Aspen Mountain Boarding

Who needs snow or waves? Board riders have discovered another way to hang 10 - surfing dirt.

The homegrown sport of mountain boarding is gaining popularity with children and adults, who ride everywhere from Colorado mountainsides to drainage ditches.

``It's a blast . . . a huge adrenaline rush,'' said Gina Harrison, 29, who was among the first to pick up the sport in the mid-1990s. ``And it's so addictive.''

Harrison lives in Glenwood Springs with husband Keli Harrison, and the two are waiting impatiently for their new ``latest and greatest'' mountain boards to arrive in the mail, Gina said.

``We just ordered them - we're so excited,'' she said. ``It's one of the things we take camping with us, because anywhere we go camping, there is a downhill dirt road.''

Mountain boarding began in 1993 as one avid snowboarder's answer to the summertime lack-of-powder blues.

Jason Lee, 34, of Colorado Springs got the idea from skateboards that had adapter kits with big rubber tires for off-road riding.

``We wanted something that would carve like a snowboard, but on dirt, land or pavement,'' Lee said.

He and his fellow surfing and snowboarding friend, Patrick McConnell, took the off-road skateboard idea a step further by making the board longer and putting bindings and larger pneumatic (air-filled) tires on it.

``Just by making larger diameter wheels, it did a lot,'' Lee said.

Lee and McConnell began the actual production of mountain boards in 1994 with a run of five boards and formed the company MountainBoard Sports in Colorado Springs.

In 1995, they boosted production to 35 boards and haven't looked back since.

Now the two extreme athletes call their company MBS MountainBoards, and they manufacture from 15,000 to 20,000 boards a year at plants in Asia and eastern Europe.

Most mountain boards are 3- to 4-feet long, and some models have brakes, which makes the idea of screaming down a mountain at speeds of up to 40 mph while balancing on a thin board more palatable to beginners, Lee said.

Lee said he doesn't use brakes, but he is one of only about two dozen people in the world who is considered a ``professional'' mountain boarder.

He holds the unofficial mountain board high jump record of 17 feet, 4 inches, and the long distance jump record of 54 feet, 3 inches.

And he has won several national titles in ``boardercross,'' which entails four racers going full-blast down a mountain track full of berms and jumps to see who can get to the bottom first.

Lee said the sport actually is easier than snowboarding because the wheeled board is easier to control.

``I could teach you to mountain board in an hour,'' he said.

``It's a common misconception that it's dangerous and hard, and it's easier to make turns, control your speed and carve than on a snowboard.''

The typical rider is from 8 to 28 years old, Lee said, but he has taught people in their 50s and 60s who never had been on a board before.

One of the best places to learn to mountain board in Colorado is at Snowmass Village Resort at Aspen, Lee said.

Michelle Bright, assistant camp director at Aspen Skiing Co., said the sport really is gaining popularity at Snowmass.

``The younger kids, once they start doing it, they love it,'' Bright said.

``The little ones are so cute lugging their boards around, because the boards are almost bigger than they are.''

The Snowmass mountain board weeklong camps for children have been booked solid all summer, said Sue Way, children's director for Ski and Snowboard Schools of Aspen.

``It's exciting because it's a way for kids to enjoy what the mountain has in the summertime, which translates into snowboarding in the winter,'' Way said.

Snowmass will host the first U.S. Open Mountain Board Championships on Aug. 21-23, where pros will compete for a $3,000 purse.

Avid boarder Mitch Stegall helped organize the Open, which is a continuation of the sport's national championships that began in 1997 but is more inclusive of novices, he said.

The three-day event will include boardercross races and the ``crowd-pleasing'' Big Air championships.

Stegall expects from 100 to 150 competitors to draw a crowd of about 3,000, many of whom will also be at Snowmass to enjoy the two nights of live music at the Gore Canyon Festival.

``We consider Colorado the home to mountain boarding, so we're really excited to bring the Open to Snowmass,'' he said.

Other Colorado resorts that are open to mountain boarders are Keystone, Copper Mountain and Winter Park.

INFOBOX

How to get started

* Where to buy (some outlets have rentals):

All Board Sports, Boulder; Alternative Edge, Telluride; American Ski Exchange, Vail; Aspen Divers, Basalt; Balanced Rock Bike & Ski, Monument; BC Surf & Sport, various locations; BSR Sport, Glenwood Springs; Colorado Kite & Ski, Colorado Springs; Christy Sports, various locations; D&E Snowboards, Aspen/Snowmass; Extreme Scooters, Greeley; Galyan's, various; Gart Sports, various; Guru Sports, Nederland: Kristi Mountain Sports, Alamosa; Powder Pursuits, Steamboat Springs; Powder Tools, Winter Park; REI, various; Sidewinder Sports, Aspen/Snowmass; The Underground Snowboard Outlet, Breckenridge; Traz, Grand Junction; Zippy Whodoo Extreme Bikes, Montrose.

* Equipment: Prices range from $200s to $400s. Boards are 3-4 feet long with brakes and bindings optional.

* Where to board: Sky High BMX, Arvada; Lake Arbor, Arvada; Pikes Peak BMX Track, Colorado Springs; Russell drainage ditch, Colorado Springs; Shadow Gulch drainage ditch, Colorado Springs; Cottonwood Park, Colorado Springs; Ruby Hill, Denver; Governors Park, Denver; Big Guy Hill, Durango; Rist Canyon, Fort Collins; Mines Ditch, Golden; Bookshelf Cliffs, Grand Junction; Snowmass Village Resort, Aspen; Keystone Resort; Copper Mountain Resort; Winter Park Resort.

* Lessons:

Snowmass Village Resort

Children: $35/day with weeklong camp package; $65/day for drop-in morning lesson

Adults: $150 for 2 1/2-hour private lesson; $250 for 6-hour private lesson. Call 800-525-6200, ext. 4570

Best Web site: www.mountainboard.com