionary idea is exploding all over the country and ,like the graphic on my Condor, turning the world up side down and inside out ! We out here in the west will never be the same ! :)!

[kx125rider1313]

jack those pictures are amazing and i wish i was up there on sat. I made it up to sierra on sunday and there was still a lot of un tracked powder. It was snowing pretty hard and i believe we got about another 6 inches while we were there.

As for my condors they did great. I didnt set them back nor did i wax them due to a last min trip lol. But they still amazed me. The thing i love about skiboards are the maneuverability of them in the trees. I can create any line i want and can turn on a dime, as opposed to the snowboarders and skiers. The deepest part that i found was about waist deep. I found this out after i stopped lol and had to use my condors as snow shoes to get out lol.

But the performance with the condors in deep pow centered wasn't that hard to control. They tend to float up and you barely have to lean back. As for front to back stability i felt fine, only problem was when i went off a rock and dropped about 6ft i sank and fell over but in these conditions that would happen to anyone.

All in all it was the best day of the season and really of my whole life as a skier/skiboarder. The condors again amazed me and amazed others as well when i passed them making my own tracks in about 2ft of pow.

Some day ill have to get some pics of me lol. My friends all snowboard and cant keep up with me in the trees nor do they feel comfortable getting into tight areas since i can with my condors.

[kx125rider1313]

actually i do have an action shot that a photographer got of me last weekend before the storm. This is up at sierra. that day was kinda icey but as you can see those condors can sure hold an edge in anything. Oh and it says proof cuz i didnt actually buy it just coppied it lol sorry

http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c216/kx125rider1313/skiboarding3.png

[jjue]

Nice pic , Kx !!!
just shows how versatile the Condor is ,, certainly not "just" a pow quiver skiboard but an all mountain board that can carve up a storm ..

I love the trees at Sierra at Tahoe .. the tighter the better, keeps snow fresh and the snowboarders and the skiers away :)!
glad you scored some of the deep stuff .. it was just for this kind of snow that Brett connor and Greco designed the fat bird, but what really has me singing it's praises is that they designed a big badboy all mountain board too and THAT is VERY special !!

[pinkkid]

Awesome!

[Jens]

It really pictures the amount of fun you guys had! Awesome footage!