SNOW LIF E2013 Rider of the YEAR Jeremy Jones December 2013, Issue 24 What Snowboard is right for you? Help guide to pick the board you need Norway is now on the map all thanks to this creative rider. Silje Norendal: Alternative Core Types of Snowboards ike to cruise groomed runs? Float through powder? Hammer chutes? Or ride the rails? The right snowboard for you is one designed for the terrain you prefer. This article helps you understand the types, sizes and shapes of snowboards out there and how to make a wise choice. W O SN L D R A O B park boards and other snowboard styles designed for riders with large fSplitboards: These backcountryspecific boards split in half to create 2 skis and permit climbing on untracked backcountry slopes. You later reattach the halves and ride downhill. W O H : S C TO E S O O H Sizing Length: Stand a board on its tail. Its nose should reach somewhere between a rider’s nose and chin. Fast, aggressive riders often prefer a longer board. Park riders eager to hit lots of jumps and twists may want a very short board. Weight: Recommended rider weights are listed in the spec charts of individual boards A core can also be made of molded plastic or polyurethane foam, as well as a variety of other alternative materials. Polyurethane foam is the usual choice of material, and is available in sheet form to be cut and shaped, or may be injected into the mold during lamination (hence the term “injection molded”). Foam cores are light, strong enough for most requirements, and do not require as much labor to manufacture. Inexpensive polyurethane foam cores (called PU for short) sometimes do not retain their molded shape as well as wood cores, as the structure of the foam can break down over time as it is stressed, resulting in “dead” flex. Though this is not necessarily the case with high performance foam formulations, the manufacturers of wood core products have done an excellent job of discrediting all PU core boards as “cheap” and “low performance”, when in reality there are some very high performance alternative materials used. Sidewalls Construction Freeride: Primarily designed for off-piste (backcountry) terrain— riding the steeps, in chunder (erratic, clumpy snow) or on powder. Also good for traveling fast top-to-bottom on groomed runs. Freeride boards are stiff and provide good stability when cruising hardpack. They are intended for directional (downhill) riding only; not for tricks or terrain parks.] Powder: For riders spending almost all their time in deep, fluffy snow among trees and in backcountry bowls. These boards offer wide waists, even wider noses and rockered (upturned) tips and tails to keep edges from catching or sinking. Between a snowboard’s topsheet and base are layers of wood, woven fiberglass and sometimes proprietary materials (to boost performance). Slanted sidewalls enclose the finished package. This is known as sandwich construction. Cap construction excludes sidewalls and simply wraps the topsheet around a board’s edges. This is a less-expensive method, and it may produce less-exacting results. Three primary construction factors influence a snowboard’s performance characteristics and price: Sidewall or “sandwich construction” designs have plastic strips bonded to the outside of the core to prevent water from damaging the core. The material choices are usually ABS (acrylonitrile butadene styrene), HMWPE (P-Tex) or Phenolic plastics. Nose/ tail inner core material (tip fill) A tip spacer is a plastic or composite insert used when the core ends before the tip of the board, to fill in the space and close out the walls of the board. It also closes out honeycomb panels used in the tips to safeguard against crushing. Materials to consider are ABS, polyethylene, or fiberglass. Many tip spacers add weight when compared to a full length wood core, but can offer protection against direct impact with rocks and obstacles. Flex Budget Edges All-mountain: Performs anywhere on a mountain—groomed runs, backcountry, even park and pipe. All-mountain boards may be directional (meaning downhill only) or twin tips (for riding switch, meaning either direction). Most boarders (perhaps 90%, and maybe 95% of novices) ride all-mountain boards. Because of their versatility, all-mountain boards are good for beginners who are still learning what terrain they like. This category is sometimes referred to as all-mountain/ freeride. Freestyle/park: Light, short, flexible snowboards with twin tips that excel when grinding rails, jibbing boxes or hitting jumps, spins and tricks. Some offer heavy-duty edges and bases that can absorb a beating from rails and tree trunks. Good for riders who want to push their limits in terrain parks; not so good for stability or cruising fast on hard snow. Wide: Extra-wide versions of all-mountain boards, freestyle/ Snow Life Page 2 The higher initial cost of a quality snowboard usually translates into better performance on the slopes, a more satisfying overall experience and a better long-term value. High-performance boards start around $400 and can go much higher. Flex refers to a board’s give, its receptiveness to twisting. It’s determined by the fiberglass weave used inside the board. Biaxial (2-way) weaves are more flexible; triaxial (3-way) and a few quadaxial (4-way) weaves are stiffer. Base Materials Shapes Directional boards are dimensionally designed to be ridden forward (downhill). True twins are symmetrical in construction and exhibit no difference in performance whether you ride them forward or backward. This makes them a popular choice for pipe and park riding. Directional twin boards are good for people who ride all over the mountain, from groomers to the park. Camber or Rocker? Camber delivers a lively, stable ride and provides pop and responsiveness on hardpack or groomed runs, especially when powering out of turns. Experienced, speed-oriented riders. Most cores in modern snowboards are built from vertically laminated strips of wood. Using several pieces tends to make the core stronger and less likely to warp - a single piece of wood can contain knots and irregularities which can affect the strength and flex performance characteristics. By using several pieces these imperfections are reduced and the properties of the core tend to be more consistent. Often, a mixture of hardwood and softwood strips are combined to provide a balance of high strength to light weight. Choice of wood types varies, the most popular being spruce, fir, aspen, and poplar. The width of the wood laminates also has an effect on torsion - lots of narrow laminates are somewhat more resistant to twisting forces, but there is a higher proportion of glue to wood which can make the cores heavier. Most snowboard cores have approximately 20 vertical laminations, although cores that use veneer thickness lumber may have well over 100 vertical laminates. Snowboard edges are on a snowboard to give you grip while turning, and they also protect the board from damage on ice and rocks. Made from