So the Smokin Snowboard factory tour last week had more to it than just the tour, we also went down to pick up some 2010 newly pressed decks. I was lucky enough to nab the new M.I.P. D.I.R.T. Rocker with Magne-Traction with some custom graphics brought to you by JP Lagos at Thesnowlife.com. I was even more excited to try out Smokin’s Magne-Traction since out snow has been rock hard as of late and last time I rode a board with magne it made the saying “Turns ice into powder” hold true. Friday afternoon of last week Squaw was still pretty firm with a nice east wind keeping things rather chilly, so what better time to go try out Smokin Jay “the evil genius’s“new concept.

My first thoughts was the same as any of the other reverse camber boards I have ridden, the nose seems to hook a little quick when you really get the board on edge. Once I detuned the nose and tail a little the board simply took off. The M.I.P. has a great predictable flex that reminds me of many of the old boards from the good old days. Jay doesn’t use fancy barely known named stuff to create his sticks yet he produces a board that rivals all those high-end uber scientific factories. The M.I.P. holds a super fun edge, makes a snappy turn and rebounds really predictably that you can stray away from the park and still rip turns. I have complained for a few years now that many companies are making boards to specific to one discipline and are hard to enjoy on every part of the hill. I think the smoking M.I.P. brings back the idea that you can have a great park board that doesn’t sacrifice the rest of the mountain.

If you are looking for a great park and all around board that’s actually handmade the new 2010 Smokin M.I.P. D.I.R.T. Rocker is gonna blow your mind.

What about the graphics? JP Lagos designed the graphic based loosely off the Obey “Obama” Poster series. Taking funny pictures and translating them into the Obey scheme, JP created a series of Bromodel snowboards. All the boards were either using Smokin’s 2010 M.I.P. blank or the 2010 Superpark blank. So the boards that were in the pictures being finished during the factory tour were none other than the bromodel boards. Special thanks to JP for including my funny grill on a snowboard and Smokin Jay for pressing a super fun board!

Where is your snowboard made? Some foreign country where all the workers have no idea what snowboarding actually is? In northern Reno NV, in an area where trailer parks abound sits a snowboard factory where a creative evil genius lives. You won’t find any high tech computerized equipment or even security guards protecting the company’s secrets from prying eyes. You will find the type of place where some of the best innovation has always come from… a ghetto garage!

Smokin Jay is an evil genius… not in the crazy axe murdering type way, more the artistic friend you had in school that you weren’t sure where his mind was. Jay was busy gluing one of his new 2010 models when we arrived and as soon as he had a chance to step away he was off and running with the “Factory Tour”. I use the term factory loosely since most of the time you might equate the term Factory to thousands of square feet and a building in an industrial district of town. Smokins factory looks like a cross between an old bomb shelter and chop shop. Inside most of the equipment has been piecemealed together, with bare wires and jays own inventions throughout the building.

Joining on the tour was Jay’s sidekick binky who was just as stoked to show us all the funny corners in the building. While at first glance it looks like a lot stuff packed around stuff but as Binky explains it you can start to see Jay’s twisted vision of how the process works. From the room with all the templates and edges, the room where he cuts out the sidewalls and the workstation that he uses to glue the boards together. And as you watch Jay and Binky work what looks like chaos starts to looks like an interpretive dance where both play off each other though out the entire process.

Smokin Jay takes a huge amount of pride in the boards he produces and each board must be perfect for him to sell it. His entire process feels more artistic than mechanical and each board seems like its own individual masterpiece. He inspects each board for any imperfection or graphic blemish before giving the stamp of approval to sell the board. So when you see the tag handmade you know that the board you are receiving was entirely handmade by Smokin Jay and the pride taken to create the board reflects in the quality of the product you are receiving.

When you get a chance try out a Smokin snowboard, these are quality snowboards made by an evil genius snowboarder who believes in making quality snowboards.

Thank you Jay and Binky for the Great night! check out http://smokinsnowboards.com/ for more info or check out the Smokin Snowboards we carry.

Labels: Handmade Snowboards, Smokin Snowboards, Smokin Snowboards Factory

I love receiving last minute phone calls with the 2 stroke hum of snowmobiles in the background. PortersTahoe.com Team Rider Brendon Drury hit me up and said he and his younger brother were up at Mt. Rose riding around on his snowmobiles in search of some terrain for some snowboarding.



It is always fun riding side saddle getting up to your destination as it can be quite a task. I did bail once off the sled on my belly like a land seal! Out in the backcountry you never know what kind of characters you'll run into as we ran into these slednecks who offered us cheeseburgers, beer and some of that funny smelling "rope".



After a brief chat with these friendly dudes (Brendon snatched a brew), we proceeded to find our zone where we could get some shots. Brendon dropped into a face that was really sunbaked and it was hard to get the spray that we wanted. It was a fun turn but we wanted more.



Brendon got another ride up on the sled and I was scouting a zone trying to find a good place where he could snap a turn. The snow surface had about a 3-4 inch crust layer on it so I had to find an area that was thinner. I found just the spot.
Brendon hiked over to where i was camped out & we planned our shot.



In pure anal photographer fashion...I had to light this shot up. Packing light this time out I had my Lumedyne 400 WS Action Pack, Canon 1D Mark II, Canon 15mm fisheye lens, Canon 50mm 1.4 prime, and my Canon 70-200mm lenses. This is a great 3 lens & one light setup to have out in the backcountry or anywhere for that matter.This is what we got.



Not bad considering the snow only had an inch of crust in this zone. He did break through to the bottom and hit the rock, but in the end it was all worth it. On the way down we had to stop just one more time to take in another epic Lake Tahoe sunset.