Trip Report
OGL Gear Adventure #1 - Hike Mt. Tam and Mountain Board down to free food

by Chris McNamara
Monday March 26, 2012 1:00pm
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Looking down at Mill Valley and the Bay Area from top of Mt Tam. Atom ...
Looking down at Mill Valley and the Bay Area from top of Mt Tam. Atom 95X Mountainboard.
Credit: Chris McNamara
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This is the first OutdoorGearLab Gear Adventure, a monthly feature where we dream up a new adventure, test some gear, and hopefully inform and amuse.



Here is a link to the full article with photos and notes on the gear I used
>>OGL Gear Adventure #1 - Hike Mt. Tam and Mountain Board down to free food






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Boogie generously gave me her leash to help pull the board up hill to ...
Boogie generously gave me her leash to help pull the board up hill to the top of Mt Tam.
Credit: Chris McNamara
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And here is an article on What is a mountain board? And other frequently asked questions

And here is a little promo video of people who actually know what they are doing on Mountainboards


  Trip Report Views: 3,883
Chris McNamara 		About the Author
Climbing Magazine once computed that three percent of Chris McNamara’s life on Earth had been spent on the face of El Capitan – an accomplishment that left friends and family pondering Chris’s sanity. He has climbed El Capitan more than 70 times and holds nine big wall speed climbing records. In 1998 Chris did the first Girdle Traverse of El Capitan, an epic 75-pitch route that begs the question, “Why?”

Outside Magazine called Chris one of “the world’s finest aid climbers.” He is the winner of the 1999 Bates Award from the American Alpine Club and founder of the American Safe Climbing Association, a nonprofit group that has replaced over 5000 dangerous anchor bolts. He is a graduate of UC Berkeley and serves on the board of the ASCA and the Rowell Legacy Committee. He has a rarely updated adventure journal, maintains BASEjumpingmovies.com, and also runs a Lake Tahoe home rental business.

Comments
nutjob

Sport climber
Almost to Hollywood, Baby!
  Mar 26, 2012 - 06:16pm PT
This looks fun! Seems kinda tricky to find a hill that's the right balance between boring and death.
Chris McNamara

SuperTopo staff member
Author's Reply  Mar 26, 2012 - 06:48pm PT
Nutjob, i thinked you summed up the entire sport in one sentence. Yeah, eKat, definitely not as deadly as BASE. But i think much easier to accumulate minor injuries.
justin01

Trad climber
sacramento
  Mar 26, 2012 - 09:52pm PT
You should try one of these, I did a couple runs on a buddies quite a few years ago.

http://www.google.com/search?q=dirtsurfer&hl=en&client=safari&tbo=u&tbm=isch&source=univ&sa=X&ei=4g9xT5fPD8LZiQLU5OyqDA&ved=0CDIQsAQ&biw=768&bih=928

Scary how fast they can go, and the faster you go, the more stable it feels.
Chris McNamara

SuperTopo staff member
Author's Reply  Mar 27, 2012 - 12:01am PT
justin01, that looks really cool. way faster than a mountain board. the web site for the main site is not so functional ... got any other links to dirtsurfers?
lars johansen

Trad climber
West Marin, CA
  Mar 27, 2012 - 04:22pm PT
Nice report Chris! Railroad is a little slow right now. It gets marginally faster as it dries out. Been mountainboarding for close to 10 years and know some really challenging rides in the greater Bay Area. Write me for further info if you'd like. Good job presenting a rather obscure sport.

Best

lars
nutjob

Sport climber
Almost to Hollywood, Baby!
  Mar 27, 2012 - 09:02pm PT
Once I stuck an old twin mattress on top of a cardboard shipping box for a refrigerator, and slid down a steep grass hill. The mattress absorbed so much shock that it really accelerated pretty quickly. I miscalculated the runout at the end of the hill, slid across a flat section and ended up in the blackberry bushes on the far side. Yowza!

I'll bet near Mt Tam you can find some SERIOUS long grass slopes to try this, maybe with football pads and helmet. Rig up some handles on the mattress to make sure little hills don't knock you loose.
Dirka

Trad climber
Hustle City
  Mar 28, 2012 - 02:58pm PT
Looked fun. TFPU.
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