Rob Stevens

My Drake Poduim FF's have been a very long-lasting binding. Minimum baseplate material at the heel loop and suitably responsive, as carpet fibres and aluminum are. Not the easiest binders to find, though. Interesting to read the instep strap pain comments on the Flow's. I've never ridden a set, but your impressions are opposite to what I would have thought. A question... Does that eccentric cam, which allows the binding to open widely to give an easier step in, look like a weak link? That "feature" turned me off.

What does Dupraz say? You could probably find out faster than you could do the Kessel Run. Or even the Second Kessel Run.

Because that's a nice turn. Plus, you aren't wearing your goggle strap under the helmet... so you've got that going for you.

Best of breed, these guys. Little cranked in the back foot for my taste, but most sick. I'd like to think that this is how I ride, when I'm at my best.

Yeah we do! Our frontside doesn't look too different to me. Nothing better than turning without trying! As a surfer, I think you'd dig the board in this photo. If the leash doesn't break, you won't have to swim back to shore!

By that, I'm sure you mean the turn style and not the hammered on helmet and goggles.

Hi there; Let's start a conversation around what we might call "Knapton style" carving. I use that phrase as most on here will have seen his videos and know right away that our subject will be low carves at low stance angles. Previous forays into the subject have been constrained by the admittedly superior forward stance angles used if carving is above all your goal. The topic is also held back by folks who think what we're doing isn't in any way efficient or "stylish". Their noise distracts us from our goal, as we're not likely to change our stance. If carving AND smashing up the rest of the mountain is what you like, then we can likely share some strategies and set up advice here. I figure that if your angles are not much over 10 degrees forward on the back foot, you're in our ballpark. So... who out there is doing this? Where are you at in your progression? What sort of rig do you run? Let's get after it! In 35 years of riding hard boots, soft boots, high angle binders, low angle binders and no binders at all, this is the most compelling thing I've tried in years. As it is now, I'm probably the only guy with a cat boarding operation who lately prefers groomers over pow.

Well, this is what the new softboot carving looks like, as most people who aspire to it will use my angles rather than yours. Besides... if I wanted to bank a lazy carve with my hip 2 feet off the deck, I could go out and do that, but that's pretty 1988, by my reckoning. I'm looking to do what hasn't been done, or at least isn't commonly being done by folks who otherwise use the most versatile stance for everything else Either way though, unless you incline a lot as you appear to like, every rider regardless of stance will use hip angulation. When someone with low angles angulates at the hip, the ass is displaced out over the edge, rather than to the tail. The trick as I see it is to flex all the useful joints evenly and stay in alignment to the back foot, front foot and anywhere in between, as needed. When the butt really sticks out in this stance, it's usually some kind of "hedging" when moving for maximum edging. The rider expects that the heels will drag and boot out, so they remain overly forward leaning at the waist, prepared to save themselves. I know I'm not going to boot out, so I can maintain more vertical alignment and relax my torso into the turn, while keeping my centre of mass closer to the midline of the board. I see the position I'm in as very close to how it would be if I were standing flat based and simply compressed straight down. There is a small amount of displacement of ass to the side, but that's how it is, my Friend. This kind of carving is what's next. At least it's the next kind of carving that has a chance to be next. If it were hardboot alpine, it would have caught on by now. If it were high angle softboots, it would have caught on by now. You never know though... riders with everyday angles could think this sucks too and mainstream "carving" will still be any type of sleepy riding that leaves a narrow track. This is the way to do it. If you don't like it, look away. The other guys on this thread who stand this way and myself can keep talking.

There. Now my butt's not sticking out as much.

While not really a new thing, where carving an edge is concerned, dragging ass in this stance is. Thanks again for the hookup, my dearest Jack Michaud. Donek Sasquatch 170 28w full camber Photo cred to Steve "Riceball" Recsky at NES 2018.

I've been riding the "reverse" of this for a bit now. To be clear, that's more toe overhang on the front foot, and more heel overhang on the back foot I feel like I'm getting engagement of the front half of the edge on toeside, and less bias towards the front foot on heelside carves. It seems to have had the effect of more even pressure along the whole edge. As a caveat, some here will know that I ride +28 and -3. That puts me into a category of stance not normally relative to carving, so take the above with a block of salt.

