Board Insiders Day 1 at Stevens Pass

24 Feb, 2009


The big reason I came out to Washington was to come join the Board Insiders team for reviewing some boards.  Board Insiders is a new website coming out that features board reviews and videos of each board by riders you get to know.  I joined in a couple months ago and at SIA met the crew in person and committed to coming out for it.  I am here for 3 days on snow at Stevens Pass to demo the 09-10 boards with a crew of other riders.  
I’m on limited internet access so be patient with me returning comments and emails until Thursday night.
The best news was last night it finally started to snow in the Northwest and today by the time we hit up Stevens it was dumping on the mountain and no one was here!  
Today was the first day, finally meeting everyone involved and getting to check out the boards.  As a female rider for Board Insiders I kept to women’s specific boards to give my input on them.  I rode the Ride Compact, Arbor Cadence and Roxy Envi today on the mountain.
So I gotta say, I’ve been spoiled in Colorado.  Blue skies, light fluffy powder and coming back to Washington today definitely kicked my ass in getting back into the powder conditions and checking out how my gear would hold up for Washington….the true test.

Carlie my riding partner with the helmet cam 

So each board we took through the powder, heavy powder and rode around the mountain.  Occasionally we’d be riding on camera to capture us on each board in the moment.  I swear for a couple times in the morning, each time I got on camera I’d eat shit right away.  After we rode each board a bunch of runs, we’d come in off the snow and fill out our thoughts, write down and rate each board in how it handled in a variety of questions.  Then we’d take the board and hit up the camera to talk about how we liked the board, what we didn’t like and how we felt it rode on camera.  You can check out some of the reviews already on the Board Insiders Youtube.

Charlie riding through the Washington Trees on Stevens backside

Did I mention it finally snowed in Washington?

I gotta admit my gear is definitely needing to dry out.  Luckily my gear wasn’t soaked but it was definitely feeling the heavy NW snow coming down on it all day.  I haven’t had my hair soaked in a long time from riding.  
I’ve got two more days of riding and reviewing boards for Board Insiders.  The riders are fun to ride with and I’m having a great time doing it.

8 comments

About the author

Shay

From the beginning of time, I was Shannon. From the beginning of snowboarding, I was Shay. From the beginning of online communities, I was Shayboarder. In the end, I’m the writer, photographer, editor, publisher, guru of sorts, product tester, curvy girl, and most importantly the snowboarder behind it all. Follow me on this journey through snowboarding, mountain biking, traveling and fun experiences!

Related Posts

8 Comments

  1. hoon
    February 24, 2009

    another snowboard website? LOL.

    reply
  2. BigNolDogg
    February 25, 2009

    Looks fun,

    I am jealous. Looks like the first time i can hit up Steven’s is friday night (maybe :( )

    reply
  3. Shayboarder
    February 25, 2009

    Yep a snowboard website based around reviews. I like how it’ll be set up, you get familiar with the testers and what boards they like, what boards they don’t like. I was happy to join in and the riders are really great to be around plus it’s more boards to try out.

    Big, ah bummer! Yeah i’m only at Stevens till thursday then hanging out in Seattle friday before I leave Saturday. The mountain is getting dumped on…wait till you see day 2 photos.

    reply
  4. Amy
    February 26, 2009

    Nice Shay! It was good to meet you, hopefully we’ll get to do some testing together again!

    reply
  5. Shayboarder
    March 01, 2009

    Thanks Amy, it was great to meet you as well! Looking forward to the next time! Love that shot you took of the helmet from testing!

    reply

Leave a reply