2009 Union Contact

Union has been earning a lot of brownie points in the industry these last few years.  In fact these days it's hard to go somewhere you won't see someone strapped into a pair of Union binders.

The company prides itself on minimalism.  All Union binding models stick to the bare essentials: straps, ratchets, baseplate, highback. Fewer moving parts means less things to adjust or eventually break, and this was the logic behind my purchasing their Contact bindings.

What sets the Contact apart is the baseplate design.  Bindings cause dead spots in a snowboard's natural flex; doesn't matter what binding from what company.

Union's focus with the Contact was to reduce this dead spot as much and possible by replacing the heel of the baseplate with something softer than plastic, but just as tough.

With something far over 100 days of riding on them, here is how my pair held up...

For cruising this is a soft, soft binding.  It's really playful, so for groomers up to a mild diamond they make for all kinds of buttery fun.  This is not the binding for your hard carvers for a couple of reasons; first, the highback on the Contact is shorter than most meaning less response, and second, these bindings can't go very fast in the first place.

Yes, because there is so little between the Contact and your board, nothing to dampen the ride, you will feel everything that happens beneath your feet--every bump, every rut, every rock... everything.

If you are a jib kid, that might make the Contact your kind of binding.

Having so little plastic to hinder flex gives new meaning to the phrase, "becoming one with your board".  You can get pretty technical on these bindings while staying in complete control of what's going on.

Jumps aren't the Contact's strong suit.  You can tweak the shit out of them, making for some really fun methods, mutes, Japans, shifties etc., but all of this has to happen on the smaller side of the spectrum.

I couldn't get bigger kickers to go down on this binding, most of the time due to the chatter on all but the most pristine groomed run-in.  Maybe this is a good thing, since one of the flaws commonly reported in this binding--one that I've experienced a few times myself--is the auto-release of the ratchets.

You heard right, I and several others have had the straps on these bindings release on impact.  This is scary enough on small features, and I'm really happy I didn't get the opportunity to experience it on a larger scale.

Overall the Union Contact was a decent purchase for the price.  They'll treat you right while they hold together, but these bindings aren't "built to last" by any means.  My current pair has been retired since all of the padding in the soft heel has worn down, the straps have split, and now that the ratchets are really beat I just don't trust them anymore.

The fact is, right now the faulty ratchets kill the buy-ability of these bindings.  It isn't something that happens every run, every week, or even every month, but it happened more than once, and really, once is one time too many. They need to be fixed before I use a pair of Union bindings again.

Comune Presents 'Black Holes and Invisible Forces Bending Time Through Particle Deformations Creating Infinite Freedom in the Garden on the Moon'

I'm really not sure what to say, or think, or feel about this one.

All I know is the full name of this video is Black Holes and Invisible Forces Bending Time Through Particle Deformations Creating Infinite Freedom in the Garden on the Moon, and maybe the title says it all.

COMUИE Black Holes & Invisible Forces Bending Time Through Particle Deformations Creating Infinite Freedom... from Corey Smith on Vimeo.

Corey Smith tossed aside the world of professional snowboarding to pursue a passion for art.  He's no slouch either (at both art and snowboarding) and now through his clothing company, Comune, has managed to mesh two into one.

Labeling this flick avant garde sets the bar high for the Comune crew.  The very definition implies innovation; a whole new kind of snowboard movie.

And they might just pull it off... It takes a twisted mind to create the artwork that Corey does--even the clothing Comune represents is familiar yet bizarre--so it will be interesting to see it applied to motion pictures.

If this teaser is evidence of anything, good or bad, you can expect to see something different amongst the litter this fall.

Sandbox Presents 'Now You Know'

Sandbox - Now You Know - first teaser from Sandbox Films on Vimeo.

Longtime rider Kevin Sansalone and visionary filmer Clayton Larsen--the minds behind Sandbox Snowboarding--have captured another epic season.

Sandbox has seen tremendous success from their unique footage/locations, talented pool of around 30 riders (many of whose names grace the pages of magazines and the inter-web alike), and focus on having nothing more than pure unadulterated fun.

A Pow Run In Whistler from Sandbox Films on Vimeo.

Now You Know will be the sixth film from Sandbox, and once again the crew isn't interested in riding anything you've ever seen before.

From Whistler and Japan to the DC Mountain Lab in Utah and more, follow Sandbox and friends as they search and shred some bizarre urban playgrounds, huge backcountry booters, and deep powder lines.

'Now You Know' teaser 2 from Sandbox Films on Vimeo.

Keep an eye on SandboxLand.com and be ready to scoop this one up Fall 2010.

Zion Snowboards 2010-2011

Christmas just came early! Zion Snowboards got so excited about their new decks they just couldn't keep things under wraps.  Stoked to announce the 2010-2011 line of limited run snowboards is officially available for purchase!

The people at Zion have an awesome time snowboarding, and they are all about spreading the irie vibes.  This small company has the unique graphics and top-of-the-line technology you'd ask for in a deck, and a clear mission: keep you snowboarding on fun boards while doing something to better the world we ride in.

