No, Snurfing is NOT dead!

Ask most people what snurfing is and they'll either respond "huh??" or "it's that yellow board from the 60s or 70s that started snowboarding".  Either it doesn't exist or it existed long, long ago.  If you look a bit more carefully, though (i.e. do some google/YouTube searching of "snurfer" and "snurfing"), not only is snurfing not dead, it is very much alive and well, enjoying a steadily growing grass-roots resurgence.  At PHNX Boards, we call this a "retro-volution", combining retro for something in the past and revolution for a disruption of the present.

A combination of nostalgia and a response to the skyrocketing costs of resort snowboarding and skiing is causing more and more people to re-consider or newly discover snurfing.  I say newly discover because all the marketing of snowboarding and skiing drives people to their expensive equipment and resorts, and people just don't realize all those snowy hills all around them are theirs to be snurfed!

The photo above shows just a few modern snurfers, introduced only in the last few years.  Yes, these are all NEW snurfers, not eBay relics, including the yellow one, a recently issued replica of the original Snurfer-brand snurfer.  On the far right is Burton's retro snurfer, the longest and widest of the bunch.  When Burton starts making snurfers again, you know the sport is coming back. The others are different styles of the original "board and a rope" concept, with variations in length, width, sidecut, and style.  In the middle is our own PHNX Board, seemingly the same board and rope concept, but the only one with several critical differences (more about them later).  What distinguishes all of these snurfers from a snowboard is the lack of bindings and metal edges.  Snurfers are not designed for the hard-packed or icy snow of groomed resorts that require greater control (and $$$) offered by strapping in with bulky snowboard boots and bindings on expensive p-tex/metal edge construction. BTW, don't get me wrong, resort snowboarding is awesome!  It's just that Snurfers are meant to be quick and easy, inexpensive, hop-on, hop-off boards for all that terrain outside of resorts, the hills and woods that are all around.  They generally cost from $100 to $200 compared to $500 to $1200 for a snowboard setup (let alone the cost of lift tickets, transportation, and lodging), and you don't need any other equipment.  Snurfing is just another great way to enjoy all that snow!

Despite the renewed interest, a few hurdles remain.  The first is this curious attitude among snowboarders that snurfing is for children only and not cool for teenagers or adults.  While it may have originally been marketed to children, as it gained popularity older and older kids tried it out and realized just how fun it was.  That included Jake Burton who refined his snurfer and eventually created the modern resort snowboard.  Just because the sport was originally for kids or that it evolved does not mean it is no longer a great way to experience fresh snow.  As a skier, snowboarder, and snurfer, I'm psyched to get out into the snow however and whenever I can.  I can't imagine why any snowboarder wouldn't own a snurfer as well for those days they can't get to a resort or don't want to spend the money, effort, and time doing so.  Fresh powder is fresh powder, however you carve it up!

The other hurdle is the competition between snurfing (and for that matter, any other outdoor winter sport) and electronic entertainment/sedentary entertainment.  Its just easier to stay inside and watch a movie or play video games than suit up and go outside.  And, with snurfing, yes, you actually have to walk up the hill!   Lot's of people just don't want to make the effort, but they are missing out on a whole lot of fun (and endless fresh tracks!).  For those who would be willing to make the effort, i.e. all those active people paying for their monthly gym memberships, it just maybe didn't occur to them that they can get an unbelievable workout AND much fresher air....outside snurfing!

OK, so you don't have a snurfer but you want one?  Do some research.  If all you want is a really cheap replica, you can get one for about $100.  If you want a snurfer that retains the original concept but adds some critical new features, it may be worth paying a bit more for a PHNX Board.   The difference between a PHNX Board and ALL other snurfers on the market today is the double-patented Board-to-Ski shape and Rip-Cord Binding-Brake System.  Yes, it is still a hop-on, hop-off snurfer BUT these features give you more control.  The secret to the PHNX Board system is the fact that the steering/handling rope is not a fixed rope like all the others (look closely at the photo) rather an active rope that activates a binding that locks you onto the board.  In addition, the binding has an integrated safety brake to keep the board from running away if you fall during a run.

