Looking for a different way to have fun in the snow? A Lumi Powboard pow surfer may be the ticket.

Pow surfers look like a short snowboard without bindings or a large skateboard without wheels. Riders can wear any type of footwear they like, from snowboard boots to work boots. 

Pow surfers are a throwback to Snurfers, an early-stage incarnation of a snowboard. Snurfers come with a rope to hold and no bindings. 

“So, this is just like a modern version of that,” Doug Sprau said of the Lumi Powboard. “Instead of a rope you have a leash and it has no bindings. It's more of a surfy feel and a fun floaty [feeling].”  

He said a Lumi Powboard can be used anywhere from the backyard to the backcountry, given there are about 5 inches of powder to make it work. Since they have no bindings, and no edges, they are not for resort use. 

"I’ll just hike around and run the dog with it and you find a nice deep hill and it's fun for stuff like that. That's kind of what I based it around,” he said. “It's a fun thing to go out and just hang out with a group of people.” 

The fun-filled nature of pow surfers make up for the learning curve when starting to ride. Catching air is difficult, but big air is not always the point. Sprau describes riding a pow surfer as childish, silly fun. 

“You're leashed in so if you do fall, your board hangs out and you just plop,” he added with a laugh. 

Sprau and his wife, Rebecca, are a couple of snow bums who moved to Whitefish from Colorado eight years ago. Last summer, he started making Lumi Powboards. His business is named after his dog, Lumi, the Finnish word for snow.  

Sprau built his own press, and he makes three models of his snow surfing powder board by hand in his Whitefish shop. It takes a little more than a week, from start to finish, for him to complete a board. 

The boards begin with a P-Tex base, followed by layers of fiberglass, resin and veneer. After three days of shaping in the press, the boards are stained, clear coated, and a patch of boat decking is applied to provide some grip for the rider.

“After the clearcoat and stains are done, then I do the rails,” he said. “It has rails so you can push your toe and heel edge in. The sides are raised -- it's like a concave shape.

“You can actually put an edge down in anything but hardpack, and that's how you initiate your turns,” he said. 

The boards are short and wide, roughly 150 cm long, and about 30 cm wide, that’s about 5 feet by 1 foot. The Lumi Powboard models vary in size and cost about $300. 

"It's a new thing, but it's going back to the old roots of snowboarding,” Sprau said. “Powder surfing is starting to get big in Japan and actually, one of my boards made it out to Japan, which was pretty cool.” 

Find Lumipowboards on Instagram.

    Doug Sprau, owner of Lumi Powboards, stands with two models of the surfy-fun snow sliding board. (Photo provided)
  

    A Lumipowboard taking shape in Sprau's handmade press. (Photo provided)
  

    Different models of Lumi Powboards at a recent pop up in Whitefish. (Photo provided)