Rob Stevens

It’d be nice to see them crack the throttle carving. If it’s got a sidecut, most boards can edge like that.

Nakiska’s lease doesn’t allow summer use.

My board is like my wife’s car. AWD, turbo, lifted, 4 door with a trailer hitch. And you can buy it, so it’s “produced”. Not en masse, but the $ isn’t different than any other “high end” Burton so get onto the Stranda site and grab yourself a Shorty 164 W.

That’s true, but kind of a confusing way to say it. As for the coach’s phrasing to say “stand tall on the top of the roller”, that’s how you launch into the air. The confusion I mentioned comes from where he might have said “START to stand tall at the top of the roller”. Strictly speaking, that’s true as when you start there, you’re probably compressed and will arrive at full extension in the trough. If you miss the word “start”, you’ll do it opposite and won’t know what the **** is going on.

As a step on the way to learning how to jump features, I get it. As a way to stay on the ground and further, generate speed (the two aren’t the same), I don’t.

Where you could go “fakir” or “backards”? Kidwell round tail. A true twin, where the tail looked like the nose? Ken and Neil’s Barf. Not waiting for a round tail to go backwards? From the second TWS on a 1500 FE with the left hand swallow broken off.

Was he wearing a toque over his helmet? that was weird.

@b0ardskiagain with the knowledge. If you’re going to go in there, at least hit a few features. There’s a hilarious clip of @Ryan Knapton doing a big belly turn on the takeoff of a park kicker. Full trench from left to right! Part of me is like “hell yeah” and the other part who used to maintain the park is thinking “well… I’d have to fill that in”. So hit a few things to look like you should be there and don’t trench the takeoffs and landings.

Hey Boris. What are the unwanted side-effects you’re talking about? I haven’t been on a Ride in a few years, but still have my Yukon 164 Wide in the quiver. I liked that board, but will probably pass it on as it doesn’t see the snow under me anymore. “Wide” back then meant a number still sub 26 WW.

I know so little about what you’re saying, but find it fascinating nonetheless.

I probably get along best with volume-shifted boards. Something that I can carve the lower angle runs well, but still ride everywhere else, including proper powder days. This year, that board is a Stranda “Shorty” 164 Wide. Binders are Drake “Podium” FF’s. Vans boots… noting special, but well-fitted with Intuition liners and footbeds. The shell length is also quite short and it was that point that sees me in them. For angles, I run 28 in the front always, with some minor adjustments to the rear. Currently, I’m sitting at about +2, from 0 last year and -2/3 the handful of seasons before that. I do like the powder shapes as with the bigger noses, you’ll have more board in front of your front foot, allowing you to keep your speed up in rougher terrain, softer snow and higher entry speeds into turns. The shorter tail adds manoeuvrability. The wider waist width is the key for higher edge angles as many have pointed out. In the case of my board, it measures out just below 28, so with my 27.5 boot at the binding location (reference stance front and all the way back at the rear) I have no overhang to speak of. The things from above that I’d say are “performance-oriented” to the carving space would be that extra width, the overall much better construction of the Stranda vs. an “off-the-shelf” board, and those bindings… the Drakes are metal baseplates with carbon highbacks. I don’t run a lot of forward lean (less in front and more in back which allows a “softer” entry into a turn), but when my leg engages them, they stay put. If I use less tension on the straps for powder, the baseplate response is still there. They are very hard to find, but still out there. I’ve had two pairs over 10 years, occasionally replacing ladders and buckles, but nothing else. Before I die (or pass from this sport) I’d like to have a metal board with the same overall shape. I’d go a touch wider and 170 in length. It would have early rise from the front foot, or at least decambered in the front with camber from there all the way back. “Race” core construction to round it out. My Stranda “Cheater” 170 Wide looks like that kind of board, but isn’t quite there. A wider nose, or at least a more tapered tail, a 10 or 11 M sidecut and a “ballsy” flex with metal dampness would do it. This would make for a board that wasn’t quite as easy a driver as the Shorty, but would still freeride well in that “Matt Goodwill in Alaska” sort of way, while likely and significantly upping its carving game. To make it worth my while, I’d drop from around 240 lbs where I am now, to probably 220. While my legs are strong, my core is comparatively weak, so I need to work on that too. At 6’2”, the stronger core and lighter weight (where 15 of that 20 lbs would come right off my middle) would allow more inclining and less angulating simply to hold the G’s from a James-like carved turn on black runs. There is no substitute for fitness. I hope you get a chance to ride mountains again, Shortcut. We don’t have much time here and at 54 with a pessimistic outlook, I’m thinking about it more and more. Make it happen if you can. Make it happen, even if you think you can’t.

