Grays On Trays

Speaking of shopping for snowboarding stuff, be sure to check out the review of online shops offered by Shannon at Shayboarder.com.

Shannon’s list of Christmas gifts for the snowboarder had prodded me to come up with my own list. Most riders would appreciate a new pair of boots or a new board, but unless your snowboarder has expressed a very explicit and firm interest in a particular board or set of boots, I’d say stay away, since personal taste matters so much in those items.

So many of the items below are more of commodities–one size fits all, if you will. Unlike a new board, they’re generally inexpensive as well.

1. A group or private lesson.
If someone you know is interested in snowboarding but hasn’t started, this is the way to get them started. Many ski areas will offer a deal that packages rental equipment, lift tickets, and instructional time. They’re usually a bargain compared with what it would cost to purchase each item one by one. By the way, even advanced riders can benefit from lessons, too.

2. A new pair of gloves with built-in wrist guards.
Wrist injuries are among the most common injuries, especially for new snowboarders. I use Flexmeter gloves. In addition to protecting my wrist, they give me a sense of power with the “Darth Vader” look.

3. A copy of Leocha’s Ski/Snowboard America 2009.

Charlie Leocha knows his stuff. So does his stable of writers. Get the information you need on destination mountains in this book, which makes for great bedtime reading.

4. A subscription to Frequency magazine.

Most snowboarding magazines are simply unreadable. Frequency is different–though your snowboarder will appreciate the photos more than the text. Great visuals will keep your rider dreaming of big-mountain days.

5. An iPod Nano.

OK, so this is a bit spendy, at $150. But it’s a useful companion for the rider who spends more time on the chairlift than on the slopes. And of course many snowboarders enjoy having music to go with them. The Nano is lightweight and, lacking any moving parts, can absorb falls.

6. Toe warmers and hand warmers.
It’s cold out there, and if your toes aren’t happy, you’re not going to be happy. Ditto for the fingers. These little pouches are filled with chemicals that heat up when you open the outer wrapping and then stick them inside a pair of gloves or boots. They can work for hours at a time, and make great stocking stuffers. They’re also cheap and widely available at sporting goods stores.

7. Gloves for driving to the ski hill.
Granted, this is a boring pick, but it’s relatively cheap. I like Obermeyer spring gloves. They’re comfortable and lightweight, so they won’t feel like you’re driving with mittens. But they take off the chill until the heater kicks in. Don’t like those? That’s fine; any gloves will do. I’m always looking for a pair of gloves.

8. A folding chair.
What? Yes, a folding chair. Your snowboarder sticks it in the trunk of the car, and pulls it out once he or she gets to the parking lot. Snowboard boots are comfortable, but you really can’t drive in them, so you’re going to have to change into boots somewhere. Why not save the trouble of hauling stuff to the lodge by taking a seat in the parking lot and changing there?

Well there you go: Eight gifts that take you most of the way towards the 12 days of Christmas.

Here’s one sign that the season is getting closer: Ski areas are starting to hold their ski and snowboard swaps.

If you’re selling stuff, you may get more money selling it on Craig’s List or on eBay. Ski swaps generally impose a per-charge item, and they also take a cut (20% in the case of one ski swap going on nearby). On the other hand, you could end up supporting a good cause (in this case, a local racing team). You also avoid the chore of having to handle e-mails or phone calls.

As for buying stuff at a swap, it’s buyer beware. Look for obvious problems such as deep gouges in the base of a snowboard. Boards tend to use their “bounce” after a while, especially if they’re ridden a lot, so a swap might have some boards that are as flat as a sheet of plastic. That’s not good.

If you can get a decent price, a swap might be a useful place to find a “rock board” (one you ride in the early or late season, when snow coverage may be sparse). You might also use a swap to look for a board to complement your riding style. If you are a freerider, for example, you’ll want a stiffer board. So to mix up your riding, you might get a freestyle board with a lot of flexibility, to practice basic snowboarding tricks.

There are thousands of places where you can buy a snowboard, either online or in a traditional retail store.

I have never purchased anything from Sierra Snowboard, but I came across them through some Internet searches.

What caught my eye are the interactive features of the site. It offers forums, a Wiki, chat, and other features that draw people to the site and build loyalty. It also has videos that describe various projects.

They sell Flow bindings, my favorite.

If you’re looking for new gear for next season, check out the company. You might be able to find something you need for a good price.

Is Burton good for snowboarding? It’s a matter for debate in any number of discussion forums, including one for ski and snowboard instructors. For the last several months I’ve been toying with the idea of writing a brief article explaining my dislike of the company. In short, it has done some good. But it also promotes an image of riding that is bad for the sport–or at least bad for mature riders.

To quote a member of the Grays on Trays discussion forum,

Snowboarding is a sport, and one to be enjoyed, not to see who can dress more “gangsta.”

I try to avoid buying from brands promoting such crap. Burton is the biggest offender, go so far as to put a d*** “spinner” in one of last year’s boards.

Yeah, that’s one reason to avoid Burton. But friend, I’ll see you and raise you one gangsta: Avoid Burton because it encourages people to violate property rights.

