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Demo boards; and friends on a powder day
By ruth | January 28, 2008
Yes, we went to Whistler again. Of course we did.
On Saturday we had an overcast day with light (by Whistler standards) snowfall, which refreshed the slopes nicely after a dry, sunny week. We had a fairly leisurely Saturday - a slow start, and then we spent the morning trying out snowboards from the Showcase demo tent. In Dave’s case this is genuine buyer’s research, because his board is on its last legs. In mine, it was just for fun, and was a really bad idea.
Dave tried a Sapient forgettable-number-name first, and didn’t enjoy it - he found it too stiff, though he enjoyed the speed, and the way it launched him off kickers. I tried a Burton Feelgood, which was lovely - fast, smooth, grippy, all those good things. I liked it a lot. I already have two snowboards though (one long and stiff, the other shorter and flexier) so I wasn’t tempted. I did like the bindings though (Lexas) - my own bindings (Drake Jades) are rubbish, and always have been. I could immediately feel the Lexas responding to pressure and translating it to the board just the way bindings should.
Next Dave tried a Burton Custom X, which he didn’t want to like, becase they’re stupidly expensive. Predictably, he loved it. He was doing super-carves on it, leaving two-inch deep grooves in the snow behind him; and he was bouncing around like a child on the little bumps and dips and banks at the sides of the pistes.
I tried a Burton GTwin, which I knew was a bad idea. Back in October I bought a new snowboard in the sale, and it was between the GTwin and a cheaper, less tech, K2 VaVaVoom. The price difference was significant and I decided the difference in performance was unlikely to be so large that someone of my standard would notice it. Darn it all to heck and back, I was wrong. The GTwin is now my gold standard of snowboards. It’s awesome. It does exactly what you want it to almost without you thinking about it; it’s fast, stable, grippy, poppy, responsive, and a whole heap of fun. I don’t think I’ve ever ridden so well. I even got complimented by a random skier who watched me carve hard down the side of a run. (Apparently he was waiting for me to skid out and fall, and was very impressed when I didn’t!)
I can’t justify buying one, and I’m not going to, but man, do I want one.
On Sunday we had an early start to meet Dave’s colleague Rob and his family in the queue for FreshTracks. We were a little too early, getting there at 6:15 and easily getting the front of the queue, but that’s no bad thing. It had snowed about 15cm. overnight… Rob, his partner Laura, and his brother Joel were snowboarders; and his other brother Dave was skiing. Once we got to the top we loaded up with bacon and sausages and pancakes and maple syrup and coffee, then hit the slopes.
We had a fantastic morning. They’re all excellent riders/ skiers, and Laura (who’d only been snowboarding a year) was amazing. The weather was gorgeous - it was a bluebird powder day, our first of the season - and everyone was enjoying themselves so much, it was infectious. We got to Harmony chair before it opened, and waited about 20 minutes, watching and listening to the avalanche patrol blasting the slopes above. I’m glad we waited, because we got fresh powder lines before Symphony opened; and it was Laura’s first ever powder run. She was making beautiful turns all the way down - very cool. Everyone was charging around and loving every minute of it. We avoided any serious injuries at a tricky spot where the off piste dropped deceptively about two feet down onto a hard-packed piste, though Dave the skier’s fall off it was pretty spectacular.
By the time we got back up, Symphony was open so we rode down to it through more lovely (but much more tracked) powder. Unfortunately Laura hit some ice and fell awkwardly, semi-dislocating her shoulder, so she got a skidoo ride up the mountain and an ambulance to the urgent care centre - she’ll be fine, but ouch. Rob went with her, so Dave, Joel, Dave and I did one lovely run down Rhapsody Bowl; then some rather pleasant tree riding through Staccato Glades (which for Dave and me culminated in a fun but hairy trip through the creek past deep holes full of water); then headed back to the base.
Everyone followed where Dave led, more fool them, so the way home included (yay) more powder to the right of the Saddle, and (boo) a black diamond mogul field which had Dave the skier sliding down backwards on his back, in coordination with another skier. Everyone was pretty tired by the time we got down.
Laura’s injury aside, it was a really good day. We had some lunch at the Beetroot Cafe in the Marketplace (love the Beetroot) then gave Dave the skier a ride home and said goodbye at Rob’s before heading back home for pizza and our comfy sofa.
Tags: whistler, powder, snowboard, demo, snowboarding, gtwin
Topics: /snow |