It dumped pretty good this week. Views from the shop made it hard to get anything done.
Jordan and Oliver stopped by which was reason enough to get out and ride a bit.
I guess if you hang out with Jordan you better be able to ride a snowskate on the box.
For me, backside wall rides never get old.
While we were riding the bus dropped off the kids and well it was hard to get a run in after that. I’ve raised a group of poachers.
Tieg off the roof.
Avery 50/50
Max bomb drop off the roof.
Product page is still unfinished even after I promised to have it ready. Been shipping out boards just as soon as I get them made but I hope to get some complete pics soon. The prices will raise just a bit for this season so if you order before I get my new product page up you will save!
Jesus, its getting harder to come up with catchy titles to these posts especially after I promised tons of pictures in my last entry. I didn’t come home with any riding shots even though I rode some deep pow. This first picture is from Xmas day when me and my boys hiked off the backside of the resort.
This second shot is of the backyard. I came out of the shop to find that the boys had made a pretty sweet jump. All these years I’ve been the major builder in the family but now they are taking over the reins.
Remember back before YouTube when you had to download videos? well just consider this a nostalgic trip back in time. Its only 64 mb and well its nothing special, just riding in the backyard. The soundtrack is copyrighted so this is pretty much the only way to show it now a days, plus only those that read the blog and really like snowskating would wait the 5 min for a download. Anyways, just check it out > winter
Thierry is the artist behind my graphics, the web blog banner, my stickers and this great little holiday snowskate card. He also set up Ralston with a cool logo. He’s definitely helping us look professional. Thanks so much man!!
We had a great backcountry day but of course I forgot the camera. Really haven’t filmed anything yet this season, just kinda taking a break from constantly documenting our every move. I did snap some more backyard shots. The yard has been kinda sketchy after the rain then freezing temperatures. Kinda the way it is with low elevation snow. But with the recent couple of inches we are back in business.
Just got my season truck hardware in and things look great. I’m back to the 3 hole aluminum bases for the lib and fps inserts and will use the 2 hole uhmw plastic pucks for my 2″ inserts. Next week we are down south in McCall, hopefully some good pics will come of it but no post next week. Expect a longer one the first week of January which reminds me, Mission Ridge out of Wenatchee will have a night snowskate event from 6-10 on January 8.
Snow in the backyard, finally!! My new planet snowtools rake is amazing, thanks Cory!! The dirt mound promises lots of lines. Here’s a shot of Teig.
This shot of Max was taken before the big dump we got this weekend. There is now about a foot of light fluffy snow over a solidly frozen ground, which kinda hurts sometimes.
I’ve been wanting to try a deck mounted directly to the sub. This isn’t a new idea, lots of people have tried this but I wanted to see how different it would feel. There are 1/4 inch pads between the deck and truck. It pops surprisingly well and it actually carves hardpack ok on mellow slope. In powder there wasn’t much difference in the float but the low center of gravity is pretty fun and it is light. The top deck is only three plys thick which helps cut down the weight. I guess I was trying to simulate Wolle‘s set up a bit.
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I’m having a lot of fun with the powdersurfs but I do miss the concave and tail that you have with bi-decks. Wolle‘s surfs have the channels on the sides which serve as concave. You still don’t get the pop from the tail of the top deck which I kinda like. I’ll be messing around with it some more this season I’m sure.
It snowed pretty hard wednesday night, about 16 inches where we were hiking. Almost too deep for the slope we were one and the steeper terrain didn’t quite have enough coverage. The powdersurf ruled the day although I had taken a new proto up for a test ride. Its intended to be a deep resort board. Fat at the waist and a short length I’m hoping it will be fairly manageable on the groomers but still have a powder skate feel off piste. It did good on the steep stuff but bogged if it was on mellower slope.
The back yard is taking shape and its actually snowing as I type. Still a few storms away from being rideable though.
Snow in the mountains means its time to fire up the blog for the coming season. Here’s some snowless shots of the backyard set up.
This is the new dirt mound. There should be lots of ways to hit this thing.
Scored a couple of rail from a skate shop that went under.
Backyard riding is one of the reasons I got into snowskating, lets hope this winter brings some snow accumulation down low!!!
I am working hard in the shop on decks and subs. Will have some shop pics soon as well as a product page. But until then you can enjoy a short video of last seasons highlights.
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.
