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  • #61
    First group skiboard day! Bert and family were up from Kimberly and it was a blast! Lost a bit of footage to moisture on the lens, but even included some of that.... needed some mandatory skiboarders-playing-in-the-trees shots and also proof of me getting left in the dust at the bottom of a fast ripper run (rare).
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    • #62
      Originally posted by Steeps View Post
      First group skiboard day! Bert and family were up from Kimberly and it was a blast! Lost a bit of footage to moisture on the lens, but even included some of that.... needed some mandatory skiboarders-playing-in-the-trees shots and also proof of me getting left in the dust at the bottom of a fast ripper run (rare).
      Very nice footage ,Steeps! Really great you were able to hook up with Bert and family. You guys look like you are having a blast ! Really great conditions you have! It has been a very dry year in California after the December storms and we have had very few powder days this season and it is nice to see folks having a great time in soft snow!!
      Boards :
      Blunt Xl, DLP, Spliff, Condor, Rockered Condor , Slingshot, Sherpa, Icelantic Shaman
      Boots
      K2 BFC 100 Grip walk sole , Dynafit CR Radical AT boot, Ride Insano Snowboard boots
      Bindings:
      Zero Pro Non release Binding
      Modified Receptor Backcountry Bindings (Bill Version and Slow Version)
      Spruce Riser with Attack 14 GW /AT binding
      Custom Risers with Fritschi Backcountry Bindings (Jeff Singer version 1, Bill version)
      Rocker and Sbol Soft Boot Bindings.

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      • #63
        That looks so great and such fantastic snow you got there, the usual groomers from our Alps look so boring in comparison, I'm officially jealous Guess I need to settle on a resort and do some thorough off-piste explorations, this is so much more fun that you guys are having, thanks for sharing !
        Myself: RVL8 2011 KTP, Spruce 125 LE, RVL8 "Drooling Clouds" RCs, Spruce 2016 Osprey
        Daughter: Twoowt Pirania 95cm; RVL8 2015 Blunt XL; RVL8 2021 SII; Spruce Crossbows
        Past: RVL8 2010 Revolt Trees, RVL8 2014 Condor, RVL8 2009 ALPdors, Spruce 120 Yellow/Red

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        • #64
          We're planning a meetup around March of next year to explore the Powder Highway, probably 5 resorts over a week... come play!

          It's been a bit of a strange snow year... very few big powder days but really good coverage since the start of the season. It's got me working more technical lines and exploring areas I'm used to ripping past. Things have been getting excessively gnarly since I got the Playmakers; I might actually be relieved when the season ends.

          This was yesterday:

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          • #65
            Bert thinks he heard me say something naughty on the above video, but I swear I was just muttering about the Freeride Union of the Columbias and Kootenays.

            New video up, just a nice cruisy ride down a sweet little line I hadn't hit before. One of my favorite videos of the season so far.
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            • #66
              Latest upload.... this is an area of the mountain I've only started riding at the end of this season called Coffee Chutes. It's inbounds but not marked as formal runs, and ridden by few. A lot of the lines are mandatory hucks to get over some cliff bands and big rocks. Steep as hell at the top, and I chickened out the very first time I stepped up to the plate (visibility was terrible, and a patroller had came up behind me to see what the crazy blader was up to, I think... or maybe to make an advance call for medical assistance). I'm starting to get the hang of the zone and have tackled three separate entrances now. When I made my first run of the day down here, the wind was howling up the chutes so hard that kicked-up snow from my skiboard hit the camera lens on my head. (light wasn't good so it wasn't worth uploading the run, but that part of the video was pretty funny).



              Having the Playmakers this season has been a real level up on my riding, feels like unlocking secret areas on a mountain I've ridden for 5 seasons! Still need to put more time into the Heavy Metal chutes, they're a lot worse than this and I've barely cracked them.
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              • #67
                Cleaning up a few end of the year videos.... the final weekend of the season got pretty epic. Got into some very interesting spots on Good Friday, and rode 60,000 ft of vertical on Saturday - 18 gondy laps and a bonus chairlift ride including some seriously gnarly terrain. Need to finish up a bit of editing on the big vertical day (cooked it down to a short clip of every run), but here's a fun little one off the side of Truth. It's actually about as steep as it looks... note the hand placement coming across the rock band. Somehow I still haven't got a core shot or major edge damage on the Playmakers:
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                • #68
                  Why are my hands sweating?!

