Review - 75cm snowjams

"Oh-boy those sure do look like loads of fun!!" Said the elderly woman standing in front of me at the lift. I was going back up to race my nephew down the mountain again, AND THIS TIME I WAS GOING TO WIN!!!. Now my nephew (14) had been skiing since the day he had learned to walk, I on the other hand had been skiboarding for about 3 hours. I was having a riot!!!!

Now, I don't want to give off the impression that I'm some old codger just because I have a 14 year old nephew. I'm 24 and recently took a job in Portland, OR. Moving from the heart of the south, which was flatter than a pancake and had less flakes than a "Head and Shoulders" commercial.

So now here I am surrounded on all sides by absolutely beautiful mountains and nothing to slide down them with except my fat ass. I started planning a "ski" weekend about a month and a half ago. It was a hell of dilemma, I didn't really want to do the traditional ski or snowboarding like everyone else (I'm an aggressive in-line skater and really enjoy being the only blader in my group of skater friends). So, I wanted something as fresh and exciting as my new home. I remember seeing something on TV about extreme sports and I saw a guy on what looked like short skis but he was riding and doing what looked very similar to in-line tricks. I was amazed and knew this was for me!!!

The next morning I hopped on the internet and started researching these "tiny skis". I didn't really know exactly what to look up. So, I simply searched for "in-line snow skating" and found a website about skiboarding. Now knowing what the sport was called I started spending every free moment on-line reading everything I could about the sport. I kept running into phrases like "in-line skating for the snow" or "snow-blading" and excitedly decided this was going to by MY winter sport, and to splurge on getting myself a pair.

After several hours of pricing and comparison and reading over and over the tips provided on skiboards.com I decided on the "SnowJam 75cm Twin-Tip". They absolutely ROCK!!!

We hit the mountain on Saturday. This was to be the first of our 3 day snowfest. I started off slow on the Easy Rider trails, not trying to jump into anything to quick, I got my feel on few green trails for about 2 hours. It was going great!!! Then came the challenge.

"Wanna race?" my Nephew sneered at me when we got back to lodge for some hot chocolate.

"Why not" I said. We slammed the rest of our cocoa and we were off. He beat me down the blue slope appropriately titled "the raceway" the first 2 times but the third I flew!!! I felt in total control, which in turn let me speed down the mountain at a rate I never would have felt comfortable with even on in-line skates. He kept commenting on tight carving I was able to do on my skiboards.

The rest of the weekend only got better. I tried a few jumps, and yes I fell some, but all in all I just loved the freedom of movement and control that allowed me to push myself and have the time of my life!!!

Thanks,
Jay,
Portland, OR
Age: 24

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