Expedition: Alaska - Chapter 1

2010-04-29 23:43:57

While I was in Alaska for the World Freeride Festival (better known as Tailgate Alaska), I brought along a GoPro HD Hero camera to document the occasion. I wound up taking more than four hours of video footage while I was there — which might have been more were it not for dying batteries and filled up memory cards — so in the last few weeks I've been sorting through it and putting it together for your enjoyment. The following video is the first chapter of the Shred Labs: Expedition Alaska video series.

This first installment features footage from my first few days in Alaska; including the drive from Anchorage to Thompson Pass, and my first heli runs. The footage was shot immediately following my first heli drop where my group triggered two avalanches. That's a lot of firsts and a heck of a way to be introduced to Alaska.

In this chapter, I'm hoping to tell the story of a single heli run in the Chugach mountains in compressed time. The clip takes you from the pickup, to the drop off, to the ride down. You may even notice me struggling with my 155 Evo-R twin snowboard in the deep snow (it snowed two feet the day I arrived in Thompson Pass).

The riding crew consisted of John, Shawn, Ian, myself, and our guide Jerry. We ended up sharing a ship for two days and seemed to have developed a great rapport with one another (which is important when trying to stay alive in the backcountry).

This being my first attempt at an editing project of this magnitude, I hope the results are entertaining. So without further ado, Chapter one of Expedition Alaska. Hopefully chapter two won't be too far behind.

Categories: Snowboarding, Videos, Shred Labs, Tailgate Alaska | 1 Comments

2009/10 Burton Supermodel - Shred Labs Board Test (by Dana)

2010-02-19 22:06:55

The Burton Supermodel is one of those boards that everyone has heard about, its been around for a long time. However, I'm not certain a whole lot of people have actually ridden it... I decided to take her for a ride and see how she felt (wow, apparently I'm just as dirty as I am polite...)

• 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: Dana
  • Height: 5' 10"
  • Weight: 175 lbs
  • Boot Size: 10.5 (US)
• Setup:
  • 2009/10 Burton Supermodel, 159
  • 2009/10 Burton Cartel EST bindings (M): 19 degrees front, -9 degrees back, 27 inches wide.
  • 2008/09 Burton SLX Boot

First Impression

My first impression of the Supermodel was red. This board is very... red. Decently lightweight, graphics were pretty flashy, looks like you are riding on a lava board or something. The Supermodel looks like your average traditional snowboard.

Construction

The Supermodel is pressed in Canada (near Cowansville Quebec), which is a huge eco-bonus for us Canadians, the board won't be travelling very far from the factory to under my feet.

Tech

• Dual Zone EGD: The wood grain is positioned along the toe and heel side edges, perpendicular to the rest of the wood core, this adds strength and gives superior edge hold.
• 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.

Cost: At 559.95USD, the Supermodel is a fair priced solid, all around freeride board.

The Ride

Beginner/Intermediate Turns: Turns were pretty easy to initiate with this board. The stiffer flex made the board rather stable, however a little harder to manoeuver than your standard freestyle deck. This board would be ideal for a heavier beginner who is looking for a solid all around freeride board that should last a long while.

Advanced Slider Turns: Being a traditional cambered board, I found the Supermodel to deliver a lot more performance in short radius turns than any rocker board. The Supermodel is also quite snappy, which makes the quick edge transfers really easy and fast.

Carving: Carving was pretty natural on the Supermodel. This board was pretty much built for freeriding and carving. Getting on edge was really easy, and keeping the board on the edge was effortless. Throwing some hard carves was no challenge on the Supermodel, euro-style carves were pretty awesome!

Switch: Riding switch didn't feel unnatural at all; many freeride boards feel kind of weird when going backwards, but not the Supermodel. The twin flex probably came into play to help keep the feel consistent from regular to switch. However, I wouldn't mistake this board for a true-twin board.

Park: The Supermodel isn't really your jib slayer, its pretty stiff and pressing on boxes wasn't really it's strong suit at all. However, having a stiffer flex means bigger jumps are smoother! I also found the spin weight of the board to be really good, probably attributable to the pro-tip shape. When I tried to spin 5s on the jump, I found myself over rotating and getting 7s around. This really surprised me, and made me really happy! However, I did notice that I was catching my edges on the landings, pretty much at the same spot each time, a downside of having a stiffer cambered board.

