Slushboarding

[Corey]

I went out this past weekend to a local hill. We've had highs around 45F and lows around 35F for the past week, so I wasn't expecting much.

The snow/slush couldn't support any kind of lean angle, it just pushed out to the side if you got too aggressive. Pressuring the nose at all didn't even threaten to fold it; it just slid out. After a few turns I learned I needed to really keep my weight back. So much so that the nose was off the ground in the softer sections as the tail sunk a good 6-10" in a turn! It kind of felt like wakeboarding at low speed.

My 182 Coiler Monster was no fun at all, I couldn't bend it into an arc so I was left making huge GS-type turns on narrow runs. A 163 Volkl slalom board was more fun, though fore-aft weight balance became hyper-critical compared to the big Monster.

Going off the beaten path on one run yeilded a surprise - it felt like I rode onto carpet. The nose then submarined big time and put me into a wicked front flip/roll. Too funny. Less funny was trying to get up in about 2 feet of slush and helmet vents packed with the stuff.

One weird thing was the sticky stuff that accumulated on my base. Not sure what it was, but it would smear when touched with bare fingers. Eww... Didn't really notice drag on the hill though.

Any other funny slush stories?

[jolson]

On ride board I mentioned that this 45 degree weekend we were running over ice, hero snow, and hollow (no support) all within twenty feet sometimes...

Was making last run down for the day and having a great run...a GREAT run when I got toward the side of hill and as I went to toe side there was nothing there...augered in like never before and had both bindings (burton race plates) and my clip leash all completely release.......epic wipe out.....

VERY Lucky no injury and also lucky that when I sat up, the board was sitting right next to me as if someone had laid it there...... good karma I guess.....

anyone else want to chime in on the complete binding release......?.......

[Wun]

anyone else want to chime in on the complete binding release......?.......

Magic.

:)

[Jonny]

Was doing laps last week on my RC 180 Coiler at the little local hill. I took a break and they closed the slope down so they could groom it again - completely cut up down to the layer of ice below the slush.

I don't really find that I need to get too back-footed, I just try to stay right over the middle of the board and not dive forward to initiate. The 180 works much better than my 160 SL. The only real problem is where two or more ruts coincide - the bottom just drops out.

[Puddy Tat]

Yeah I get tons of that sticky cr*p on the bases of my board when riding at Sunridge in Edmonton in the late season. Here it is particulates from the refineries that are nearby. I don't even want to think about what that is doing to my lungs riding there through the season.

Someday down the road some medical doctor will publish a finding that concludes that riding on hills with less than 200' of vertical drop will eventually give you lung cancer.

Dave

[Dave ESPI]

I've got one or 2 days left of HB riding here on the east coast....

Conditions are just getting too dangerous and unpredictable. A mixed bag of slush, snow ice, crust and frozen death cookies abound.

Actualy, I may be done already and just don't realise it yet.... argh.

Its good to be a softbooter in days like this...

(as I duck the flyig tomatoes and rotten peaches...)

[b0ardski]

back in the day at snoqualmie pass, the diesel sludge/pine tar required solvent (lighter fluid worked great) to clean it off the bases (bad for ptex)

we eventually found the best solution, GRAPHITE:biggthump, heavy doses of oneball jay summer slush or black magik graphite wax goes a long way to keeping the sludge from sticking to the ptex.

seriuosly, topsheets, binders & boots needed wiped down with a solvent soaked rag:eek: after a late spring session. Some blamed the tree pollen/pinetar, I blamed the truck traffic and resulting particulates, the slopes faced I90 and up the canyon at Alpental the issue was far less severe.

[Sultan Guy]

Got into some of this today by late morning in a few sunny places.

I discovered pretty quickly that aggressive carves just washed out so I surfed it almost like powder. Weight back and easy soft short carves.

I was thinking that a short slalom board might be good for this, certainly better then the Hot 178 GS I was on.

Right when stuff was just starting to go soft I cut the deepest trenches of my life. I mean it looked like someone plowed the mountain and I could still see my trenches two lifts over.

