Tag Archive for: surf

Buoloco.com Interview with Jeremy Jensen and Story about Powsurfing

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I had watched many interviews with top snowboarding pros over the years on Buoloco.com and I was stoked to get the call from Eduardo for a quick ichat and story.

Check it! 
http://www.buoloco.com/web6/content/powdersurfing-jeremy-jensen

Grassroots Powsurfing on ESPN!

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We were super stoked when the writers for ESPN.com contacted us for a story.  We provided them with a grip of unseen photos and some very detailed answers to a list of questions about what we are about and why we do what we do.   They decided to start the new year off proper by running our story on the first day of 2012.

Check the story here. Titled “The Powsurf Chronicles take snowboarding back to it’s bindingless roots”

While the photos did not make it into the story (??) and many details were left out of the responses, we were pumped to have a story ran on such a major media outlet.  Editing is necessary… especially when someone like me is rambling on and on about this obscure activity that is foreign to most people (powsurfing)… but it’s a bummer when points get missed or lines are used out of context.  Journalism is a double edged sword.. Things can get pretty twisted around and the readers of these stories don’t realize this.

The response to our product, the films, and powsurfing in general has been overwhelmingly positive and it feels good to know that we are spreading stoke and opening minds in the world of snow sports.  The few negative reactions we have seen are mostly due to misunderstandings.  Dealing with the media is a funny thing.

Merry Solstice!

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The solstice usually comes on the 21st of December but this year it fell on the 22nd.  I was delighted by this news because I had to work the day of the 21st and I wanted to celebrate properly.  Mother nature dropped 7 inches of the lightest and driest cold smoke she had to offer and served that up sunny skies and cold temps.  Perfect timing for an epic celebration.

We keep getting holiday e-cards sent to me from anyone and everyone… so we hopped on the bandwagon and made a quick little e-card from today’s session.

It has been nearly a month since a significant snowfall and this seems to be the case across much of the US.  So the conditions are still low tide and the spots with good coverage and no old tracks are difficult to find but luckily we know just where to find them.

The attitude across the country seems pretty bummed on the conditions but honestly I have been enjoying the hell out of it.  Logged at least 20 good powder days so far and I have only felt the need to strap in once.  Until the big lines fill in.. I just don’t see any reason to snowboard.

These early season conditions are a big part of what spawned Powdersurfing in the first place.  Being able to take advantage of the smaller features and maximizing the fun and the challenge keeps things interesting and fresh.  This is just one of the many advantages of Powdersurfing.  If you are not enjoying the season so far, you should probably consider investing in a Grassroots Powdersurfer.  It will change your life.

 

One Man Machine and his Powsurfing Dream – Biglines.com Story

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One hell of a good write up on the biglines.com homepage today!

Big thanks to the fellas up north for tracking me down and doing the leg work on this story.  Really well written and spot on.  I was sold at the first paragraph:

“Ok, picture this: you’re surfing a pow line, slashing turns and letting the sunshine light up your roostertails. Out of the corner of your eye, you peep a poppy little pillow and you know the landings perfect. You line it up, adjust your feet and BAM.

Kickflip.
Your feet catch the board and your face catches an updraft of pow as you stomp your landing and set up for your next turn…
Sounds impossible, right?
For Jeremy Jensen, it’s anything but.”

That updraft of powder in your face is what makes powsurfing (or any type of powder riding) truly awesome.  The guys at biglines.com obviously know whats up.

Check the full article here.

http://biglines.com/articles/one-man-machine-and-his-powsurfing-dream-jeremy-jensen-profile

Method Magazine – “This shit is as real as it gets, kids”

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Methodmag.com did us the honor of sharing our teaser for the Powsurf Chronicles.  It’s refreshing when the more legit outlets see our stuff and recognize out-right what separates what we do from the “noboarding” movement.  No training wheels here… “This Shit is as real as it gets, kids”….. we couldn’t have said it better ourselves.

November 2011 in a nutshell – MEGA POST

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November dealt us quite a few storms early on, and then things dried out for a few weeks.  We had 3 feet or so come quick but with little to no base this still made for low tide conditions.  This time of year is rad because there are so many little features and bumps that normally just get covered up.  There is an extra challenge knowing that if you slam there isn’t much cushion in between you and the rocks, dirt and stumps under the shallow snow.  This just adds to the excitement.
Wackin’ weeds in early november.  
The first couple of rideable days this year we had about a foot to ride on.  12 inches of snow is pushing it for a base especially in light and dry snow, but the width of a powsurfer takes advantage of all 12 of those inches and makes for a pretty sick ride.  The snowboards were carving down into the dirt, the bi-deck snowskates and powderskates were sinking to the bottom like rocks in the light deep pow, scraping the dirt and rocks,s but the float of the powsurfer made these early days awesome.
Hiking in the stoney grove
One of the things I dig most about early November pow is that it is usually super cold and dry, and the angle of the sun gives very interesting light and long shadows… it makes for some cool shots.
Milking the slivers of late light

Backside 180 over the sliver of light

We’ve been hitting up the classic early season spots… the hits in the “stash park” have been hitting, the tree weaving has been a blast, and the mellow grassy fields are always rad for ripping switch and trying tricks. The steep shots have been dealing up early season face shots!  Now is the time for getting into those because the snowpack doesn’t really have slab layers yet.  It’s just rotten “loud powder” all the way to the ground.  Love that stuff, it rides really well and sounds rad when you slash it.