L-shaped steel extrusions, the edge consists of a 1.5mm (approx) square spine with T-shaped flanges or square “windows” stamped out of the extrusion it at close intervals to allow better bonding in the snowboard laminate. Edges are usually sand-blasted to prepare for bonding, For durability the steel is tempered (hardened). Composite Reinforcements Composites re-inforcements are used to reinforce the snowboard and bond it together. These reinforcements typically consist of fibers, either woven together, randomly scattered, or arranged unidirectonally. Copmposite laminates provide most of the strength in the finished component, and are the main “load bearing” layers. Composites re-inforcements are used to reinforce the snowboard and bond it together. These reinforcements typically consist of fibers, either woven together, randomly scattered, or arranged unidirectonally. Snow life Page 3 Follow Silje Norendal online Instagram: @siljenordenal Twitter : @siljenordenal Blog : Siljenorendal.blogspot.com T Silje Norendal: Norwegian Snowboarder Silje managed to get on some of the biggest podiums of the snowboarding world in a very short time. As well as at the very beginning of her career. In the 2011 she got third at the Burton US Open and second at the European Winter X Games, and last season she won her first X Games Gold in Tignes. These days, at the age of 20, Silje is one of the leading lights in women’s snowboarding. With a riding style that’s bringing together a combination of progressive tricks and smooth style, Silje managed to get on some of the biggest podiums of the snowboarding world. In the 2011 she got third at the Burton US Open and second at the European Winter X Games, and last season she won her first X Games Gold in Tignes. his blonde-haired, blue-eyed Norwegian stunner grabbed a silver medal at the 2011 Winter X Europe event. At just 18 years old, she’s currently in her last year of snowboarding school—yes, snowboarding school—in Norway. Silje Norendal was basically raised with a snowboard strapped to her feet. She started snowboarding when she was 4 at her home resort in Kongsberg, Norway and competed in her first contest in 1999 when she was 6. Some of her biggest inspirations were (and are) Kjersti Buaas and Jamie Anderson, and it was quickly apparent that this attractive Norwegian sensation would follow in the footsteps of her heroes. These days, at the age of 20, Silje is one of the leading lights in women’s snowboarding. With a riding style that’s bringing together a combination of progressive tricks and smooth style, Snow Life Page 4 About Silje Norendal Stance: Regular Hometown: Köngsberg, Norway Age:20 l a d n a e r d o n e N r d o n e j l e N i r S ilje No ren S ilje No re Origin of the halfpipe NATURAL PIPES In 1978, resorts in California’s Lake Tahoe basin hadn’t realized snowboarding’s potential and refused to allow snowboards on their mountains. Because of this, snowboarders spent most of their free time searching for good spots to ride. “Back then not everyone in high school had cars so we needed places to ride that were close by,” remembers 29-yearold Tahoe local Bob Klein. Klein’s friend Mark Anolik was hiking around Tahoe City in 1979 when he discovered the perfect hit on land owned by the TahoeTruckee Sanitation Company. It was literally the city dump. No one is quite sure if the spot was a bend in a creek bed, or the edge of the landfill. It had an entry and a couple hits, which was all these snowboard pioneers needed. Word of the pipe spread and within a few days Mark, Bob Klein, Allen Arnbrister, and Terry Kidwell were beginning to session the spot. They named it the Tahoe City Pipe. By the spring of 1980, thanks to a local phone company employee and skateboard fanatic named Mike Chantry, the pipe was exposed to the skateboard world.”Mike Chantry took me there nearly blindfolded because Bob Klein didn’t want anyone to find out about it,” remembers Tom Sims, founder of Sims Snowboards.”What’s wrong with other snowboarders finding the pipe. At that time there weren’t even that many snowboarders in the world, let alone riding the Tahoe City Pipe.” Over the next few years pro skateboarders Rob Roskopp, Steve Cabellero, and Scott Foss began visiting the pipe. Lensmen from Thrasher magazine and later International Snowboard Magazine were close behind, not as much for the pipe, but because of the people who were there. By today’s standards the Tahoe City Halfpipe was not even a halfpipe. “The pipe itself was really just one-hit,” Chantry says. “To make it good took a lot of shoveling.” That didn’t seem to bother Terry Kidwell or Allen Arnbrister. “Once Kidwell and Arnbrister got into it, it became more of shaping thing,” Klein explains.”They would spend more time shaping it than riding.” At the time, the idea of building a snowboard halfpipe to match the dimensions of a skateboard halfpipe hadn’t At the time, the idea of building a snowboard halfpipe to match the dimensions of a skateboard halfpipe hadn’t seemed possible. And the snowboard equipment in the early 80s didn’t help that progression either. “We were on boards with bungees for bindings so we were most interested in dropping in and going up the other wall,” Klein says. “It wasn’t really about air.” Keith Kimmel moved from Burlington, Vermont to Tahoe City in the fall of1983. Tom Sims had given Keith Mike Chantry’s phone number when Keith got to Tahoe Mike showed him the pipe. “It was only half a block from where I lived,” Keith says. “So I used to ride it all the time by myself. That’s where I met Terry and Allen and we started planing sessions.” Keith later showed up on the cover of the first issue of Absolutely Radical, riding the Tahoe City Pipe. Around 1982 Eddie Hargraves and his brother Cary began riding a natural quarterpipe across the road from Sugar Bowl resort, near California’s Donner Summit. Joel Gomez, now the owner of Sessions Snowboard Shop, and Mike Chantry were snowboard instructors at Soda Springs at the time and would often drive over to ride the pipe. Damian Sanders and Shaun Palmer also rode the Donner Quarterpipe quite a bit. Both were riding for Avalanche Snowboards at the time. “The starting wall was just a big hillside,” Keith Kimmel explains. “At the Tahoe City Pipe there was a limit. We had to build up the starting platform to get extra speed, but at the Donner Halfpipe you go hike as high as you wanted.” T he search for the origins of the snowboard halfpipe take us into the past, beyond snowboarding and skateboarding, to the fluid ocean wave. Its shape and power are ultimately responsible for creating the modern snowboard halfpipe. The fluidity of water is reflected in the shape of the structures man has used to control it. Pipes, dams, swimming pools, and drainage ditches all have smooth flowing lines because water has the tendency to wear off any rough edges man builds. By 1975 skateboarders had progressed from riding downhill on flat streets to riding the flowing lines of drainage