Rob Stevens

Phil; If you work for Mike, his daughter Michelle dates Jonas Guinn, who has some time on the helis with the Noboard. You should hook up with him. It is perfect for stowing under the 212's seat. I threw mine in with the spare poles. The rope is there, as least for me, to use when the terrain gets heavy... lots of drops, really tight trees or bad snow. The best setup for good conditions is the rope attached to one of those retactable dog leashes. If you fall, you don't want that thing tomahawking around on a 3 foot rope. You fall, it takes off its own way and you haul it back in like a fish on the line. A thought we had awhile back was to have some sort of loop or hook (like a mini windsurfing harness) on your front leg to keep the rope within easy grabbing reach. Depending on how high up you leg you had the hook, or how short you had the rope, it could be tension adjustable, keeping it a little more passively on your feet even if your timing was off (or not if you felt that was cheating). As for boots, I use some played out Burton Vikings. The forward lean built into the shell has long since given out, which is good. You want to be able to point your toes to keep in contact with the deck. Too much forward lean can have your toes off the deck in a heelside turn. What is left in the boots is the lateral support. This is a must have for not rolling your ankles if you get bucked to a running get off. Unless you have brand new, aluminum ankles, don't use Sorels or overly soft boots. The side to side support has to be there, in my opinion. ChadX; Don't worry about real terrain access to sample it. Any snow covered slope will do for a few laughs and build your desire to do it in a mountain environment.

Dano Pendygrasse, who created "Future" was into alpine a bit when we lived in Whistler in the late 80's. He was great on his edge and had alot of respect for the carving setup. It really wasn't his weapon of choice, but he was pretty open minded about it.

I use a picnic table with two kayaks underneath. It's way better because all my friends can ride with me and we don't have to stop to eat. Our napkins are always blowing away, though.

If the snow was deeper than 40cms, I might think twice about bindings vs No. The terrain would be the clincher... if wild, I'd strap in. If mild (still steep but not too bumpy) I'd No. It is a hassle falling off in a meter of fresh. I have found it's easier to right myself in the bombhole, though. When we fall strapped in, the board wants to stay up top, keeping you on your side. When the board is buried, it wants to stay that way. I'm sure many of us have had to unstrap and pull it out. The No can be easier. No matter how I fall (except for headfirst, into a treewell) I can get up and going again pretty fast. I have never tried a paddle in on it because I am a horrible surfer. No wait... to be a horrible surfer, I'm pretty sure you'd have to stand up first. The best turns ever were with CMH (my Wifes employer) last April. 30 to 40cms new, but settled. I went with the intermediate group that day because I didn't want to hold them back. 90% of the day was off the rope, with alot of old growth trees (not much tight stuff). I was never the last back to the pickup. I'd like to think that the No would be a great way to get back to "out your backdoor" turns, at parks, golf courses or any hill, really. Just no pressure fun.

having been on Burton C's for a few years, my biggest concern with them has been the huge heel loop on the baseplate, digging into the snow on heelside turns. That was one thing I loved about the look of the Flows... you've only got a raised highback there, so you should get more edge angle before you boot out. I'd like to try the carbon ones, but I'm not a big fan of the layback at the top of the highback, mentioned above. This shape, likely meant to aid entry, effectively gives you a shorter highback. As a lover of the Skyback, I'd have trouble with the lack of leverage and the pressure point. It's a shame you had to retrofit the binding to make it comfortable for you. I too like alot of forward lean, so maybe they're not right for me, but I'm going to try them anyway.

Thanks for your interest, guys. When people like you get ahold of it, it becomes more credible. This community is made up of riders who love the turning sensation... hard or soft, so if you find you can get a good turn out of this toy, you'll be hooked, I think. The pad is just rubber, so it doesn't stiffen the board at all. I ran various no slip surfaces for awhile, lastly being surf Trac Top. Since getting into deeper snow, I have found the Noboard pad to be the best. The raised surface nips will not clog up with snow and lose grip like the surf pads do. it's kind of like a MX tire in mud. No mud... lots of tread showing. Lots of mud... no tread showing. The rope does make riding variable snow or hardpack possible in a pinch and some guys I know can do it very well, but it's really designed for full base of support conditions only pow can provide. As soon as you have more unsupported base than not, it wants to sit flat. (bindings please) In fresh cord, it can be alot of fun riding the nose and turning that way, hanging 10 to push the nose into the snow. It's slow but the balance is sketchy so it's kind of challenging. I'm really only interested in the no hands riding, so hardpack freeriding is an emergency only sort of thing. I do like to use it when I'm with a beginner sometimes, though. I can do basic turns on it and jump off to help. It makes me faster from demonstrating to assisting. It's kind of cool to get a beginner to do a basic straight run with it on a very mellow, short pitch with a counterslope. If they get nervous, they can step off at walking speed, rather than get hauled down with one or two feet strapped in. I've only used it in the straight running step as it's not much good for any other parts, it seems. Billy... your no binder friends might be interested in the pad as it does work better than the Trac Top they're using, in deeper snow. Maybe your friend with the shop would consider carrying the product? 20cms last night so me, the lady and the dog are off to the hills for a sesh.

