Riding the Horse

[Steeps]

I'm pretty lanky... 6'1 and probably max out around 170 lbs with gear, when I've got my full skiboard physique going (this sport puts 5 - 10 lbs of leg, glute, back, shoulder and core muscle on me every season, I'm sure - then I lose it all summer). I keep my bindings as set back as the normal range of adjustment on the Receptors go... back set of holes on the 4 x 4, put the heel piece near the back of the plate, and adjust the toe to fit the boot.

The pitch has a lot to do with it... I don't get that kind of float on blue runs!

I haven't tried a fully rockered board, so it's hard to compare, but I'll bet the camber helps my riding style. I call it 'tail surfing' in steep powder. You'll notice on the steeper powder runs (the end of that T2 run is a good example) that I'm only making contact with the back half of the board a lot of the time. I know from the feel of it that I'm doing 'tail presses', especially into turns or before jumps/pops, to compress the camber and use that energy to spring out. I tend to knee bend when I'm pointing them down and press them straighter into the turns.

Without actually trying a fully rockered board, I feel like they'd dump me on my butt if I tried the same riding style. I'm imagining the camber on the back half forming a bit of a ramp, driving the board up while keeping the mid-tail down and active as a rudder.


The nose rocker on the Spliffs always feels nice and flappy with the setback, when I'm pounding through chop and crud, and I'm never worried about catching a tip at speed like I sometimes do on the DLPs. I do weight pretty hard to the backseat in flatter chop and crud fields, even on the Spliffs.

[newbie2011]

Don’t forget that the Spliffs are cambered underfoot

I know, but ... hmmm, I might have misunderstood how exactly camber works, in my mind once you're on the boards and the boards are weighted, the camber goes away, the bases would be rather flat, maybe even so in powder, where the feet are closer as we don't switch much weight from one leg to the other.

But I never thought about how elastic and responsive camber actually is, you mean that if the board is not fully weighted, it immediately goes back to a slightly arched position ? Close to its natural shape ? If I lift my foot off the snow at rest it's certainly the behaviour, I was imagining that while riding this happens to a lesser extent, but there's no reason for that, without weight on the middle of the board, it will keep the cambered shape, or at least a large amount of it.

That would make indeed for a smaller floating surface in powder, as the weight will be more on the tails, or back half of the board, not the whole of it. And because of the camber, part of the front half will not take active part in smoothing the powder.

Does any of this make any sense or I'm completely clueless ?!?

[Bad Wolf]

Don’t forget that the Spliffs are cambered underfoot and the XLs are flat, making them effectively fully rockered boards.

[newbie2011]

I'm about 220 with gear and the BluntXL or Rockered Condor is needed for me to stay afloat.

That's quite interesting, do you ride them setback or center mounted ?
I was thinking the Spliffs should be quite comparable to the XLs in powder, because in actual total board area they are slightly ahead of the XLs. I know that surface is not the only criteria, but even in terms of rocker, they both have and actually the angle of the rocker on the Spliffs is larger than the one of the XLs. Getting on top of the snow earlier shouldn't make them better ?

In terms of flex, the XLs are shorter so I don't imagine being flexier, so what am I missing here ? Is it the length of the rocker ? The longer it is or the sooner it starts, the better the boards will handle powder ?

[Greco]

How much do you weigh? I'm about 220 with gear and the BluntXL or Rockered Condor is needed for me to stay afloat.

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[Steeps]

No problem! Glad you all are enjoying it. And yeah... I chose my username for a reason. Powder on skiboards means find the steepest slope you can get to, and open it right up. The only problem with the Horse is I'm having trouble finding terrain that's too steep, without being an actual cliff. Red Mountain has some zones that meet that description.

If anyone wants to re-post any of these videos over on the Skiboard Connection group, feel free! I'm not on Facebook or other social media platforms, so they probably aren't getting seen much, otherwise. I'm also pretty busy and largely disinterested in editing videos, but would be happy to provide footage to anyone interested in doing some editing. I just wanna ride! Got out this morning but have to go paint some rooms at the house now... oh well.