ditches, and swimming pools, but they were still searching for that perfect transition. In the full-pipe they found it. The halfpipe was a popular item at skateboard parks in the mid-70sbecause it was the transition of a wave, or pool distilled down to its most simple form. When skateboarders and surfers began riding snowboards in the late 1970′s they searched for the same kind of terrain they enjoyed riding on their skate and surfboards. In nature, thanks to the work of gravity, water, and wind,flowing and smooth transitions are very common. Snow covered creek beds look a lot like frozen waves, or drainage ditches, so snowboarders began seeking them out. and the East Coast Snurfers. The Sims riders had been riding pipes for three years, and the Burton riders had been racing. When the two groups got together there were sparks. “The pipe was horrible,” says Keith Kimmel, who couldn’t afford the entry fee. “It was basically two rows of snow chunks. And the chunks were only about four feet high.” The riders, who had been shaping hits in the forest for several years knew what they wanted in a pipe, however it was difficult communicating those needs with the people at the resorts. The Soda Springs pipe was placed too high on the mountain where the slope was steep and riders had a hard time controlling their speed. While it may not have been the dream pipe everyone hoped for, it was a starting point. The idea that someone with a snowcat could shape a rideable halfpipe got many people thinking. In ’84 and ’85 the Soda Springs World’s pipe was on the lower part of the mountain where the slope was less steep and riders were able to boost air. Due to the success of Soda Springs’ pipe Slide Mountain, Nevada, a resort on the eastern side of Lake Tahoe built a pipe. MAN-MADE TERRAIN These hits, or pipes as riders called them were nothing more than modified natural terrain. It wasn’t until 1983 when Tom Sims organized the first World Championships at Soda Springs, California that man-made halfpipe was constructed at a resort. It was the first snowboard halfpipe contest. “I hired Chantry to help me lobby Soda Springs management into building a halfpipe,” Tom Sims says. “They built the pipe, but it was not good. I was extremely disappointed. Then the Burton Team threatened to boycott the contest because they felt that halfpipe riding had nothing to do with snowboarding.” The first contest was extremely important to Jake Carpenter and Tom Sims. It was a battle between the West Coast skateboarders A VORTEX SHIFT TO COLORADO By 1986, when the World Championship contest moved from Soda Springs, California to Breckenridge, Colorado things began to progress. Dave Alden, with help from his father Paul, Snow life Page 7 Snow Life Page 6 convinced Breckenridge Ski Resort to to help them build a pipe. The resort employees didn’t know what they were building. “Dave and I go in and meet with the management and convince them that the halfpipe was not a speed event,” remembers Fran Richards, who is the former marketing manager at TransWorld SNOWboarding Magazine. “They thought it was an Alpine event and they wanted us to wear helmets.” The pipe that Breckenridge and Dave Alden built was short and wide. It was about 150 feet long, 60 feet wide with walls about five feet high and no vertical, but it was better than the pipes at Soda Springs. Breckenridge’s commitment to the halfpipe, however, pulled the vortex of halfpipe riding from California, to Colorado. That same year, two other pipes appeared in Colorado. One at Berthoud Pass and another at Wolf Creek for the Southwest Snowsurfers Association contest organized by Mike Maynard. So far none of the resorts had built a permanent pipe. The pipes were only built for contests. When the Worlds contest returned to Breckenridge in 1987, the for bindings so we were most interested in dropping in and going up the other wall,” Klein says. “It wasn’t really about air.” Keith Kimmel moved from Burlington, Vermont to Tahoe City in the fall of1983. Tom Sims had given Keith Mike Chantry’s phone number when Keith got to Tahoe Mike showed him the pipe. “It was only half a block from where I lived,” Keith says. “So I used to ride it all the time by myself. That’s where I met Terry and Allen and we started planing sessions.” Keith later showed up on the cover of the first issue of Absolutely Radical, riding the Tahoe City Pipe. Around 1982 Eddie Hargraves and his brother Cary began riding a natural quarterpipe across the road from Sugar Bowl resort, near California’s Donner Summit. Joel Gomez, now the owner of Sessions Snowboard Shop, and Mike Chantry were snowboard instructors at Soda Springs at the time and would often drive. And the snowboard equipment in the early 80s didn’t help that progression either. “We were on boards with bungees Rule book. Even though much of the snow had to be trucked in from the surrounding hillsides, the halfpipe was perfect, if a little brown. What the pipes at Tyrol Basin and Rusutsu Resort proved is that when a resort supports halfpipe building, a perfect pipe can show up anywhere, even if here isn’t a lot of snow. THE 90S AND BEYOND In 1991 halfpipe building reached the machine age when Doug Waugh, a farm-machinery mechanic from Colorado unveiled his Pipe Dragon. The machine is specially designed slope groomer on a curve. Towed behind a snowcat the Pipe Dragon can groom the walls of a pipe perfectly smooth. The machine was used at Vail, Eldora, Snowmass, Buttermilk, and Copper Mountain with success. One thing was for sure: the Pipe Dragon made it much easier for some resorts to maintain their halfpipes, however, the machine had limited adjustability as far as the transitions were concerned and many riders felt the radius of the pipe was too small, making it difficult to get a lot of air. “It was like skating the shallow end of a swimming pool,” said past world halfpipe champion Jeff Brushie. Interest in halfpipe riding seemed to drop off after 1991. Whether it was the poorly designed pipes of the Professional Snowboard Tour of America, or the inconsistent judging, many snowboarders were bummed about riding pipes and began riding picnic tables, slider bars and fun boxes. It was the beginning of the New School invasion. Jimi Scott, the 1993 ISF World Cup Halfpipe Champion, believes this happened because resorts have not kept their pipes up, not because people don’t like riding the pipe. “I know that if people had good, consistent pipes to ride in that a lot more people would still be riding the pipe,” Jimi says. “Everyone I ride with says pipes are the shit,” says Jeff Brushie, 1991 WorldCup Halfpipe Champion. “I don’t think pipe riding will go out. It’s not like skating. On a skateboard you can take your feet of the board and learn 100s of street tricks. But when you’re not in the pipe on snowboards all you can do is spin more.” Jeff and Jimi agree that if vertical snowboarding is going to progress the terrain needs to progress along with it. Sure, the best riders in the world