Robbing Banks Snowskate Style

Thin cover and a wind lip brings a little bank slashin action

Powder Surfing Stoke - Pick your Spot

OK, There’s a lot of really great things about powder surfing. 

One of them, is Picking your Spot.

Where the snow is, is where you want to be.

Right now, I’m going a little crazy.  They forecast 20cm and we got 5cm after all the rain that fell, then it froze solid.  But it’s been snowing all day.  The wind is up but not too much.  Just enough to place the snow in strategic spots.  The eddies are where we want to be.

I call up Steve.  I’m going to the mountain. He’s not in.  Fuck it.  I’m leaving right now while it’s still light out.  It’s 4:00 on Dec 22^nd.  The second shortest day of the year.  It’s dark by the time I hit the road.  No matter.  The snow gets thicker, the snowbanks taller, and it’s stuck to the trees.  The wind is up.

First spot.  Lot’s of kids across the way, at the toboggan run.  It’s great to be here checking the snow conditions, but it’s not good, not safe, not surfy.  One run.  Gotta make the most of this time, head up the mountain.

It keeps feeling better.  I’m praying my spot is working.  Too many people in public areas, on the beaten path.  Part of me really doesn’t want other people to see my snurfer.  I don’t want people tracking out our hard discovered runs.  I post hole it through untracked fields of snow to avoid detection, sounds stupid, but it’s real.  I feel like it’s going to be worth it, in spite of the Styrofoam conditions I keep traversing.  The clearing is coming up.  As soon as I enter the zone I know that it’s not going to be What It Was the Last Time.  And that’s what it’s all about.  Just like surf with the direction and size of swell, the direction a strength of the wind.  The temperature, and the quality of snow, can turn a green dot into a black diamond, or the parking lot into a park.  Every session is different.  It’s a god send for me, and I love every second of it.  I manage 8 runs on the mountain, and check the stats at the spots that are just waiting for the Big Dump.  And we will ride.  So much fun.

NH Snurf Free or Die

A little pow surfing at closed ski hills will do you good!

Ride on Red Hot Mamma!

Snurf text

Digital stoke.

Kronicle Winter 2013

The 2013 edition of Kronicle has hit the stands! Check it out. It's a quality product. There's even some sweet bindings free coverage in there along with a hokey letter to the ed from yours truly.

Pray for snow!

R.I.P. Tom Sims

The Snow is Coming and We Will Ride

Snurfer's Dream Come True

The snow is coming

and we will ride

 Summer Mind Snurfin'

Ever wonder what your favorite snurf spot looks like in the off-season? We do! Here's one we discovered last winter in all it's Summer glory. Always snurfin' in our minds.

Boots, Rope and a Board

Simple formula for a good time.

sand snurfing

Roots.  The permanent wave.

Snurf Style

Kickin it old school.  Who rides like this today, all tweeked out on a skiny board in snug jeans?

Night Mission: Snurf

It was a strange winter here in the Northeast. We didn't get nearly as much snow as we normally do which makes it tough when you're chomping at the bit to get out for a snurf. When it did snow however, it tended to come in pretty decent dumps but you had to hit it a.s.a.p. because the storms where often followed by rain which would ruin any accumulation we had just received. Hitting it on a snow day isn't always as easy as it sounds. Jobs, kids, commitments, significant others... often conspire to keep us from what our brains are screaming out for all day long as we sit chained to a desk watching the snow piling up outside.

You don't need to be hopping out of a helicopter somewhere in Alaska to appreciate everything snurfing in freshly fallen snow has to offer. A sleepy suburban golf course blanketed in creamy pow and the right frame of mind is as good as any.

Here's a little comp of some of my night time sessions from the past season. These little snurf sessions kept me stoked and smiling through the dry spells as I eyeballed the radar waiting for the next storm to arrive. Hope you all enjoyed the same kind of stoke we did this past winter. Snurfing rules!

Night Mission: Snurf from Steve Sasso on Vimeo.

Unicorn Snurf Vermont

Circa 1982 Vermont.
Unicorns were snurfing.

NH Wilderness

Find yourself a closed ski hill, and snurf till your hearts content.  This ski hill sold recently for cheaper than a high end house in the Hamptons.  No one for miles.  No tourists, no lift lines, just a bunch of powder and a couple of kids hiking and sliding.  Go get some.

Snurf Free or Die

Did a little road trip to a New Hampshire ski hill that's closed, bless its soul.

No Tourists, No Line-Ups, No Chairlift, No Bindings. Snurf Free of Die.

Just some snurf boards and snurf bros pissing our pants laughing as we swam through powder and snurfed our brains out. More pics and vids soon.

Mo' Better Snurf

Montreal wins the Cup!

A Cup O' Pow.  And more to come. Winter advisory in full effect, brothas! 
Speakin' of brothas, invite your bros to snurf with you. 
We brought our Finnish brother, Clauster, out last night, who nailed it.  The Fun Factor jumped up, watching someone snurf for the first time. 

Jake Burton Carpenter on Snurfing - "It is Totally Cool"

Q. Do you ever dust off the snurfer and take it out for a ride?

 A. “No. I have absolutely no interest.

      I don't want to embarrass myself, because I know how difficult these boards are to ride, how challenging it is.

      I respect people that do that.

      It is totally cool.”

Interview question from: http://www.minispace.com/en_us/article/burton-interview/490/

Sherman Poppen and Lockin', There ain't no Stoppin'

Still snurfin' at 65.  The creator of the Snurfer.
Look at the run he's on!  It could be anywhere that there's snow.
Your front yard, your school yard, the side of the road.
Your neighborhood snurf run with all your pals,
or you could be rockin' out in the deep pow of Utah, BC, VT, QC, wherever there's snow and a hill.
So simple, but without limits. 
Snurf's Up!

Sherman Poppen

Skate or Die

Various designs over the years have tried to capture the flow and ride of skateboarding and provide it for the snurfer.  Here are some examples.  A japanese original, one of the original Sims, pre-bindings, and the Skeeter.  When you think of the success of the black snow, and it's short life, you can only imagine that there are boat loads of designs out there that made limited production, or even one-of's.  I'd like to see them all.  Credits for the Sims and the Japanese skate images to a great collection of vintage snowboard and early design at http://www.surfshoppratonevoso.com/snowboards.html.