SIA Day 4 - Keeping it Real in Keystone

2010-02-07 10:27:18

On day four of the SIA tradeshow, we decided to skip out on the commercial aspects of snowboading and focus on what's really important: the snow, the mountains, and the fun. Brian and Steve of the Sierra crew volunteered to provide us with rides in two senses of the word: a means to get to the mountain, and boards to get us down the mountain (we didn't bring our own snowboards to Denver). We then set our bearing west in the direction of Keystone for a day of riding on Sunday.

We had spent the night in Westminster on Saturday so that Brian and Steve wouldn't have to commute back to Denver on Sunday to come pick us up from the hotel. This also gave us the opportunity to set up our loaner boards before heading up to Keystone. I was going to ride a 154 Custom V-Rocker, Dana was to ride a 157 Sierra Crew. Once we were all geared up, we piled into Brian's truck and started our journey to Keystone.

The drive to Keystone from Westminster is approximately 116 km if going through Loveland Pass. Yahoo! Maps estimates the trip to take 1 hour and 28 minutes. We were fortunate that Zoe and Joel had gone to Keystone the day before and provided us with information to avoid the most traffic (i.e. By going through the pass rather than following the I-70 through the Eisenhower tunnel). The actual time of the trip was approximately the length of Zombieland which we watched on the drive up.

Once we got to Keystone, we met up with Zoe, Joel, and J.R. Since Keystone was new to Dana and I, we were keen on seeing what the mountain had to offer. Steve mentioned that the A-51 terrain park is always among the top-ten in the world. The features in this park are way bigger than anything we have at Mont Cascades, however, the jumps are really well shaped and didn't look scary in the least (it's amazing what can be done with enough snow), and Dana was keen on hitting the 40-50-60 foot jump line.

We rode groomers and the small park for most of the late morning until Zoe and Joel decided to call it a day an head back to Denver. Only Steve, Brian, Dana, and myself remained. That's when Dana decided to “nut up, or shut up” and hit the bigger jump lines. Unfortunately, I wasn't aware of his plan, so I didn't see his “method to superman” which resulted in a broken Sierra Crew. Apparently the park kids that Dana polled to find out how much speed he needed to clear the jump don't carry as much momentum as he does because he wound up casing in the flats after going about 120 feet or so. Fortunately the only thing broken was the Sierra Crew (sorry Bru).

Even though the snowboard Dana was riding was damaged, he was still able ride out the rest of the day. Although the profile of the snowboard was no longer cambered, more like spooned, we made a few more runs before finally calling it a day when the clouds moved in and the light got really flat (it was after 3PM anyway, and most of Keystone would be closing shortly after). However, since this was also the last day of the Winter X-Games, we knew the drive back to Denver would be much more difficult than the drive up.

The drive back to Denver was made even more difficult by the fact that Dana started showing signs of suffering from Altitude Sickness. Our home mountain reaches only slightly more than 1,000 feet of elevation so being at nearly 12,000 feet, especially when not used to it, can have an adverse effect on your system. We hadn't really given this much thought, so we hadn't come up with any plans for acclimatisation to the high elevation. Even though the effects of altitude on the human body are only significant at, or above, 10,000 feet, it's always a good idea to ensure you're prepared for significant changes in altitude. The most important thing you can do is to stay hydrated, which is what Dana failed to do on Sunday. Hydration is also the only real remedy, short of drugs whose routine use are discouraged, for those suffering from Altitude sickness.

It took nearly four hours of fighting with X-Games traffic but we finally made it back to Denver. However, in spite of this involved commute, and the altitude sickness, the trip was totally worth it. Especially when contrasted with our previous three days in Denver where the focus was on the commercial and consumption side of snowboarding. It's essential to not forget the important part: the fun. Something we hoped would continue over the next two days during the SIA freeride/demo fest at Winter Park.

