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.
Got a jump on the season Thursday. Pretty sketchy conditions but really fun. 10-14 inches over small rocks. More snow is forecast for Sunday.
Pretty soon this spot will be very busy.
This is my sixth season blogging about snowskating and building snowskates. I have no idea what the year holds but I’m looking forward to getting on with this winter. I should be posting every Fri or Sat. I will be getting a product page with pricing up soon. In the meantime feel free to shoot me an email and let me know your thoughts on the blog/snowskates/riding/whatever > chillersnowskates@gmail.com
Last weekend we headed down to Anthony Lakes, a small resort in eastern Oregon. There’s only one chair and a smattering of runs but the top of the mountain is at 8000 ft so the snow is usually deep and light. Another great thing is they have free electrical hookups for rv’s. While the van isn’t exactly an rv we do have a small space heater and an electrical cord so we were able to squeeze in between a couple of bigger rigs.
We arrived late Thursday night and the storm started gaining speed around midnight with really viscous winds. The resort is only open Saturday and Sunday so the plan was to hike friday. The weather was a bit crazy but the pow was amazing. On Friday I pretty much just rode my new circuit powder surf which absolutely killed it as long as I stayed in the powder. They had groomed a couple of the runs and with the new snow it was hard to tell where the groom track was. Flying down, ripping off turns then slamming when I hit the groom track sucked so I learned pretty quickly where not to go. I’ll admit I wasn’t so sure about the powder single. It seems like I’m always needing a powskate that can handle both powder and groom plus how much different would it feel. I wasn’t exactly looking to learn a new sport. Well it feels exactly the same to me except there is never a question of float. Your always ripping the pow no matter how deep it is. I’m sure others will disagree but to me, everything I love about riding strapless, the freedom under foot and the pressure you apply to the skate, all those things have a very similar feel. I know that with more rides you could explore some areas that are unique to the powder surf and I’m looking forward to checking those out. The only thing I miss is concave and the bend in the tail. I find that on a bideck I always know where to put my feet, on the powder surf you have to play around a bit to find the sweet spot but it really wasn’t that big of deal.
On Saturday I rode my FPS151. With all the snow they had gotten during the week we were riding some pretty deep conditions. In the trees it was waist deep and really light. I’ve missed that this season. It seems like we have mostly received small amounts of heavier snow. People kinda tripped out on the skate but there was no issues with the lift. They allow snowbikes there so its not much of a stretch for snowskates. In front of the camp we built a little gap. My kids were hitting it with the help of our bungee. I saved my spine by just hiking up the hill a bit. My son Teig is resting in the gap.
Being a small ski hill things are pretty low key. As we were hitting the jump after the lifts shut down the mountain manager was warming up the cat for a trip to the top. He asked if I wanted a ride up. Having never riden in the cab of a cat it was hard to refuse. I got a ride to the top and a tour of the major backcountry peeks that are all accessible from the area. It is a pretty amazing spot and the locals know what they have. We didn’t explore any of the backcountry terrain since the inbounds stuff was so sick but hopefully there will be another trip to Anthony Lakes next season.
Tomorrow morning I load up and head out west. The van will be pretty full by the time we arrive on Friday. So far the roster includes, E2, Graham, Leavitt, FPS Adam, and Jake. We’ll be meeting up with Jordan, Katie and Allan at Snoqualmie then heading to Port Angeles on Fri via a couple of skatepark stops along the way, (as long as the weather cooperates.) Last year this trip worked out so perfectly it would be silly to expect the same this time around but who knows. The weather for Hurricane Ridge is forecast to snow 4-7 on Fri which is a pretty good start. I don’t think we’ll be getting the bluebird with the freshies like last time but that’s ok, just as long as it doesn’t rain like the year before. I’ll be demoing some of my stuff for next season. There will be three set ups of the 42 both with the 36″ top deck and 38″. Also I’m bringing a set up that I just pulled out of the press on fri. Its a brand new sub from a brand new form and I’ve only had a few days on it. I’m having a hard time describing it since it falls in between a snowskate sub and a powder sub. For the time being I’m calling it a mountain skate.
The mountain skate is a direct descendant of the 42″. It has the same side cut and taper although the width is about 3/8 wider. The insert locations and the deck mounting with respect to the tail are the same as is the sweep of the nose and tail. The goal was to make a sub that would handle just like the 42 but with a larger nose for off piste riding. It comes in at 51″ long, 8 1/4″ nose, 5″ waist and 6″ tail. This is not intended to be a powder skate but instead a snowskate that can handle powder, and most importantly steep terrain. One thing I’ve found though is it doesn’t really matter what you want a sub to do, it will ride how IT wants to ride. Last Saturday was my first test ride and that was just on groomers which it handled great, especially steep stuff. Its very easy to turn and the extra edge in front really digs into the carve. Yesterday though we got to test it out in some fresh pow.
