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I just might drop the hardboots.


workshop7

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Obviously, I joke.  I could never do that.  Someday, my aging body will no longer allow me too, but for now hardbooting is a must for me.

However, I just spent the weekend at Stratton with softies and my Donek Flux.  That board is effing unbelievable!  It continues to reveal itself as, by far, the best soft boot board I’ve ridden.  I could spend the rest of my life riding only that board and be very happy.

 

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1 hour ago, charliechocolate said:

Mods please move this crap to off-topic. Joke 😁

I hopped onto a softy setup for the first time since last season and wasn't all too comfortable. I couldn't get the binding straps cranked tight enough to get the response I want without crushing my feet.

@workshop7 what bindings do you use?

there are a couple super stiff bindings I have I have found that Now O-Drives, Burton Diodes, and the old Nidecker carbons are bomb. 

also, I was just riding my new to me SG Soul today with the Nows and Jones MTB boots.  Great ride for sure.  

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19 minutes ago, Corey said:

Not really. Modern softboots are so good that they really do belong in the carving forum. 

Softboot carving is awesome and growing fast. 

Amen!

Now please explain to me the difference between classic carving and all mountain hardbooting and the reason for this divisiveness in the forum.

There are more ways than one to carve.

EC- Push pull

Race

gunfighter stance

tucked knees ala Jacoby

For me as long as Nerva's definition is met its carving no matter the technique or equipment.

Of course it is better if you can match his style!!!

 

Seriously Knapton can school half (or more) this forum in carving and on a softboot setup

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1 hour ago, neanderthal said:

Now please explain to me the difference between classic carving and all mountain hardbooting and the reason for this divisiveness in the forum.

All mountain hardbooting is powder, trees, backcountry, sidecountry, spring, descending Tower 3 at Jackson Hole, that sort of stuff.  Obviously not the same as carving groomers.

@workshop7, take those sb's down Flume or Walking Boss, try to keep up with @MR. JOHN DEERE ! and get back to us.  😉

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52 minutes ago, Toodles said:

Love my Donek Flux for softboot carving.  Need to get some better bindings for next year though.

I'm watching the forum here for suggestions from others for bindings.. 

Now recon, now o-drive, Jones Apollo (that’s a now odrive that’s slightly softer) ride el hefe, even some older ride bindings are fairly decent, have a set of Tomcats that job done better than most new bindings. 

Demoed a bunch of burton bindings they were super gushy compared to the above to me. They weren’t bad bindings but not what I want but I weigh like 280 though..... 

Haven’t been on the newer unions but I liked the older ones can’t imagine they’re worse.

I have a set of fairly ancient drake podiums, those, like the tomcats mentioned above work pretty well but are softer than the others. 

I sure do like canting on softboot bindings, if that’s super important to you the Now bindings will be problematic because they offer no canting. 

Flow NX2s, hate em’ they work really well but I hate them. 

Did I mention I hate them? 

 

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I'm not in love with my Flow NX2 GT's either.  I don't like how they flip down at the back and trip you when pushing along to the lift line.  I broke the rear hiback because it was up and was crushed by the chair lift when I sat down.  They are also impossible to get in and out of without undoing the top cap.

They performed amazing while riding them, but the other issues are making me look for a new type.

 

Edited by Toodles
spelling mistake
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4 hours ago, bumpyride said:

The right hardboots (comfortable and flexy) will rival any softboot and give you much more control.

The boot/binding combo that I ride is way surfy and just like bedroom slippers.

So very true.  Soft flexy boots, bindings and 23-25cm waisted shorter board, 150-170cm long opens up a whole lot of mountain (off groom)

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3 hours ago, Toodles said:

Love my Donek Flux for softboot carving.  Need to get some better bindings for next year though.

I'm watching the forum here for suggestions from others for bindings.. 

Nidecker Carbon seem popular in BX. Drake Podium FF, too, but lesser so. SP seem to make a solid binding, too. My Japanese mates are in love with Flow and the new Flow NX2-CX is a big burly stuff binding.

2 hours ago, bobdea said:

Flow NX2s, hate em’ they work really well but I hate them. 

Did I mention I hate them? 

 

Do you hate them or something? 

2 hours ago, bobdea said:

I sure do like canting on softboot bindings, if that’s super important to you the Now bindings will be problematic because they offer no canting.