                  Awesome!

                  Can I use the video on the Playmaker page?

                  Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk

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                  • #69
                    For sure! But I can also get you that Biggest Day Ever video soon, and it's got some gnarlier lines in it! Did that 60,000 ft on the PMs, and squeezed short highlight clips from every run into about a 5 minute video.


                    Click image for larger version

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                    This season led to me coining the phrase "Post Traumatic Shred Disorder", when you finish your run shell-shocked, repeating "WTF? WTF did you just do? WTF is wrong with you?", and the lines you rode that day haunt your dreams all night. By the last weekend, I'd got my mind hardened enough to take the strain and just started looking for any survivable lines I hadn't hit yet. There's a few lame burner runs that happen towards the end of any day that big, but I got into some really fun spots along the way. Even starting to get some respect from our crazy patrol team.

                    Can't wait for next season!
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                    • #70
                      Here's the goods from the 60,000 ft day:


                      The camera doesn't do justice to some of the lines... watch the acceleration rate on the ride-out of #3, #9 and #10 in particular. And yeah, I cherry picked the heck out of the clips! It took a full minute to climb my way into the shelf that Glory Hole is located on, and another 1:30 to carefully ease into that starting position. Didn't look too good from where I dropped, but I was too lazy to climb back out of it. Most of the names are either official run names or patrol names; I got my hands on a laminated set of the patrollers' mountain atlas cards part way through the season, with the explicit warning that just because it's got a name it doesn't mean it's a rideable line (some are just places to throw explosives for avy control). But hey, you gotta check, right?!

                      What a day... the culmination of best season I've ever ridden. Playmakers rule.
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                      • #71
                        Great video! I am really impressed at how well you make those Playmakers work in really very technical terrain that would have scared me witless! It was definitely not hero powder and you needed to get those edges set in what seemed like some pretty firm snow with only some soft snow on top . I was very impressed how you could pivot around , sldeslip and set and engage an edge on very steep , narrow terrain strewn with rocks etc . Having done some of this kind of stuff myself ,I am also super impressed how you can do this without poles . Being from a skiing background I always ride with poles in this kind of terrain and use the pole, planting the pole , and unweighting around it and then setting my edges . It helps with balance , etc and I am sure you have skier friends who ski those chutes like that with poles. . It is super impressive that you have the balance to do all of that without the aid of poles ! All around this video is a great demonstration of fantastic skiboard free riding skills and what can be done with these tiny boards in super technical terrain , Bravo and thanks for sharing !
                        Boards :
                        Blunt Xl, DLP, Spliff, Condor, Rockered Condor , Slingshot, Sherpa, Icelantic Shaman
                        Boots
                        K2 BFC 100 Grip walk sole , Dynafit CR Radical AT boot, Ride Insano Snowboard boots
                        Bindings:
                        Zero Pro Non release Binding
                        Modified Receptor Backcountry Bindings (Bill Version and Slow Version)
                        Spruce Riser with Attack 14 GW /AT binding
                        Custom Risers with Fritschi Backcountry Bindings (Jeff Singer version 1, Bill version)
                        Rocker and Sbol Soft Boot Bindings.

                        Comment


                        • #72
                          Thanks Jack, sorry on the late response! I grew up skiing but never really missed the poles when switching over. My skier friends are a bit skeptical about losing the poles whenever I can get them on skiboards, but they usually pick it up pretty quick. I do a lot of the same motions with my hands and shoulders as you'd do with poles... as far as steep slope pole planting, I think it helps to not go through the motions of trying to jump down around a pole to make a turn. I just jump and turn where needed, and there's often no forward travel needed.