Categories: Snowboarding, SIA | 0 Comments

2009/10 Burton T6 - Shred Labs Board Test

2010-02-07 08:59:40

Burton was at my home mountain recently to allow people to demo this year's gear. While they were there, Adam let us take some boards out to do some tests. One of the boards that we tested was the 2009/10 Burton T6. I've never actually ridden the T6, although a few years ago one was offered to me as a loaner when I found pressure cracks on my APO Family 58. My APO lasted the weekend, however, (and incidentally the rest of the season) so I didn't get an opportunity to try out the T6 until now so I was looking forward to seeing what it was all about.

• Location: Mont Cascades, Cantley, Quebec, Canada
• Snow Conditions: We hadn't received much in the form of precipitation since some freezing rain a week or so before the test. The slopes were hard packed with some loose groomer snow on the surface.
• Rider: Marc
  • Height: 5' 10"
  • Weight: 135 lbs
  • Boot Size: 9.5 (US)
• Setup:
  • 2009/10 Burton T6, 162
  • 2009/10 Burton Cartel EST bindings (M): 19 degrees front, -19 degrees back, 27 inches wide.
  • 2009/10 Burton Ion Boot

First Impression

The first thing that I thought when I picked up the board was “wow, this is big.” When I strapped in, I knew right away that I wasn't going to be messing around. The board was very stiff, especially when compared to the Custom V-Rockr that I had been riding earlier in the week. The T6 definitely felt like a freeride board.

Construction

The T6 is pressed right in Burlington Vermont. Therefore if you live in the Northeast, this board does not have to go far to go from the factory to your feet. Because only the higher end boards are actually manufactured in Burlington, you should be able to count on the manufacturing quality.

Tech

• Pro-Tip: The thickness of the tip and tail of the snowboard is tapered which is supposed to ofer a better swing weight and more playful flex in the tip and tail. I didn't really notice the more playful flex, but the swing weight was pretty good.
• Stainless Steel Pressure Distribution Edges: The edges on the T6 are upgraded from the regular line of boards by using stainless steel. No fuss, no muss, no rust.

Cost: The T6 is definitely a high end board, and its MSRP reflects this. According to the Burton website, the T6 should retail for $829.95.

The Ride

Beginner/Intermediate Turns: I found it difficult to initiate beginner turns with the T6. The stiffness makes it easy to catch an edge, however, it also makes the ride quite smooth. Intermediate turns were actually easier than beginner turns. I wouldn't recommend this board for beginners or novices; it will probably frustrate them.

Advanced Slider Turns: The T6 is very grabby. As I was trying to do ASTs, there was very little sliding in my turns, I felt more like I was doing advanced carved turns. Although the board was quite large for me, I had no problem linking turns in a narrow corridor; the T6 is surprisingly quick edge to edge.

Carving: This is definitely one of the strengths of the T6. The more I rode it, the more I wanted to rip down the hill doing high-speed carves. Dana, who was filming, was having a hard time keeping up on the Flying V.

Switch: Although the T6 is a directional freeride board, it never really felt squirrely while riding switch. In fact, I found switch beginner turns to be easier than regular ones... weird. I didn't try riding the T6 switch at high speeds, I was too busy having fun ripping down the hill as fast as I could.

Park: Although it is possible to ride park with the T6, I wouldn't recommend it. The T6 is too big of an investment to be slaying steel with it. It was very smooth on jumps, however, owing to its stiff flex profile. It was also surprisingly easy to spin considering its length and my weight. Butters were difficult if not nearly impossible on the T6.

Overall

The Burton T6 is a freeriding beast. While doing the “Flux Capacitor” straight line test, I hardly felt that I was going fast at all. The only indication of my speed was my jacket flapping in the wind and my hood acting as a parachute (when I realised how fast I was going, I thought I might actually go back in time... 88mph FTW!!) If you're into park riding, the T6 is probably not a good board for you. However, definitely consider it if you like to a) go fast, b) like the feeling of doing turns on a cambered board, c) want to throw yourself over huge booters at max speed, and d) have a lot of extra scratch for a snowboard because the T6 ain't cheap.

