lamby

Oh my, those poor people on those storm tossed chairs! That is some incredible footage.

We sometimes refer to old snowsports folks as: Grampa with a GoPro (or Grandma...) Me and my wife are certainly in that age-group, but we like to think we can take it as good as we can give it.

How do you get a snowboarder off of your porch? Pay for the pizza.

What a great thread. Thanks Cbrkid for your story! Loved reading about how you and your Dad took up skiing and how winter alpine has impacted your life. It really got me reflecting on my own journey, people I've met, and how time passes away. And about the people I'm interacting with on the slopes today. More stories all!!!

I love snowboard jokes.

Intriguing Kijima. I tend to gravitate toward shorter boards these days. Maybe what you describe is a large part of why I find them so fun.

A friend who rips on skis has taken up monoskiing and loves it. Nowadays I rarely he see him skiing - he is up on his monoski frequently.

I love powder days, but we get so few of them here in Sun Valley, Idaho. Still, once in a while we get lucky. We are fortunate to have few really crowded days. Regardless, the snow seems to fall with tracks already in it.

I'm not really sure if numbers are up or not. We haven't gotten much snow relative to other resorts in the region, so maybe that is contributing to what seems like pretty average numbers of visitors. I may be wrong - maybe numbers are up some. It still feels pretty uncrowded.

I really like my BTS system. A great upgrade that helped me find the sweet spot in boots that I initially felt were too stiff for me. I would say that riding in walk mode may not be a great idea for those looking to ride more aggressively, but might be fine for those not looking to carve/charge hard. I have tried riding in walk mode in the past, but it seemed like I was leaving myself less than well protected.

Anyone riding one of the 2019/2020 model Furbergs? They all look intriguing. Wondering if the All Mountain is a quiver killer for road trips, or if the All Mountain Split is a good splitboard for many conditions? Does anyone has any updated reviews of this brand of boards? Things that are getting my attention include the longer sidecut radii of this brand. Also the light camber under foot - would that feel weird? I seem to like the pop I get from traditionally cambered boards. I can see how the the de-cambering of the tip and tail would make sense in powder, and to help with turn initiation in harder conditions. What about the "reverse side-cut?" Seems like a lot of nose/swing weight out front, but what do I know. I've been reading some reviews, and watching some on Youtube. Anyway, curious about them.

An event like MCC would be a great way to go. Or, if you want to consider hiring an instructor I would recommend carvedog in Sun Valley, Idaho. Jerry works for the SV resort and is an awesome instructor.

Sweet! How do you like the set-up?

Thanks for the interesting topic and discussion. I like carving turns, but I don't tend to do it all day long, one after the other, over and over again on the same run. I can ride with someone who wants to do that sort of riding, but it tends to get a little old to me after a bit. On days when I'm on a carving set-up I'm carving a lot of my turns, but certainly not all of them, and I do a lot of what I sometimes refer to as "slarving". I may enter a turn with a strong carve, and then let the board begin to slide. Or I might carve through a number of turns only to let things loosen up into skidded turns down lower on the run. Somedays I'm on a carving set up and will not be off-piste. Other days I'm on a softer, more forgiving board (I always ride hardboots and plate bindings). If I'm on a more forgiving setup I'm free to carve some of the time, or slarve around, or play in the crud and bumps. It depends on the conditions and what's good that day. If it is a powder day, I'm on a powder board and loving life. Not that it is always good up there, but I try to find the fun - poking around and looking for interesting stuff to ride. I understand the appeal of carving linked turns, one after the other, and really working to master turns in many situations, steepnesses, terrain...It is great to concentrate on really getting your turns dialed in. I often find myself working on a long series of linked tight-turns as I'm about to leave the mountain; especially earlier in the season when I'm trying to build up my strength. Generally though, I prefer to carve some of the time, and to go off piste, or mix it up with friends - skiers and snowboarders, at other times. It's fun exploring around and looking at having fun from a different perspective. I ride alone a lot too, and really enjoy that. I think hard boots and plate bindings are such an awesome setup. I love carving hard on groomer days, and I like the versatility hard boots and plate bindings provide me on days when I want to mix it up on and off of the groomers. Anyway, I hope you have fun out there and that you get your groove back on soon!

Thank you Pokkis!

