Vid and Pics - Backcountry Skiboarding Trip Report

[jjue]

Today was one of those really great backcountry days . Was out with my Ski buddy Bill ( in red jacket ) who rocks Hagan 130 Short skis ( he uses Telemark bindings but rides the Hagans both regular alpine ski style and telemark style ) .. I was on what else .. Sherpas .

Early morning on the trail , new snow !



Bill and I go way back , he taught me all I know about the backcountry , we both use to ski on skinny skis and leather boots... I did introduce Bill to the Hagan 130 short skis and he loves them .. ..

He also is our navigator with gps on his glove ,( he has it attached to his glove)



Up the trail , a nice view of the ski area runs in the distance... we are close but worlds apart ... no noise ,silence, no people , untracked new snow everywhere



At the top the sun peaks through briefly , weather and clouds moving in later today



Untracked snow everywhere

[jjue]

You know I am really getting to appreciate the graphics on the Sherpa ..
I stare at this view on the trail as I stare at the beauty around me of the mountains ... I think Jeff has his skiboard design pegged right .. Sherpa gets me right up the hill



Well jack whats the riding like ????

Well here are our tracks ...


But perhaps this vid tells the story of the riding a little better,
First we have to rip off our climbing skins , this can be done without taking your skiboards off , but requires a bit of body contortions .. you can imagine what a time an old guy like me has doing this on long skis .. Hell I still strained myself doing this today on the Sherpa !
The first snow we got was a bit choppy ,crusty , with some ice underneath and our riding was a bit ragged , but we found some really nice pow stashes on our 2nd run .. and really enjoyed the pow ... Bill is the skier in the red jacket in this vid , he is the guy with poles in hand ! ,mine are on my pack ...
Bill really is a great technical skier and rips both alpine style and telemark ... meanwhile I am am old dude trying my best to imitate Skafreak on the Sherpa .. damn .. I wish I was a bit younger.. then I could really rip !! ( Sorry about the music , the vid sort of runs out before the music does )

[t21]

man, those are nice pow!! need to ride on them with my sherpas, you are so lucky jjue,soooo lucky i need to find a friend like you or like Bill

[jjue]

Ok time , finally to go home , we climbed and rode 3000 veritical , today ..
not bad for two very old dudes... ( Bill is a tad older than I )

Had to cross this snow bridge and not fall into the creek




Ok finally back at the van , end of a most fabulous day , another one of what we call Bill and Jack's Most Excellent Adventures !

[Ancients]

Damn you... that snow looks so nice. Taos this weekend was really badly packed down and kind of icy. (translation for east-coast riders: normal hard pack) So hopefully this week some good snow hits.

Hopefully one of these days I can try back country on a pair of sherpas or 120's (I'm light enough to probably be fine on 120's) because that looks awesome.

[lumberduvey]

Nice. I'm rather envious, and so are my sherpa's...

[wjeong]

Jack,

Great vid shots. I'm so stoked to have both the Sherpas and Hagans. That is a really nice tree run.

Wendell

[valmorel]

Dont know why, but somehow surprised at how big the trees are. Firs in the Alps are about one third that size.

[jjue]

Dont know why, but somehow surprised at how big the trees are. Firs in the Alps are about one third that size.

Yeah, val , one of the problems is that the firs are so big that the tree wells around them can be dangerous traps if you fall into them while riding ... , , have to be a bit careful...

[mahatma]

jjue,

That looked great. For me, that was like perfect powder depth. Awesome. I really like that natural pop you have to your turns.

[pinkkid]

woo-hoo!!!!!!

[Kirk S]

jjue,

I have 2 questions.

1. What is the closest airport to you?
2. Is there any room on your floor for like 2 days?

I would most certianlly spend some of my winter or spring brake hiking that