SES 2005 - Tuesday @ Ajax / Buttermilk



A view from Ajax. For Tuesday morning, the SES crew heads over to Ajax mountain, which offered variable conditions: About 5 inches of powder on top of hardpack, which made things "challenging." Plus, it dumped all morning, heavy at times.


The lifts at Ajax opened at 9 AM, providing ample time to hobnob with the carving celebrities. Bruce Varsava shows off a board fresh out of the vacuum bag. It has internal carbon fiber stringers and metal dampening, plus a bunch of other stuff I didn't catch. Bruce elaborated on the nuances of dampening, camber, flex, and tail spring, and how to customize all the specs for different race courses, snow conditions, and rider skill level. Then, my brain exploded.


Jörg and the PureBoarding crew arrived with a full compliment of #ones. Those board are optimal for today's conditions, which require a more all-mountain deck.


The PureBoarding crew is ready to roll. now, we will find out how the PureBoarding crew can handle the "variable" conditions.


Very well, thank you very much. This shot sums up the conditions on Tuesday.


The PureBoarding crew unleashes their secret weapon: the patented toe-grab.


Those PureBoarding guys can get really low ...


... lower ...


... lowest!


lowest, v2.0


Eric prepares to unleash the body rotation ...


Then pushes the boundaries of Newtonian physics.


Getting low, sans toe-grab.


Several Madd 180 decks made a showing. The sidecut specification is officially "> 20 M".


Fin makes it look easy.


Bob Jenny keeps going.


On Ruthie's Run, we had 5" of powder on top of groomed hardpack. It was possible to bury the nose in powder, and get knocked around by ice, simultaneously.


This shot was taken 0.0001 seconds before a spectacu-biff. Did I mention that the conditions were challenging?


Then again, some people can't get enough of this stuff.


How's that for product placement?



You may have noticed that some of these shots were taken while my UV filter was fogged up on the inside. Unfortunately, I did not.


Scott Ubrick: carver extraordinaire, with portfolio.


In an attempt to provide a more cinematic experience, for the next few turns, we are going to show you the windup and then the release. You can interpolate the two shots in your head, and then view the resulting full-motion video with your imagination:


The windup ...


The release.


The windup ...


The release.


The windup ...


The release.


The windup ...


The release.



OK, that's all for Ajax. Now, back to Buttermilk where we get to milk the demo tent.


Decisions, decisions. Hmmm ... where is that Prior 4WD 179?


And no matter what you select, Fin will provide the custom tailoring.


Another vintage gear sighting! This is the "1994" brand of bindings. Interesting.


And we're just in time for a carving clinic, courtesy of Captain Sean from Snowperformance.


Adele tries out that Snowperformance style.


Multitasking. Someone managed to set up a race course for us on Tuesday @ Buttermilk. Cool!


After a day of carving, it's time for the kegger and the raffle. Eric (PureBoarding) and Mats (Alpinepunk) provide us with endless amusement.


More relaxing. More beer.


Sean from Snowperformance does post-clinic technique analysis from the digital video taken during the clinic.


Sean goes over the finer subtleties of the stable style of carving, which can come in real handy, especially for days like today.


It's raffle time. At the SES, the swag never stops.


The peanut gallery eagerly awaits the raffle numbers.


As things wind down, Eric, Jörg, and Marco talk carving.


Here is Marco's business card. Sweet. Marco teaches at Snowmass in the Winter, and heads up custom tours to South America during the summer.


Well, that was fun. Wednesday is the off-day, and since it's probably going to snow Tuesday night, all bets are off as to where everyone is going. Maybe I'll go to The Highlands and stalk Mats with the camera.

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