Whatever you choose, join the retrovolution and have a blast with the very much LIVING winter sport of snurfing!

PHNX Boards' Amazing FREE Lift System!

Breaking News!
Boston, MA 01/17/18

For all you skiers and snowboarders out there used to paying $50, $75, $100 and more for a lift ticket to your favorite resort, PHNX Boards would like to introduce you to our amazing FREE lift system.  The photo on the left shows a genuine PHNX Board snurfer next to the where the lift system goes (actually, it goes anywhere...more about that later!).  On the right is one half of the lift system...a right foot with a snow boot on it.  The other half of the system...the left foot with a snow boot on it, is out of frame but soon to be in frame.  The way the system works is amazingly simple: at the bottom of any hill with snow on it, you grab your PHNX Board snurfer and then you move your right foot forward up the hill, followed by your left foot, then your right foot, on and on until you reach the top of the hill.  Amazingly, along with your feet comes your whole body and your PHNX Board! There are no lines to get in, no moving chairs to hit the back of your legs, and no lift operators checking for a ticket. 

Once you are at the top,  take a deep breath and feel incredibly satisfied that you just got some very healthy exercise, not in some sweaty gym but outside in the fresh air.  No gym fees, no lift ticket!  Notice that you are not at all cold even though it may be snowing.  Also notice there are no crowded slopes, just fresh powder snow waiting to be snurfed by you.  Now it is time to step on your PHNX Board and pick your line through the trees or open slope, carving turns back and forth and enjoying the first of many runs, each run a "first tracks" run all to yourself!   And then, because the PHNX Boards lift system amazingly follows you wherever you go, once you finish your run you simply operate the system to get back up the hill!  Wow!

But wait, there's more!  If you want to snurf with your friends, they can use the same system and gain the same benefits, all without any cost!  All you have to do is show them how it works.  Incredible!

$995 Canada Goose vs $159 PHNX Board?

What? Comparing a parka to a PHNX Boards' snurfer?  Ridiculous?

No, in fact, not only does the comparison make sense, but the PHNX Board actually destroys the parka in a value and benefits match-up!

So, first of all, what is the purpose of a parka?  Pretty simple, right?  To keep you warm.  Now, the purpose of a PHNX Board is also pretty simple: to have fun in the snow.  No, it's not designed to keep you warm like a parka, BUT, the superiority of the PHNX Board is due to it actually providing MORE WARMTH than a parka, and doing it as a BY-PRODUCT of its use!  With a PHNX Board, you get to have fun in the snow AND keep warm!

Proof?

Here's a photo taken today, in 12 degree weather outside of Boston, in the woods behind my home (oh yeah, a secret stash right outside my door!).

Notice that the parka in the photo is NOT EVEN BEING WORN (in this case, a Salomon brand parka that cost about $180)!  Why?  Because even in 12 degree weather, PHNX Boarding generates your own heat, so much so that you'll want to take your parka OFF, just as I did!

OK so the PHNX Board beats the parka for warmth.  What about exclusivity?  The Canada Goose parka, at $995, is designed to be exclusive, since not a lot of people can afford that kind of parka.  Well, at $159, a PHNX Board is EVEN MORE EXCLUSIVE because it is hand crafted in small batches and we've only sold in the hundreds, not the thousands...or tens of thousands.  You want to be exclusive?   Show up with a PHNX Board at your local sledding hill!

Lastly, what about fashion?  No way a PHNX Board will win here, right?  Wrong again.  What is more fashionable than locally sourced and eco-minded products produced...without killing animals?  PHNX Boards are hand crafted primarily from renewable resources; North American grown maple wood veneers, assembled and finished in the US, and we don't use dead animals to adorn them.  Canada Goose parkas are made outside the US, primarily of polyester (a plastic generally manufactured from dirty petroleum), and the fur accent is made from dead coyotes.  Dang, what's so fashionable about that?

