Snowboard Wax

Those great people at Lib-Tech Snowboards have gone and created some seriously powerful innovations, again.

Seemingly on a quest to push the limits of snowboarding technology further than they already have, behold ‘Mage-Traction’.

This award winning advancement to board design takes the traditional two contact point practice of standard boards edges and adds another five. In effect you have a snowboard with seven evenly spaced wavy bumps along the full lengths of a boards longest edges, from tip to tail. Slight in size, these are nevertheless heavily significant in terms of control, reportedly making ‘ice feel like powder’. Edge hold is very effective, when you loose any contact points at any moment you know there are a whole load more working for you.

Such is the grip on the pistes and park that you are able to detune the board and it still holds great, even on icy pipe transitions or kickers.

This technology allows increased control over the whole mountain from corduroy to deep pow, all the pressure radiating outwards from these seven points. Cambering and sidecuts used on ski’s were what led to the current shape of snowboards, power transferred to the tips and tail. Two feet on a board meant that the edges between them formed a so called ‘dead area’ where pressure was not easily applied.

Magne-Traction has three points of contact between the feet providing the deepest and most aggressive control. Two contact points exist between the feet and the board tip or tail, these being progressively less aggressive. Control is back around the feet where your balance is, rather than at the ends where turn initiation normally begins. Additionally the tip and tail become less catchy which translates into them enabling more lift and less nose diving in powder, and also being improved freestyle buttering machines.

Buy one of these and those slopes are going to be afraid!

A middle eastern desert tends to be the last place you would go for a spot of snowboarding. Sure, you can go and surf down a large dune, but what I’m talking about here is going down a snowy piste, at any time of the year in the middle of one of the worlds hottest countrys!

This year saw the opening of the third largest indoor snowdome in the world, in Dubai of all places.

It is estimated that in a single day an average of 3500 people will pay around $40 each for two hours on the slopes. Numbers of people arriving are expected to reach 5000 per day on busy days.

Burton, alongside other snowboard manufacturers have fully endorsed this venture, snowboard camps having been staged in the dome, hosted by some of the worlds best riders, Sani Alibabic and Gigi Ruf. Everything is available for rent from the board and bindings to the necessary clothing. Lessons enable anyone whether they are an expert or beginner to learn to snowboard at the next level.

Quite how this venture will fare remains to be seen. An even larger snowdome in Tokyo had to be disassembled due to lower than expected numbers of people turning up to use it. It seems as though very few people in Dubai have ever seen snow let alone been skiing or snowboarding.

If you are like me and you happen to live in an unfortunate place which doesn’t get snow and so the only time you get to snowboard is when you go on a trip or season,… well then this is for you!

Freebords are simply the nuts. You have more than likely heard of longboards, the elongated version of skateboards. Well, longboards are supposedly known for their similarity to surfing. Great for surfers who can get to the waves or when there just isn’t any. So what about for snowboarders who have no snow? Welcome the Freebords!

At first it may seem impossible to be able simulate snowboarding on concrete via a skateboard style system, but the guys who have created the Freebord have got it cracked. It’s hard to understand until you see it in action. Jump over to the Freebord website and check out the video clips: www.freebord.com

Here’s a little exert from Freebord Manufacturing, Inc.

Snowboarding is a mix of carving and sliding motions, but conventional skateboards aren’t designed to slide. Freebord changes all that. You can hug a tight turn or drift a long, gentle slide; slide the board into fakie or float a 360. Right down to the feel of its weighting and edging, the Freebord ride is snowboarding on land. Master a trick on the street, then take it to the slopes next winter.

Freebord’s inner two wheels simulate the snowboard’s base–using spring-biased casters that can swivel 360 degrees–while the outer four wheels simulate the snowboard’s edges. By keeping weight over the board’s edges you can carve turns. As you apply more weight to the base, your board will start to slide. To execute 180’s and 360’s, unweight your edges.

