Exclusive: Lib Tech Chewgash Powder Prototype Snowboard

Is it a Wakeboard? Is it a Surfboard? No it’s the Chewgash!

Renowned snowboard shape pioneers Mervin Manufacturing, the guys responsible for Gnu and Lib Tech snowboards are at it again. As if riding pow isn’t fun enough, rumour was rife that long term employees Dave Mounts and Steven Cobb have been working behind the scenes to create the ultimate powder riding experience. I emailed Pete Saari at Mervin to get to the bottom of the story:

The Lib Tech Canoe getting put through it's paces

“Our Surfer, Skater, Shipping Manager Dave Mounts is the man behind the Chewgash surf style pow boards…Dave hates the hard pack and loves to slash…Our Experimental Division crew whips up some fun prototypes to fulfil the nastiest shred fantasies. The Chewgash was Dave’s fantasy slash machine.”

Sounded intriguing so I contacted Dave Mounts to find out a bit more, it turns out the Chewgash is an evolution of the Canoe, a powder specific prototype from the middle of the last decade:

“The original Canoe was made in 2005, by Steven Cobb of the experimental division, as a concept board for SIA. There were a couple of these boards and some attempts at noboarding went down on them. A couple of years later I threw some bindings on it and was blown away by how well it rode in the powder. The wide body with the narrow pintail seems to slingshot you out of your pow turns. Steven and I had been talking about refining the shape of this board for a couple of years and just recently had the opportunity to do so, given the green light by Mike and Pete. The newer Canoe/Chewgash isn’t quite as wide thru the middle and almost looks twin shaped. It is more manageable on conditions other than powder and slashes even better in the deep stuff with a new stiffer tail.”

“Very surfy and the best feeling pow turns I’ve ever had!”

As far as buying one of these very limited pow sticks goes, you’d have more luck buying a pork sausage in a kosher butchers. According to Pete Saari “No one can buy one, but they are pretty sick!” Damn shame, but another great example of how Mervin’s family style involvement of the whole workforce in developing concepts generates some fantastic board designs.

Big thanks to Dave and Pete at Mervin for their time and the pics.