Snow Stand Up At A Resort...game changer for freeride snowboarding and cruising

[localpaddler]

Board sports are awesome in every kinda way.  Stand Up is my favorite, but my love for snowboarding and skateboarding will never pass especially with incorporating a paddle for those sports.

Last weekend I did a full day of using a custom land paddle for snowboarding.  The video below shows a little bit of the experience.  When the camera was on the shaft I did not use the paddle as much just because the camera would shake.  At first it feels strange to have something in your hand while snowboarding.  Like stand up the paddle in your hand improves performance in all sorts of ways it just take a little time to figure out how and where to use it. 

Right off this tip/blade was designed for resort riding with a metal spike to bite into anything and a small toothed foot the spike came out of.  The spike is blunt like a ski pole.  Because of a busy weekend there was alot of pole envy.  Everyone likes to have a big pole;) 

So the propulsion benefits immediately make getting going alot better and if you stop you have the worlds largest kick stand so you don't have to sit on your ass all the time.  Just like Stand Up, the paddle is a tool for balance when needed, planting it, sliding it if you need a little extra confidence or spotty snow and ice patches.  It also has some swing weight to it which aids to catching balance or just popping up to riding switch. 

Started snowboarding in 1984...started snowboarding with a paddle 2011, once I committed to using it I got used to the benefits of performance and I won't go back.  The story is kinda similar in regard to surfing and stand up for me...just different dates.

I love stand up and will try it were ever there is water even if it is frozen.

Video:

-Luke Hopkins

[Simple Simon]

Judging by the current conditions at that Resort and like most of the East Coast Slopes this year that Spike seems to be ideal and a game changer for sure! 2 Skis =2 Poles....I Board=1 Pole, why not.  For the west coasters or powder in general a larger footprint tip would be cool.  Nice Work Luke !

[soulpaddler]

Is that an old school performer that you're riding in the video?  Way to go shredding that thing if it is.

[localpaddler]

Is that an old school performer that you're riding in the video?  Way to go shredding that thing if it is.

Good eye.  That is a 2011 burton fish with the 1984 performer graphics on top and bottom.  It is an amazing powder board that I have grown to love riding everywhere.  The wood performer from 84 was one of the first boards I had. 

Thanks.  Good point on the 1 board 1 pole. This Gorilla Stick tip is strickly for the hard pack of resorts.  It would come in handy in powder but your are right about a larger foot print tip for powder or back country settings.  This one has so much bite in the snow it makes it so that you can literally vault yourself forward.

[lucabrasi]

You know, when I taught myself to snow board I used a ski pole for the first couple of days. Mostly just to help with getting back up. When I started to get it I chucked the pole. I don't strap on the snowboard much anymore but I can sure think of a few runs at a few places I go where the Gorilla Stick would be a good thing. Good luck with it.

[soulpaddler]

I thought the shape was a bit off, but it's been a long time.   I had the Backhill for a number of years, then got a performer elite.  I rode that thing into oblivion, then bought a Craig Kelly air.  Lots of fond memories on those slopes.

[OUTSIDEWAVE]

being 58 I started snowboarding when I was 39 after skiing since I was 17, I think a pole would have saved a lot of pain getting up from falling down. I ride a great a big craig kelly all mountain board and some time its a  bit to turn, i would have like to see more turns off the pole? How would that work?  I also wonder if all SUP  guys hit the mountains  with pole on boards would LA  go into a full blown riot?  I wonder if a lot ht e kids that  snowboard and surf  how they would take it.     Cool   idea though.

[gr8laker]

being one of the "kids" on this site at 29...  I'm not sold on the concept..   yet with the work you've put into this video and post, I have to wonder..   

[lucabrasi]

 I'm not sold on the concept..    

What more could you want? A big as@ stick in your hands riding downhill as you........whack others as you go by.
Seriously tho........the more I think about this it definately has its place, especially for someone just riding chairs and cruising the mountain.

[Weasels wake]

I'll have to imagine the potential, but from the clip, I'd have to call it a "vid stick", at this point.

[melonhead]

I'd have to agree with Weasel - more like a boom for the camera than anything else. Also, what length is that snowboard? Does it ever look short in the video!

[localpaddler]

When the camera was on the shaft of the Gorilla Stick and used alot the video did not come out that will because it was being planted repeatedly for pushing and then if used for leaning on on a highspeed carve it shoke the camera shot alot.  When on the stick it was more of a vid stick.  The Gorilla Stick I was using was 6 feet 6inches.  I am 6 feet tall so it had a ton of push and vaulting when getting going. 

The board is a 2011 Burton Fish 160cm.  Compared to a regular twin tip style board it feels like a much bigger board.  It sure does look small in video.  It is actually a big board that is very wide with alot of surface area contact on the snow. 

I will try an get some more video shot from someone else.  Once I gave this a legitimate try .....well I felt naked with out it...I feel kinda weird thinking that I was missing something when I did not have it. 

I'm not sold on the concept..

Like Stand Up Paddleboarding...to get fully stoked on it requires trying it.  That is how I got stoked on stand up and almost everyone else I know that love stand up.  It just took that one time.

Thanks for the feedback.

[localpaddler]

Here is a video of longboarding on a 12 story parking deck with a spiral ramp.  Here the Gorilla Stick is being used for bracing during power slides and for propelling when needed like at the bottom to cross the street.  Everytime that scraping sound happens the Gorilla Stick was being pushed in to brace and facilitate balance during small powerslides to keep from going to fast.  The ramps were brushed concrete and for my skills I could never do power slide on something like that with out the balance aid of a land paddle.



It this video I did not have the liberty to use it as a vid stick.  I had to use it for balance survival which is notice everytime the stick moves behind my back hip...like a heal side cut back on a wave where the paddle travel behind the tail of a board to behind you back hip.  These are some of the same things that it is used for in the snow...the snow is just a rough place so the camera shots look like and earthquake in the snow video so those clips where not used.

Here is the snow stand up vid here....just figured out how to post here.


The beauty of a paddle in hand for any board sport is that it is a tool a lever to torque a turn like on a cut back on a wave, power slide on a longboard, or tow and healside carving a snowboard...the propulsion is sweet to have for all three of those as well and we all have used a paddle for balance.  When you have bindings on a snowboard you just have arms to flail for balance and for helping to get going.

[greatdane]

Localpaddler: I see the potential... not so much for the "new-school" park riders, doing rail slides and 1080's, but for us "old guys" cruising and carving, I can dig it.

You need to have a buddy with a helmet cam follow you so we can see it really work (-:

(My first board was the Performer Elite too... ordered it out of a BMX magazine in 1985!) 

[localpaddler]

I am kinda an old guy...now I pretty much love to cruise fast and carve fast.  Nice video thanks for sharing.  Very cool dog...I bet he loves days like that.

So here is my thought/question for anyone who surfs a stand up board on a wave...me included. 

"Obviously a SUP paddle is used to propel and catch the wave on a SUP.  What if once you caught the wave you did not have the paddle....How would you describe the change in performance of not having the paddle?"