So, there you have it!   For $995 you can get ONE Canada Goose parka and let your friends know you have more money than they do, OR you can buy SIX, yes SIX PHNX Boards, one for yourself and FIVE for your friends and you can all have fun, stay warm, and be exceedingly exclusive and fashionable!

...Oh, and btw, with a PHNX Board, since you'll be outside in the hills and woods you might even see a living coyote!

(ok, here's the disclaimer: I eat bacon and wear leather shoes!  It's called humor...but as they say "often in jest, truth doth rest".  You really do stay warm when you are active on a PHNX Board, and if you stay fit by snurfing you will look even more fashionable in your $995 parka)

Before Snowboarding...before Snurfing...

...way, way before...like 300 years ago...there was Petranboarding!

Last winter, stuck in the office and dreaming of snow, I found myself watching a super chill, completely sublime documentary featured by Patagonia that explored a small village in Turkey that had been "Petranboarding" for 300 years. The village is called Petran and the board they've been hand crafting for centuries is simply called a Petranboard; wooden planks in a "toboggan-esque" style, but ridden standing up snurfer fashion, without bindings.  According to the author and producer, Alex Yoder, Mythology claims Petranboarding was invented by a small Muslim boy who used his prayer board (a board instead of a rug, since textiles were scarcer than wood) to slide on snow.  It was a chance encounter, but "after a grueling hike in waist-deep snow, he went on a date with gravity he'd never forget".  And so, Petranboarding was invented and exists to this day, virtually unchanged, but -alas- barely holding onto the interests of kids.   As explained in the video, "The youth is so caught up in social media and popular entertainment culture that they're simply not excited about Petranboarding's craftsmanship...they don't care to learn the craftsmanship and as soon as they're old enough most of them will move to the city".  Boy, that sounds like the same old lament of this blogger, doesn't it?  Maybe one day, like I did, they will return from the city (or escape for a bit) and rediscover the joy of their childhood riding fresh tracks on wooden boards.

If you too are stuck in the office dreaming of snow, dreaming perhaps of a simpler time with simpler pleasures, do yourself a favor and read about Petranboarding

...and then watch the video (it's at the bottom of the page, along with some other cool snurfer videos).

...and then, well, since Petranboards aren't for sale outside of Turkey (yet!) you'll probably want to grab a PHNX Board...infused with the original Petran spirit!

Free Shipping...and other lies!

A potential customer called on "Black Friday" and wanted to know if we offered free shipping.  I explained that no, we did not, and that if we did offer "free" shipping, we'd have to raise the price to include it.  We are so accustomed to phony marketing in this country, people truly believe you can get something of value for free, when in fact you are mostly paying too much anyway. Sure, retailers will often reduce prices in order to move product, and "free" shipping is just another way of offering a discount and calling it something else.  But, just as often, they will set phony high prices on an item to begin with so that then they can offer a phony sale or that "Free" shipping.  Have you ever read the fine print on a Kohl's catalog (or Macy's or most other large retailers)?  Here's Kohl's:

"Sale" prices and percentage savings offered in the advertisement are discounts from Kohl's "Regular" or "Original" prices.  The "Regular" or "Original" price of an item is the former or future offered price for the item or a comparable item by Kohl's or another retailer.  Actual sales may not have been made at the "Regular" or "Original" prices, (emphasis added by the blogger) and intermediate markdowns may have been taken. "Original" prices may not have been in effect during the past 90 days or in all trade areas.  Merchandise in this advertisement could be offered at the same or lower "Sale" prices during future promotional events..." (November 30, 2017 flyer)

Can you blame people for expecting everything to be discounted, and shipping to be for free when you have this kind of phony pricing to be the norm in our culture?  How can a small business compete, when they try and offer a genuine, hand-crafted product at a fair price and don't want to join the phony merchandising game?  It's a challenge, for sure, especially given all the other costs that go into running a business that somehow must be paid for out of every "Sale" (web fees, advertising, rent, supplies, etc.)  .

