Snow Surfing - Very Interesting...Hmmm?

Riding the Slippery Slopes!

I woke up in the middle of the night and went right away to turn on the TV. They had several 1/2 hour shows of pranks and stunts on a show called "Jackass". This was the most "off the wall" comedy show that I've ever seen!

One of the pranks they did was "snow surfing" with a fully functional surfboard and rudder and they all got some great rides but of course there some spectacular wipeouts - kind of like real surfing in that respect. So today we hauled a friend's old fashioned big board - a really big gun shaped back in the late 60's, out of his garage and drove it over to a local ski slope (we have several around within an hour's drive or less).

We got some hard stares from some of the uppity skiers and we loved it - a few even came over and asked what we planned to do with our gigantic surf board. We're going surfing dude, my son told him which got a slight raise of the guy's eyebrows.

The next tough part was clearing it with the Manager and we informed him of our intentions. We know him but he was hesitant and brought up everything from safety to wrong equipment and liability - you know, Manager talk! He called in Will who was Chief of Safety and Rescue (another "ringer") that we also know.

He chimed in that they had slope #5 closed after making fresh snow and allowing it to cure just a bit before opening it back up to the public. We typed up a hasty liability release note, signed it and had it witnessed. Will said he was going to jet ski over to pick up another employee in case we needed more help than he could provide and was back in 5 minutes. Will towed our board up the slope and we took the ride to the top in the chairs. I remembered to snatch my Billingham Camera Bag which was loaded with my Canon Digital Rebel and Sony Video Camera, loads of memory cards and sticks, extra batteries, chargers and other odds and ends.

We decided against Speedos and jock straps like the Jackasses wore on TV and bundled up - minimal clothing, loose jackets, summer shorts and socks & boots. All snow surf runs were made with shorts and bare feet and no shirts or socks/shoes/boots. We needed true surfing attire to do our own version of "snow surfing."

Our results were much the same - a few nice runs and plenty of spine twisting wipeouts. My youngest son BMR (initials for privacy) did best and had only one bad spill and several clean rides. It was great fun and everyone had as many laughs as I did - behind the lens. I've got some great footage to share with the guys now and some nice stills of us posing with the big gun and the Lodge in the background. If you can surf or ski it would help of course, but it was not that bad or dangerous either. A wipeout on snow seemed easier on the boys than some real grinders I've seen my boys wipeout in, including myself, in my younger days and nothing compared to what you'd see along the North Shore in HI.

No need for waivers folks it was fun and funny at the same time - would anyone care to do a bit of "Snow Surfing"?