Overall

The Supermodel is a great traditional cambered freeride board. I would feel confident throwing some turns on any terrain, especially steeps. Although Marc's speed test didn't go so well due to punter ski patrollers being in the way, I'm pretty sure the board would feel great at high speeds. This isn't your park slayer board, however spinning on bigger jumps would probably be pretty dang fun, especially cause you can pick up some solid pace without any sketchyness like those squirrely freestyle noodles. I found this board to be a refreshing ride, making me really enjoy the traditional cambered board once again, the high performance is quite addictive, and I love euro-carves!

Categories: Snowboarding, Gear, Videos, Shred Labs | 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

Neverland Premiere - Lost boys in Montreal

2009-09-04 21:32:33

Thursday was the Montreal premiere of Absinthe Films' Neverland. I had been looking forward to seeing this movie for quite some time, so I decided to gather team Moose Tech and proceed to Montreal to attend the event. I figured that the biggest challenge would be getting to Montreal. However, I later realised that the true challenge would be leaving.

The boys (Dana, Scott, Yeti, and myself) piled into Yeti's ski-mobile in the early evening to make our way to Montreal to meet up with the girls (Gaby, Jaimie, and Zoe). Unfortunately we had to leave Jordan behind because he had math homework (don't forget to carry the one bro). We made the trip in a little over two hours which is longer than usual. We were impeded slightly by construction zones which would prove to become even more of a hassle later in the night.

When we finally found parking, we me made our way to Le National and met up with the girls, distributed tickets, and delivered the requisite sarcasms before heading into the venue to grab some seats. The evening started with a free-for-all type giveaway. DCP, Romain deMarchi, JP Solberg, Annie Boulanger, MFR, and a few others, that I can't remember right now, were there to throw some swag to their adoring fans.

Once all the t-shirts, hats, base-layers and everything else had been tossed, it was time to give away a snowboard: a YES 158. This giveaway would be a bit different though, as the contestants would have to earn it by showing off their underwear. Unfortunately for us lads, only boys decided to bare their boxers for a new board (I'm pretty sure a few of those dudes have done this before). The judging duties would be left to MFR and Annie Boulanger.

When the fashion show was over, and one lucky lad with his pants down was in possession of a new snowboard, it was time to get to the flick. The opener belonged to Nicholas Mueller. Always a solid backcountry rider, but mixing things up with what can only be qualified as "an interesting tree jib". Other memorable moments from the movie included a road gap from a parkade to a rooftop, and a slick looking Travis Rice riding in on a white horse.

After the movie ended, the stars stuck around for a meet and greet, and to sign some posters for the kids. Gaby got JP Solberg to sign one for me. It says the following:

To: Marc
Dude easy on the trees!

Apparently the story of my tree jib fail is getting around (it's okay Gaby, I'm not embarrassed). In any case, I thought well enough of the poster that it's now posted on the wall next to my computer. It serves as a reminder that I should probably get a knee pad for my next tree jibbing adventure.

Since most of us had to show up to work on Friday morning, we decided to skip the after party and head back to Ottawa. However, it seemed that Montreal was conspiring to keep us there as just about every highway back to Ottawa seemed to be closed for construction. When we finally made it back on the 40, I thought we were in the clear. For the most part that was true until we got to Ottawa where the story was pretty much the same as in Montreal: every exit ramp we wanted to take was closed for construction. It was passed 2AM when we finally made it home.

Overall, this movie was quite good. It had lots of deep snow, huge airs, and lots of interesting tricks. The soundtrack wasn't that bad either (I haven't heard the Dead Kennedys in a snowboard flick for a long time). Among the Moose Tech team, the consensus was that it made us all want winter to arrive faster. The only complaint I heard about the movie was that it was not as good as "That's It, That's All". However, I think people should probably stop comparing snowboard videos to "That's It, That's All", there's no comparison in terms time and budget -- That's It, That's All took two years to make and had a ridiculously huge budget -- so obviously it's not a fair comparison. All that being said, this was a solid movie and I'll definitely consider adding this one to my personal library; neck deep snow makes my pants get tighter.

Categories: Snowboarding, Videos | 1 Comments