Back to the FUTURE of surfing snow (pt. 2)

THE PAST: This is a great clip, two legends doing their thing!


Nat Young rides the Winterstick
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The FUTURE:





a QUICK TIME OUT:

here's a interesting common thread among some of the innovators of snowboarding or ocean to snow surfing converts...
Jake Burton grew up in Long Island, New York....

Dimitrije Milovich the creator of Winterstick (possible founder of snowboarding)grew up in White Plains, New York

DM's surfboard shaper partner Wayne Stovekin grew up in NJ,(milovich gives wayne credit for creating or riding the first snow surfboard with no straps or ropes)

All three of these dudes lived within a half hour's drive to NYC...

in addition Tom Sims grew up about hour south of NYC in NJ, and his first employee was Chuck Barfoot a young NJ surfer/shaper/ripper who later started the legendary 'Barfoot Snowboards'....

another cool little connection? Tom Sims made his first snowboard in JR high Shop class and Mike Olson the founder of Lib Tech made his first snowboard in his High School shop class...Mike single handedly put bi-deck snowskates back on the map!!!

the only lesson I see in all this?.. viva shop class!!!!

the NAt Young clip:

For skaters who might not know, Nat Young (from australia) might be one of the best surfer to ever paddle out into an ocean...love his commentary and love Dimitrije style!!as you can see those early bindings were very crude, they were pow surfing without the snurfer rope...back to the future!

7 plys of maple bent to surf deep snow

Rounded squash, asymm, swallowtail

(the asymmetrical is my favorite)

Asymmetrical pow shredstic

A la Burton circa 1991(?) - goofy-

Email: decembersnowskates@gmail.com

If it scratches you were you itch?

...this is just the start ...Lots more work to do on this board

The FALL LINE

Don't let the stiff stance fool ya, the rider is going about 150 mph!
Board: 120cm bindingless powder surfboard

Photo: MB

Back to the future

120 cm ptex and maple surfboard (no bindings)

classic mini trip-***updated video****

after two days of riding a bi-deck on the slopes, (in better then ideal conditions)I spent yesterday morning looking for a place to surf...found a spot just around the corner from the resort that had an open face and only a single set of skinny x-c ski tracks...unfortunately i was by myself at this point (sandman had headed home) so there was no one to point my camera (iphone) at....my focus was trying to ride the powdersurf stick outside of the fall line...and this place was interesting...the fall line was screaming one way, but i tried to ride against the grain a bit. I tried to document it quickly using my phone stuck inside my helmet sitting in the snow, but its a pretty played formula so i didn't spend that much time shooting, however i did spend alot of time riding, great day to be hiking around and linking some turns...to make a long story short, the terrain was much steeper then it looks and much more fun...the actual fall-line was smooth and easy..

Untitled from december snowskates on Vimeo.

We woke up to 4" new inches of snow in the front yard, plenty more fell in mountains

Cruised up to the hills to snowskate with sandman today... Darkness must have confused the lifties, because they let us ride the lifts all night... Snow was exceptional, empty chairs, zero complaints ...

Plenty of fresh snow on the hill

Ticket to ride

34.5x9.25" 7 ply maple with decent concaves

... Heres a Last look at a custom top deck, that's all finished up for the Boyd factory.. Contact boydhill@gmail.com if your looking for bi-deck complete


Local snow report:
Calling for 4-6" tonight- closer to a foot in the mountains
Gonna head up tomorrow ... Surf has been funky lately... Viva snow

Do we really need; fins, bindings, leashes, rails, ropes, straps,, metal edges, fiberglass, reverse camber, rocker, camber, float?

Alaia & Machado from 360 To Nowhere on Vimeo.

2 new pics sent in from Jeremy

Matt 's grab over the tank riding 125 powderskate and December 40" top deck

The lot superbowl Sunday

Pic. Jeremy g.

