Snowboarding
Red Bull Switchboard Brings Out the Triple Threats
Take advantage of the East Coast winter with surf and snow opportunity aplenty.
What a way to thaw after a frigid Atlantic surf
© Kyle Arcomano
It’s a common scenario for the West Coast. Storms sweep in off the Pacific Ocean, delivering waves to the coast and snow to the mountains — surfers, snowboarders, everybody’s happy.
They surf in Huntington Beach and then head to Big Bear. The Santa Cruz and SF crews descend heavily on Tahoe. If you’re living in Portland, Oregon, you’re an easy tactical strike from both point surf and back bowls. And for those who live and breathe the crossover life, Washington state has closely guarded surf spots within spitting distance of its hills.
But now picture heavy swells that come out of the Ohio Valley and serious dumps spawned by storms in the Deep South. That’s the case in New Jersey, a place with less celebrated surf and shred than its West Coast counterparts, but with no less passion for them.
Weather in the Northern Hemisphere moves from west to east, therefore the pressure systems that bring both snow and waves to the East Coast, are ones that have traveled across the country, often intensifying over land before the low moves offshore. It seems counterintuitive when we’re used to storms swinging off the Pacific into land, but these inland generated lows deliver healthy waves to mid-Atlantic beaches, pound-for-pound power that impresses watermen from around the world and snowfall that piles up furiously. And it’s one of the few places where you can surf and ride in the same day.
On Feb. 4, 100 surfers and snowboarders gathered to check off a bucket-list day, a morning surf session in Asbury Park, the famed city by the sea, followed by an afternoon of snowboarding at Mountain Creek in far North Jersey. And thanks to Red Bull’s bowl, recently placed into the Fourth Union Skate facility at the Casino building in Asbury Park, a little skate session as well.
Triple sport induced stoke
© Kyle Arcomano
Red Bull Switchboard 2017, group-wide cheesin'
© Kyle Arcomano
The month of January was like a surf trip in New Jersey, if anyone actually took surf trips to places where you surf until you simply have no feeling left in your feet. Every few days there was a new system either backdooring the coast and building south swell, sitting offshore and sending medium period bowling tubes, or barreling up the coast bringing massive ragged northeast swell with substantial coastal flooding.
The snow shred wasn’t bad either with one substantial dump in early January and a much more normal winter than the mild El Niño year of 2016, which saw little opportunity for even making snow.
It’s just natural that people who start snowboarding are going to be interested in surfing and vice versa. So we have a symbiotic relationship with the people by the beach.
“It’s just natural that people who start snowboarding are going to be interested in surfing and vice versa. So we have a symbiotic relationship with the people by the beach,” says Mountain Creek’s Eva Bonner. “And there aren’t that many places in the country where you can do both, especially in the same day.”
Lay-backs, well alive water, crete or snow
© Kyle Arcomano
This is Red Bull Switchboard at its very essence
© Kyle Arcomano
But to surf or ride in New Jersey still takes a bit of perseverance.
Unfortunately, the day of Switchboard saw the ocean completely lay down. The pattern of quick-moving storms gave way to a high-pressure system over the coast with days of wave-killing offshore winds. Surfers sometimes joke that that ocean is flat as a lake. This was beyond that. And even though there had been so much surf the month before, a few wave riders grabbed their boards and jumped in the water, just to check it off the bucket list. Fortunately, the bowl offered everyone a chance for a morning skate session. Skating on the boardwalk and snowboarding is still a pretty good day.
The assembled crew — a few surf legacy families, college surf club members, old school shredders, high school teams and a few high-profile surfers — all loaded onto a couple of busses bound for Mountain Creek in Vernon, New Jersey, the biggest snow resort in the state with 46 trails. Snow tends to be a bit more dependable than waves, so everyone was able to start doing some quick laps.
Waves and snow come and go, but not this bowl...
© Kyle Arcomano
Wooden bowl in an old carousel? Don't mind if I do
© Kyle Arcomano
"It was so fun to hang out all day with a bunch of guys and girls from our area that share the same enthusiasm for both surf and snowboarding. There’s not too many places in the world that have decent waves and mountains you can ride within a couple of hours of each other," said Rob Kelly, a pro surfer from Ocean City, New Jersey. "I’m stoked Red Bull did this event so we were able to fully realize how doable a surf and snowboard day really is."
Hunter Rainis, Secretary of the Monmouth University Surf Club says the surf/snow balance is all based on keeping an eye on conditions. Monmouth, which is just less than two miles from the beaches of Long Branch, one of the best south swell spots on the coast, also has a snowriders club and an outdoors club, both of which the surfers work with on a regular basis.
“You kind of have to chase the swell around some times, whether it’s up to Long Island [New York] or here in New Jersey. When the swells flat, we either skate or run up to the mountain.”
Rainis has family in Utah and has sampled some of the best terrain in the country, but still has a love for New Jersey.
"Mountain Creek is always a fun time, whether it's your skills on the rail or trying to hit a jump and get a little stylish with it."