can ride any pipe. Snow life Page 9 without a halfpipe it was finally time for U.S. Open at Stratton to have a halfpipe champion. Halfpipe had become a very important part of snowboarding competition. Later, in the summer of 1988, Snow Summit and June Mountain in California; and Waterville Valley, New Hampshire decided to build permanent halfpipes. All three resorts chose to shape the pipes by moving dirt into the shape of the pipe and letting the snow fall in during the winter. It seemed like a good idea. Snow Summit used blueprints drawn up by Tom Sims. Eric Webster helped out at Waterville Valley, and June Mountain worked with some local snowboarders and Ronnie McCoy, the grandson of Mammoth Mountain’s owner. Come winter the “in-the-ground” halfpipe idea, which seemed so logical during the summer, didn’t seem as functional as everyone had hoped. During the early season with two to three feet of snow on the pipe it looked good and was easy to maintain, however as the snow piled up the pipes began to fill in and it became difficult for cat drivers to know where the dirt walls were.Occasionally they would gouge the wall with their blade and uncover dirt.The dirt would heat up in the sun, then freeze at night leaving icy spots on the walls. The June Mountain’s halfpipe had problems all its own. To build the vertical walls June Mountain employees stacked bales of hay and covered them with snow. Unfortunately, during the 1989 Op Pro at June Mountain the hay self-combusted and began smoldering under the snow. Smoke began billowing from black holes that had melted into the walls. Photographer Bud Fawcett was shooting in the pipe and actually fell through up to his knees. The contest went off anyway. In Colorado, Breckenridge continued to make pipes the way they always had,by using cats to build a long pile of snow and then dig the halfpipe outof the middle and hand shape the rest. Again, in 1989 the Breckenridge pipe was called “the finest pipe of the year,” by TransWorld SNOWboarding magazine.It was approximately 300 feet long, forty feet lip-to-lip, and had two large tombstones at the top of the pipe. At Stratton Mountain, master halfpipe builder Lyle Blazedale had built anew shovel for his backhoe and Stratton became a real player in the halfpipe world. The only real competition Stratton and Breckenridge had came from a tiny resort located outside Madison, Wisconsin called Tyrol Basin, and the 1991 Victoria Japan Snowboard World Cup contest at Rusutsu Resort, Japan. In 1990, with little more than a hill and only two lifts, Don McKay, Tyrol’s general manager decided to build the best pipe in the world. He and mountain manager Dave Rogers blew snow and shaped a perfect, 400-foot-long World Cup regulation halfpipe. Riders like Dale Rehberg, Nate Cole, Jake Blattner,and Joe Curtes told everyone how great the pipe was, but few believed it was possible. Then in June of 1993, Tyrol held a halfpipe contest and the world discovered this secret spot. The Rusutsu halfpipe was truly a World Cup Pipe. “The snow had a little dirt in it is,” says Jimi Scott. “But that was one of the best pipes I’ve ever ridden.” The builders of the pipe used surveying equipment, and a backhoe to build the pipe exactly to the dimensions published in the International Snowboard Federation RESORTS HOOK UP By 1988 halfpipes had become media magnets. Every magazine and television show wanted to do a story about “those wild snowboarders who ride in halfpipes made of snow.” Because of this resorts realized that in order to attract snowboarders they would need to build halfpipes. In the spring of 1988, Jake Burton decided that after six years Snow Life Page 8 What d e e s o you How to pack for a snowboarding trip: this guide works for long or short trips with limited room through your goggle? Anon goggles Snow life Page 11 T he key to cramming a week’s worth of casual and sports clothing and accessories into as small a space as possible lies in knowing what can and can’t get wrinkled. When you’re packing for the slopes, you’re going to want a list in order to make sure you don’t leave anything out. Here is a quick list of the necessities Long underwear, underwear, socks, sweatshirts and mid-layers can all arrive wrinkled without causing a problem. Get a quality snowboard bag, and place your board (you may need to remove your bindings for the best fit), along with anything that can get wrinkled into the board bag. A great trick is to place shirts, sweatshirts, and jackets over the tip and tail of the board, which not only saves space, but also protects the board during transit. Ski towns are pretty laid back, so odds are you can leave the suits and cocktail dresses at home. Pack a pair of jeans, a pair of casual dress pants, and a couple dress shirts. With the addition of a few sweaters, you can wear the same shirt twice and no one will notice. And remember, you can wear an entire outfit on the plane, which saves space in your baggage. Carry your boots on the plane - most airlines today allow a carryon bag as well as a “personal item” like a purse, backpack or laptop bag. Take full advantage of these allowances by packing gloves, socks, etc. into your snowboard boots. Fill the rest of your boot bag with gaiters, goggles, etc. as needed. Wear your snowboard jacket on the plane. Jackets take up a ton of space in baggage, but very little when stowed in the overhead compartment. If you’re bringing a snowboard helmet (and you should), save space by clipping it onto your boot bag and carrying it on the plane. If anyone gives you flack, put it on your head (I’m dead serious - I’ve done it!). Whether you’re bringing your own equipment, renting in town or renting at the slope, skiing is one sport that requires a lot of gear, some of which you may not think about. Whether you’re a novice or a pro, here’s a look at the ski essentials from the clothing and accessories to the gear and après musts. Clothing: Jacket: If you’re a snowboarder, you want to make sure you have a jacket that covers your bum; otherwise, you’ll walk around with a wet rear all day long. Pants: Make sure pack a pair of thick, warm, waterproof pants. Underlayer: Long johns are preferred, but the most important thing is to pack layers that you can peel off if you get too hot. Fleece or Sweater: Again - layers are crucial. Gloves: Thick, waterproof gloves are a must. Mittens will not do. Glove Liners: Optional Hat or Helmet: Helmets are great for safety. If you opt out of using a helmet, make sure you at least wear a warm snow cap that covers your ears. Neck Gator: It’s less fashionable than a scarf, but most skiers and boarders prefer the gator. Skiing Socks: Your everyday socks aren’t going to cut it in the snow. Make sure to pack some hefty wool socks for the trip. Ski/Snowboard Boots: Tight, but not too tight. Bindings/Poles: Turn the pole upside down and make sure your arm is at a right angle with the base. of violent crashes, a ski or snowboarding helmet is the most important piece of