This can be a fun time of year, building boards in the shop in the morning and testing them in the afternoon. Sometimes it can be frustrating if its really dumping and there is lots to do in the shop but this year winter is off to a slow start. We’ve had a week of sub zero temps and HIGH winds which has scrubbed the backcountry, nothing a snowskate can’t handle though, further proof in my mind that all you need is snow to ride. Cole and I jumped out of bounds behind the quad, breakable crust with hidden obstacles. Don’t  know if skiers or boarders would even bother but we had a blast. It was way to cold to stop and get some riding shots so I just took a few pics along the way.

Cole brought his 151 and I had the 125. It will be interesting to see how these two boards compare through out the year. Yesterday the 125 was probably the easier choice, I’m not sure why but it was. We took turns riding both boards and the conditions were pretty crazy so I don’t think it really tells me much about how they compare. I guess it was easier to keep the tail down on the 125, you weren’t having to lean too far back which made turning easier. Like I said the crust was wicked but fun.

We put in a boot track and fired off four laps in a couple of hours them headed back to the resort and the barren ski slope.

I finally got a chance to ride the 151 on some hard core groomers. That thing is pretty amazing for how long it is and how locked in you feel on a carve, even over blue ice. That board will definitely be a contender on in-bounds powder days.

Just a couple of pics from the shop, a stack of decks, boxes of truck parts and a pile of off cuts. I hope to get the store up soon for easy online ordering. A lot of these decks are spoken for, either heading to Adam or for locals. If you want to be put on the list before the shop goes up email me your wants at chillersnowskates@gmail.com.

At this point I should probably call these Shut up and Snowskate retrospective. Yes another SUAS post from the past. All I have from this last one is a little bit of footage. It is so hard to film when there is a really fun course and everybody’s riding. You just want to be a part of it, not documenting it. When this comp was going we didn’t know it would be the last one. SUAS had been going for 6 years with the first one comprised of 4 stops across the U.S.A Krush and Shag were the motivating forces behind the project with the goal to spread the word about snowskates. Each comp was a similar format with all having the “slash for cash” downhill. The Summit stop was always the last of the season and I guess considered the finals for the tour. The course was always amazing and this last years was no exception. The set up was perfect, lots of fun lines all bunched together so you could watch and ride everything. There was a barbecue and tent off to one side with all the food you could eat. Tons of skaters you’ve never met and lots of spectators. The only problem with this course was there wasn’t quite enough speed for some of the better riders to go off. This particular morning started with about 6″ of fresh pow and a blue bird day. The course was pretty icy first thing so most of us hit the powder lines off the left side of the lift. That was a trip, 30+ snowskaters ripping the pow in a huge group. At one point it was Jordan, Spico and me flying down this gully, of course I was in back which made for a great mental  picture.

SUAS SIXX

It may look like a “spatula” but it was tricky getting this egg on there 🙂

Before I get into too much detail on the sub check out the new narrow insert bases. These are mainly for the Ralston 1 1/2 insert spacing although the spatula is sporting a 2″ dim. That’s right I just introduced another option. Actually I think we should all change to 2″, would fit both narrow and wide boards. But I’m sure that’s not going to happen so I guess I’ll be alone in that.

this either looks like a duck bill or some kind of serpent with its mouth open. Any other sugestions?

Ok even I’ll admit that the nose is HUGE and square. Uh….what can I say, I wanted a plunge proof nose. I want that thing to pop up like a toaster. I will concur that the shape could be a bit less sponge bob . The dims on this thing are 46″ long, 6″ at the widest on the nose, 5 3/8″ wide on the tail. Camber with early rise nose. Basically its a 40″ ski in a 46″ body.  I have not ridden it but if we get a few more inches with this next storm I’ll at least hike a bit this weekend and report back to you.

I think most people would consider board width to be a matter of personal preference. There are the obvious cases when the sub is very thin and the top deck is very wide, or vice versa when the sub is very wide but the top deck is narrow, that problems can arise. With the first case of the sub being dwarfed by the top deck you can have problems with the deck dragging on the snow when carving. This takes away leverage from the sub edge plus limits it from digging in any deeper. The other case of a narrow top deck mounted on a wide sub creates a lack of leverage or a diminished amount of force onto the ski. These both are pretty obvious examples of extremes and while they can create problems they wouldn’t necessarily make it impossible to ride, just a bit harder. So far I’ve got two widths in production, a 10. 1/4 POWDER and 9.3/8 ALL MOUNTAIN.

The benefit of a wide board in powder is that you reduce the drag created by your feet when carving. Also it creates more surface area which helps keep the tail from sinking so much on drops. This is especially helpful when running a short tail like on the Florida powderskate 125. The advantage of a narrow deck on a narrow sub is that you can lay it over more on hardpack carves without bouncing the top deck off the snow.

Check out the size difference in the Lib tech 48″ and Ralston 41″. There’s almost 1.3/4” in the tail alone. While that’s not a huge number it does translate into difference in of leverage and float. Running a 10.1/4 wide deck on the Ralston would be an overkill and limiting unless you had a really high truck height. Running a 9.3/8 top deck on the Lib tech would be fine unless you really needed some leverage for carving ice. But if that was the case you probably wouldn’t have your powder skate loaded.

So when choosing a deck width the things to think about are first; personal preference, second what type of terrain will you most likely be riding and third how many subs are you hoping to mount to it. If you want to run both narrow and wide subs then a 9.3/8 top deck is best but if you only want to hit the pow… the bigger is better.

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.

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