Features• Riding Journal

Board Insiders Day 2 at Stevens Pass

I’m still on Colorado time, which means I go to bed early and I wake up early for Washington. I’ve been lucky to stay in Skykomish, just down the road from where Johan has a cabin and I could poach his kids Skull Mountain Terrain Park but the WA snow is definitely pushing my riding enough.

Made it up back up to Stevens Pass for day 2 of Board Insiders testing.  I never check the snow report but I can tell you it was good, better than yesterday with the snowfall.  Upon arrival in the morning, the sun tried to come out but it ended up being a snowy kind of day instead.  

Lars the man behind Board Insiders chucking snowballs in the morning

Our first run of the day was to find and enjoy the powder so we hiked up to get to the best snow.  It was a hike and while it wasn’t so much the hike that got me it was the hiking along a steep ridge and my fears of falling down steep ridge.  I’m not so good with narrow trails and I have my own fears of falling that come into play.  Luckily one of the guys grabbed my board so I could just look down and hike up without worrying about my board.  

At the top like what the hell did I just get myself into?

We stopped just at the Ski Area Boundary to ride in-bounds.  Plenty of skiers and riders past by to get out of bounds but they made sure to have the proper equipment and warned us of the avalanche dangers in the area.  It’s still a good time to be careful.
One by one each of dropped in, I went second and found a line to the left coming down that I could make wide open powder turns in fresh snow with no one before me.  I came down and then took a photo of it.  It was good, deep powder with no other lines.

Powder Slash right through my line

The boards I rode today were the Option Redline, Rome Detail and Flow Jewel.  I was really glad to ride the redline in the morning when the conditions were perfect for it.  I rode the detail and jewel later on easy groomers and through the park with them which suited them better.

The monster got wet today and cried…Northwest snowfall

Me during the filming portion where I’m talking about how the board rode.  In this photo I’m talking about the Flow Jewel and it’s dumping behind me.

Tomorrow is the last day on the mountain in Washington and it looks to be another powder day!  This was taken on the drive down to Skykomish around 4pm and plenty of snow falling on the road.

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  • BigNolDogg
    February 26, 2009 at 10:07 am

    Arrgh (yes i am a pirate).

    What a week to be unable to board.

    Hope you had a fun time in the PNW ShaY!

  • hoon
    February 26, 2009 at 4:32 pm

    good to hear that you guys made the right decision re: Backcountry, shovel, probe, pack and beacon…. stay safe. (and dry with some Goretex)

  • Shayboarder
    February 26, 2009 at 11:23 pm

    Bummer Big! Yeah it was a damn good week on the mountain and not many people took the time off to come up which made it even better! Good times, glad I came out and got some snow. Heading back on Saturday but gotta have down time tomorrow with the mom.

    Thanks Hoon, yeah I had no need to go out of bounds and out of my limit even where we were was enough to get me nervous with the snowpack.

  • Snowboard Review: 09-10 Option Redline – Shayboarder.com
    September 19, 2009 at 5:57 pm

    […] Conditions: Snowing with powder, deep powder.  It was day 2 of the Board Insiders […]