Freebords look unbelievable.. check them out at www.freebord.com

I have just back from a short break at the french Alps resort Val D’isere. The holiday was just a week long, no seasons for me this year , and it was certainly a strange week in regards to the conditions. When I arrived (26th Dec) they had pretty much no snow, runs were icy and rocky in many places and powder off-piste simply didn’t exist. This had to be the worst state I had seen a resort in at this time of year ever! I have to say that I was majorly disappointed because this could be the only week I get away this season. This icy zero-snow situation lasted for 4 days and then bam it started to snow furiously, so furiously we had about 3 feet of snow over night and it even kept on snowing! What a relief, when there is no snow in a resort at the start of a season there isn’t much to do except just ride about on ice fast… they don’t have enough snow to build decent snowparks and off piste isn’t an option so things can be a bit limiting. This new snowfall was just what was needed, in fact the quantity of snow was so huge in such a short space of time it simply transformed the place to a powder heaven! I had some of the best off-piste powder runs I have had in a long time, very surprising judging by the previous few days. Anyone still yet to travel to Val D’isere should be very happy as they should now have a good base for any new snow and the snowparks that looked like they were ‘on hold’ should be now well under way… I think I might have to squeeze in a trip around Easter!!

If anyone goes to Val D’isere and gets a load of new snow providing good off piste I highly recommend checking out the off piste to the left (when looking down from the top) of the solaise express chair. You have to go on-piste for a short while and cut off to the left. You get choice of a wide & clear valley to the far left, great for long cruising turns, or slightly nearer to the piste you get some great tree runs which are fantastic if they are not yet tracked out. I know this run is low down but if it is a foggy day and/or the resort is still avalanche blasting then this is a good bet early on in the day.

Visit the Val D’isere website for webcams and up to date weather reports: Val D’isere Website

I’d love to hear what anyone else is experiencing this winter where ever you are or are going. Share with us your holiday/season resort experiences. Which parts of resorts are best, which resorts have good parks, anything you like. Just click the ‘Comments‘ link below and submit your own words to appear on this site so we can all benefit from each others experiences and knowledge.. go on don’t be shy

Till I write again have fun this season!

There are four basic ways to how a snowboard can be constructed, however, each method is in fact a variation of the sandwich snowboard construction technique.

Sandwich Snowboard Construction
This technique is the most expensive method because of the labour involved. Each of the layers in the snowboard is manually placed on top of the other, which is where it gets its name from… sandwich. These can be foam or wood core. The sandwich snowboard construction technique is the most precise method resulting in strong, lightweight snowboards.

Cap Snowboard Construction
This snowboard construction method is used more than any of the others these days. Cap snowboard construction involves the topsheet being wrapped over the sidewalls of the snowboard and joining the metal edges. The Cap construction method is really a bit of a cheat because it is actually cosmetic; the actual snowboard construction will be one of the three other types of snowboard construction. Cap snowboard construction is reported as increasing the torsional stiffness and improving the edge control of a snowboard.

RIM (Reaction Injection Moulding) Snowboard Construction
The RIM snowboard construction method is less expensive than the Cap & Sandwich methods. The core material is placed into a mould along with the base material, edges and topsheet. Resin is then injected into the mould and this bonds the different components. RIM snowboard construction is known to be the most durable construction technique on the market. The flip-side of the durability is that these snowboards tend to lack the springy flex of a laminated snowboard and are usually heavier.

Polyurethane Injection Snowboard Construction
The polyurethane injection snowboard construction technique is usually used in the lowest priced snowboards on the market. This method is similar in construction to the RIM method, however rather than having a separate core component, Polyurethane (PU) foam is injected into the snowboard to form the core. Polyurethane injection snowboards are lighter than their RIM counterpart snowboards but they can often have short lifespans because they can lose flex, snap, camber and overall performance after a single seasons usage.

This has to be probably the best named snowboard wax out: Super HotSauce!!

Whats more is over at hertelwax.com you can buy this snowboard wax at a huge discount. Normally this snowboard wax sells for $16.00 per 5 one ounce bars but you can buy it now at wholesale price for $9.85. Save yourself a bundle and get this wax now for the upcoming season.

This snowboard wax Super HotSauce is supposed to be right at the top of the wax quality chart(!) so you can’t go wrong with this deal. Check it out at: www.aggressivemall.com/suphotbul.html

This is our first post to Snowboard Wax and so would just like to say a big HI to everyone out there interested in snowboarding and everything related.

With the 2005/2006 winter season just around the corner there is going to be so much new and exciting stuff to explore over the following months. I can’t wait to get started.