Over the years I have tried a lot of different options when it comes to chair lift straps. For those of you who aren’t familiar with this term let me explain it this way. Some resorts don’t want you to ride with a board in your lap. You can ride the chair but the skate must be strapped to your foot.  Your not required to ride with it so you take it off at the top. Reasons for this vary but center on insurance restrictions and definitions of foot passengers. So back to the strap issue, here at Schweitzer we use the strap. These have ranged in style from actual snowboard bindings carried in a backpack, to various styles of nylon webbing.  All of these systems had there draw backs and were each a pain in their own special way. Even the very last version of my foot strap which was the easiest of all to deal with,  got old. This new system though changes every thing and has symplified the process on several fronts. First being it’s cheap, free in many cases. Second it’s really easy to put on and take off. Third you make it yourself which greatly reduces liability. So here we go. First find an old bike inner tube, cut  it next to the stem of the tube.

Then cut up the tube twice making a wide and narrow strip. The wide one goes around your deck, the narrow one around your ankle.

Tie the wide strip around the deck in between the trucks. The strip will stay in place when you ride. Tie the narrow strip around your ankle, not super tight but snug enough to insure it won’t come off. Use a square knot to insure it won’t come undone.

Put your foot under the board strap…

Stretch the ankle strap up and over your toe so that it captures the board strap. Your ready to load!

Remember, the ankle strap stays on your foot and the board strap stays on the board the whole time.

Working on refining my sub with some subtle shape and flex differences. Will be nice to ride the mountain on both set ups and compare how they handle. Same basic dimensions 0n this sub as the “spatula”.

- Length: 116 cm, 46″

- Nose: 155 mm, 6″

- Tail: 140mm, 5 1/2″

- Waist: 115mm, 4 5/8″

I often hear people say that once kids in Wyoming discover snowskating then its going to get huge. I’ve never understood this sentiment. It seems like they’re saying that kids who live in a town with a ski resort  would never have to resort to snowskating to entertain themselves. I think that any place with snow on the ground can be a great place to ride, you don’t need to live in a boring town to enjoy it. We are very fortunate to live around some great hills and usually have a couple of feet of snow in the backyard most winters. You don’t really need that much snow and that big of hills, just a bit of gravity, a shovel and a rake.

Our backyard is layed out with a wall ride, big table and hip.

There is plenty of speed from the hill in back but you need at least a foot of coverage to utilize it all. The hip will need a lot of snow and packing to be rideable and even then not sure how it will work, right now it looks a bit dangerous but hopefully with some snow things will change.

With this seasons first dusting of snow its easy to get excited about building up the backyard. I’ll keep you posted.

Have you ever heard the old saying, “if your grip sucks, then so do you.” Well I just made it up so good chance you haven’t. I believe its true though. Grip can make you feel invincible or balanced on a razor’s edge. Unfortunately this is kinda an overlooked area in snowskating and by that I mean there just aren’t a lot of choices out there. So today’s post will be a couple of tips for gripping your board. This will also prepare you for the not too distant future… where board makers will send you the deck ungripped to save money. If your re gripping a deck then the first thing to do is get the old stuff off. This is a royal pain in the ass and is akin to shaving a pig bald. Adam Bennett at Florida Powder Skates gave me this tip though, put the deck in the oven, (if it will fit) and set the temp at around 150-200 deg. This will warm up the adhesive and the grip will pull right off. I haven’t tried it but it sound better then shaving the pig.

1- Take the grip and position it over the deck, use a small clamp on either side to hold it in place. I like to trim around the tip a bit and take the excess off to build up the tail for a bit more concave.

2- After the tail, reposition the grip over the deck and hold in place again with the small clamps at the bend for the tail in back. The clamps really help hold the grip centered and without them its easy to get off track and mess it up. Don’t use tape or it will rip the grip. If you don’t have clamps have someone else hold it there while you get started on the nose. Peel back about 2″ of the grip paper backing and fold it under.

3- Press down the grip at the nose, starting in the center and working your way out to the edge with your fingers, making sure to avoid air bubbles (pop them with a pin if they sneak by.)

4- Keep working your way back to the tail in 6″ increments, pulling the paper under and back and smoothing out the grip from the center working towards the out side.

5- When you are finished adhering the grip you can cut the shape. This is the tough part to make clean, and the first try won’t be so pretty. You want to cut without stopping. Start by forcing the brand new razor blade up into the grip.

6- You can start a 1/2″ off the nose then cut towards the board until you hit the edge of the deck. Keep the razor blade angled back and pressed against the edge of the deck. Work your way around slowly. The sides will be easier then the tip and tail so go slow. Once you are done, press firmly all around the perimeter of the deck to make sure the edges don’t peel up later. Good luck!

Here’s last summer’s project. The Jacks apply pressure and the boat jack brings the form up so you can pull out the deck. There’s one in the oven right now. I set this press up to do two decks at a time but right now just pressing singles until I get a bit faster with the epoxy. My old press is still up and running, it uses vacuum for pressure and has an adjustable form. I’ll still be doing the 37″ decks on it. This gives me a bit more flexibility seeing how I won’t have to change forms to do different sizes.