safety equipment. Wrist guards, elbow pads, knee pads and even a mouth guard are secondary safety gear that is especially important on challenging runs. Tips: Non Essentials: Winter Wear Make a checklist before you pack, and check everything off as you go. Not only will this help you cut down on what you bring, it’ll help with the last minute “What did I forget?” feelings. Think about the type of trip you’re taking - if you’re going to be rubbing elbows with the high-society types in Aspen, bring more casual clothing. If you’re riding the dirtbag highway to Mammoth, skimp on the après clothing in favor of more performance gear. Master the art of “the roll.” Tightly roll everything that goes into your snowboard bag - again, the stuff that can get wrinkled. Making a California Roll out of your long underwear and t-shirts can save some serious space.u’re going on vacation to ride, not to impress the locals at the bar. Having been a local at the bar, I can promise you they don’t care, anyways. Be ruthless. These days, you’re likely going to be paying per bag, so only bring the essentials. You’re going on vacation to ride, not to impress the locals at the bar. Having been a local at the bar, I can promise you they don’t care, anyways. Be sure to pack snowboard tools, wax irons, and anything else that could be considered dangerous in your checked baggage. Security will not let you bring these items on the plane. Packing for a trip is an onerous task to begin with, but packing for your ultimate ski vacation can be a nightmare. Accessories: Jeans, underwear, sweaters, long-sleeved tees, waterproof shoes, mittens/hat/scarf, coat, sleepwear, socks, sweatpants, and a hoodie. Also, don’t forget your toiletries, a swimsuit, an insurance card, medicines, phone, iPhone/MP3 player, a deck of cards, tickets/ ski passes, money/credit card/wallet, and high energy snacks Whether you’re planning a snowboarding day trip to a hill near your home or a lengthy trip out of state or to a different country, it’s essential to pack the right items. Forgetting something important can affect your trip negatively, forcing you to purchase a replacement item — or even end the trip prematurely. Goggles: Some prefer to wear sunglasses instead, but if it’s snowing out, you’ll be happy you brought your goggles. Hand & Toe Warmers: These little pouches full of magic beans are lifesavers out on the slopes. Snow Boots: You won’t get too far without a good pair of snow boots. It’s also just plain unsafe to walk around in anything else. Non-ski Gloves/Mittens: If you’re off the slopes, you might not want to wear your puffy gloves to the bar. Sunscreen/Lip balm: The sun can be killer on the slopes. You’ll get burned if you don’t take care. Camera: Everyone looks cool on a snowboard, and a day on the slopes could easily produce a Facebook profile picture. Hydration Pack: If you aren’t likely to come in for breaks, make sure to bring a hydration pack. Gear (optional - you can always rent gear on the mountain): Skis/Snowboard: Make sure it’s the right size. A snowboarder’s jacket, pants and mitts are crucial, but when planning a trip, remember the clothing to wear underneath your outerwear. This clothing is largely dependent on the climate you plan to visit. If it’s excessively cold, thermal underwear, a thermal turtleneck and thick, padded socks are necessary. If snowboarding in a warmer locale, boarders can wear light, regular clothing under their outerwear. Travel Details Essentials When getting ready for your snowboarding trip, it’s possible to be so focused on the minute details that you end up forgetting something crucial. The essentials for any snowboarding trip include your snowboard, boots and spare bindings. Must-have winter garments include snowboarding pants, a warm jacket, mittens or gloves, a neck-warmer and a toque. Always have details about the trip handy. Either input these details into your cellphone or write them on a piece of paper. These should include hotel names, addresses, reservation confirmation numbers and ski resort addresses. If you are visiting a different country, passports and health insurance documentation is also necessary. Although these details aren’t specifically related to snowboarding itself, forgetting them could severely hamper a trip. Packing for a snowboarding trip isn’t as fun as picking a destination, unfortunately. The gear you need to be comfortable and safe tends to be bulky and heavy, and getting it onto a plane can be an expensive hassle. Don’t worry too much about getting your packing list exactly right; if you forget something, any town near a ski resort will have plenty of rental shops. Avoid any clothing items made of cotton. The fabric soaks up water, so from the first time you fall, you’ll feel cold, wet and weighed down. Safety Gear Every snowboarder, regardless of his level of expertise, should always pack a number of items that increase his safety while on the slopes. Given the speed of the sport and the danger Snow Life Page 12 Snow life Page 13 others stood up for Jake’s right to race and an open division was created which only Jake entered. He won. In the same year, Mark Anolik discovered the Tahoe City Halfpipe while nosing around behind the Tahoe City dump. Bingo - this became known as the world’s first snowboard halfpipe and not only attracted aces like Terry Kidwell or Keith Kimmel but also photographers from the skateboard mags. In the early eighties, even in Europe the first prototypes were glued together. But more and more fans tried to import the US cult boards. One of the first was later president of the ISF, Jose Fernandes from Switzerland, who ordered a board from the USA in 1982 after working on own planks for several time. Later, in 1985, he would also be the first European to got to America for a contest - he got third in the North American Championships in Calgary. Other European pioneers were Tommy Delago from Oberammergau and Petra “Milka” Mossig from Konstanz, Germany, also a later world champion. Ski technology materials improved the gliding abilities of the boards, and later on, the first high-back bindings were produced by snowboard pioneers Flite, founded in 1974. More and more riders took off the fins, and slowly but surely, the “snurfer” turned into a controllable “snowboard” and an accepted sporting good. Already in 1981, Ski Cooper in Leadville, Colorado, saw the first snowboard contest. One year later, the first National Snowboard Championships were held in Suicide Six near Woodstock, Vermont. Downhill racers were timed at 60 mph. In 1985, “Absolutely Radical” came out fanfare for the first snowboard mag ever, later rebaptized “International Snowboard Magazine”. Also this year, models like Sims 1500 FE and Burton Performer finally brought the comeback of the steel edge! European board manufacturers like Nidecker and Hooger Booger quickly had made up their technical delay and in 1987, Jose Fernandes won the Giant Slalom of the “American” world championships of this year in Breckenridge, CO, with one of the first asymmetrical boards - a sign that the European snowboard industry didn’t need to fear comparisons with the Americans anymore. German ace Peter Bauer and French guy Jean Nerva were also about to celebrate big successes with asymmetrical boards. In 1987, the first “European” snowboard world championships took place in Livigno and St. Moritz - and this event brought up a great brotherhood of snowboarders from all over the world. A new sport was born. Snowboarding was newer, fresher, younger than anything else on the slope. Snowboarding was a revolution, a tribute to liberty, a new religion for young people. The year after, the international World cup tour was born, won by Peter Bauer just like in the year after. The evolution became faster and faster: rounded tails, hard boots, plate bindings... powder boards, race boards, free style boards... asymmetrical, twin-tip, carving... new disciplines like half pipe, modules and downhill... 