Ed Andrews: Powder!
The simple love of riding fresh snow helps carve a new route of progression.
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There are some universal sporting truths that can't be disputed; surfers like warm, glassy breaks, skaters like smooth concrete and experimental architecture, and snowboarders love powder!
If any more proof were needed to the last of these adages, then I saw it firsthand a few weeks ago while out in Davos, Switzerland for the O'Neill Evolution. Quite simply, I have never seen it snow like it. It was constantly shitting it down for at least 48 non-stop, leaving many of the riders (and spectators) to ditch this lucrative 6-star TTR contest and head up the Jakobshorn to find fresh tracks.
In a straight choice it seems that this simple love of the ride will always trump the logo-heavy, energy drink-charged trick contests. In contrast to the gratuitous acrobatics that provide a snappy, easily-consumed spectacle for the media, the act of carving out a line is a far more subtle, refined – some may even say spiritual – form of athleticism. It's something far more organic and cerebral than the mechanical, rehearsed-to-perfection contest runs. The connoisseurs' choice. And two videos that have emerged this week showing off the creative potential of this slow-burning pleasure.
Firstly, was a short video of Austrian pro snowboarder Wolle Nyvelt. The video might not have been revolutionary in itself but it did shed some more light on Nyvelt's quest to take his snowboarding on a new path, shunning the big tricks (which he is more than capable of) in order to surf powder with a quiver of boards that hark back to the days of the Snurfer. These sticks are simple: no bindings, a leash and unorthodox shapes – and unlock a riding style that could be at home on a lazy, tropical break.
And building on this surfy outlook, the other video was by Signal Snowboards. The California-based company has been making a selection of experimental snowboards over the past year or so, as documented in their monthly Every Third Thursday videos. This time round, they made a snowboard surfboard hybrid, one that could be ridden both in the SoCal waves of Encinitas (demonstrated by HUCK cover alumnus Rob Machado) and the powder of Baldface in British Columbia. It even had a fin to help navigate through powder. How awesome is that?!
Yet, despite snowboarders' inherent love of riding powder, it still seems to be an under-represented side of the sport. Just compare the interest and list of sponsors for the Freeride World Tour and the TTR World Tour. And there are good reasons why. To find the best stuff, you have to venture off-piste and into the potential hazards of the backcountry, that means guides, shovels, transceivers, knowledge and patience. In short, it's harder.
But also it seems that it goes against the culture of our times. In an age of instant-gratification, escalating consumption and the demand for the next sensation, this slow-burn doesn't seem to fit easily any lucrative business model. There just aren't the crowds gathered around watching to sell product to.
And maybe that's a good thing? The likes of Signal and Nyvelt are showing that progression isn't necessarily doing what has come before in a bigger and better way, fighting to the top of the pile and seeking applause. Sometimes it's a little bit more subtle, taking a few steps back and going on a different path.
And if the direction is good, one it'll day find a discerning audience. After all, snowboarders do love powder!
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Powder! (text) by Ed Andrews is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.Comments (2)
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Thanks for commenting. That's a fair point. However, I feel that The Art of Flight was still going along the logo-heavy and, of course, energy drink-charged route. It still relied on the bigger and better approach than the subtler joys of such as Nyvelt and Signal.