Right on Slipped To. While I said you can't know the condition of used-bails, you may be able to glean information from the seller, or observe the condition and description of the items for sale before purchase. Those things can help to inform your decision about purchasing used bindings, especially on a place like this site. Here, if a seller says that a pair of bindings is lightly used and in very good condition, I would listen to them and make a decision based on that. Good photos of the bindings is also very helpful if considering an online purchase. I've been very pleased with the purchases I've made on this site's For Sale section, and the people populating this site are a good group. Ask questions and if the seller doesn't know how old the bindings are, or how well used they are, I would suggest not buying them. If you are inspecting a pair of bindings you can look at the amount of wear that is evident on the bindings. Are the metal base plates worn at the places where the previous owner's boots have made contact with the bindings? On Burton/Ibex/C.Co style bindings the metal base plates have little bumps on them - at the areas where the boot soles will be contacting the base plate of the binding. At those contact points you might notice wear. These may be worn down or you may notice other areas of wear and loss of metal. The bails themselves can also show wear, but not necessarily. Some bails come with a coating that can show wear, but that coating becomes chipped pretty quickly, so it is perhaps not a very reliable indicator. Does anyone know where new replacement bails for Burton/Ibex/Carve Co. bindings might be available?

A word of warning about using used-bindings. It is impossible to know how degraded the metal bails are on used-bindings. They may be almost brand new and lightly used, or they may be well-used and ready to break. I have ridden, and continue to use a variety of bindings, including Burton/Ibex/Carve Co plate bindings, F2 Titanium, and Bomber TD3s. I have broken bails on all of them (well, not the F2 Titaniums, as those are relatively new and I have less than 40 days on them). I replace the bails on my Burton/Ibex/Carve Co. bindings every three years, and I do the same for my wife's bindings - she rides over 100 days a year, and breaks bails if they have seen too may years of use. New replacement parts for Burton/Ibex/Carve Co bindings seem to be getting pretty hard to find. Used parts are easy to find, but I have no interest in purchasing used replacement parts for my bindings. Lately, I've again been looking for new replacement bails for Burton/Ibex/Carve Co. bindings, and I have not had any luck. So, I just purchased a couple of sets of new bindings online, as it is time to switch out bails or upgrade to new bindings on a couple of our boards. Donek used to sell replacement bails for Ibex/Carve Co bindings, but I'm not seeing those available there any more. Anyway, I just wanted to pipe up to say it is important to your safety that you keep your bindings maintained. If in doubt, throw it out. The costs of doing so is a drag, but it is just not worth it to risk riding on gear that could break and cause you and others serious trouble. Ride gear that is not going to let you down.

Way to commit! I ride hard boots in all conditions. I soft boot snowboarded for a number of years, and until recently I would occasionally ride soft boots for a change of pace. It's fun to do, but I find myself cranking down on my binding straps to avoid heal lift on toe turns. I don't find riding soft boots comfortable for my feet or ankles at all. I really like the way my hard boots fit and feel - so comfortable. Custom footbeds and professionally molded Intuition liners. Boots are Deelux 700s with blue BTS. I also ski occasionally, but very occasionally these days. I have been hard booting for about 20 years and over the years have ridden in many pairs of hard boots - in Burton hard boots back in the day, then Raichle and Deeluxe. Brussels advice above is sound. In my experience, there has always been a learning/adjusgment curve when I have moved up to a new boot. I have often found the next level of boot seems too stiff at first, but after some time the new, stiffer boots seem less so. Then they are great and perfect and why did I ever think they were too stiff. But then, when I went from Raichle 324s (I think that was their #) to Deeluxe 700s I found them to be more stiff than I wanted. I rode them a lot, but I just felt like they were too stiff for me to really enjoy, so I added BTS (blue springs). That did the trick and I love them. I ride plate bindings and hard boots in powder and love it. I feel that the most important thing to consider is the choice of board for the conditions of the day. On a deep powder day I ride a Donek Nomad 164 or a Burton Fish 160. On new snow days I ride a Burton Malolo 160, which I love for off piste and crud and for getting around on the groomers in-between. I ride a Burton e-deck 163 as things start to settle out. I like it for playing on and off of the groomed runs. As the groomers become the main draw I move to my Prior FLC 177. Happy riding!!!

Good advice daveo. I have the tools and will tune it up. Thanks!

Hi daveo, Not sure what base bevel is set at. Its a new board, so its the factory tune. Not sure what its set at, but maybe a bit more base bevel would help me out? It doesn't really feel like it is going to hook up and catch on cat tracks, just seems a little more like I'm in the backseat a bit I guess. I'll be riding mine in resort powder too, and it is going to be a pleasure to have my Nomad at my fingertips. If I ever get the chance I'd like to try the next size or two down. The sidecut on a stock 159 and 154 look intriguing. 7 to 11, and 7 to 10 respectively.

