Istvan

Why empty? Pokkis owns the mountain.... That simple.... :lol:

Best mix of good slopes, food and mood: ITALY

Frank, if this is the new X-treme model, I want one. Wish you already had the built in toilet paper when your produced the ME109... it scared the $hit out of me many times....

I like this whitewater analogy. I think one element is missing, though. There ARE things that you just cannot do on Blues. It does not change the fact, that there might be room for improvement in what you do on a blue, but still, certain things can only be done on steeper slopes. Continous linked and laid turns is a good example. You can do one laid out turn on a Blue run if you want to impress people in front of the bar, but you'll never get up and jump into the next one.... right? Is snowboarding only about fully laid out turns? No way.... but it is fun to do it on a steep run and that's the only place where you can do it. That's it. Only my $0.02 Cheers

Doesn't it look like fun?

Cuz its huge fun! That's the only place where you can do real laid linked turns one after an other - hip, armpit, palms and tounge dragging on the snow Well, you can do it on a red, too - but real adrenalin comes on blacks.

Skiers are even worse... 'Hey check out my new carving gear, it has an 8.5 m radius, look how tight I can carve....' Sure buddy, but should not you leave a single carved line in the snow instead of shaving the snow off the mountain...... Many times I had to show them the difference from the chairlift..... and even then, they were 100% convinced that they did carve.......

If you can reach the snow with your left hand (assuming you are a regular) during a backside without falling you found the good body position. (remember the backside Jack posted several times?). If you can do it with both hands, you already EC.... :lol: [Disclaimer: I am not suggesting that reaching for the snow or sliding on your palms is THE right technique, but if you can do it on backsides like on the pic I referred to, most probably things are ok]

You can control your speed by turning the board uphill (or close) both on front and backsides. As you said that front sides seemingly work out well, most probably you do not push your heelside hard enough, so you gain too much speed, so much, that you end up not even being able to do the next frontside, instead you skid/brake. Right? Try to work on your heelsides, initiate the turns more agressively, push harder and then jump into the next frontside. There are many good drills on this website. Look at some of the EC videos, you'll see a perfect speed control (let's not go into the 'style' conversation now....) Speed control is paramount especially on black runs. On blues you'll survive even if you are not able to do it, but there is no way you come down a black run carving side to side and no skidding if you are unable to control your speed by turning properly. You can check your progression by looking at your trenches from the lift (if there is a place where you can do this) and you'll see the difference between your front and backsides. You could also try a better board, but most probably it is not the board this time. You can do nice turns on a F2 SP although it is far from being a great board. Kindest

This is Patrice, right? Where is old Pokkis? Only behind the camera? :lol:

At home and in action.....

Ray, they are awesome. Let us know how the new Evo rides compared to the Ti. Kindest

I have to admit that I have never ridden an asym, hence my question: what makes you guys believe that tight and quick turns are results of the asym build or in other words: why would an asym shaped board turn tighter / quicker. Thanks

My 2 cents: - waist width above 21-22 cm to allow for lower angles - long effective edge (don't go crazy with 200cm+ boards, a 175 will do) - radius around 13-14 m to allow for long bodyslides (a shorter radius board wil turn too fast under you) - forgiving nature (no huge camber, soft flex, titanal if possible) And of course, you can do fully laid, linked turns on anything. It is just easier on such a board. But there is no free lunch, you'll pay the price when it comes to different conditions, like less steep, crowded slopes. Best

Wow... seemingly you have done everything right.... the real nice solution would be a different baseplate... But at least you'll surely not have issues with riding low angles

I think this is Pogo in Sölden / Austria, May 1st 2008, Carving Masters Event... :lol:

Just try 'em. They will open up a whole new world of shock absorption. Try the yellow ones. Kindest

I have ridden / own a few Virus boards. Nothing special regarding the binding angles. Try to set you rear binding as low as possibe (avoid boot out) and then your front binding 4-6 degrees higher. If your biomechanics are not significantly different from the average, it should be ok. Kindest

Sounds like a major issue, Hans..... :lol:

If it is only one leg, something is not ok there. Try to play around with settings (stance width, angle, cant, lift, etc). 1-2 degrees and / or 1-2 cm should help. If it is only one leg, something is not ok. Snowboarding if done properly should come with equal muscle pain all over your body.. ;-)

No chance with a step-in and blue springs for that.... also the Deeluxe should be a NW instead..... :lol:

That is beautiful with the Vist, Pokkis. Count me in for a testride in Zinal. Cheers ps.: I think it is time for you to post a pic of the full family... at least I could show it to my girl as a proof that there are people out there spending way more on gear than me...

I'm not surprised. 2 inches is a lot.... actually 1/2 will change the riding characteristics significantly.... 2 inches +/- to the sweet spot would make riding VERY difficult and uncomfy for most of the people....

Ray, I'm trying to keep a flat base, but that might be actually 0,5 degrees due to the sharpening. I apply 2 degrees on the side. Sharp and polished from tip to tail. And I love the sound when it cuts the ice.... especially the X-treme sounds like thunder on ice... skiers many times turn around with a frightened face to see what's coming down the slope I use Tooltonic (http://tooltonic.com/default.asp), very good stuff. One of their unique gadget is the roto finish: http://tooltonic.com/rotoFinish.asp. Running full length flat high-speed with a sharp and agile and narrow Virus is indeed something that can end very painfully. You don't want to do that. On the other hand the X-treme is very relaxed even then. Kindest

Thanks guys. I know the word 'stubby'. What confused me is that I thought from the spelling that 'schtubby' would come from German. I speak a bit of German so I was trying to look it up in a German dictionary... and guess what, I could not find it.... I suck....