Oh, BTW, the reality of shipping costs at PHNX Boards is that we lose money pretty much every time, mostly because we haven't figured out the algorithm, but also because we realize there is a point at which people will hesitate to buy (those who aren't expecting free shipping, anyway).  As an example, we shipped a board recently to Oregon and it cost us $38, while we only recouped $17.95.  That person got a $20.05 "sale" without even knowing it, and we recouped that much less.

So, in the spirit of the season, PHNX Boards is now offering a HUGE 50% OFF SALE on all of our Boards, with FREE Shipping*

*note: this sale assumes a "Regular" and "Original" price double the current listed price plus whatever the web-store shipping algorithm spits out.  Uh, yeah, that equals exactly what the boards are selling for, plus shipping, but if it makes you feel better, go ahead and tell everyone you got 50% off with "Free" shipping!

AYADOAW?

Years ago, while living in Europe, I signed up for a weekend bus trip to a famous ski resort in the Alps.  It was to be a fantastic ski adventure with a group of friends and none of us had to drive.  But when I called my best friend at the time, he said he'd have to miss it because it was Super Bowl weekend.  Not being a huge football fan, it hadn't occurred to me that this was the "big" weekend.  I appealed to my friend, painting a picture of fresh snow, alpine peaks, fast skiing, cold beer, and camaraderie.  No luck.  How could anyone miss the Super Bowl...even if we were living in Europe, where you'd have to go to an American bar to watch, since the only football anyone cares about over there is soccer?

I was at a loss for words, bummed that my friend would miss out on an epic trip and that I'd miss out on skiing with him.  But then, without thinking, I blurted out: Are you a Doer or a Watcher?  

I don't know where the words came from, but it worked.

My friend came on the trip and if you ask him who won the Super Bowl that year, I doubt he'd know who it was.  But if you ask him about the ski trip I guarantee he'll tell you all about it: about the all-night bus ride, the cool hotel we stayed at, and especially the last run of the last day, where we decided to take one more chairlift ride to the top, and then raced at breakneck speed the entire 3,000 vertical feet to the waiting bus (and the last ones on the bus, much to the chagrin of the waiting group!).  Yeah, he missed an exciting football game on TV, but instead of watching other people "do" something, he was "doing", he was living, he was starring in his own far more memorable adventure.

As I've noted before in my blog and videos, I'm often outside in the snow all alone, or with very few people around.  Gorgeous blue sky days after a fresh snowfall, with hills all around and only a handful of "doers" taking advantage, and more often than not, the doers are younger kids, still excited to grab a sled or a tube or a snurfer (!) and hike up a hill to come right back down. Fresh air, fun, exercise. Not yet so immersed in digital culture that they've forgotten the joy of playing outside in the snow rather than hanging out inside (sedentary) and watching football or a movie on TV ....watching other people live, or playing video games...watching other digital people live!

So, Are you a Doer or a Watcher?

Am I Dreaming, or is it Snowing?

Well, I guess I'm dreaming since here in the Boston area, we have yet to have our first snow for the 17/18 winter.  The mild fall, which made for great soccer, extended into November, and it is only now getting cold.  The mountains are starting to see some white, but in the burbs we have to rely on memories from last winter and patiently await that first snow (memories like this photo looking out to my patio, and the wooded hill behind my home).  The beauty of a snurfer is being able to take advantage of that precious first snow, when it does come, without having to drive all the way to a resort. And even if you did drive to a resort the first snow there is always packed down (and icy!) to create a base for the snow...and crowds...to come.  With a snurfer, you get that incredible feeling of powder surfing from day one, and you get it all to yourself...and free! There is nothing quite like the first tracks of every winter, and two or three inches are all you need.  Some of my best memories of snurfing and winter are those first runs on lightly frosted grassy hills.  Fresh, cold, white, falling snow is always such a positive, powerful expression of the beauty and wonder of nature...in winter. 

Has it snowed where you are?  Are you ready to snurf?