We got some fresh snow over night - 5 inches on the Sun Valley bald mountain snow-stake in the morning, so I decided to finally give my new Nomad 164 a go. I had a blast. Compared to other powder boards I ride it was very different, and a lot of fun. My go-to powder boards have been an older Burton Malolo and an older Burton Fish. I have really enjoyed riding powder with these decks. They have sidecut radii of around 7m I think, and they are very easy to ride, but very turny. Getting off the mountain at the end of a tiring powder day can take patience, and is tiring. I find I have to do a lot of smaller turns in order to stay in control, and for me, in order to keep speed in check. My Donek Nomad has a progressive sidecut radius that goes from 7 at the tip, to 12 at the tail. First run, I fell over right away - I was going too slow and I leaned over and back - into that larger sidecut radius. I tipped over. It wants to go faster before being tipped on edge:-) After that I started to get the hang of it, but it is always an adventure getting on a new board - a learning experience, so to speak. Early on I was finding that the board wanted to go pretty fast, and it took me some time to learn to ride it more slowly, and to finesse my turns more. You can go slow and engage the tip and it turns more aggressively. Like any new board, or like any new equipment, it takes me time to adjust to the feel of a new system. In a while I was really finding the sweet spot and having so much fun. It snowed all day, (but was rain in the valley). Up on top, where we stayed all day, we ended up with 13 inches of new snow on the stake by days end - they just cleared it, and its still dumping up there. I found that the board really excels in open bowls and places where you might happen upon a sheet of untracked steepness for a bit. The lights were pretty much out all day, but a little later in the day the light got a little better. This opened up some nice untracked shots on some of the runs that had been too foggy to invite traffic earlier. It was really fun turning it loose for some fast huge sweeping turns. In my experience powder boards tend to be a little squirrly on cat-tracks and flats. I found my Nomad to pretty hard for me to get comfortable on when hitting the cat tracks and run-ins to the lifts (and exiting the lifts today, for that matter - huge wind drifts and stumbly conditions for this guy) It makes sense, cause I often ride a soft all-mountain alpine boards - a board that is forgiving on cat-tracks, and for skating around with. All that said, my Nomad was really fun leaving the resort today. Conditions sort of sucked as I dropped lower into the rain, but I was having a hoot railing some carved turns on some of the less hit groomers, and having little difficulty with areas of chop and wet crud. I was also on new F2 titanium bindings today. Really liked them, and like how easy they are to adjust for tightness. I set the bindings up on the board in a stance that appeared to me to be biased a bit more toward the back of the board. Stance width was around 19.5 inches wide. I will stay with that width, but plan on moving both bindings forward one step each. I felt like I was weighting my front leg a lot with the stance I had it. I will set it forward with the intention of allowing for a more balanced stance (more of my weight on my rear leg when riding pow).

Lucky you! Have a great trip. You will have a ball in hard boots and plate bindings on a powder board. My wife and I ride hard boots and plate bindings exclusively. On powder days we are on powder boards. This year, at our local resort, we have only had 2 pow days ... so far. We have been fortunate to have several days when we have had around 6 inches of fresh. Not a full-on powder day, but fun fresh snow. I often ride a powder board on days like that too. We have taken one heli-trip (a day-trip) and a we have taken a couple snow cat trips (also just day-trips). We used to ride an all-mountain soft carving boards on powder days, and we would just set our bindings back. We have since moved to dedicated powder boards on days when we have new snow at our local resort. I used to be convinced that the board I rode most days - a soft, all-mountain carving board, was just fine for powder days, and it was, but a dedicated powder board is a blast to ride and it makes the soft stuff so much easier (and more fun I think). You will have little problem with rear-leg burn on powder boards. The taper from tip to tail, set-back stance layout, and sometimes early-rise in tip (de-cambered tip) or a more shovel shaped tip, make these boards easy to ride in powder. Powder specific boards are designed to make it much easier to stay afloat and not bury the tip. There are a lot of varieties of design. Go to a site like Prior and check out the multitude of powder specific designs they offer up. Other companies also make great boards for riding in powder. I think Philw has mentioned in previous threads that you can indeed use plate bindings on Burton channel system. I believe you use a conversion kit that lets you mount three-hole or four-hole pattern disc mounted bindings to Burton boards. You might want to go to a local shop that sells Burton gear and see if you can get the conversion hardware before you go. Maybe take your plate bindings to see if they would let you practice setting up your bindings on one of their Burton demo boards. Just an idea. Have a great time and let us all know how it goes!!!

Sorry, was that older system a hard boot system, or the Burton Soft boot step ins? I have friends who love the older step-in soft boot setup, but they have a hard time finding boots anymore.

One of Ester's tweets:

Sounds like a good goal 1x.