                          Here's a video I was saving from last season... It's not ridiculously steep or epic powder, but it's one of my favorites to watch and shows off the forgiving, relaxed ride that the Spliffs give you through unexpected obstacles. Kicking Horse doesn't have many of the gully runs that I grew up with at Silver Star, but this is the best of the bunch and really challenges my reaction time when doing it in a single shot. Had a couple of buddies behind me; they showed up about a minute and a half later.

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                          • #73
                            Long time no update...

                            Last season was unfortunately very lame; snow conditions were underwhelming enough that I didn't bother riding with a camera all season. Still had some fun days with friends, but it was low snow, low coverage and virtually no decent powder days.

                            This season has been even worse, with a near complete snow drought since opening day, rocks showing everywhere, extreme cold (-35C) followed by a melt-out that closed the resort for a couple of days due to extreme avalanche risk - entire slopes were starting to slump, especially around rock outcrops. There have been rocks showing everywhere all season but they suddenly multiplied. The lower hill was down to less than a foot of coverage with scrub brush dominating a lot of the runs on the lower mountain (Kicking Horse's brushing program depends heavily on ski edges to do the work).

                            I concussed myself doing a tomahawk on a freakin' green run in early January, broke a board in the same crash (due to force of impact as my feet came around after my head hit), and have never missed so many ski days out of a season. Overall it sucked...

                            Until this week. The snow started last weekend, and the storms just kept sweeping through. As of this morning, we had 139 cm in 7 days, which is about a quarter of the total snowfall this season. The Horse is back! Patrol is still struggling to open terrain - it's high avalanche risk right now - but I'm back to bombing steep deep powder runs. Better dig out my camera again...
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                            • #74
                              Glad you made it pass your concussion and are finally getting a good dump of snow.! We have had a pretty good season overall in Tahoe , and we are also getting bombed with a huge 3 day snow storm right now! I will not get to enjoy it for a couple of weeks as a group of us are going to Andorra for the EuroShredfest meetup of skiboarders this year! Unfortunately it also has been a very low snow year in Europe but they also have just started to get some snow to improve conditions but not the mega dumps you are getting or we in Tahoe. Keep us all posted on your adventures. Love your deep pow videos!
                              Boards :
                              Blunt Xl, DLP, Spliff, Condor, Rockered Condor , Slingshot, Sherpa, Icelantic Shaman
                              Boots
                              K2 BFC 100 Grip walk sole , Dynafit CR Radical AT boot, Ride Insano Snowboard boots
                              Bindings:
                              Zero Pro Non release Binding
                              Modified Receptor Backcountry Bindings (Bill Version and Slow Version)
                              Spruce Riser with Attack 14 GW /AT binding
                              Custom Risers with Fritschi Backcountry Bindings (Jeff Singer version 1, Bill version)
                              Rocker and Sbol Soft Boot Bindings.

                              Comment


                              • #75
                                I'll try to get some more for you in that case. Did get the cam out on Sunday just to see if it's working properly, but neither of the runs I shot were particularly great. Had one without it that would have made for good footage. The buttons don't seem to be working too well, it might need a firmware update. GoPro has planned obsolescence down to an art, so it takes a bit of maintenance to keep using an older camera (7 Black).

                                Had some fortunate timing with terrain openings over the weekend; managed to hit several areas shortly after opening. A large portion of the terrain was still closed on Sunday, particularly the hike-in areas of the resort. 30 - 50 cm avalanche crowns were visible in a number of areas, some probably from patrol bombs (with big propagation from the start zone) but a few looked natural. I think the patrollers might be waiting for the snow to consolidate a bit on the bigger slopes so that it stays put naturally instead of bringing it down with bombs before it sets up. We need it to stay in place right now.

                                My favorite zone, which is a hidden in-bounds gem that only the hardest-riding locals hit on a regular basis, hasn't been opened at all this season. It was looking a little slide prone on the weekend and hopefully it stays closed until next weekend so I can get at it! I've had dream days where I was able to hit that zone 8 times in a row and get untouched descents every time. It requires a long run in on a narrow, twisty goat-trail ridge traverse, a short hike, shimmying on a narrow ledge on a cliff, and some pretty precise drop-in points before hitting the steep, deep glades and chutes... skiboard paradise!
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