STP

Old video, but nice Corduroy for the first 5-6 runs! Still remember some of those turns. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_b9-l3F3buY&t=668s

first time on the forum this year. I would be glad to ride with anyone, especially hard boots. I sent a PM with phone number.

Sorry for bringing this to the front, but have not been on the forum since last season.....It all made sense to me when you look at Leonardo da Vinci man, While the radius of the circle looks small, to be better balanced you would have both toe lift on the front and heel lift on the rear.....If you have no lift, even with adjustable boots (canting and forward lean), it feels very un-natural.

This is a little late, but wanted to give great thanks to Walker at Bomber for the customer service to get new bindings delivered while on vacation. I ordered new bindings Wednesday, February 6th for delivery by Friday prior to leaving for a week long ski vacation in Idaho. Needless to say a little snow on Friday in North Bend Wa caused Fed-ex to not deliver my bindings. Therefore, we left on vacation and drove 11 hours on a normal 5 hour trip from North Bend to Coeur d'Alene Idaho thru 30-40 mph winds and blizzard snow storm.....I called Walker and he had Fed Ex deliver my bindings to my vacation spot and received Tuesday morning....We had 8-14" of snow every day for 6 days and epic skiing at Silver Mountain Idaho. Thanks and special kudos to Walker for going the extra mile. Bindings are great!!!!

Here's the song from the movie. Farmers way.mp3

Farmers mf'ing way! Got that in the ear plugs. 200cm longboard jumping 60 footers.

Oh yeah. I never get tired of these!!!!Because they are me and I can refresh my memory of the years......

Fresh couple of inches this morning over crispy ice. Ski area is only open weekends now so there are much deeper pockets of snow, 6-8 inches, outside the groom tracks. Generally taking it easy at the top of the slope on the first run of this trail. Nice back turn thru the crud and snapped the rear bale on my original Trench Diggers. (thank god that I was not going mach). See pictures. A little calculations: 14 years old binding average 35 days a year minimum 25 runs per day 12,250 runs!!!!! These bindings are the best ever. I cannot believe they have not broken before! Thanks goodness I have other bindings as tomorrow is the last day of skiing at the ski area.....

Great day Sunday March 26th and snowing still. Great year. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkBOBW4VaIg

A guy slid up next to me in the lift line and said " I wondered who was digging the trenches under the lift and now I know"

He has been in college and has only boarded a few times over the last 4 years and always with his friends. We went to Bachelor for a week and he rode behind me and took lots of video and could not believe carving down the steeps and getting air on transition. Depending on speed, you can fly 5-20 feet in the air and land into another cranking turn. He then said he wants to try again now that he can use my boots and boards.....Can't wait to get him up there again as he was a natural. Not over yet.....

I think and have explained to many skiers AND snowboarders over the years that passing any snowboarder on their back side is not advised and this idea should be taught and communicated. Being a relatively fast carver, both skiers and soft boot boarders see you bombing down the slope and they have to prove a point that they can go faster and point it straight down the hill and beat you down the hill. It happened last night by a boarder and I literally could have killed the guy. I always look up the hill to determine if anyone is catching me. This guy came so fast and close on my backside that I had no idea he was there. I could have taken a left (heel side) at 50 mph and crossed the slope. At the bottom of the hill he was high on adrenaline and could barely talk, but I explained that this was very dangerous and that he was in my total blind spot and I could have darted across the slope and he would not have been able to avoid a collision. I was not upset, but rather explained to him the reason why people should not pass on the blind side of snowboarders. He understood and hopefully he will keep this in mind. If this was followed and communicated with diagrams or posters on the mountain I think this would alleviate some of the confusion between the skiing and boarding community. IMHO

I just purchased a Donek Hazelwood custom a few weeks ago. I wanted WIDE for the powder and my 11.5 size boots. It is a 185cm, with a 10m shovel to 12m tail sidecut with a 26.5cm waist. The shovel is 32.3cm and the tail is 30.6cm. Now I needed to learn how to ride a standard non-carving specific board, but on the three days out in the powder, I am getting used to it and love the carving thru the powder.

IMHO, I would recommend the ski shop as they can heat the whole liner evenly and gets the fit fairly good. After I did this I still had some specific pressure points on me Deeluxe boots and I then used the sock\rice\microwave option to further mold the specific pinch points until I got it right. On the Deeluxe liners this was the heel or Achilles part of the liner that was pinching the heel too much. After 3-4 times, they now fit like gloves and are perfect.

Back 12-13 years ago I bought some womens ski boots at a ski swap for $15 buck that fit my 10 year old son. I also had a very soft 53 Z-Board (I have no clue who made this board) with old race plates. He rode this board for two years and carved very well. The ski boots were very awkward as they did not flex and couldn't adjust the forward lean. Therefore, I needed to buckle his rear foot in at the top of the mountain as he could not do this, I needed to ride behind him as if he fell he might not be able to get up if it wasn't a steep slope and at the bottom he could barely reach the rear binding to release, so I released it for him. We rode together on the carving board for at least 15-20 days for two years. He then kicked me to the curb and got back onto the soft boots and terrain park.....typical teenager. I'm glad that I did not buy the boots as his feet were growing so fast, as he is still riding the terrain park.

