eddie

Adam, Why did you not come to the WTC?

I was going to ask this a few days back. I am getting about 100 e-mails a day from different snowboard sites, most of them from Nils.

Tombstone and 9990 are still open but you will still have more fun at PC.

Are the inserts still going to be made of brass?

Most of The Canyons is closed. If I remember right there is only Saddleback, Snow Canyon, and maybe Tombstone. I saw Another World from the freeway today and there is a huge dirt patch so I assume it is closed.

There are wider runs and better snow coverage for your carving needs. The Canyons is a great resort but it faces east more and the best run to carve on in snow canyon gets bad fast due to traffic from the terrain park.

"Madds have forward-loaded camber, which requires a more aggressive carving technique and takes a bit of getting used to." -carver's almanac Though I would bring that issue up since you were talking about weight/board flex issues with the Madd. Bordy rides the 158 and before I read that quote he did mention to me that the 158's are tricky. Here is the rest of the carver' almanac info about the Madd boards- "The 170 cm length board is easy to ride and is suitable for beginners. It has incredible edge hold, and lets you concentrate on your technique without worrying about maintaining a precise center of mass. Optionally, you can throw your weight forward, and the board will convert all the force into speed without folding at the nose. As a result, it's possible to perform diving turns on ice, and to maintain speed on the flats. The board feels like two boards in one: First you concentrate on throwing your weight into the nose and letting it propel you forward. Then you shift your weight back, and you can almost hear the tail click into engagement and lock in for the rest of the turn. The 158 cm length (8.8 M radius) board requires an advanced weight-forward technique and is not suitable for beginners. Whereas on the 170 cm model you can optionally throw your weight forward, it's mandatory on the 158. It is also necessary to maintain a more precisely balanced center of mass to get the optimal edge hold characteristics. It offers the unusual combination of small sidecut radius and high stability, which is optimal for narrow runs. The 158 also proves one corollary: the length of a board does not necessarily matter."

Express your opinions freely; the point for this thread is for me (and the BOL masses) is to learn from other people's opinions. Just because some responses are a little hot from possible misinterpetation of what is written doesn't mean you should feel sorry for sharing your opinion. Besides, understanding conflicting opinions will help you comprehend your own better. If there were any changes that needed to be done to the bindings it was definately better straps, a bigger highback, and an easier way to see the binding angles while you set them up. With a top of the line binding system, I can understand the high price. The best softboot bindings out there go for something near the same price.

Now that looks a little better. From the looks of the older model online and after seeing them in person I knew that the straps were not beefy enough for my liking. The addition of the Nidecker's Carbon 900 Pro strap system looks pretty good. Hey Tilldog, maybe we can all demo those next year. :rolleyes: Me thinks me want to try them, maybe buy them. Anyone else give the freeride a try? What did you think? Oh yea, this would help- http://www.catek.com/freeride.htm

I suggest used snowboard hardboots to start with so that you don't spent $400 on boots you don't like. Go into the bomber classified board and post that you need x sized boots and are willing to pay y amount of dollars.

Your bindings are great, but with the 124's you are not going to be able to pressure the nose like you want to. Try the inline with the binding technique, like Klug, rather than the face-the-nose technique. Keep on experimenting and good luck.

;)

Looks like today was a fun day. Maybe I could hook up with you at PC on the Friday during my "spring break". Then we could get some hardboot time in together instead of the pow pow.

Now I know which days to show up where. OT- How's the new job dude?

I have the same problem with the buckles. I went to Surefoot to have it looked at and they said they would be happy to put new rivets in if I find some. My boot angles are lower but I have ice in the buckle problem too; keeping a lighter in the car makes it easier to get my foot out.

That photo just makes me homesick.

Remember what I said about the foot angles. Look at Andy's upper body, it's the same movement (angulation and inclination) but if he had higher foot angles his upper body would look like CMC. Turning a surfboard is different than a snowboard but applying pressure to the edge/rail from the upper body is the same. Not everyone puts their arms out like wings, but it looks like AI is doing it. I know I am pretty off topic but I thought sharing some info might help others from the surfing community carry over knowledge to the carving community.

Humm... I surfed for 14 years and before I moved to Utah. I was a sort of a surf style junkie. Invested countless hours on boards of various gun, fish, twin fin and thruster shapes from different surfing eras trying to imitate the older power surfers of the 70's and 80's. While studying old photos, I noticed surfers styles would vary from parallel to perpendicular shoulder placement depending on how aggressive a turn. Check out old photos of M.R., Larry Bertlemann, Simon Anderson or even Tom Curren and you will notice that they are masters of angulation and inclination and their stances are much more similar to CMC's style. What makes it look so different is that their feet are not at high angles. Once your mind adjusts to the high angle stance you'll see that carving is not so hard if you have a lot of surfing experience. This is my second year of carving and I can consistently lay a carve with an 85* angle to the snow; flexing my 185 FP to carve as tight as my 171 Rossi. This is because I surfed with the same style as CMC.

I guess the point we failed to mention is to take care of you ankle. See a doctor, chiropractor, physical therapist, or whatever you perfer and have the problem resolved properly. If it hurts, don't ride. That way your first two or three warm-up runs for the day wont be painful like mine. I can't carve well in softies because of the pain.

I can't argue with that. It has been so many years since I sprained my ankle that I can't recal exactly when it happened. I felt pain even today.

Tighten your bindings, I came out of mine while riding and tweaked my knee. If you crashed and came out of the bindings, then they're too loose, if you don't adjust them it will happen again.

I have sprained both ankles in the past and suffer from nagging ankle pain across the top of my foot on both feet. Everytime I go out in softies I am in some pain but manage to get by. If you ride in softboots you will suffer from more ankle pain, it's like taking away an ankle brace. How stiff are your hardboots? I found that hardbooting in stiffer boots eliminates the irritation in snowboarding; not to mention stretching everyday.

I would stay with something in the mid 180's to get the feel of riding a board with more length. I think it's more comfortable to adjust to than going from a 171 to a 197. Follow Kent's advice and get the Prior WCR 185, and, with a Prior you don't have to worry about the tail snapping. If I remember correctly, the Burner is designed so that you can stand closer to the nose, easier to initiate the carve, and the soft split tail makes it easier to come out of the turn. And, I think Fawcett left the Burner for Prior (I mean, umm... Burton) because the board is built better.

Well, I know the 197 has a 17m sidecut.

I have three different accounts that are in now way related to each other via address book and all accounts are overloaded with infected e-mails. Damn that thing is fast!