1990 saw the foundation of the ISF, and nowadays the speed record for snowboarders is set to some mediocre 201,907 km/h, run by Aussie Darren Powell in Les Arcs in 1999. Meanwhile, more than 6 million snowboarders are shredding down the mountains, and they are getting more and more. The “white rush” developed into an Olympic sport with a big but unfortunately divided lobby. Instead of banning snowboarders from the slope (in 1985, only 7% of the American resorts had permitted snowboarding!), ski resorts now are building half pipes and organizing contests and events. A creative hardware and clothing industry is setting new trends in aesthetics and function. Snowboard now is a mass sports. And a worldwide ProTour with great performance can now be seen on TV every weekend. Snowboarders like Terje Haakonsen, Shaun Palmer, Daniel Franck, Martin Freinamedetz, Nicola Thost and, last but not least, the unforgotten Olympic champion of Nagano, Ross Rebagliati, are world stars today. Mega events like Innsbruck’s Air&Style attract 40,000 and more people, and snowboarding has set the determining trends of the last years in music and clothing style. Snowboarding is the youth-culture of the nineties ! More than 80% of the kids who practise winter sports choose snowboarding - no wonder snowboards still are the number one Christmas present. And for sure, one day the kids will ask the older generation: “Excuse me granny, but why did you cut your snowboard in two pieces when you were young?” Snow life Page 15 I THE HISTORY OF SNOWBOARDING n 1964 a young surf freak called Sherman Poppen was dreaming about surfing the magic winter landscape of the Rockies. As a consequence, he built a surfboard for the snow. His first prototype was an about 1,20 m long plastic plank: two kids’ skis bolted together. It was a present for his daughter Wendy which soon was a winner in the neighbourhood. One year later, in 1965, his idea was put into production: Carried out together with a bowling-ball manufacturer, the now called “snurfer” (=snow-surfer) found its way through toy-stores under the Christmas trees. For the unbeatable price of $15, one million snurfers were sold in the 10 years following, and Mr. Poppen soon began to establish a competition series. But the snurfer as a mass phenomenon disappeared as quickly as he had emerged from the white surf of the Rockies. Nothing else but the vague memory of an uncontrollable toy stayed in most people’s minds. It was close to be the end of a fantastic idea - surfing the winter mountains -if there wouldn’t have Snow Life Page 14 been blokes like Dimitrije Milovich or Jake Burton Carpenter. In 1970, Milovich, an east coast surfer, had an idea while he was sliding around on cafeteria trays in the snow of upstate New York. He started to develop snowboards following the example of the new short surf boards. He even used rudimentary steel edges - an idea he soon gave up because he only rode in deepest powder anyway. He experimented with laminating glass and gravel on the board and also used nylon straps. His company “Winterstick” is to be considered as the first snowboard company ever. In 1975, they were mentioned in American magazines like Newsweek and Playboy, and already in 1976, he threw a swallow tail board on the nearly not existing market. In 1980, the company was broke. Jake Burton, a 23-year-old student back then, was completely into snurfing and kept on improving the toy, in order to develop it into a real sporting good. Foottraps for better control, fins for more stability... Jake was always looking for new details to improve his riding. In 1977, he decided to found his own company in Vermont. Starting with a small edition of “snowboards” - flexible wooden planks with water ski bindings the small turnover due to the “high” price of $38 didn’t look like this might be one of the biggest winter sport revolutions on our slopes, and the base for the biggest snowboard company today. Exactly in the same time, mentioned former skateboard champion Tom Sims, addicted to snurfing as well, started to produce snowboards. Bob Webber developed the famous “yellow banana” board in 1977, made of polyethylene. Chuck Barfoot invented fiberglass in the snowboard production in the following year. Most of the first Boards didn’t have any bindings and were featuring a control-leash instead. Still not allowed on the public slopes in ski resorts, the first boarders had to come in at night, walk up the trails, and ride down secretly in order to avoid any penalty. In 1979, at the annual Snurfer contest held in Michigan, pro snurfer Paul Graves performed a freestyle demo and made the crowd scream by showing four sliding 360s, dropping down on one knee for part of the course, and dismounting off his board at the finish with a front flip. At the same event, Jake Burton Carpenter tried to enter on his own equipment. There were protests about his non-Snurfer snowboard design. Paul Graves and 2013 RIDER OF THE YEAR has grown under his leadership. Garage innovators and large manufacturers, sensing the potential in the marketplace, have helped bring splitboarding to a tipping point, but Jones is the undeniable face of the movement. “I’ve learned more about the mountains in the last four years than I did in the first 15 years of my career,” says Jones. “That’s been the exciting part—learning things on a daily basis. We are just getting started.” Jones grew up in New England - Cape Cod Massachusetts, Vermont, and Maine. He started riding in 1984, Jones attended Carrabassett Valley Academy, in Kingfield, Maine as a teenager. He signed with Rossignol in 1989[3] and turned pro two years later in 1991. Jones raced on his snowboard for many years. After racing for many years Jones began to concentrate on big mountain riding, mainly in his favourite place to ride, Alaska. It is thought that being a former snowboard racer influenced his big mountain snowboarding and that his style was a seminal influence on modern freeriding, henceforward Jones is regarded as a pioneer