Maybe you just need to get “waisted”?

I guess we took this from “hard vs. soft” to “high vs. low”. So that makes it an exercise of observing what the lower angle soft boot guys you mention do, along with the SBX racers and anyone where the back foot is beyond… say… 20 degrees rear. Once you build that wall, I’d suggest that you look at equipment, the fitness and size of the rider. You should also look at the pitch. Where size is concerned, there’s a pretty big difference in the way @crackaddict approaches the slope compared to someone like @StrangeFuture808 While they both prefer boards at around 30 cm WW, their sizes make for very different “styles”. Ryan is another matter altogether… he says himself that he’s very good in his own, well-defined arena. So much so that he seemed dissatisfied with himself at Turner. It was clear that the first two were more comfortable carving on steeper terrain. it’s also notable that our Canadian SB pals went for equipment changes (James at least) on the second day. This highlights the limitations of very specialized equipment when it comes to freeriding, even when the angles of the bindings are low. In that way, if the gear holds you well in a hard carving turn (I mean proper hard) it’s probably too stiff in the ankle and “pointy” in board construction for doing what I do, which is “hit up the middle”. On anything up to a blue run, my carving is as performance oriented, but take it to the steep groomers and it’s very difficult for me. On the other side of that, I was walking away from them in bumpier terrain. Slice this matter up further and you have to examine my size and fitness vs someone like James. What we are able to do and what allows us to do it would be very different. In short, I’d have to go faster, have more room, be stronger and have dynamite equipment to incline like James vs. angulating as I might in the absence of any of those four things I mention. This last point is a rabbit hole I invite people to go down and the reason why I’m insistent that a detailed look at the rider, equipment and how they currently perform is an absolute must for any targeted feedback that doesn’t devolve into guessing. Yes Dave! “Carving is cool”, so let’s “Just riiiide Maaaan”! I’m always down for that too! Waisted?

There really isn’t. When you’re “in position”, the differences in good snow are not apparent. With loose ankles, you can stay in position, as the ability to keep your foot flat expands your envelope of movement. Once your foot tilts, contact is lessened. If you have a rigid ankle, your sole tilts from the top sheet with even the slightest move of your centre of mass from directly over top of your base of support. This highlights one of the shortcomings of stiff boots in freeriding and powder… even being slightly off centre in a less-than-perfect position usually results in a bad look. Taking it back to the OP, there are big differences in how the board is edged in low vs. high binding angle situations. Just as big a factor is what you have to contend with as a margin for error… I haven’t really known any riders that looked as effortless and fluid freeriding in hardboots, as when they pushed the limits of the balance envelope, they had to make awkward “strength” moves to stay on their feet, rather than more subtle ankle adjustments that could have had the same stabilizing effect.

The big difference is what you’ve discovered over time in going for your CASI 4. When you use a conventional hard boot, the typical way to adjust lateral flex with a shell that doesn’t have that feature is where you try to slacken the hold on your plate binding to allow the shell to “rock” side to side. The problem there is one where you throw off your sense of balance by not being able to keep your feet flat on the board. Having the sole of your foot lift like that sends a “tilt” signal to your brain. We had this same issue in NoBoard / pow surf with the use of regular snowboard boots vs. something like a Sorel Caribou… with a more rigid ankle, the sole of the boot lifts off the top sheet. In the Caribou, you can manipulate your ankle joint in the desired way to maintain contact and control. I’m definitely interested in the Phantom “Slipper” boot and binding… while I’m not going to switch out of “convenience”, I’m curious as to how close the feel could be. My pal Joey is one of their main sponsored riders who says they’re very close, with the lateral adjustment in the shell being critical.

I like that the point is that there’s no point.

