The snow covered winters here in Alaska usually force me to put my mountainboard away for a few months, and turn to snowboarding as an alternative. I’ve found that there’s much to learn from snowboarding that carries over nicely to mountain boarding. This makes my in the mountains with my snowboard, in a way, valuable mountainboard training time.

While this training is valuable, and snowboarding is a great sport, I never loose that urge to mountainboard. I find myself missing the more agressive nature of mountain boarding, the bond between board and rider that is only obtained after the most brutal, dirt-tossing wrecks.

Mountainboarding is fast and often times unforgiving. Decisions must be made quickly and carefull observation of the underlying terrain is essential. As I remember the feel of the dirt sliding under my tires, and of rocks rattling under my board I realize that there is much to miss about mountainboarding.

Some of you might have read my last post, “Defy Winter” Check it out if you missed it. “Defy Winter” was an official invite to pull out the mountainboards and ride this month. Mountainboard.net wants to post your slush slashing photos in a future article. You’ll need to hurry because the deadline for submission is the end of this month (February). The article will post at the beginning of March.

Just send your photos to Editor@Mountainboard.net. Make sure to include your name.

Have fun and be careful on your powerslides. I found out the hard way that you slide a long ways, let’s just say, “watch out for trees, no matter how far away they might seem.”