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The line between stupid and hawdkoah

3K views 25 replies 7 participants last post by  saturday22 
#1 · (Edited)
The difference between “hardcore” and “stupid” is only one degree. I think I crossed a line somewhere tonight.

It reached 62 degrees in Boston today. Rain filled the first half of the day. Things looked to be clearing up in the evening. I had been writing a paper for law school all day. When I finished, despite the weather, I got the bright idea to go riding. No one ever said law students were smart.

The 60 min drive out the local mountain was filled with fog and a light mist. It was dark and spooky. I was expecting to see the Headless Horseman and Ichabod Crane around ever turn. There were about 30 cars in the mountain parking lot. Half must have been employees. I walk to the base of the mountain. I get on the lift. I ride 1/4 of the way up, and I have yet to see a single person. The lift goes over the terrain park. By the time I get 2/3 of the way I up, I see about 15 riders in the terrain park. No one else is on the mountain.

Just as I am about to get off the lift, the rain starts. First, it was just a sprinkle. By the time I finish my first run, it is full-on. This is going to be interesting night, I think. It is still like 50 degrees outside. One of my gloves has a gapping hole in it. New ones are coming tomorrow. If it had actually been cold out, I wouldn’t have gone since I’d have to worry about hand freezing off. The only problem was all the water getting inside. My jacket and pants blew me away at just HOW water proof they were. I kept thinking, “Ok, I’ll leave when I start getting wet, but aside from my ripped open glove, I was bone dry. Oh, and then there was my face. Since it was warm, I didn’t bring my face mask. However, the rain, wind, and my speed made my face get really cold/wet/numb/etc. But not like a mask would have helped that much, those things aren’t really waterproof.

And then there was the “snow.” The conditions got WRECKED because of the rain and warm weather all day. The loose stuff had washed / melted off. What was left was hard crud, large sheet of ice, and large sheets of half-melted ice / mush…and some puddles. I actually liked the snow. I like hard, flat conditions. You can FLY with snow like that. The ice-sheets, mush-puddles, etc just gave me something to dodge around, and keep me on my toes. I spent the night going between the terrain park (wow, was THAT icy!) and the trail next to it. The best part of the night was when there was like 8 snowboarders at the top of the lift/trail. Some older dude said, “Man, it’s awesome to see you guys out tonight. Only people with true love would be here right now…and those are the best people to ride with.” (I’ll give you one guess what brand of board he was riding. It should be obvious. Answer below.) I

I eventually left, not because my hands and face were cold and soaked, not because there were running streams of water going down the middle of some trails, or because conditions were going down hill fast. I left because of visibility issues; it was just raining too hard to see. Fucking Noah. I only rode for about 80 min, but it was pouring the whole time.

Driving home I was trying to figure out if it had been a waste of time or not. I think that random guys quote at the top of the mountain made it all worth it.






Answer: Never Summer
 
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#3 ·
Sweet. I'm glad you didn't say Burton :laugh: just kidding. I can't imagine riding in rain, it sounds like it would be a complete and total bitch. They need to build a highly accredited law school in Denver for people that like to snowboard :D
 
#8 ·
I have a season pass and go A LOT. If you avoid the "Idiots times" (i.e. the times only any idiot would go there), weekend day times, vacations, long weekends, etc. it's sually pretty mellow. Sunday - thursday nights are always good, as are tues - thur during the day session.
 
#13 ·
It's like Easter! All these dead threads are coming back to life! I want my chocolate bunnies!
 
#14 ·
Yeah because nobody who rides a burton really loves snowboarding. They just love looking cool for their friends in their gear.
 
G
#16 ·
When the mountain close to me is open I go every night, rain or shine. I drove up there in a blizzard to go shred and it was just me and some people who live on the mountain. I also went in flood rains and the liftee told me and my friend that we were the only non-employees there that night.
 
#26 ·
There are two kinds of Burton Haters out there really. One kind hates Burton because they feel that as the largest manufacturer of damn near everything snowboarding, that they practice predatory business tactics and lack ethics. They see Burton as the "Wall Mart of snowboarding" and that they have lost their comitment to snowboarding and providing quality product made in America by fellow snowboarders. They feel that Burton "sold out" by outsourcing to China and selling cheaply made crap by comparison to the "old days".

The other kind of hater is the newbie to snowboarding who wants to sound cool and old school so this individual jumps on the "I hate everything Burton" in an attempt to fit in and be a cool shred. They tend to come off looking like stupid posers who don`t know a sidecut from a camber.

The comment about posers looking cool to their friends in the latest Burton gear comes mainly from the fact that because Burton is so big, that the newbie just getting into snowboarding has only been exposed to Burton when they first go to a big box store looking at their first gear. Often you can see a newbie dressed to the nines in the latest matching outerwear and top of the line Burton board and bindings talking smack and acting all gangsta park rat, yet they haven`t progressed past sideslipping.

Burton in my opinion is a good company and has done a lot for snowboarding. Are they perfect and totally ethical? hell no, but what mid sized and larger company is? I buy some Burton stuff like boots because they fit my feet and have decent value. Same with their gloves and other outerwear. My Burton Ronin Jacket has been good to me. I also buy other stuff like 686 and Bonfire. I have not purchased a Burton board simply because I found Atomic and Rome to be so good I can find no reason to change. I am sure Burton makes great boards.

Bottom line, is shop for you, buy what you fancy and fits your budget and quality standards and realize Burton is a company like every other company and as such have all the same negative ansd positive aspects to them.

Ah, understood. :)
 
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