That's my point, I suppose. Depending on who you're talking to, the end "look" is sometimes favoured over comfort. Like "Don't worry about it... It won't feel good now, but you'll get used to it".

^ Do you see issues with this, where putting a rider in an "optimal" position to be centred, causes pain issues as they may have never been centred before? I'm thinking of young riders who are adaptable vs. older ones who may need to be left in their comprimised postion, as taking them out of it creates a new, potentially uncomfortable range of motion. Is that where the above discussion comes in? If someone is bow legged for example, do you try to counter that by canting inward, effectively neutrally balancing them, or do you cant outward as needed to maintain the bowleggedness? As long as you have a screwdriver, you can always test for comfort. What I don't know are the boot dynamics of your boot... I know in soft boots that if you are structurally predisposed to being knock kneed or bow legged at the ankle, the boots will allow this, as they don't force a straight line from the sole of your foot to the knee. Hardboots often have that lateral motion as an adjustment, but it might not be that effective if it only works at 90 degrees to the long length of the boot. In any event, it's another variable you could mess with.

I didn't realize how late it was when we finished the morning session yesterday. I had to rip back to Canmore for a meeting. I wanted to come inside and say goodbye to you, Allee, as well as Corey and Neil. So... Goodbye, and thanks for letting me hang out!

Such a great day with you Bud. An inspirational day all around, to be honest. It's probably been 20 years since I've seen 20 good alpine riders all on the mountain at one time. Looking forward to the demo... I think I'll be deep in the weeds, but stoked to give it a go again.

Correction... 28 wide. Sick bord Jack. Thanks for passing it on to me.

Good times.

That's a nice thing to say. It has been hammering, so I'm going to try for either Saturday or Sunday too.

My plan is to come Friday.

How does a season pass holder help out someone who isn't? I have a pass, so let me know what I can do.

Jack sold me a board last season that I was nervous to try. It's a Donek Sasquatch, at least 29 wide, full camber and a 170. I thought it would handle me. Surprisingly, it's been a real beauty to ride. I don't notice the extra width until I'm laid out on a heelside. Carving turns is amazing, plus it gets after freeride terrain in ways I didn't expect. I'm only a 9.5 boot, but with 28 and -3 angles, the overhang struggle is real. Now that I have this board, it's giving me ideas for a custom... another cm in the tail, 2 in the nose, decambered up front with the wide point moved back a touch. I'd also see what my other options are for construction, as when I ask Melissa to load the Sasquatch in the roof box, she can't lift it over her head.

With the new crop of "tail free" boards, carving is still well possible, you'd just act a little more restrained, that's all. So long as you're pressuring at and between your feet, you're good. Running pressure out past that isn't going to be met with much support. With those boards, it's about using that lack of support to your benefit. You don't see him do it much in the video, but at the end it shows some pretty basic noboard / powsurf. You can see, if you look, how he controls his speed by pushing the tail straight down. Like surfing, if you want to slow down on the water, you can't really skid, or pivot the board sideways without creating problems, so you brake in a straight line. With no tail, it doesn't take much to sink it. Nothing does that as well as a board with a chopped tail. Like Jack, I don't tend to reach for a board like this for binder riding. The ones I do have are pretty much strictly for powder days and bindungless riding. Sorry to mung up the thread with my support of that video. It's still something I aspire to, and will continue to emulate for its power, stability, versatility and straight up good lookin'ness. If you see it resurrected in another thread, visit me there, if you don't mind going down a rabbit hole.

You sound like you've been around for awhile, so I won't question your eye for riding, but I'd say there's a few things separating Mike's turns and the "good old butt in the air toe-side". I talked about it earlier, so if you want, you can go back and check it out. I haven't seen Jack ride, either, but "better style" is up to you. That said, it's up to me, too. That's the beauty of style and subjectivity. Do you mean where was I in 93? I won't assume you care to know, but if you want to know, then I guess I could tell you.

I see your new board, and can imagine the efficient nature by which you ride. If I was an emoticon kind of guy, I'd hang a smiley on that crack. I mean the toe side turn you don't like. It's fun!