of professional big mountain riding. JEREMY JONES snowboarding pioneer risked his career to usher in a new era of exploration in the world’s wildest mountain ranges. “There is no longer anywhere in the world that I consider too hard to get to,” says big-mountain snowboarder Jeremy Jones. In 2012, for his latest film project, Further, produced by Teton Gravity Research, Jones navigated winds capable of knocking a rider from his feet, lived for days on end in subzero temperatures, and negotiated some of the most challenging avalanche terrain on the planet. At the ends of the Earth and far from rescue, making a mistake—taking a fall or getting caught in an avalanche—comes with the highest consequences. The 37-year-old wanted to push backcountry snowboarding—or splitboarding, which uses a special snowboard that splits into ski-like parts used with climbing skins so a rider can ascend slopes—into a new era of exploration. The wildest mountains were fair game, so he picked four of the remotest locations he could find—Japan’s Alps, Austria’s Karwendelgebirge Range, the Norwegian archipelago Svalbard just 600 miles from the North Pole, and Alaska’s Wrangell-St. Snow Life Page 16 THE INTERVIEW Adventure: Four years ago, riding and filming big lines by helicopter was standard operating procedure. What led you to make such a public switch to splitboarding? Jeremy Jones: I had a couple of years where all I wanted to do was a camping trip in Alaska. I would try and get the film company I was working with to do it. They would tell me why we couldn’t do it. I’d get to the end of the winter and say, I didn’t do the one thing I wanted to do this year. I realized that in order to do this I would need to create my own group of athletes and cameramen and make this happen on my own.It was scary. I had accepted the fact that I might lose sponsors, that I would fall out of the media spotlight. I was no longer afraid of not getting paid to be a pro snowboarder. Deeper was really a film for myself. I thought this niche core group of people would like it, and I would fall out of the spotlight. That ended up not being the case. A: With this latest project, Further, you explored Japan, WrangellSt. Elias, Austria, Svalbard. These are pretty extreme, hard-toget-to locations. How do you select where you go? JJ: Terrain has always been my motivator. I see something unique and it really inspires me, and I really get tunnel vision for it. That ends up overtaking my life. A: Of those locations you’ve traveled in the last two years, what proved to be the most difficult? JJ: In Austria we were dealing with extreme cold. Minus 20 temps at night and minus 5 during the day. The mountains were massive. Getting to the top of those peaks was a huge endeavor. Japan, out of them all, had the hardest weather. We had people getting knocked off their feet due to wind. Reading the snowpack, dealing with how fast the weather was changing, and the cold coupled with the wind—the weather made that terrain super serious. Trying to Snow life Page 17 A Elias— and went to work. Further is the second film in his trilogy. It meant developing gear, integrating alpinism, and climbing to the top of each of the mountains he would ride. Jones long ago became a legend in the snowboard and ski community for his powerful, improbable descents of Alaska’s mountains. Snowboarder magazine voted him Best Big Mountain Snowboarder of the Year nine times. Images of Jones arcing turns down thousand-foot snow spines inspired a generation of skiers and snowboarders in the ‘90s and early 2000s. In those days, both athletes and cameramen used helicopters to get in position. By the mid-2000s, Jones found himself craving more adventure, wanting to explore areas by foot where helicopter travel wasn’t feasible or allowed. “I could shoot those movies with my eyes closed,” says the Truckee, California, resident. “To turn my back on that was difficult. I had to walk away from a scene that I had perfectly wired.” In 2009, Jones took a twofold professional risk when he decided to make backcountry snowboarding his priority and founded Jones Snowboards with big-mountain and backcountry riders in mind. It meant foregoing helicopters and climbing mountains blanketed in deep snow before descending. That initial effort resulted in the 2010 film Deeper, which brought backcountry snowboarding to a broad Jones’s calculated bet paid off. Backcountry snowboarding with whom he rides with at his home resort of Squaw Valley.[5] In 2007 Jones founded Protect Our Winters (POW),[6] a non-profit organization dedicated to reversing the global warming crisis by uniting the winter sports community and focusing its collective efforts towards reversing the damage done by climate change. As a testament to Jones’ commitment to the environment, he has recently decided to forego the use of helicopters and lifts, opting instead to hike as his sole means of transportation on the slopes. In 2009 Jones left long time board sponsor Rossignol and announced his own line of snowboards tailored for big mountain and backcountry riding, Jones Snowboards. They are available as of the 2010/2011 season and have received critical acclaim, the Mountain Twin winning the 2011 Outside Gear of the Year award. ever-changing conditions and terrain,” he says. “I love riding untouched mountains. There is so much room for creativity. There’s no wrong or right way to ride them and no matter how well you ride a mountain, it can always be ridden better. Also, the whole process of searching for new lines, studying the snow and eventually safely riding them is really fulfilling.” Jones went on to star in a host of top movies, including The Tangerine Dream, Anomaly and Soul Purpose. In 2007, he founded Protect Our Winters (POW), a non-profit organisation dedicated to uniting the wintersports community in the fight against climate change. One way of doing this was to forego the use of lifts and helicopters to access the mountains, opting instead to hike and climb. This ethos was showcased in the 2010 movie Deeper, which saw Jones, and other top riders, travelling into the backcountry and away from the confines of conventional ski resorts in search of new and untouched snowboarding environments to conquer. The film, which saw him scaling then riding some of the steepest faces ever ridden, really cemented Jones’ reputation as a true innovator and legend of the sport. For Jones, who has developed his own line of snowboards – Jones Snowboards – taking his riding to such extremes was the next logical step in a career spent searching for isolated, perfect, steep lines of soft snow. “These films are about finding the dream lines, waiting for the perfect conditions and riding them in good, soft snow,” he says. “It’s not about the trophy peak.” Deeper’s approach changed the freeriding landscape by showing it is possible to access insane lines without the help of helis – and now the sequel, Further, looks set to do the same. It’s the same principle, only this time Jones is going even – yes – further in his quest to find the perfect run. Jones regularly rides with Xavier de le Rue, Jonas Emery, Mads Jonsson, Victoria Jealouse and Johan Olofsson. The Jones snowboards team consists of Jonaven Moore, Ryland Bell, Forrest Shearer and Ralph Backstorm. Jeremy regularly takes part in the Swatch O’Neill Big Mountain Pro tour.