Can buy cant wedges that come with longer bolts and asym washers, so the bolts go straight down! 

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43 minutes ago, dredman said:

So very true.  Soft flexy boots, bindings and 23-25cm waisted shorter board, 150-170cm long opens up a whole lot of mountain (off groom)

Yyeeppp. That's exactly what I'm doing these days! Threw a blue/blue spring DGSS on my UPZ and intermediate booster on my black tongue RC10. Plenty of flex! 

1 hour ago, Toodles said:

I'm not in love with my Flow NX2 GT's either.  I don't like how they flip down at the back and trip you when pushing along to the lift line.  I broke the rear hiback because it was up and was crushed by the chair left when I sat down.  They are also impossible to get in and out of without undoing the top cap.

They performed amazing while riding them, but the other issues are making me look for a new type.

 

My experience mirrors yours. I think I like my stuff so tight that getting in and out was impossible without loosening the toe buckle. I think they still worked well once strapped in, though. 

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11 hours ago, Jack M said:

@workshop7, take those sb's down Flume or Walking Boss, try to keep up with @MR. JOHN DEERE ! and get back to us.  😉

🙄 ... on a weekend at that. (so you have been outside of Maine.😜 jk homey.)

 

@workshop7 those are a couple trails at looniville off north peak. it's really only the upper sections that can be a challenge. the rest of both trails are like tough blues. maybe like an easier diamond elsewhere. south peak has more sustained vert. FYI: don't pay for a weekend ticket at Loon, ever. i seriously don't know how people tolerate such crowds and think that's what skiing and riding is like. makes me puke blood

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I don't like hardboots at all for off piste.  softies for me, there.  I was surprised at how well my bxfr (softies) did on some day-after-the-storm tracked out leftovers this year vs my capita navigator, which is what I ride on a "fresh" day.  But steeps/bumps/trees on hardboots? not for me.  

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Have to say, this thread seems really Old..."This my Choice, so is the Correct Choice for everyone else" ...and defines what is Alpine Carving

Carving has absolutely nothing to do with your boots being SB or HB

Just because a very few, out of thousands, need them to race, or go on some steep and narrow icy slopes, is not a definition or the epitome somehow of Carving...Carving is done by the Edges of your Stick, mixed with your ability to utilize them...

Ray came with his narrow 190 Virus and loved Copper bowl and Aztek, then he disappeared...never saw that Stick happy anywhere else...

Where we live, the Conditions which are typical there and what we want to do certainly should apply to our equipment choices...my equipment allows me to do everything I want except Carve on Icy, Narrow, Steep pitches, then again I have had many great Steep pitch runs here with our Hero Groom...just another opinion 

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16 hours ago, workshop7 said:

Obviously, I joke.  I could never do that.  Someday, my aging body will no longer allow me too, but for now hardbooting is a must for me.

However, I just spent the weekend at Stratton with softies and my Donek Flux.  That board is effing unbelievable!  It continues to reveal itself as, by far, the best soft boot board I’ve ridden.  I could spend the rest of my life riding only that board and be very happy.

 

Love my Donek Flux as well. I tried & tried for many years to make hardboots work for me but I could pull it together only under hero conditions. It wasn't the boots or bindings themselves. It was the high angles that the narrow board forced me into. The wider flux in softboots is a much more natural, stable and comfortable stance for me. 

I'm running Flow Talon boots (which I love) and Flow NX GT2 bindings (which I have learned to accept the compromises they bring). Overall, I'm consistently having more fun softboot carving than I did trying to make hardboots work for me. 

A bonus is that I can carve a groomer and head right off into the adjacent powder in the same setup. The Flux works great in almost every condition (maybe except moguls). 

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9 hours ago, workshop7 said:

???

I hope you saw the wink, I did not mean any harm.  I only meant that hardboots still have their place - steep trails like upper Flume at Loon where you ride, ridden at high speed (like "Mr. John Deere", an ex-racer who rides there).  And I meant it in good fun.  I have been enjoying softboot carving and all-mtn riding lately as well.  Sorry for any confusion!

 

29 minutes ago, softbootsurfer said:

Just because a very few, out of thousands, need them to race, or go on some steep and narrow icy slopes, is not a definition or the epitome somehow of Carving...Carving is done by the Edges of your Stick, mixed with your ability to utilize them

Agreed, which is why we do not segregate softboot and hardboot carving into separate forums, as has been proposed.

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