Jeremy – Kickflip in the powsurf “stash park”
KICKFLIPS!
Zach Shepherd poppin’ ollies
360 shuvit – Zach Shepherd
The upper fields are always holding
shooting tubes of cold smoke and rad light
Bobbing and weaving the tight trees is another familiar early season past time.  These pines are so thick that the snow stays super good and a layer of pine needles softens the ground and makes it possible to rip thru them in super shallow snowpack.  It’s rad how playful and agile the powsurf rides, you can weave trees like never before.. even without bindings I can get thru spots that my snowboard would get hung up on.  There are a couple of chutes/ditches running thru these groves of trees that really get the heart pumping.  Fallen logs, shallow snow, tight  walls and no exits make for a wild ride.
Zach shooting out the end of the gauntlet
Flying out the upper gauntlet – the blur in the shot tells the story.. a fast and wild ride!
MID NOVEMBER
The snow finally stacked up enough to close down the road so at this point the sled season begins, at least for the approach.  It’s not quite deep enough to climb anywhere on the sleds so a 7 mile road ride gets us to the base where the hiking begins. 30 minutes later we are on the top of some mellow grassy slopes, perfect for early season slashing.
Rolling up to the base camp packing a small quiver of powsurfs
A few minutes later we summit on foot, take a few minutes for our heads to adjust and the slashing begins
Roosting thru the upper fields
Another positive aspect of low snowpack is the amount of features that exist.  Under deep coverage these natural jumps and drops would just be buried, so now is prime time for hitting up all the features that will soon disappear. The landings can be a bit sketchy cause there is just a couple of feet to cover the dirt and rocks beneath but that is just more motivation to land on your feet and ride away.
Cliff drop/Bush Ollie bottom angle
Top Angle
FS air
Slashing in the November light
LATE NOVEMBER
Late november arrived and it still hadn’t really snowed for weeks.  We were basically shredding the same pow for 3 weeks and it was becoming harder to find good snow.  It had stayed cold so most aspects were still holding powder but with only 3 feet of coverage the options were pretty slim.  We became so desperate that we decided to brave the poor coverage and creep around on our sleds.  All it takes is one big rock to do serious damage to the suspension on our snowmobiles so we crept around treading as lightly as possible.  We managed to find some good fields to test out some of our new shapes and some fun features to bag some hammers on.
Creepin’ with with a quiver.  One on my back and 3 on the sled.

The Phish shapes I had designed over the summer were riding pretty cool, not my favorite ride but interesting nonetheless.  I shaped a diamond tail, a square tail, and a couple of swallow tails, all with a variety of different waist widths.  The diamond tail 130 (pictured above) rode fast and straight.  It is a relatively narrow board with a flat tail so it was responsive but still seemed to turn more like a snowboard than I would prefer, not as agile and playful as some of my favorite shapes.  But it rode fast and had it’s own benefits in certain conditions.  The swallows were interesting but again, not what I’m really after… they would probably sell good to people who didn’t know any better… because they look cool.
The more testing we do the more we realize how much snowboarding has confused people when it comes to what makes a good shape for a powsurfer.  People think that a long board with a giant nose and a long swallow tail is going to be the ultimate powsurf shape.. this is so NOT the case!  It’s cool to have a board with a unique shape, but function always outweighs fashion if you want a good ride.  I’m not saying the swallow tail boards don’t perform, they just perform differently and the ride you get is much more snowboard-like feel and not very “surfy” if that makes any sense.  As far as Grassroots Powdersurfing is concerned, we are not trying to imitate snowboarding.  We are bringing something new to the game of snow-sliding and that is what keeps things fresh for us.  If we wanted a snowboard feel, we would ride a snowboard (with or without the bindings).  We want to make boards that offer a new and unique feel, without factors that limit the way you can ride and the tricks you can do.  That is what powdersurfing is all about.