Categories: Snowboarding, Gear, Videos, Shred Labs | 3 Comments

SIA Day Three - Rediscovering the essence

2010-02-05 00:29:39

Saturday was day three of the SIA snowsports tradeshow. After taking in the free funk served up by Del on Friday, we weren't in a huge rush to get to the convention center. It was a good bet that day three was going to be a low key affair (relatively speaking). The plan was to meet up with some friends from Sierra Snowboard, then take it from there.

Not long after we entered the convention center, we noticed that Klaus Obermeyer was in attendance. Being the legend of the ski industry that he is, we thought it might be interesting to go over and ask him what he thought about snowboarding. To my surprise, he's actually super keen on it. He said that snowboarding has brought so much to skiing, especially in the way that skis are now shaped. We thanked Klaus and bade him farewell, but not before he treated us to a brief yodel. We then proceeded into the convention center to see whatever we could before meeting up with the Sierra crew.

Things were a bit slow on day three. I suspect much of the business is taken care of on days one and three. Before long, it was lunch time and Dana and I went to the food court to meet up with Jenn, Phil, Doug, Brian, and Steve (the Sierra contingent at the tradeshow). While shooting the breeze, a plan was hatched for some of us to ditch the tradeshow on day four and head up to Keystone for the day to shred. This suited me just fine since I had already seen most everything I had gone to Denver to see and relished the opportunity to work on my goggle tan.

Before calling it a day, however, we decided to tour around the convention center to see what other shenanigans we could get into. In the process, I heard the funniest and most maddening stories of the entire week; both within minutes of each other. The most maddening story was that someone had apparently walked away with Jeremy Jones' split board which was on display in the Jones Snowboards booth. This made me want to karate chop the thief in his face. Unfortunately I have no idea what the thief looks like so I had to rely on Karma. Hopefully someone recovered Jeremy's kit, split boards aren't cheap.

The funniest story of the tradeshow actually happened on day two, even though I didn't hear it until day three. Nidecker's line of snowboards for 2010/11 includes an exclusive Pamela Anderson snowboard. On Friday night, the Baywatch babe herself showed up at the convention to promote her exclusive stick. However, a batch of “pot cookies” also showed up at the party. Unknowingly, one of the reps took two large bites of one which caused him to start thinking deep thoughts about his life, his place in the world, and why they were doing this to Pam. It didn't take long before he decided that all these deep thoughts were too much and went to the hotel to sleep off the THC.

After the convention center closed for the day, we went to the Spot to have dinner with the fine folks from Flow Snowboards. Apparently this place was featured in an episode of South Park, a fact that Brian and Steve used to sell us on the idea (it wasn't that difficult really), qualifying it by saying that the food wasn't great but the atmosphere was. Contrary to conventional wisdom, this is actually a good way to sell a restaurant. For example, there's a diner not far from my house in Ottawa that advertises “bad food and warm beer.” You would expect that this would cause people to stay away, yet it's surprising just how many people stop by just to see how bad the food is or how warm the beer is.

After dinner we went to Brian's place in Westminster – a northwest suburb of Denver -- to do some couch surfing in preparation for the trip up to Keystone on Sunday. I was kinda happy to be leaving the commercial atmosphere of the tradeshow behind for some actual snowboarding. Although these commercial events are necessary for snowboarding to survive and continue growing, they somewhat detract from its essence: it's all about the fun and I was looking forward to rediscovering that essence in Keystone.

Categories: Snowboarding, SIA | 0 Comments

SIA Day Two - "All In" for Denver

2010-01-31 03:25:38

Friday was the second day of the SIA tradeshow. Day one, on Thursday, had already seemed long in spite of the fact that we didn't really go party that night. In spite of this, I still planned to get an early start on day two. Since Zoe had been fighting a cold, however, we left her behind so she could get some more sleep. We were therefore left to our own devices to take photos so I apologize in advance if there aren't many.

