AFM Blog: Noboarding!

Welcome to the magic of Noboarding! The best sensation ever!

Trust me, it’s 100 times better than snowboarding! I’m so hooked! It feels like surfing on pow... you take full control of your body’s impact on your board through your toes and your heels. It’s such a great adrenaline rush, all the way, all the time!

The GT Memorial is the one event I wouldn’t miss for the world. It’s a Noboard race organized in the dead end of the Kootenays to commemorate Greg Todds, who died in an avalanche 5 years ago. He, Cholo and their crew had decided to get rid of bindings in deep pow and developed that pad which allows you to surf and skate on powder.

Vanessa and I started the adventure with a bit of trouble because of bad rental car service in Castlegar, where everything closes at 4.30 PM apparently. We were stuck there for the night, hoping to get a car early enough to drive all the way to the race in time... The rental car thing didn’t get any better when we realized they didn’t have any 4-wheel drive or any proper mountain car at all. We over-packed the small car they gave us and then realized the car had summer tires. It was super sketchy knowing that we'd have to drive on very narrow, snowy, slippery mountain roads. But it was either that or hanging out in that ugly town doing nothing for the whole weekend... So we jumped in the car and somehow made it just in time.

Our luck came back as soon as we arrived in Noboard-land for the 5th Annual GT Memorial. We showed up at the same time as Gigi and Shandy Campos, who took us straight to the sledding spot. Of course we didn’t have any sleds of our own, but once there we instantly got rides and doubled-up all the way to the race field. It was soo cool to show up and find Romain, Jussi, Benji, Shin, Rube, Mikey, etc... and of course local legends Scott Penner, Cholo Burns and Jenna Lowe. I met Scott years back and he made me fall in love with Noboarding, and looking at what he can do without bindings, he is my hero!

I had missed the women’s race but I got a run in with the last guy’s heat... and the place was tracked already! It was my first run in 2 years on a Noboard and I still had so much fun riding down that field of pillows and trees! A good part of the fun is knowing you are definitely gonna crash at some point! Of course guys like Gigi and Terje killed it but the locals rule at that game, we are in their backyard and it was Young Dave who won the race. I had never seen a contest winner holding on so tight to his trophy, he probably spooned with it after partying all night! We all went down and an auction was organized to raise money for Greg’s kids. I couldn’t believe how much stuff was sold. Then we danced all night to DJ Solomon’s tunes! The weekend was a blast, there was such a great vibe!

We stayed some extra days with Cholo and Jenna to shoot a couple things. We went up and spent the first day doing Noboard runs in heavy but super fun no roping snow. The snow conditions were a bit sketchy and what could happen when conditions aren't right did happen. At the bottom of a run, Cholo set a small avalanche off. It wasn’t a big or deep fracture... and what appeared to be just a small slide was enough to fully bury him. Luckily this happened right before our eyes. So we all ran and got him out in no time at all and he was fine. That was a serious wake-up call.

A couple of days later we went back up and the conditions were even more dangerous... We set off 2 avalanches and decided go home. I had that weird feeling, we were not welcome in the mountains that day and I relaxed only when we got back to the cars. Happy and lucky to be safe and alive. The highway was closed because of avalanche danger and we had to drive all around the mountains on small roads... it took us 15 hours to get to Vancouver.

Some days the mountain is a fun playground, and some others it’s a giant monster ready to eat you up. It’s crucial to listen to your surroundings and hold back when the conditions are not right. The few days we spent with Cholo and Jenna were amazing, I won’t forget their extraordinary hospitality. Long life to Noboarding! My favorite thing ever! Be safe.