Spring Tuning

With April well underway, Spring is in full effect for the Northern Hemisphere.  Flowers are blooming, allergies are running rampant, and the sun is making more frequent appearances.  This part of the year can be good and bad; on the one hand no more freezing or miserable overcast days, and on the other the impending close of snowboard season.

Riding after next week may not be a sure thing, but at least there is one constant in spring riding: slush slows you down. Here are some last second tips to keep you chugging along in the slop of yesterseason...

Most riders go straight to waxing when things stop moving, making the logical assumption that it's the slush that is slowing them down.  This is partly true, but before you spend any money on wax take your board to get a spring structure.

Spill some water on a flat surface and place a plastic card over it.  The water seals the card to the surface. Really, snowboards aren't gliding on the snow but a thin layer of water; the card is like your snowboard without structure. A shop structures a deck using a stone grinder to create small grooves in the base.  These grooves channel that water, which lets you charge through the wettest, slushiest conditions spring throws at you.

That should keep you moving on snow, but right now amidst the good stuff lies all of the dirt and diesel sludge left throughout the season; who would have thought snow cats aren't environmentally friendly? If you love sliding rails and boxes, you get double the sludge--jibs scrape the crap off of other boards and pass it on to yours.

If you've been riding recently, take a look at your base. It might seem a few shades darker than you remember.

Spring sludge means two things:

1. Once you've had your board structured, you should clean the base daily with orange cleaner. Spray it on, wait a few seconds, and take one smooth swipe with a paper towel. Repeat this until the paper towels come off with little or no dirt.

2. Don't bother waxing.  Really, the carpets to get up the hill plus salted corn snow in the morning will scrape the wax off first run; more importantly things in springs are so dirty, waxing will just seal layers of sludge into your base. Just make sure your base gets cleaned daily and you will stay sliding.

If you really want to wax, make sure you do a hot scrape first--lay a coat of wax and scrape it without letting it cool.  That pulls all of the crud out of the pores in the base, so you can lay a nice clean coat.  Don't forget to rebuild the structure by using a nylon brush nose to tail after polishing.