Early evening moonlight sess: 53 days of snowpack

53 days of snowpack aint bad at all for this coastal town! Moon was almost full, but wasn't bright enough to keep the snow from freezing back up hard tonight... Couldnt help but think of The bomba shack in BVI tonight ... They're probably brewing up tea two days in advance

... Something else was Funny tonight, a guy on a quad pulled up to me on the trail and asked if I wanted a lift to top.. I said no on account of my dog, but thanked him for the offer.. I offered him a demo on the skate and he passed, but said he sees me here all the time as he pointed to his house just off in the distance ... he also added that he tried not to mess up my line.. How great was that..sometimes it's very suprising meeting an unselfish person ..he possessed zero of that, " get off my land/ locals only" vibe ... Dude had more aloha then 1,000's of surfers I have met !! Pretty damn cool

Tagless for the Boyd factory 3 to go

Still needs a couple of clear coats and some sanding

The woods behind my house - Sunday 2-13

Here's a short clip of some bi-decking.nothing special going on, just amazed that this place has held this amount of snow since December 26... I've ridden this place daily and this Sunday was another fun day back there.... The hardpack soften up a Bit and the bideck was incredible... So much like surfing (always thinking about your rails and the conditions ahead) Don't put off riding one another season

Bi-deck from december snowskates on Vimeo.

All decks are hand painted, and screened in house

Rounded squash comes with concaves

Low angle

Max riding the powdersurfer on the ski out

Maple grip

This is a small top deck for the man behind maples snowboard wax .. Shipping out Monday

Maple Bottom

any excuse to play a Joe Strummer tune

...not sure what i did wrong this time....pulled some video off my phone from sunday of Matt skating the buried propane tank...but quality is poor ..its a quick glimpse of the nice weather and easy going atmosphere on the hill ... thanks to late great joe strummer and the mescaleros for this tune johnny appleseed...i bought my copy on itunes...definitely recommend doing the same..

Old punk from december snowskates on Vimeo.

The last FOUR

These are the last top decks in stock.. They're all headed to the boydhill factory to be mounted as completes... If you need a top-deck this season, customs are available.. Same price just Takes a week or two to make.

Email decembersnowskates@gmail.com to get the ball rolling...

Hope everyone is skating decent snow this season

TR - Cortina Valley

...earlier in the week Matt contacted me about a plan his friends had about making some runs on a abandon ski resort using AT skis and skins... Sounded like a real good plan ... So superbowl Sunday we cruised up early with a bunch of snowskates to make some laps with them ... Everything was perfect except for a 1/2 inch layer of ice that fell over 2 feet of perfect snow the night before ...partial bummer ...the powdersurfer got shelved ... But as day went the snowmobiles groomed the snot out of the trails and the bi-decks came to life...matt's first day on a bideck was inspiring.. And Jeremy was shredding in-between alaia surfing discussions, he surfs a slab of wood with no fins all winter, so riding a board with no straps is a walk in the park for him.. The riding got better and better as the day went... The weirdest part of the day was going inside the base lodges' bar that was still in operation (think shining) and upon entering there was two snowskates sitting on the floor.. My kind of place ...

The defunct resort brochure

Actually printed snowskating as a on "mountain" activity .. And here was two left over singles from there rental...

Drive up

Private groomers

Luckily ...The sleds crushed the the slabby crusted over pow into resort grooming ...

Matt gas's it over the propane tank

Matt's friends skinning it

Jeremy stoked to take his first run

Still life

Posthole fatigue

Dinosaur in the tar pit

Powdersurfer '11 edition

After 24 hours in press, and 24 hours of curing... This deck needs to be trimmed, sanded, sealed, and gripped

Maple, balsa,epoxy, and ptex

Trimming excess ptex

Bottom channels

obluff

box session from obluff on Vimeo.

Sean K. sent this vid. in today...nice look at his backyard set-up and the crew...Sean rides a december single deck, and I believe i saw a icon single deck in this clip also... very nice looking video...looks like these guys have been getting lots of snow this season ...i think his area got 10" last night...thanks sean really well done

Couple from the boydhill factory

109cm and 132 cm powder sub .... Viva Bi deck snowskating

Stoke

Photo by max