Tahoe Pro Compares Getting Barreled To Backcountry Skiing
Freeride World Tour champ and Tahoe local Connery Lundin ventured into Lake Tahoe's backcountry during this recent dump to pursue the highest form of skiing's euphoria, comparing it to surfing's ecstatic feeling of getting tubed.
"I’ve never been barreled surfing, but I’d imagine this is the only feeling that compares!"
Connery furthers the parallels to equipment selection (quivers are a term for both skiing and surfing, it's worth mentioning!), explaining that he's skiing the @blizzard_tecnica Hustle 10 180 cm. "Very 'under gunned' as a surfer might say, and it was awesome!"
Being undergunned refers to having a board that is too small for the conditions. Like skiing, when waves get bigger and more powerful, the lines you want to draw get bigger, too, and so you need a board that is stronger, more powerful, and able to respond accordingly. Such as using skis less than 90mm underfoot in two feet of fresh pow!
The Encyclopedia of Surfing (written by surf historian Matt Warshaw) defines being undergunned as a situation when "a surfer has a difficult time catching waves (guns are designed primarily for paddling speed) and, once up and riding, will struggle to maintain control and avoid 'spinning out.' When big waves arrive at locations generally known for small surf—along much of the eastern seaboard, for example—locals are often undergunned."
Last week, we talked about the parallel between bottom turns in surfing and skiing (turns out, they're pretty similar)!
Related: X Games Skier Draws Comparison To Kelly Slater's Iconic 'Bottom Turn'
This week, we're talking about skiing's equivalent to surfing's ultimate pleasure: getting barreled. Call it the green room, the tube, getting shacked, pitted, or whatever funky lingo you like best, getting barreled is always the end goal when you paddle out at a good spot.
You have to find a wave hollow and long enough to provide shade, and then you have to be good enough to set yourself up in the right position to get covered and come out the other side (they don't tell you that's the hard part).
Surfers travel for barrels, they buy boards specifically designed for barreling waves, and they dream about those few seconds. The longer the better, but even when those moments are few and far between, it's enough to continue the search.
Skiing has... the white room.
The white room is a state of euphoria when a skier's vision is completely obscured by the powder in their face, getting face shots as they make their way down the mountain.
Skiers buy powder skis (our version of narrow, thruster shortboards--or single fin guns, or whatever) and we track the storm (for pow, not for swell) and then we re-schedule our entire week to get fresh tracks and face shots.
We fight anyone who would come before us to secure our pow turns as fresh, like surfers battle for priority in crowded lineups.
Or we take matters into our own hands and head to the backcountry, our version of far-away islands like Indonesia or off the coast of Baja.
Connery goes surfing in the ocean and... on the lake.
Gotta make the most of those wind swells (sooo fetch!) when you live in Tahoe, right?
I actually packed a board myself (mostly for those winter swells in Santa Cruz, but the lake looks like a hoot). I might be a little overgunned since it's a downrailed 8'0 single fin best for surfing Sunset Beach. But fun is fun!
Washed up surfers-turned-skiers can relate.
Related: Lake Tahoe Hit With The "Biggest Storm Of The Season"
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