From the Associated Press (December 2007):

Burton lays down a $5,000 snowboard poaching challenge. … BURLINGTON, Vt. — Burton Snowboards is challenging snowboarders to go where they’re not wanted, offering a $5,000 bounty for the best video of those who take to the slopes at “elitist, fascist” ski resorts that don’t allow snowboarding.

“Poaching isn’t simply a peaceful form of protest. It’s truly your patriotic duty,” the snowboard maker says on its Web site.

Complete and utter nonsense, even if it is great marketing. Patriotism? Patriotism means love of country, and especially the good that it stands for. In the case of the U.S., one of our best points is that we have a tradition of respecting private property. The “American Dream,” after all, includes the possibility that you can work your way up to owning a house of your own–which isn’t worth anything if you don’t have rights to it against squatters, trespassers and the like.

Yet here’s Burton, the biggest company in the snowboarding industry, calling for people to go where they’re not wanted.

Here’s another thing that frosts me about Burton: Ever hear of live and let live? Apparently not.

Jake Burton is lauded by some for taking a “pure” approach to snowboarding by not selling his company for the multimillions it would fetch. But his comments are off-base. For one thing, they’re incredibly offensive to victims of real fascism, who have been denied life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

There’s also a strange sense of justice in the “we’re going to ride wherever we want to” campaign. Says Mr. Burton:

“For 25 years we’ve been working to open resorts and we couldn’t have done it without the involvement of local riders. I don’t think that our job is done, so you can snowboard everywhere. … Mountains can be brutally cruel but they’re not discriminatory. I don’t think any resort is entitled to be discriminatory based on what’s on your feet.”

Of course “mountains” do not “discriminate,” since they’re not moral actors. But what of the people who spend millions of dollars to install lifts? Certainly they ought to be able to have some say over what people carry onto those lifts, which are their property.

Think of this: Is it wrong for a movie theater to “discriminate” against patrons who bring floodlights into screening rooms?

Let’s continue with the news story.

Like Mad River, Deer Valley said its guests are looking for a ski-only experience.

Snowboarders have options at other resorts, said Coleen Reardon, director of marketing.

“They (skiers) feel that snowboarders ride the mountain differently than skiers ski it, and that they’d feel a little safer,” she said.

The few times that snowboarders do poach: “We tell them snowboarders aren’t allowed and help them off the mountain,” she said.

Here’s a business that is attentive to the wants of its customers. For various reasons, some skiers don’t like to be around snowboards. You or I may think that’s a foolishness, but then again, there’s no accounting for taste.

Back to the story:

But that’s discriminatory, says Burton.

“Just like you want to be able to walk into any restaurant and eat. You want to go to any resort and ride,” he said.

Burton is no stranger to poaching. He and his wife were hele-boarding in Utah a few years ago when they were dropped off at the top of Alta.

“We were screamed at,” he said of the ride down.

A few points. One, the restaurant analogy is absurd. A better analogy would be this: You walk into a restaurant with your own food and portable stove and demand a table. The restaurant refuses. Are they being “discriminatory?” Yes, and rightly so.

It’s too bad that Mr. Burton and his wife were screamed at. People can be such idiots. But then again, should customers of a business who expect one service be happy when an outsider comes in to disrupt their experience? Say Mr. Burton and his wife are having dinner at a fancy restaurant. Would he be thrilled if a bunch of guys came in, set up a couple of kegs at the next table, and started throwing bones from chicken wings down at the floor?

Such silly thinking may not be unique to Burton, and any company that was the market leader in snowboarding goods would face incentives to spout nonsense about being unjustly discriminated against.

Even so, I try to avoid buying Burton goods whenever I can. Unfortunately, sometimes it’s rather hard to find substitutes, especially if you’re pressed for time and need to stop in a retail outlet rather than wait for a mail-order product to arrive. So at times I contribute to the fortunes to a company that makes riders look silly and morally confused. But thinking back on this last season has given me more reason to consider planning ahead and finding alternatives.

One of the good things about being a snowboarder is that you can do simple maintenance on your gear. Most skiers don’t–and shouldn’t–adjust their own bindings. But snowboarders can adjust their bindings all the time.

A lot of these adjustments simply involve changing the alignment of the bindings on the board. Are they pointing straight across the width of the board in a “zero-zero” stance? Are they pointing towards the tip of the board? Or maybe they’re at a “duck” position (think of reversed pigeon-toed). How far apart are the bindings, and thus your feet, from each other? These are just some of the adjustments that a rider can make.

But there’s a more simple task that you should make as a rider: make sure that you don’t have a screw loose. I’m not talking about your mental state, but whether or not your bindings are actually snugly stuck to the board. That’s really important because the binding is what keeps you from flying off the board when you make a turn.

In a less severe situation, if your bindings have a couple of loose screws, your control of the board and where it goes will be sloppy. It’s like driving a car with wheels that wobble from side to side. Not good.

How often should you check the binding screws for tightness? In theory, before every time you go riding. In practice, some of us don’t follow through with that rule, and depending on how fast you ride, where you ride, and how long you ride in a day, that can work out just fine.