[Corey]

I got the sticky crap off the boards last night - simple rubbing alcohol took it off without stripping the wax off. That stuff was all over everything: base, topsheet, bindings, boots. The paper towel was black after cleaning the base. Yuck! It took a couple of passes to get everything clean.

Thinking about picking up some Zardoz NotWax (or similar) for this weekend's slushboarding adventure. Good or not worth it for wet conditions?

[Dave ESPI]

Day # 50, and...... I'm DONE.

sixty five degrees today. will be for the rest of the weekend too. It will all but close down the biggest of resorts here in the East I fear.

The lakes on the way to the mountain just last week had a solid 6 inches of ice... now just barely enough to hold up a bird walking on them.

Slopes? ughhh... more like Slops.

Concrete foot massage at 9 am, Slush by 1 pm, back to concrete mine field of tractor tread plate ice and piles of locked up granular by 7 pm, down right N-A-S-T-Y by 9:00 pm.

One thing I can say though, is that I was loving the fact I was in hardboots and on a LONG board. An extra 10 CM really made a huge difference in blasting thru the crud .

Wax um, tune um, shelf um.

Time for JETSKIS

[heroshmero]

Thinking about picking up some Zardoz NotWax (or similar) for this weekend's slushboarding adventure. Good or not worth it for wet conditions?

I've been making use of Dominator Momentium for Warm, Old Snow paste wax. Apply that by itself and you should get a good glide in warm wet snow.

[Spiny Norman]

My similar query from last spring

http://www.bomberonline.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=25515&highlight=mashed

[terekhov]

I got the sticky crap off the boards last night

I find that http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_spirit works best for removing spring residue off the boards - especially fuel oil off p-tex

[Guest shrederjen]

I have to be honest, I can't wait for May at the Basin!

It is usually very firm at 830am, perfect at 10am, and slushy surffing by 1pm!

Great stuff! :d

[SEJ]

I've found it really helps when the snow gets the "grabbies" It will extend the day by an hour or two.

[yooperluke]

Some thoughts on the slime that builds up on your base in the spring. We dont have a pollution problem in the U.P. but a good portion of the hill snow is man made. The gun water comes from a river rather than a well. The water is unfiltered at the micro level and full of microscopic organic critters. Imagine spraying all these critters all over the mtn. from November thru January 24 hrs a day. Come spring time, the snow melts and the dead critters concentrate to the top and stick to your wax. Throw in the occasional blown groomer hydraulic hose fluid that gets power tilled in and wahlah! In my youth I used to make snow here and if the river was roiled up because of a heavy snowfall the gun snow would have a little tint to it from the river being high and fast... more crud in the snow. Let the man made crap dry out before grooming it and spread the yellow snow around. Come spring... keep a scraper in your pocket and clean off the board every couple runs.

[yooperluke]

Some thoughts on the slime that builds up on your base in the spring. We dont have a pollution problem on the south shore of Lake Superior in the U.P. or God's Country if you really want to know, but a good portion of the hill snow is man made. The gun water comes from a river rather than a well. The water is unfiltered at the micro level and full of microscopic organic critters. Imagine spraying all these critters all over the mtn. from November thru January 24 hrs a day. Come spring time, the snow melts and the dead critters concentrate to the top and stick to your wax. Throw in the occasional blown groomer hydraulic hose fluid that gets power tilled in and wahlah! In my youth I used to make snow here and if the river was roiled up because of a heavy snowfall the gun snow would have a little tint to it from the river being high and fast... more crud in the snow. Let the man made crap dry out before grooming it and spread the yellow snow around. Addtionaly, some of the snowmaking science says that having micro-organisms in the water allows for making snow at higher temps.. freezes quicker... so some resorts with well water actually inject bio stuff into their gun water.... creepy Soylent Green science! Come spring... keep a scraper in your pocket and clean off the board every couple runs.

[murphy12]

The black stuff is a combination of things. Grease and oil from snowcats, fireplace ash, and who knows what else.

Riding Stratton last Thurs and Fri, it didn't get too slushy on the lower mt. til around 1PM or so. I did crash several times in the slush, but my Coiler RC 180 seemed to handle it well if I wasn't too aggressive.

