Sand Boarding

There is little opportunity to snowboard in the desert, so lately I have had to turn to the next best thing, Sand board. Unfortunately I didn't pick up this past time until March, when the temperatures were already starting to climb. I brought the board out one while ATVing but I had no wax and it was the wrong type of sand. The next time I went out, I couldn't find anybody else to go out with me. Also I was lacking in a off road vehicle. This resulted in a lot of walking, and being close to the road. A Saudi man did arrive in a four wheel drive truck, and he offered to drive me around, but he seemed sketchy. Also this was an exploratory journey, the main purpose was testing equipment.

The first time out

The next few times out I managed to pull one of my coworkers along. The one time we tried renting ATVs. Unfortunately the only ones available were 100cc. These were very slow and could only make it up the least steep hills. Also the hills we were trying to board down too steep for the sand to be packed right. After a few feet the boards would bury in the sand and stop.

Another time we went out first thing in the morning after a night rain storm. The same steep hills from the time with the ATVs were ride-able because the wet sand formed a crust.

Now its June and the sun rises too early to head out at first light. A few days ago we decided to try sunset instead. To our surprise the sand was relatively cool. This was the first time we tried the sand sleds. I managed to convince 5 other people to join me on this trip. They all had a good time despite many falls. I hope to get back at least one more time before I take off from Riyadh next month.

Riding as the sun sets

Sand Sled

The coordinates are 24.366019, 46.287289