Here we are at the grand finale of Steve and Mel’s Great Sand Dunes adventure! In case you haven’t been following along, so far we’ve seen:
Chapter 1 – Sunrise Landscapes
Chapter 2 – Afternoon Planning
Chapter 3 – Dune Camping & Night Shots
Having checked out the appetizers, let’s dive into the main course; this is the one blog to rule them all; where we strap on the snowboard and find out what sandboarding is all about!

I awoke in the early pre-dawn light lying in a pile of sand. We had camped the night out in the open dune field. I was a little chilly, and there was a slight breeze. It was hard to tell exactly how long it would be until the sun came up, but I knew we had to get moving in order to catch the perfect light.

The plan was to descend Star Dune at first light. While hiking, we quickly realized that we weren’t going to get to the top quite in time. There is only a narrow window of time where the sun grated across the sand to reveal the immaculate textures of the sand. So I pulled out my camera and started shooting some landscape shots where we happened to be.

Silky sexy smooth sand shapes show sunken shadows.

OK, enough goofing around with landscape photos. We still had some serious business to attend to. It was time for a sunrise descent of Star Dune, perfect light be damned. By the way, Star Dune is the highest dune in North America, rising 750 feet above the valley floor. BTW, whenever possible, I like to have girls carry my gear for me.

Here we have Melissa gearing up for some serious sandboard shooting. Side note, when asked to put sunscreen on my back, she didn’t whine nearly as much as Carl did when I was in Mexico last December. True story.

Nearing the summit of Star Dune, I encountered more windswept textured sand, and a great view of the Sangre de Cristo Range. Star Dune didn’t actually turn out to be the best spot for sand boarding, as it wasn’t the steepest slope. Some of the best slopes were smaller, and had a steeper angle and a harder surface which allowed for more speed.

At this point in the journey, I had to relinquish my shooting duties and strap on the snowboard for some warm weather sand boarding. Melissa has posted some of her sand boarding shots on the Melissa Welsh Photography Blog. Part of our team effort on the adventure involved sharing camera gear, photo ideas, and blog fodder. With her permission, I’ve selected and edited a few photos that she took but did not publish on her blog to accompany my version of our sandboarding adventure.

Riding a snowboard down sand dunes is one of those things that sounds like more fun in theory than it really is in practice! First off, I was using a snowboard, which isn’t really designed for sand. This does not lend itself to high speeds. So in order to ride the dunes with a snowboard, you have to find the steepest slopes you can find just to be able to go fast enough to make any turns. The second part, is that when you turn, you really just sortof push sand down the hill. So you can’t really traverse too much. However, when you get a good slope, you can build up some speed, then make 3 or 4 good turns before you hit the bottom. Oh, then comes the hike back up! At 8700 ft above sea level, there isn’t a ton of oxygen to assist you in the battle against sand and gravity. While some parts of the dunes are easy to walk on, getting back up from the steep slopes usually involves getting back up some loose and steep pitches, where you take a step up then slide half a step down. Just think of excruciating post-holing and you get the idea.
While it’s not going to replace snow sliding any time soon, it’s still pretty addicting. I would get just enough of a run to experience the groove, but not enough to really satisfy my need for carving. So after every run I just kept wanting to go back for more and more!

Here I am contemplating High Dune, which is the second highest dune in the park. Oh, and by the way, I don’t think that I’m ever going to get the sand out of my snowboard boots.

I had this idea for a really cool angle on a shot, where I come sweeping across the front of the camera, shooting up a rooster tail of sand. Well, as I said, the sand doesn’t really perform like snow, and traversing was a real challenge. We tried to get the shot over and over, and every time I had to climb back out while baking in the sun. Finally the heat and exertion started to get to me, I caught a backside edge, and I suffered my only crash of the trip. Fortunately, Mel caught the whole thing for your entertainment.

But finally, we got a shot that was somewhat close to what I was thinking! Mel also posted this one in her set . . . but I had to include it here too, it’s the money shot! Want more action and arty sandboarding dune shots? Go here!

Well that’s the end of my first sandboarding adventure. While we were there, I saw some people with boards that were designed to be ridden on sand. It sure would have made the adventure a lot easier if I had a lighter board with bindings that worked with regular boots or sneakers. I’ve since found out that there are actual sandboards. There is even a Sandboarding World Championship! Who knew? I didn’t, until I checked Wikipedia!
Overall it was a great first dune experience. It’s a pretty cool adventure to head to the beach, strap on the board, get a great workout, all while working on your tan. I’m definitely looking forward to heading back sometime with someone else who has a board so that I can both ride the dunes and shoot some action shots. Maybe I’ll even get a real sandboard. Who’s in?