Okay, I solved my shin bang.....quick history. Been hard booting since 1998. Started with a Riot Super Carve and Raichle 324 boots. Purchased first Donek 185 FreeCarve in 2004. Purchased second Donek 185 Freecarve in 2010. Ski between 40-50 days per year. Finally broke down last year, 15\16 year, and purchased new boots Deelux T325. Took 1/2 half of last year continuing to shape the liner to relieve all pressure points. Rice, sock and microwave is the best tool to mold those liners. Feet were not sore riding, but my rear front shin got shin bang and for the rest of last year thought it was the new boots. Started this year very active with 3 consecutive days of hard pressing and my rear shin bang flared to where it was a very hard to press thru the pain. Went for a week of skiing a few weeks ago and prior to the trip I ordered my 3rd Donek 185 Freecarve and had it delivered during my vacation. By the time I received my new boards, my shin was a total wreck. I started skiing on the new FC185 and my style changed a little as the edges were so sharp that they road a rail the whole way. Sliding is not what you want to do. I have ridden the new FC185 7 times now over the last two weeks and my shin in almost painless. My theory! As you all have suggested it is a style or stance adjustment that you need to make to reduce or eliminate your shin bang. My old board has been placed on the grinder once a year and I continually touch up thru the year with a dial a degree file. Here's where you can call me a dumbass. For the last two years I have not taken the board in for a grind, but with work and not wanting to give up the board for 2-3 days, I never took the board in to be ground.......DA I know. Therefore, when I jumped on the board this year I knew the edges were not perfect, but got used to the not so pure carve unless the conditions were soft. Therefore, I think that my body pressure was compensating for the dull edges and not riding the rail..... Since I have been riding the new board I am carving perfect 12.5M arcs and am feeling like every turn is a hero turn. I just got off the hill and even with blue ice at the top of the steep runs, I had no issue with carving and was riding perfect rails. So I agree with those that there is an adjustment or style change, but do remember that this might only be a boot o binding adjustment, but also always have perfectly sharp edges and this will make you ride the rail and not slip a all. This makes your balance correct and are able to push board thru the arc, not slipping and getting pressure points that are not good.

Yeah the carbon is the best base for that nice stripe!

Sean and Jenifer came thru and sent the boards to me on a ski vacation! My third 185 Freecarve (carbon with yellow racing stripes) and a 185 Hazlewood (mahogany big boy) for powder days. Riding the rails with with brand new sharp edges is unbelievable!

The base of the boards actually are pervious and will dry out if not waxed. The worst thing you can do to a board is to not wax at the end of the season. Place a thick coat of wax at the end of the year and this will protect your boards for years to come. The only boards that bases start to break down are on boards with no wax. You can see that the base starts to turn white and thus a sign of oxidation or drying out. Also, wax your board fairly often during the year. Either when conditions temperatures and conditions change or every 3-4 times riding...Could also be more often depending on the amount of time on the board.

I was 35 yo and remember about 15 years ago hard booting on a family vacation with my 4 and 5 yo kids on boards and this guy searched me out to ride and waited for us in the lift line. He was on carving skis and he had never skied before he had only carved with hardboots. If my memory serves me correctly, we skied 4-5 runs. He was carving those skies like I have never seen before or since. I do not remember his name. It would be great to meet up with a few carvers on the mountain. Please let me know if you are a Bachelor rider and will be around.

I just ordered my third Donek 185 Freecarve with 12M sidecut with same specs. First board from 2005- 2010 and at least 280 days of hard riding. I liked the board so much I had to have another. When I received the same spec board it was radically different. It was very stiff and in any soft conditions I would blow out if pushed to hard or knife the nose if I tilted too soon and not let the nose build up. The old board started to just love the softer conditions and the new board needed hard pack. I have had the new board from 2011 to present and it has at least 200 days of riding. I know it is getting softer and loves the soft and I can really load up the board because it is soft. I will receive the new identical board Friday of next week. I also ordered a custom 185 Donek Hazelwood and will receive at the same time. I will then ski on vacation for 7 straight days at Bachelor. Kid in a candy store. I will provide an update, but generally the boards just soften up and you don't notice until you get a new board.

Cha-Cha-Cha. This was the number one drill that I remember out of Ski Magazine in the late 70s or early 80s that improved my skiing exponentially. I have used this on the board as well and taught my kids the drill as well. Really simple: 1-2-cha-cha-cha Meaning two long turns followed by three quick short turns. This helps the transition from long turns to short turns, alternates starting the short turn on toe side then next time on hell turn, and lastly makes you do these turns not dependent on snow conditions or only turning where you want to turn. Try this the whole way down a slope each time you go to the hill and you should be amazed at how this improves your turning transitions.

Whoops I did go back to your start of this thread and found the gloves you have tried....with brand names. Sorry.

I guess downhill skateboard pucks would work. What synthetic palms have you found that stand up? I may have missed the glove brand you may have mentioned so would you please provide again. Thanks! There is well over 300 days on the gloves shown and yes I did finally wear thru the front glove and thus got the 1/8" thick leather patch sewed on. I did admit I have stopped dragging my hands on hard pack as jammed fingers, thumbs and wrists on the hard pack have taught me a lesson.

First Leather is the ONLY material that lasts more than one season. Marmot Leather gloves is the best $150 I have ever spent. I have a 9 year old pair that has had palm leather sewed on the front left hand by a shoe repair guy, Shoo Goo on a few small finger holes and then finished the finger wear with rubber tool dip. I just purchased a new pair at the end of last season and will most likely get the palm reinforced again, but have learned to not be a knuckle dragger as I have jammed thumb, fingers and wrist by relying on any balance from my hands. Here are the pictures on my 9 year old gloves. Again best $150 I have spent and will last 4-5 years without any supplemental reinforcement.