'Tis going fast, alas

[Bobby Buggs]

Last 5 years I rode my Coiler All mtn right up till places like MT snow closed. I do love spring riding but forget about carving, I just dont bother. I put away the Coiler and will be riding soft for the close of the season. I say WTF, not going to get carving like we had at the ECES so might as well do some splashing on softies.

[Rob Stevens]

Some thoughts on the slime that builds up on your base in the spring. We dont have a pollution problem on the south shore of Lake Superior in the U.P. or God's Country if you really want to know, but a good portion of the hill snow is man made. The gun water comes from a river rather than a well. The water is unfiltered at the micro level and full of microscopic organic critters. Imagine spraying all these critters all over the mtn. from November thru January 24 hrs a day. Come spring time, the snow melts and the dead critters concentrate to the top and stick to your wax. Throw in the occasional blown groomer hydraulic hose fluid that gets power tilled in and wahlah! In my youth I used to make snow here and if the river was roiled up because of a heavy snowfall the gun snow would have a little tint to it from the river being high and fast... more crud in the snow. Let the man made crap dry out before grooming it and spread the yellow snow around. Addtionaly, some of the snowmaking science says that having micro-organisms in the water allows for making snow at higher temps.. freezes quicker... so some resorts with well water actually inject bio stuff into their gun water.... creepy Soylent Green science! Come spring... keep a scraper in your pocket and clean off the board every couple runs.

That's science right there.

[Rob Stevens]

Bindingless pow yesterday and dirt berms today.

Spring in the Rockies.

Supersogood.

[bring-a-comb]

look at attachment

[Corey]

bring-a-comb - Did he come out standing? Looks like he's about to fall over backwards!

My fears about slushboarding this past weekend didn't really come true. It was about 1" of groom that was loosely sprinkled on top of hockey-rink-quality ice. Made for a really interesting day. The Coiler 167 VSR XT (checkerplate topsheet demo at SES and ECES) ate that crap up when I asked it properly.

Sadly one of my friends caught an edge and rung his bell pretty hard. His day ended early with a probable concusion. :( It was his 3rd time on a snowboard, we couldn't convince him to wear a helmet. He'll wear one from now on!

[bring-a-comb]

well the person in the pic is actualy me. Puddle jumping is sooo much fun!! it may look like im falling over backwards but i acualy made it to the other side on my feet. i find when im riding soft snow or slush the best thing to do is rip. dont lean to far over the boad stay centerd. when there are big moguls of slush like at tremblant this march break. everyrun is like an olympic mogul corse. dont hold back at all and just give-er

[skiracerx]

Spring Conditions: (I know we all try to get the last runs in the season) -the dirt / black gunk on bases.

Combination of: Oils, slope and lift equipment.

Other waxes, Tree twigs, bark falling from winds then groomed, Pollen (that stuff is nasty and sticky ), mud from thins, mud from boots, maybe even cosmic dust (pixey). Organisms natural. combo to say the least.

On white bases it really shows. Black bases it's there just does not show as much.

I figure just clean it good and re wax. The wax at that point has dirt anyway built up.

I usually remove with Zardoz Super Z base cleaner, then do the NOTwax felix - base clean, Notwax, fluoro, notwax.

I have used all the name brand hot wax, T,S,H,N, 1ball and others over 10 years with zardoz notwax .

The notwax overlay will also help keep the gunk from bonding.

Graphite will absorb water. I like Boron Nitride.

It really is hard to tell avg use. I mean some ride hard all day, some ride a bit, chill a bit etc. Competition tend to hang more than actually ride. so ymmv

You can get all my test results on http://www.skidome.org

tomorrow I will be doing on slope demos for the public in the rain, that will be the best test. March 6 2011 Liberty Mtn PA. can't get any wetter.

What we have found (50% of the boards/skis we apply the notwax to), have not seen wax in years, some have rust, some core shots, ptex hairs or worse with big hangnails. Riding switch ???. Sometimes it is not the dirt or wax , only lack of maintenance. I spend 1 hr a week maint.

But have something just in case, no iron out on the mountain.

Lack of glide is a fatigue factor. Lack of glide is a timing factor. (park pipe) Both can be a safety factor.

Happy and safe riding

e