Sinecure

Keep us posted on dates. I'd love to bring a contingent from Bay Area / Tahoe if I can.

TD3 = Support local (US) company that brings constant stoke to the US carving community. F2 bindings = some company that really doesn't care much about us as far as I can tell (certainly not as much as Fin does). That's enough reason for me. Others? Try getting parts for an F2 binding. I have. That was the main reason I switched years ago and have never looked back. Need parts for a Bomber binding? Well, to start with, the warranty is still five years, I think. So if you can actually break something, no problem - one phone call. Or if you lose parts or somehow strip a screw - just call them. Another? What happens if you decide to sell the bindings in a year or two (or five)? Bombers retain their value. F2 are cheap - you get what you pay for. Want to have one set of bindings for two boards? Buy a 2nd board kit and you can swap back and forth. Basically a lot of the same arguments for buying a Donek, Coiler or Prior board rather than some Euro-branded, chinese-made POS, plus a bunch of additional arguments.

Black and orange are about the same, silver is stiffer. When the boots were orange, they came with orange tongues. When they switched to black, the tongues changed color too. I'm not so sure they'll fit any size Heads. The tongues should have some numbers molded into the inside of the tongue. As I recall, they'll fit a range of boot sizes, but not all.

Gilmour, have you tried putting Intiution liners into the Heads? From what you say, it sounds like they may work well for you. Combined with a booster strap to replace the stock power strap, I'd bet your shin bang issues would go away. I think its the Powerwrap one that's pretty much the same height all the way around. I've actually been pretty happy with the stock liners, but we must be different. They pack out a little, but not bad for me.

I'm impressed. The transitions are cool and definitely take confidence. Reminds me of some videos I've seen of Joerg from Pureboarding carving switch. I've tried riding switch on a carving board. Since I never learned switch on any board, it was super difficult. Now that I've learned switch on a softy setup, I should try it again. Great video.

That's going to be a stiff boot for riding in, but go ahead and try it. I bet there's someone up there who has a spare pair of bindings you could borrow to try it out. I'd think Bomber Sidewinders would be ideal, given the flex built into them, but others should work.

I also broke one longitudinally. But I hit some rocks really hard and tore my achilles, so its not surprising the board broke. If you have ski boots with a walk/ride switch (a la AT boots), it will help a lot. You can unbuckle and use a booster strap (a real booster strap, not the rigid pos that comes with your boots). Any plate bindings with bails will work. I'd try to get one where you can elevate the front foot toe. If you try it and it works OK, I'd suggest considering a pair of hard boots. You should be able to find used ones on here pretty cheap. Or hit up Mike T. He's got boatloads of extra gear. Maybe he'll let you try something out. Basically, the answer is you can do it, but its not ideal. Ski boots have no lateral flex - even the cheapest, 'carvy' ones. I know what you mean about ski boots being more comfy than soft snowboard boots. I feel that way about both my ski boots and my hard snowboard boots. The only place soft boots are more comfortable are the parking lot and lodge. Two places where performance is not an issue.

TGR - a lot - awesome board tahoecarvers a few others plus some yahoo groups

Those should have come with two tongues. Stiff and soft. I can't recall which is which. But I'm pretty sure I have a pair of a slightly newer vintage sitting in the garage with the stiff tongues in them. That walk/ride mechanism works fine, but tends to flop up into ride mode if you're walking in snow. Intuition liners + booster strap are mandatory upgrades IMO. My stock liners were crap, but Intuitions made them awesome.

Seems to me that if you're carrying a weapon, with or without a permit, you should warn the cops about it before you exit the car. Its pretty common knowledge that they freak out when they see a weapon on someone, especially someone who has been giving them a hard time (you can't say you weren't and can't say you didn't know you were getting under their skin). They were already anxious when you finally opened the door. I'm surprised they didn't pin you to the ground in a really hard fashion and mash your face into the asphalt as soon as they saw the weapon. I probably would have. And you keep a round in the chamber? WTF?

