White Dwarf – Kevin Boate & Kirk Thompson

sbmTV extra – Enurshia Jay Jam 2010

Short little artsy edit of some of the sights and happenings at the annual Enurshia Jay Jam.Revel8 rider Kirk Thompson creeps down The Ridge to hit the fresh trees below.

Review: Revel8 Revolts

The Revolt has long been Revel8’s flag ship skiboard, not to mention their first model ever released already years ago. Since its conception, the Revolt has gone through many graphic choices from various artists, boasting three graphics one season, bore the name of one of their pro riders, and gone through some slight modifications.

I got a chance to ride these in pretty much every kind of condition you could think of, thanks to some unpredictable weather we’ve had here in Quebec for the first half of the season.

The Revolt was in part inspired by the late great Groove Brinton Gunderson Pro model, bearing similar dimensions but being a little longer at 105 centimeters. The Revolt really represents for me the ultimate do it all skiboard, the culmitive average of all Revel8 skiboards into an awesome all condition, all terrain ride.

At 11 cm under foot they are on the wider side, but the extra length compliments edge hold on groomers. For an average weight rider, the length gives plenty of lift for soft snow, and to be able to ride over all conditions with confidence, with little need to be riding around on the tails when the terrain gets semi-rough, like most smaller skiboards. Of course, the Revel8 blunt tips help a lot.

The turning radius is on the high side for Revel8 standards, but still pretty tight at 5.8 meters. The tips get less drag on deep carves than the Revolt’s little brothers, the Tanshos and the BWPs. Carves feel much more natural than on the shorter Revel8 options, but I enjoyed the ALPs more for carves because of the bigger radius. In the park, shorter riders might find them a little long when getting real creative on jibs, but the turning radius makes for pretty stable landings.

Unfortunately no skiboard can be the best at everything, but the Revolts manages to be pretty much in the middle of all the options out there coming together to be a great option for an all mountain, do it all skiboard. The Revolts are great for someone looking for small arsenal in their skiboard bag. Put simply, you can’t really go wrong with the Revolts, no matter who you are.

Allz Skiboards in Switzerland

Martins from Allz skiboards shreds up some freshies and grooms in the Swiss Alps.

Awesome Skiboard Perspective Shooting

Peak Profile – Jay Peak

Nestled away in the far reached of Northern Vermont, over looking another country, Jay Peak is the legend of the east. Few have shredded it’s slopes, few have come across is ridiculously affordable lift tickets, few have experienced its pristine glades and first tracks.

Those who have speak of it like a mythical land, and those listening are often in aw or disbelief. Its no wonder Enurshia has chosen to do its annual event, the Jay Jam on its 76 trails, glades and chutes. The 60 passenger Aerial Tram way brings you to the summit, pictured above. Jay Peak offers some terrain park for the rats. The larger State Side park usually hold one or two 30 footers, and a few basic but large jibs,  while the smaller Tram Side park offers about three small kickers and again a few basic low jibs.

Pass holders to any other ski slope in North America pay just 47$ for a day lift ticket. Canadians can pay par with their currency, saving head aches, and getting an even better deal! Montreal and Burlington are just about 2 hour away each, both great cities to visit if you take the trip up there. Unfortunately, the closest town to Jay Peak; Newport, offers little in the way of any exciting experience. (Sorry Ian)

The lake effect created from near by Lake Champlain gives Jay Peak the most annual snowfall in the east. Unfortunately, the weather has been uncooperative with the Jay Jam. Let’s hope this season its different!

SkiboardCross & Slopestyle Oberstdorf 2000

A Look at the Revel8 Monkey Bag

The near iconic Revel8 Monkey bag features art by Revel8 designer Josh Brandt. This bag is padded to not just carry, but to protect your skiboards during road trips/air travel/storage/ruckussing about. Sometimes bags labeled as “padded” only have certain parts of the bag padded, not the case with the Revel Monkey bag, fully padded!

I was disapointed to find out the bag doesn’t come with a real shoulder strap. I’ve used the handles like shoulder straps, but its just not the same. The handles are stiched onto the bag all the way down to the base of the bag, so you can be sure they’ll never tear off. The bag has got some large zippers for easy grip and handling when you’ve got gloves or mittens on.

Easily fits a pair of mounted skiboards plus a pair of bare boards, and with a tighter fit, could fit two pairs mounted with non-release bindings. A pair of skiboards mounted with releasables would fit very comfortably. The bag can fit skiboards up to 120cm, so some longboard skiboard riders can rejoice! No need to buy a junior ski bag for you.

SBU – Ty & Joey @ Big Boulder

White Noise – Bibio

What happens when folk dabbles in the world of electronic music and sampling? Bibio happens. The music producer from the UK who draws inspiration from experimental electronic music samples tracks, field recordings and found sounds to create a hybrid of sorts.

Releasing three albums in 2009, Ambivalence Avenue from June has to be the best of the trilogy, featuring everything from glitch tunes, to guitar melodies, the album name is a welcome fit. The result is a wonderfully organic feel and vibe to an otherwise entirely digitized and eclectic but never aggressive combination of works.