I can't say enough good things about the Spliffs for any sort of soft conditions. I trust my DLPs to hold a better edge when things get hard-packed and gnarly, and love their responsiveness, but I'd rather be on the Spliffs because that means POW. They're great in the super deep stuff (have rode them on 50 cm / 20" days at full stonk), but they're even more appreciated once it's chopped up a little bit. I honestly think they'll out-ride any type of gear in chopped-up powder, with the width to float but still short enough for quick underfoot reactions. Of course I'll take the untracked runs instead, but I never mind the end of a good powder day. You can open the Spliffs up, keep your knees loose, and just let 'em ride through it all.

[newbie2011]

It's a fun hill, and the Spliffs love the pow.

I was just contemplating to get a pair as I don't have Courtney 's capabilities to make the XLs flow effortlessly, your vids make them even more tempting, thanks for sharing

[Greco]

The camera flattens it out but it must have been really steep to get that much speed in the pow. More sweet riding my man. Thanks for sharing.

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[Steeps]

It's a fun hill, and the Spliffs love the pow.

Got to hit a freshly-cracked Ozone this afternoon, third hike in a row after hitting Truth & Dare in great condition. I'm sticking to the dang lifts tomorrow. B4 has been cracked, but not many tracks yet, so I might loop that a few times.

[sempai]

Wow! That resort looks incredible!! You were flying thru the freshies.

[ysb33r]

Hey all! It's been a brutal year (not just covid, I'm still in the middle of house building), but the slopes are back open. Got out for the first time last Sunday, and finally get to string a couple of days of good riding together over Christmas. Haven't been inclined to rock the GoPro this early in the season, but finally got around to uploading some powder shots from the end of last season. Enjoy!

Impressive!

[Steeps]

Hey all! It's been a brutal year (not just covid, I'm still in the middle of house building), but the slopes are back open. Got out for the first time last Sunday, and finally get to string a couple of days of good riding together over Christmas. Haven't been inclined to rock the GoPro this early in the season, but finally got around to uploading some powder shots from the end of last season. Enjoy!

[Steeps]

Thanks! I'm new to working with video, so the editing takes longer (and is much less fun) than the riding at the moment. I've got some great footage from last Sunday that I haven't quite finished stitching together... Might need to split it into two shorter segments, that day was really good and it's tough to cut a run out.


For now, here's a single run from today:

High wind is only a problem if it shuts the lift down. ; ) I got stuck on a chair in some sustained 110 km/h plus winds on the biggest snow day of the year; the chair was swung out at a solid 10 degree displacement for a while (while stopped). Once I got my feet back on the ground, it was wild, some of the most exciting weather I've been out in. The wind kept whipping in from different directions and slamming you around.


By the way, what do y'all like to see? Longer composite videos, single runs, crashes? I have lots of those after this weekend.... heh. All of the above? I won't try for more crashes, but otherwise it all rides the same, it just chops up different. I don't post much groomer footage because it doesn't excite me much, but nearly always have to ride some to get back to the base, if you want it.

[buckeye]

well steeps you've went and impressed the owner, now what are we going to do. You make my skiing look like child's play....lol. On a serious note you get my vote for the best video award for this season. Do you ever find high wind a problem? The spliffs in their element, excellent

[Steeps]

Thanks for making this kind of riding possible, Greco. I started skiboarding because I was bored of skiing (back in the 90's when skis got stagnant), but I keep skiboarding because I truly believe they are the best tool for pushing the limits in difficult terrain*. I aim to prove that every time I strap them on, so that everyone can see what they're capable of.

And also because it's a freakin' blast to rip the biggest lines on the hill on the shortest 'skis' out there!

_{*except perhaps big cliff drops, but I'm too old for big cliffs anyways}