Having a snowmobile doesn’t mean you don’t ever have to hike to get to the goods.
Almost there…

From the top we rally some open pow fields on the way down to some features we found to play on. Slashing the fields is rad but we always want a challenge so we try to get freestyle on the way down.  Kicktails!  I don’t know why you wouldn’t want one.  Crusing pow is great and all but who likes to be glued to the ground the whole time?  The ability to ollie is a priority in the design of our boards adding agility to the overall ride, allowing the rider to ride backwards and putting some pop under your feet.  Even on flat slopes you can get some air time without the help of a bump or jump.

FS air on the 120 “Slasher”
Pop shuvit over a hippie track on the 140 Twin Powder Skate
Hard to tell what the hell is going on here. I’ll give you a hint, its deep, sunny, and the pow is some high quality shit!
We arrive at our features and it’s game on.  Slam a few times, stomp a few times.. its all fun.  If you’re not slamming you’re probably not learning so there is no shame in eating shit once in a while… or a lot.  I really wanted to bag some good kickflips on both stills and video so I sought out some drops with good takeoffs and got to it.
powdersurf grassroots kickflip
I’d been wanting the nose angle of a kickflip for a while, makes for a sick shot on video as the world spins around and the rider stays upright… trip out… (see video below)

Ollies… the root of all freestyle
One last kickflip to cap off another fun day

November was great despite the lack of snowfall late in the month.  We had lots of sunny cold days in some unique and interesting terrain.  Although our options grew smaller every day, this just meant we had to get creative, and creativity always leads to progression.

AWSM.com – Powsurf Chronicles

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Our teaser made an appearance on Todd Richards’ blog AWSM.com!  Always stoked to see snowboarding legends liking what we are putting down.

http://www.awsm.com/9730/the-pow-surf-chronicles/

Shapes, scraps, and customs… decisions.

We have been hard at work stocking up on boards for the upcoming season.  Over the past spring and summer we’ve been playing a bit with some new shapes and styles.. . taking advantage of some of the scraps that are lying around.  We are excited to get some of these on the snow.  There are a few that we just built for fun and they probably aren’t the best everyday boards.. but they will have their days where they rip for sure.  Unfortunately we will have to wait for snow to fall to find out.

 “The Blue Bomber” is just one of a bunch of experimental shapes we’ve got brewing.  

Makeshift kick tail support for the flat backed boards.  Helps keep the feet on but we are finding that the flat tailed decks are not super playful.

We have built and tested 30+ different shapes and sizes and it’s pretty cool to discover all of the differences in the way each one rides.  Some subtle and others are very apparent.  Some ride great and some will do better hanging on a wall somewhere.  Shape is key.

A small collection of the quiver that has built up over the past 4 years.. the room wasn’t big enough for the whole quiv.

We decided to stick to a few shapes and sizes that have been tried and true for the 2011 line.  


Shaping is a blast but we had to narrow down what we were going to offer to the public for now.  There are a couple more that we may release after they have been properly tested and dialed in but this will likely be the line.

Adam in AZ is an old Winterstick rider from the 70’s.  He saw what we have been doing and liked what was amped to have a custom board made for him.  I customized this “Rocket” for him shaped for his height, weight and foot size.  I wish I could have taken a few rides on her before I sent it off.

Custom “Red Rocket” built for Adam in AZ.


 

Summer sweatshop

Production has been in high gear since the season finally came to an end. I’ve revamped and updated the website, processed hours and hours of footage and photos, and pressed as many boards as possible. I have a grip of new experimental shapes and sizes and I can’t wait to take them for a test drive.

We are involved in a bunch of new media about to hit the magazine stands, the television, and the interwebs this fall. It will be interesting to see how “the masses” react to this stuff. Maybe they love it, maybe they hate on it.. Either way, It won’t affect the amount of fun I have surfing the pow.

Grassroots Powdersurfing Sweatshop – Manville, USA
The “Red Rocket”… aka “The Bomb”
Given the MANY hours I spend building these boards, I get pretty attached to them. I have a hard time letting them go really. Hopefully they find find happy homes and live up to their full potential.

/1 Comment

MayDaze

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It has been 5 or 6 days since the last storm so I kept my hopes low for the day. We rode strapped for the morning and I scouted for deeper pow in the afternoon. Turned out we found some pow just deep enough to surf on the highest north facing slopes.
Earning my turns

I managed to grab a few good still shots with my remote trigger as the sun fell low into the sky. Too good to put on the blog… gonna have to stay tuned for those. My battery died in my remote as the light became just perfect so I was a bit let down. I managed to get some pretty nice video instead.

Slashing above the Mt. Naomi Wilderness


Aaron and I spent the morning snowboarding/skiing. There were some lines we had been waiting all year to hit. They were finally safe enough to shred, but the pow was not quite deep enough to powsurf.


We have been looking at these lines off of Mt. Magog, waiting for the right day. It could be years before they fill in good enough to ride. Hopefully we can nail this one in the next few weeks.