But if you’ve been riding long trails at high speeds and it’s been “a while” (you be the judge of what that means) since you’ve looked at those bindings, it’s probably time to check them again.

By the way, it’s very useful to have a pocket tool with you on the mountain. Think of them as the Swiss army knife of the slopes, equipped with screwdrivers and wrenches of various sizes.

You can usually find a bench somewhere at your favorite ski area, provided by the patrol. But sometimes the necessary screwdrivers aren’t there, or they’re on the lift on the other side of the mountain and you just realized that your bindings are wobbly. Time to bring out the pocket screwdriver!

If you’re traveling on an overnight trip, be sure to pack a long-handled screwdriver in your bags. That way you can give the bindings a good once-over in the lodge before heading out to the slopes.

If you look at shopping as the thrill of the chase, you might take a look at the web site SteepAndCheap.com.

SAC, as it’s often abbreviated in Internet discussion forums, sells a lot of gear for the outdoors: clothing, helmets, altimeters, tents, sunglasses, camp stoves and the like.

It has a somewhat unusual business model. SAC doesn’t, like a traditional merchant, have a lot of “shelves” of stuff that you can look at. Instead, it sells one item at a time–and only one item at a time–until it’s gone. Then another item comes up on the auction block. Actually, there’s no auction and there’s no block, but that gives you an idea of how the goods are rolled out.

If you don’t want that Big Agnes sleeping bag that’s up for sale at the moment, a quick look at a sidebar widget gives you an idea of how long it will be before something else is for sale.

I have one beef with the site, but it’s a significant one: So fare, it doesn’t have anything I would like to buy. On the other hand, it often offers “Big Agnes” sleeping bags, something I don’t have much interest in.

So far, snowboarding gear has been rare, though some people report having purchased Flow bindings on the site. Me, I’m still waiting for a ski mask that I can squirrel away for those coldest days of next season.

Got an itch to buy some gear for your next snowboarding outing? I’ve heard some people say good things about the web site steepandcheap.com.

Not all the stuff is related to snow sports, by the way, but much of it is.

It’s got an unusual (though not unique) business model: One item is sold, at a discount (at least 50 percent off retail) until its gone. Then another item goes on sale. Downside: no browsing possible, you’ve got to know your stuff since there’s little time to look at other options.

Upside: you could save some dough and get the stuff you need, or at least want.

I really don’t care if any particular ski area company allows snowboarders on the slopes or not. On the other hand, if a resort is going to expect snowboarders as customers, it should accommodate their gear.

Recently I was at Lutsen, which has perhaps the finest lift-served terrain in the Midwest. It has a shuttle bus–an old school bus–that takes customers from the parking lot to the base area.

That’s good. What could be better? Start with the outside. It has a rack for holding skis. And not snowboards. The slots are simply to narrow to hold a board, meaning that snowboarders must take the bus on board.

(The shuttle bus is like one of these, but it’s painted red–and probably quite a bit older–and has a rack with slots for skis.)

My board is on the long side (162cm) but not outrageously so. But I had trouble maneuvering it through the narrow, relatively short door and up the steps. There’s not much room between the seats, either–this is the kind of bus, after all, that transports children to school. The bindings on my board don’t collapse, and they fell at just the “wrong” places on my body and against the back of the seat in front of me.

Not having a storage space for snowboards outside the bus affects everyone who takes the bus, not just snowboarders. Snowboarders, I suspect, must take some extra time to get themselves on and off the bus, which slows down loading and unloading for everyone else.

The solution? Put a second rack on the outside of the bus, one that is wide enough to fit boards.

My old snowboard equipment was getting on the worn side, so I thought it ways time to ante up for a whole new setup.

Ouch.

Snowboarding can be an expensive activity, even if you find ways to get discounted gear. But I’m in for it now that I’ve worn the boots a few times, and my board suffered a chip to the topsheet when an out-of-control kid slid over it. I was standing at the edge of the run-out area from a lift when I heard an awful sound. “Sorry dude,” a guy said, before shrugging and riding off. When I got home that night, I noticed a chip on the top.

The board is a Salomon Special. It is stiffer than what I am used to, but that’s by design. I washed out during my first time using it, but I’m getting accustomed to it.

I’ve also got new boots, also Salomon. They’re a bit tighter than I would like, so the other day I took them into a shop and they did some heat molding work. Briefly, they heated up a footbed and put it into the boot. I put an foam insert on the end of my toes–to make them longer–and stepped into the boot. Walking around for a bit with this arrangement packed out the front of the foot enough to make for a better fit.

Another piece of new equipment is a pair of Flow NXT-AT bindings. I’ve always said that a person either loves or hates Flows. Up until now, I’ve loved them. Now … I’m not sure. I finally have had to deal with the “pressure points” that some people have talked about with strap bindings. I wonder if the bindings are the wrong size. I had bought XL based on what I had on my old set, but these aren’t sitting well on one foot. Or maybe it’s that the boot is too small. I’m going to take my old stinky boots for a ride in the new bindings and see what happens.