No noticeable difference there. You have to back your angles off pretty significantly on one of those setups to highlight anything meaningful. @Xargomakes a good point in another thread that the difference isn’t best described by the boot, but by the angles of the bindings With a forward stance in both feet, hinging at the hips can benefit lateral and fore / aft shifts of weight and pressure almost equally. With low angles (where the rear foot would be close to 10degrees of forward rotation or less) hip hinging effects on edge to edge movement are more pronounced than the riders ability to manipulate fore / aft changes via the same “bend” at the waist. Thus the whole “toilet seat” chirp you hear from high angle riders as a strike against low angle riders. I tried to get a conversation going on another thread touching on this… there are quite a few factors that go into a “pretty” heelside turn with low angles that can only be developed in a rider by recognizing certain very important advantages and limitations of anyone seeking improvement

If you lose the bindings, you can get more runs. You’d also be less likely to fall over than on the gun you’ve got there! I’ve been following your eastern storms and thinking how great it would be to do a surf tour of random slopes. The avy conditions out here this year are off the charts, so some mini golf style turns would be lo stress way to spend the day.

I love the Cafe Racer mentality. You can never blame your equipment.

I’ll make it short. When it comes to technique, what works for a fit, 5’7” climber or yoga master, weighing in at 140 lbs will not work the same way for someone at the opposite end of that scale. It’s been said before here that if you want feedback that will help you, provide a minimum of baseline information about you physically. A clip of you in motion will also help. As an exercise, how do you all think the heelside turn positions might be effected by size, weight, fitness, or even equipment? I’m leaving out the toeside because it’s easy. I said I’d keep this short, so won’t inject my own thoughts at the start.

You can create a genuine NEED to be low by adding speed. To make it a more contained training cycle that you can analyze, work on one turn at a time… Start at the side of the run and traverse as quickly as you can, somewhere just below your max and in a flexed position, roll to the new edge as much as you can before you get to the fall line. You’ll find as you do it more and more, faster and faster, that the forces in the turn will create a demand for a position closer to the snow. When you try and “get low” without any real need for it, you can make all kinds of weird shapes that have no basis in reality.

My wife Melissa worked for CMH in the glory years, during the time that Hans Gmoser the founder was still with us. While she was there, a benefit offered to employees like her was a week at whichever lodge had space, for herself and the spouse. I also had a week myself where I was hired by a guest to teach and yet another to film their promo video. Of those 9 trips, I got to surf it up for probably just over 100k vert. (Edit… now that I think about it, the total is probably more like 200) I’ll consider myself lucky that I never had any jackpot situations where I made problems for the group. There was one time when we were flying with CMH in Nakusp (their Nomads base now). The conditions were prime and I asked the lodge manager if I could take the NB. He was fine with it, as he’d heard from other managers that I wasn’t going to grenade their day. The manager wasn’t leading the group though, and the guide was less than enthusiastic… he saw only trouble. As it turned out, the snow was great, but not very stable, so we stayed out of the alpine, down low in cut blocks. Many in the group were really struggling… a low snow pack where debris in the clearings filled them with pillows, as well as plenty of bench cut road crossings to navigate made for sporty riding. Skiers and snowboarders were getting stuck multiple times every run. With my setup, I could pull up, step off, pull them out where they could use my board as a bench to catch their breath while I arranged their gear, helped them back into it and sent them on their way. From the tail position, I spent the day doing this. At the end of the day, the guide, Melissa and I went down the lake to the Halcyon Hot Springs for a soak and dinner, where he treated us to a meal. For that kind of thing, it can be a great time, or a great tool. You do want a “NoBoard” style setup however where you can use the leash as a device to be able to hold the board to your feet if you need to… today’s “pow surfers” don’t have that. As a result, CMH guests who have been allowed out on Sharks, Grassroots and Asmo’s have sometimes wound up being the worst possible examples of “that guest” to the point where bindingless isn’t allowed anymore. I was lucky enough to be the first one to ask and not **** it up.

CMH recommended bindings too, but were quite accommodating to me over the years.

Glad you bought it. It’s very easy to ride… probably the easiest I’ve had and can be used on advanced terrain as long as the snow is deep enough. Enjoy!

Yeah @b0ardski!!