Our first stop after entering the conference center was at the Venture Snowboards booth to talk with Lisa Branner about split boards. With more and more winter sports enthusiasts becoming concerned with the effects of anthropomorphic climate change, and desiring to mitigate its effects, split-boarding seems to have become a growing segment of the market. One of the questions I've been asking of companies who make any backcountry related products is whether or not the numbers actually reflects this instinct. In general, the answer to this questions seems to be in the affirmative.

After a quick chat with Lisa, and a good overview of Venture's lineup for 2011 (which incidentally will be 100% rocker), we decided to casually browse the various booths until mid-day when the 10th anniversary of Capita celebration was to take place. Capita launched 10 years ago on the second day of the SIA snowsports tradeshow. They thought they'd celebrate by having a New Year's Eve style countdown at mid-day on day two of this years show. To help showcase the event, they put up a cross section of all the snowboards they've produced over their ten year life, all the way back to the days before Forum was swallowed up by Burton when Capita had licensed the Forum slider technology.

After the countdown, we stopped off at the Pow gloves booth where we met Brady Stoddard, the sales and brand manager for Pow, Ogio, and Bataleon. Pow is a pacific northwest company and Brady was super stoked to find out that we were big fans of Pow gloves that far east.

While chatting with Brady and Dustin -- the CEO of Pow gloves -- Jon Cartwright, the owner of Westbeach, stopped by to express his stoke that I was wearing a Westbeach t-shirt. He even gave me a copy of the Out West, a book which chronicles the history of Westbeach and snowboarding in Canada. Brady and I commented about how stoked we are on Westbeach because a) we're canadian and b) we're old enough to remember when Del the Funky Homosapien was in Hieroglyphics. Incidentally, Del was set to play later on that night at a private party at Ink Monster; a party to which we were fortunate enough to be invited... thanks Brady.

Later in the afternoon, we were getting tired of walking around, so we decided to hit up the Burton booth to play some Texas Hold 'Em in their mini-casino setup. This is ironic considering that last year, I attended SIA in Las Vegas and didn't gamble at all. However, in this case we weren't playing with real money and poker involves sitting down which was a win-win situation; I was no longer standing and I could play fast and loose and not worry about losing the farm. After a couple hours of playing, however, I wound up winning more than $80,000 worth of fake money (all in for the win!).

After cashing in my “winnings”, we made our way to the Yard to see Generations, a short film by Teton Gravity Research about climate change. This was sponsored by The North Face, and Protect Our Winters. Jeremy Jones and North Face rider DCP were on hand to provide a little bit of background. This movie had been screened for U.S. Senators the day before to try to bring more attention to the impact on climate change. Having a name like Jeremy Jones behind it will hopefully bring a greater amount of attention to this important cause.

Later that night, on our way out to the Free Funk, Del the Funky Homosapien party, we ran into DCP who happened to have a room on the same floor as us at the Hilton Garden Inn. We got to talking with him about the show, about “Generations”, and about the evenings parties. Throughout our conversation, it never once occurred to me that he might have been more comfortable if we had been speaking french with him (DCP has a pretty pronounced french accent when speaking english). I'll definitely address him in the language of “la belle province” the next time I see him.

We got to the Ink Monster warehouse shortly after 9PM and happened to be first in line which was good because only the first 300 people with wrist bands were going to be allowed in (the warehouse looks as though it can only safely hold 300 people). Many people were being turned away because they didn't have wrist bands for the show. “How do you get a wrist band”, they would ask. The answer was always “you have to know someone who has them.” Apparently we roll with the right people.

Del hit the stage around midnight. Although we had been standing most of the day since before 9AM, we still had lots of energy to bust some moves to some funky tunes. One thing I have to say about Del is that he is incredibly passionate about his music as art. So much so that he doesn't care how you appropriate yourself of his music, as long as you listen to it. This is a refreshing attitude from the perspective of the fan, especially nowadays when people are getting sued for vast sums of money for “illegally" downloading music. Perhaps this hearkens back a little bit to the idea behind split-boarding; when you earn your turns, and remove much of the B.S., you start to remember that snowboarding, much like music, is really about having fun. Thanks for showing us the way Del.

Categories: Snowboarding, SIA | 0 Comments