[4] When he is not on the road he lives in Truckee, CA, with his wife Tiffany, a real estate agent in the Lake Tahoe area, and his daughter, both Movies Jones has been featured in many snow sports films and documentaries. Some of these are Teton Gravity Research films The Tangerine Dream, Anomaly and Soul Purpose and 2010’s Deeper. Also regularly in the annual Standard Films’ film, the most recent being White Balance (2004), Paradox (2006), Lost in Transition (2005) and Draw the Line (2007). Jones was featured in That’s It, That’s All (2008) and The Art of Flight (2011), two Brain Farm productions starring Travis Rice. Jones is also working on a trilogy of documentaries. The first movie Deeper came out in 2010 and the second one, Further, premiered at Squaw Valley on September 7, 2012 Change’. “I have set up my life around finding and riding the planet’s best mountains for snowboarding, and Higher represents the pinnacle achievements in my life as a s n o w b o a r d e r, ” says Jeremy Jones. “As much as I appreciate all the accolades I have received in snowboarding, these lines mean the most to me. They are my lifetime achievement awards.” In 25 years, we’ll be in the hands of the next generation—the generation of kids that Protect Our Winters has been talking to at school. That gives me some hope that we’ll see some definitive change as a society. Our school programs lay it out: this is the world you’re growing up in, here are facts, here are solutions. We’re working to raise awareness in kids, working to get the next generation to embrace the outdoors and the mountains. It’s a simple concept, but a super important one. I dream that in 25 years we’ll be fully embracing green tech, clean energy, energy independence and everything along those lines. But if our ski areas all go to solar and nothing else does, it doesn’t mean a damn thing. In a perfect world, ski areas and skiing and snowboarding come together and demand we make changes. Collectively, we could be a powerful force and have a big voice on Capitol Hill, with the ultimate goal being clean energy throughout every facet of life. On the equipment front, we’ve come a long way. Jones Snowboards uses FSC wood cores, recycled sidewalls and bases, wood topsheets. The next improvements are going to be trickier; the big stumbling blocks are the resins used in laying up boards, the glues. In 25 years, there will be a spotlight on manufacturers environmental practices. In the future, companies won’t be able to get away with cost effective prices with no concern for the environment. Skiers and riders are going to demand environmentally produced. In 25 years, the snowboard boot/binding interface will change— we’ll have other options. I would have lost a bet 20 years ago that that interface would be different. I am willing to re-up on that bet. n 25 years, the backcountry segment will have grown significantly. It’s already happening. Sugarloaf, Maine, did a sidecountry expansion, Burnt Mountain. It doubles the resort’s terrain without a single new lift. It’s progressive thinking. Fifteen years ago, I’d ask, “Why didn’t that lift go to top?” Snow life Page 19 deal with that level of terrain with that weather was really difficult. A: In 2007, you founded Protect Our Winters, an organization that mobilizes the snow sports community to fight global warming. You’ve lobbied in Congress. You tried to integrate sustainable materials into your boards. Why was it important for you to stand up for this issue? JJ: There is no such thing as a green snowboard. Or a green jacket. Nothing is zero waste or zero energy. We can’t all move into tree houses and eat nuts. That’s unrealistic. We can hang up our snowboards, but the biggest change that needs to happen, where we will see significant differences, needs to happen on Capitol Hill. Of course, you need to drink out of reusable water bottles, and there are ways to continue to reduce your carbon footprint. We really need to know what elected officials stand for and be up to date on politics. Believe me, that was the last thing I wanted to be a part of. Globally we need to embrace that really it’s our elected officials who can have the big impact on the environment. We can’t sit back and not do something about it. We owe that to future generations. Snowboarder Jeremy Jones has always been a pioneer. He started skiing at the age of three, and snowboarding at nine, and first came to prominence in the mid 1990s as a hard bootwearing snowboard racer. After narrowly missing out on a place at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan, he stopped racing to dedicate himself to his true passion – freeriding. For Jones, snowboarding in its purest form was riding untracked, big-mountain powder runs in the most imaginative way possible. He soon made a name for himself as one of the most extreme freeriders in the world, changing the way snowboarders saw the sport with every hard-charging, Alaskan first descent he posted. “I love the solitude of being in the mountains, and the Snow Life Page 18 Jeremy and his crew are elevating their game and taking their quest to the highest standard for the third and final installment of the ‘Deeper‘, ‘Further‘, ‘Higher’ trilogy from Teton Gravity Research. Coming Fall 2014. Higher traces Jones’ snowboarding journey from hiking Cape Cod’s Jailhouse Hill as a child to accumulating several generations’ worth of wisdom and expertise about thriving and surviving in the winter wilderness. Jones has gathered old friends and new to pass the torch to the next generation of big mountain rippers, leaving tracks on signature lines in the close-to-home playgrounds he’s made his own around Jackson Hole and Lake Tahoe, and making history with far-flung first descents in the Eastern Alaska Range and an unclimbed, unridden spine wall in Nepal’s Himalayan mountains, where the stakes are as high as the peaks themselves. About Jeremy Jones and the ’Deeper’, ‘Further’, ‘Higher’ trilogy: Jeremy Jones revolutionized backcountry snowboarding with ‘Deeper’, his 2010 ode to splitboarding and human-powered adventure. His 2012 sequel ‘Further’ took him to the planet’s most remote mountain ranges and earned him a nod as a 2013 National Geographic ‘Adventurer of the Year’. His environmental advocacy work with Protect Our Winters won him recognition as one of President Barack Obama’s 2013 ‘Champions of “These films are about finding the dream lines, waiting for the perfect conditions and riding them in good, soft snow, It’s not about the trophy peak.” -Jeremy Jones Is your gear tough enough? JEREMY JONES Collection be tough enough for any mountain Snow Life Page 20