Now with a length of 51″ and a narrow 5″ waist I didn’t expect it to slay the lower angle deep stuff but it did a pretty good job. The area that I was most interested in was steep tight terrain and in those spots it handled great. A smaller sub in steep terrain is a great match. You take a bit of the speed off which slows things down just enough to make good turns with out the feeling that your right on the edge.
All in all it was a great day and I learned a bunch about the set up. Its definitely still in the experimental stage but I’m excited about the direction that I’m headed in. This deck will be free to demo at Hurricane along with the 42″s so if your up there give it a try and tell me what you think.
We did get some footage of its maiden powder voyage, check out how low it rides in the snow, it almost seems like the top deck is throwing out a spray too!!
Today was the first Thursday where we did not go into the backcountry. With the warm temps and rain yesterday, things were looking a bit on the crappy side as far as powder goes. Oh well, it was a good day to stay in bounds and goof around. Neither Cole nor I can ollie very well, but that didn’t stop us from trying. There is this flat spot at the top of the mountain that is on a hump. Most skiers and snowboarders never go up there cause its a little bit of a hike but the groomers pass through and its always buffed. There is a nice mellow incline for riding flatground and big long manuals. We built a little bump and practiced ollieing off it. I guess you could call it the snow version of a jump ramp.
A snowmobile came by and I got a tow into this snow mound.
We are planning a Snowskater cross for the 11th of April. It will be loads of fun and I’ll be posting more on it as the time gets closer. Also I’m just finishing up the last batch of boards for the season. I’ve got a bit of everything, FPS completes 151 and 152 and three of the new Morning wood’s as well as unmounted finished decks. I’ll post up a full list with prices first of the week… heck I might even put it on the Product page, wouldn’t that be nice?
Uh…what can I say about these three boards? They are the same yet different. Stiff, mid and soft flex from left to ride. To remember just think of Kate Moss being the stiff one. So as you might guess they each turn and edge differently. I haven’t taken out the soft flex yet, this Saturday for sure, but I kinda have an idea of how it will handle, kinda. It will be fun to ride I’m pretty sure. Definitely a perk with this little obsession, you get to ride something you have speculated on.
There is a snowskating misconception that the sport simplifies things. In reality it makes things more complicated as evidence of the boards we would be packing to the hill. We rode the beginner hill until the quad opened up. Always a nice warm up, mellow fresh groomers. Then back to the new spot which has been delivering some great turns.
We probably got about 4-5 inches but all of our tracks from last week were pretty much filled in. We were able to salvage the boottrack which made for quicker laps.
I have been having fun with the pole cam as you have all probably noticed. What I like watching the most though is the footage of the board, basically from the knees down. I just like watching the board as it turns. It feels like if I watch close enough I’ll actually be able to understand what is going on, but I never do.
I knew this would happen, I build one subthen the craziness begins. You just keep asking, or others ask, “what would happen if…?” You keep tweaking flex and changing dimensions until you can’t remember what the original question was. But I’m not complaining, its really fun to be able to make skis to match your mid season whims. The latest ski is a true twin tip with center mounted inserts and a 5 7/8″ (150 cm) nose and tail. There are two sets of inserts which give you mounting options between 16 and 19 1/2″. We rode it today and it was a blast, unfortunately I have to send it to BARONTiERi cause it was his idea and cause he made a sweet Snowflake logo for me as well as all the work on the website and the ColorFool designs. I’ll be pressing a shop version asap though. Here’s a few before and after pics. The first one shows before the press and the second pic is after the top deck and sub have been cut to shape.
Today I loaded up all of my subs and took them to the mountain. It was a pretty heavy load but the goal was to try and ride them all, or at least most of them.
First though was to grab the 151 and head into the back-country to meet Eric and Cole, who already had four laps in.
After we were done riding powder we headed back into the resort for some groomer laps. We chose a fairly long run to test the boards on with both mellow and steep sections and ending with a lap through the boarder cross course. Eric and I switched decks after each run making sure that we both rode all the options. It was really informative seeing that each deck was set up a bit differently with respect to truck height and sub dimensions. Hopefully after some more runs like this on varied terrain I’ll have something to report but most likely I’ll just have even more questions to ask, which is fine.
The fun thing about recycling is you don’t always get a choice on what graphic your going to use. I’m running out of Dragons and Helicopters so it’s time to pull out the models. This should give the gawkers something to stare at.
Morning wood camber with a tapered side cut, I’ll ride it tonight for its maiden voyage.
The Thursday rides are getting better and better. The snow is piling up and the backcountry is smoothing out. Yesterday we had four skaters pounding out the boot and we were able to get 7 laps in. The glade was untracked when we arrived first thing in the morning but by noon there were 28 deep trenches down her. I feel just a tinsy bit bad for cutting up all that powder… well not really.
I still haven’t gotten my video editing software working but here’s a 1 mn clip that came out pretty good. Everyone’s on snowskates, even the filmer(me). One of the guys, Tim, has only been snowskating one other time.