I ski. A lot. Currently on Dynafit ZZeus boots and a few pair of skis. 177 G3 Barons for on-piste and teaching. 191 PM Gear Lhasas for off-piste, powder, crud and backcountry. 188 PM Gear Bro Models that I need to put some bindings on so I can ski them. www.fkna.com for pmgear. I like skiing in AT boots since the Vibram sole gives me grip on rocks when hiking in the backcountry with my skis, plus helps a lot in the parking lot to keep me upright - and the walk mode makes things easier walking anywhere. The down side to AT boots is that you need to use them with AT bindings, which are more expensive and mostly lower performing than alpine bindings. Dynafit bindings are super light and lots of people like them, but they're around $500. Marker Dukes/Barons are rock solid but heavy. Fritschi and Naxo are way to flexi for me. I settled this year on the new Marker Tour12 - similar to Duke but fewer metal parts and less burly spring so its a couple pounds lighter. For my G3's I used the new Marker Squire because it is the one alpine binding with an adjustable-height AFD. The AFD doesn't have the range that the Duke/Baron does, but its good enough for my boots. Very rocker-soled AT boots probably would have problems with the Squires. I think of PM Gear as the Donek of the ski world. Although the guy who runs it is a lot more coarse than Sean, and his shop isn't nearly as clean, organized and high-tech. But his skis rock. I love supporting a local guy who makes a great product. Same goes for Praxis. Actually he's more like Sean. Very nice shop, high-end equipment and always experimenting with new designs. I just bought my son a pair of Praxis BCs. www.praxisskis.com Lib Tech NAS are way too soft and sloppy for me. Plus I don't ski backwards so why rock a twin tip? G3 Baron: 81 under foot, traditional camber, flat tail PM Gear Lhasa: 112 underfoot (140/112/120), early rise nose with low traditional camber starting ~30cm back from tip, kick tail; Carbon & Fiberglass over sweet, light core.

That tree as a spare tire is freakin' genius! Assuming he only used it to get to the next exit or nearest garage.

Try blowing a little air back into the tube after drinking from it. You'll end up with some air in the bladder, but I've found it keeps the tube from freezing. Also wear the bladder as close to your body as possible. You can also put lukewarm water in to begin the day.

This should be pretty obvious once you think about it a bit. As a baseline, consider edges to be either 0 and 0, or 90 and 90, or 0 and 90 (base, side). If you look at a cross section of an edge, this makes sense _| Many people (most now?) bevel their base edge by 1 or maybe 2 degrees. This cuts down on edge catching problems, and someone eases turn initiation/release. However, once you do that, you probably want to bevel the side edge a corresponding amount, so as to retain the 90 degree angle. So that would indicate a 1 degree base bevel, 1 degree side bevel (ending with a 90 degree angle). That said, most people these days go with 1 degree base, 1 degree side. This leaves you with an 89 degree angle - slightly sharper than 90 degrees. That's what I find I like the most. Then go slide a rail and the whole concept gets thrown out the window.

I had them on my UPZ boots when I wore those. They are awesome. I put them on all my boots these days. Best instant upgrade to a ski or snowboard boot there is (aside maybe from custom footbeds).

Last time I went I used the official mountain rental place. Got great demo skis and I could swap them wherever I wanted. Also of note, you can check your skis in at the end of the day at any resort and tell them where you'll be the next day. They'll transfer the skis there for you to pick up in the morning.

I still suck at riding switch. But I had to learn last year to pass my level 1. I eventually bought a soft boot setup just so that I could do it more gracefully and with fewer falls (it was getting really painful). But here's something that really helped me. When we teach noobs to ride, we tell them to "twist" the board by pressing the forward foot into the turn before the rear foot. For me this was something of a revelation. On a carving board with stiff board and stiff boots, it is actually a little difficult to actually twist the board, but the principle still applies. So when entering a toe-side turn switch, first add weight to your right foot (leading foot), let the tail drift into the fall line, then press your right toe down, or really you are flexing your right ankle and knee - followed by the left toe/ankle/knee. That one-two approach really helped me. Same thing on heelside. Drift the tail into the fall line, then forward toe comes up, followed by rear toe. I still can't really carve switch - on softies or hard boots. But I can link turns pretty effectively. Although I still bite it hard sometimes if I try it in hard boots (I don't try much any more).

This is why I wear a back protector. So when f'ing moron snowboarders or skiers slide into me while I'm sitting on the hill - I'm protected a little bit. FYI, this is much less likely to happen in Jackson where the moron ratio is much lower.

That's a pretty bad-a$$ scissor sharpener you've got in the shop.