Zion's POP (People Of the Planet) program donates a percentage of it's board and apparel sales to some of the more gnarly problems the human race is facing--things like child prostitution, which Zion is currently helping to fight.

The big change this year comes in an option for their reverse camber + multi-radius sidecut technology, available in two sizes for every model.  Take a look at the goods...

The Z1 Series is Zion's all-mountain freestyle twin.  Though it's rated with a middle-of-the-road flex, since it uses their highest-end core this deck will probably be on the stiffer side.  Added carbon fiber strips will add to that, but also equal more boost with ollies.

It also uses their fastest base, making the Z1 their "high end", most expensive model; that's a good thing since this board is part of their POP program.

Zion's Lost Series always sports the most interesting graphics, so you'll have something to stare at during the lift ride.  This is their park twin, thinned between the inserts for added torqueability.  

Carbon stringers give this board the boost for high ollies and stability for big booters, but what sets this deck apart is an impact resistant basalt-glass layer to make it the ultimate park performer.  The Lost Series is also part of Zion's POP program.

With a soft flex the Whoa Man! Series is a good bet for female riders, but Zion has always held that this is their "Unisex" model.  With the bottom formulated to handle rail impacts, this board works just as well for the urban jib kid.

The Wonk Series is new to the Zion line.  It looks to be their softest model, with the least amount of extras; making it the cheapest.

For all intents and purposes it is their "pricepoint" model, but don't let that depreciate the value of this deck, the cheap boards are the fun boards!

Zion dubbed this board their all mountain jib-stick.   You can tear up rocks, logs, pavement; just like Willy Wonka and his candy factory, do whatever you want with it, who's to ask questions?

If you haven't picked up a board from the end of season sales yet now you've got some 2011s to tempt you as well.  Zion sold out of last year's run pretty fast, and once they're gone, they're gone; Don't dilly-dally!

Goldsmith's Boardhouse - Going the Extra Mile

You wouldn't start a snowboard shop expecting things to sell themselves...

But in these days of over saturated egos and an undeserved sense of entitlement, how often have you waited ten minutes for Joe Cool Shop-Kid to finish a conversation with his buddy before he reluctantly approached you.  Then as quickly as he came to chuck you whatever you needed, he was back into his chat and unavailable to help you out any further.

Thankfully this experience is characteristic of only a few shops; out there still exists the core shop that symbolizes why we need to keep the little guys alive.

A small shop named Goldsmith's Boardhouse in Big Bear, California is one.

Goldsmith's and I go back a long way.  I rented my first snowboard from them, and I'm really glad--though honestly not surprised--they are still around.

You'd be hard pressed to find a shop employee willing to dive into sweaty, and tremendously smelly, old liners to get your insoles fitted properly--definitely not part of the job description, but a huge display of customer devotion.

Or how about when you are "Closed for Summer" and in the middle of inventory when a kid shows up to look around?  If it was you or me, "Sorry, we're closed" would be the likely response.

Not Goldsmith's though, whose employee came running out to the parking lot to let me inside for some last minute shopping.

What a relief having every question I asked met immediately with an answer.  From general specs to product comparisons, the good folks at Goldsmith's are completely on top of it.  Think the binding is too narrow for your boot?  They run and find their widest rental boot to check the fit.

So am I writing this just to give Goldsmith's props? Yes.

They deserve to be recognized as do all of the local shops out there going the extra mile. Celebrate your local shop by sharing how they made your day in the comments below!

No Dumping

Apparently it was going to be an amazing day:  I managed to get to the hill nice and early, the sun was shining brightly through a clear blue sky, and fresh snow from the day before meant primo slope conditions.

"Nothing could possibly bother me today," I thought as I loaded the chairlift, eagerly scoping out the first laps of the day.

With falcon-like focus I zoned in on any powder patches left untouched.  Maybe I'll spin that roller, or that looks like a good place to lay out a method;  I see a stump that I might jib, but suddenly I'm distracted...

The piece of shit on the chair ahead of me just chucked his beer can into the forest--threw trash on my favorite place to play--and now I'm just fucking pissed off!

This wasn't the first time I got to bare witness to such a display of human douschebag-ery, and I'm sure it won't be the last.  Let me just say I tolerate my fair share of bullshit, but I'm not about to put up with an overprivileged city dwelling asshole treating his local mountain like the room in his parents' basement.

Forget that fact that resorts always place trash cans at bottom and top of every lift, but the ones with lower snow levels like Snow Summit are even sympathetic to the cause.  Ok, we all know throwing things off of high places is fun, so they put groups of "trash targets" up the lift line for us to exercise our inner 8-year-old.

So what kind of person goes out of their way to skip those? How can you really want to litter that much?

I'm just happy resorts continue their efforts to gather literally tons of trash off the hill at the end of each season.  They could have the same shitty attitude about things, and then we could just skip the mountains altogether, strap in at our local dump and shred garbage.

We snowboard to escape.  Put me out in the middle of nature, the great outdoors, with nothing but trees and fresh air in every direction.  Here is my way out of life's daily grind; complete serenity covered in a blanket of pure white.

Littering has no place in my image of snowboarding.