What happens with this app if you answer or make a phone call? Does it come back to the forefront when you hang up? I've had that problem with the MotionX program on my iPhone. I make or receive a call (or use the web to check summit temps/wind) and then forget to reinitiate the gps app. I may have to try this one. Although I find these types of apps absolutely kill the battery on my iPhone. If it lasts all day, that's cool, but if I'm dead by mid-afternoon it would suck. Our resort actually has a similar thing we use with young students called Flaik. Flaik tracks vertical, speed, etc. and then overlays it on a trail map for you on the web at the end of the day. It also allows us to see if a student gets separated from their group, then go find them and bring them back. As for the 'out of area' feature - this sounds like a problem if you ride at a resort like ours, where there's an open boundary policy. One of the things I'd like it to track is my vertical when I go out of bounds and then have to hitchhike back to the resort. Some of our greatest skiing dumps you on a road at the bottom. You get some sort of credit if you refer people? How do I make sure that happens if I get the app?

+1 for Fintecs and step-ins from my perspective. Way easier. Also search the forums for remote release cable set-ups people (me included) have made that allow you to pull the release cable from your hip instead of bending down. I just wish there were a step-in sidewinder. I've never had an intec release, although I do feel a lot safer with Fintecs than I ever did with Intecs. I keep my last set of Intecs around just in case I need an emergency, temporary replacement. Its been a long time since I adjusted bails, but seems to me that if you adjust the stop-screw out a bit, you may solve the problem. Worth a try while carpet surfing anyway. Oh, and a double ejection sounds safer than a single ejection. I too thought you meant your boots hit the snow and caused you to slide out. That's what boot-out means to me. What you're experiencing I'd call binding release or bail release, but that's just semantics. I quickly figured out what you meant. Oh, I've also seen people tie a piece of rope to their bail, with a knot at the end. Then close the rope inside a bottom buckle - keeps the bail from popping open in most situations, but requires an extra step or two.

They need to combine it with this stupid thing we have at Alpine Meadows. I call it the Disco Cat. The "box" like thing on the back is really a stage - the sides fold down. They can put a DJ or even a band up there. Even without the DJ or Band, the speakers atop the cab crank out music. They park it at various spots around the hill. It is pretty cool at the Ice Bar we have on the back side on sunny spring days. But it seems like they could have spent the money in a more productive way. Galen: Keep in mind this is at Mammoth. That place lives up to its name. I'd be this thing will be popular in the right place at the right time.

Put glue in the holes and re-screw. If his bsl had only grown a tiny amount, this would probably be the route you'd have to take anyway. In order to get enough separation between holes, you'd probably just re-mount the heel back a 5-10mm. Boot center would not be very far off the mount line in this situation. Sounds like they drilled the toe holes for traditional mount and then realized they f'd up. Didn't tell customer because they knew the binder would cover the mistake holes. Totally bogus move. If you mis-drill for the mount, first offer should be to comp them the cost of the mount (assuming you can re-drill in the right place). I'd also tune and wax the skis for free. If skis are new, plus since most people never re-mount, that will probably satisfy them. If they're really pissed, IMO you owe them a new pair of skis (especially if you sold them the whole kit). Measure twice, drill once. Center mount is a freestyle only deal. It f'ing sucks for free-riding on most everything else IMO. My son has ridden skis both ways and hates the center mount. He rides switch a lot, but doesn't do a ton of park stuff. Don't mount centered unless that's specifically what the customer wants. They'll also want really stupid looking short poles (like 30"). If you sell tall tee's, I'd push them toward a shirt that matches the color of their stubby poles. ;-)The customer should never go back to the shop that f'd things up without telling him originally. Oh, and in this case, if he really wants versatility and the option to ski two different positions, he could switch to the Schizo version of the binder - it moves fore and aft a cm or two. FYI, you can get a ton more info on this topic on the TGR forum than you will here. Lots of people there do lots of re-mounts.

I bought a giant roll of the non-slip stuff they use under rugs or in drawers from Costco. It is urethane or rubber or latex - not sure. It works great. It is non-slip, stays put, can be cut to any length, drains/dries easily and lasts a long time. It is an open weave so it doesn't matter if you leave a bunch of puddles - it will dry fine w/out mildew. Eventually the stuff hardens a little and I replace it (usually takes 2-3 years for this to happen). I have one layer on the bottom. If I were really anal I could put an extra piece in there to keep between layers of boards, but I find that one layer on the bottom keeps stuff from sliding around just fine. The stuff I'm talking about looks like the picture below. Except I get it in a neutral color. I've also put it in tool box drawers and kitchen cabinets before. Edit: found a better picture of what it looks like:

If you can afford the new boots (Deeluxe Track, Head, whatever), get them. Fin could use the business (always) and you run much less risk of having crappy liners and/or shells that fall apart (although this usually takes longer than a few years).