If you say the Khyber is anything like the Salomon Era (best short board I've ever ridden) then you just sold me.

With modern riding style taken back to a more roots approach, with very simple, inexpensive gear, the Noboard lets you do things that the originators would have never believed possible. The kind of turns a pioneer would have been floored to do with bindings or holding a rope are being done (and more) with no hands. Like people who ride down W/C slalom pitches on snowskates, when the noboard gets into the hands of the talented young rider, the effects should be staggering. I can just see the 30 ft kickflip drop, with no clue the rider was bindingless until he left the ground. Billy... you have a friend who noboards? Does he ride holding the rope much, or more surf style, using it just as a leash? Yeah, View to a Kill... I scared the **** out of the people in the theatre in front of me, yelping when Steve? Link made the Russian sled serve him.

You should www.noboard.ca The rope is just to get you going, or if the terrain gets harsh, otherwise, drop it. If the conditions are right, you can do most of the stuff you'd do on snow with no binders. As far as hitting jumps and drops goes, it's up to your skill and balls. No rope jumping is the future, for sure.

I do know some guys at Burton... they made the Noboard crew an edgeless, insertless Fish as a proto. ****in' crazy light and sticks to your feet like flypaper. As a board for landing drops, it's length still worries me a bit. There's no making up for length... That's what she said. Prior and Chris help CASI out with prodeals for the members, so maybe I should give him them a call... the Khyber gets alot of ups on this site. Was your Norquay day back in 96? transworld had a conference in town that year which corresponded with a BIG opening day. I took my head off with my knee on a buried log, so it was a short one for me, but the boys who stayed were babbling for days after.

****e that I missed you last year Neil... won't happen next time. From the look of things, we may have to go to Colorado to get it done. The 2m would be a fun board to have around, but I don't think I can do it... I'm sure I may need to reconsider, but it seems excessive. From the way you speak of it, though, I know you don't think so. How big are you? Bordy... Reverse sidecut AND magne traction? Talk about a specific weapon! I did see some reverse camber skis hit it off heli last season and he was having some times, from the look of it on a 40cm day. I'm probably more likely to get a tapered board, but I'm thinking that with the shorter overall length, it will still behave like a shorter board on pow landings, even with the big nose. (unless it's stiffer in front of the front foot, which seems like the wrong place for pow board stiffness, conventionally speaking) Is this your experience? That should be one thing going for the 2m... 40 footers to 3 feet of fresh should be alot easier (if that's to be considered "easy") Are you the same store as RJ-PS?

RJ-PS; I just went on your Exotic Boards site and want to grip a 177 wide. (or 182... 6'2", 225 lbs) How wide is it? (under the back pack and the middle pack on the front) I'm thinking this may be the board for the elusive duckfoot E/C's. My bootsize is US 10. (mondo 28?) Do you have the proximity to the weapon to measure this out for me? I thank you. Bordy... I see you on here. 182 or 177. Much difference. Bury the nose ever? Big pow landers?

I'ts wierd how I've never seen anyone riding a board that size around here... the mtns are big enough for it, for sure, but they're totally unknown to the local scene. I have a 74 Salomon that I think kills it in pow. Until I came on this forum, I thought the Tanker was history and that it was all swallows at that length. I must be missing out... Neil Gentzwill! (the best profile photo on this site, period) You have to bring one out for me to try. As a sufferer of debilitating Monsterism, I may need more float.

If anyone is around the Banff area on February 3rd, the Noboard film "Yes to the No" will be playing at the Banff Mountain Film Festival. 8pm in the Max Bell at the Banff Centre is the time and place. There will be some other good films as well, so if you come, you'll be storked. The film is a finalist, so if it gets selected, you may get a chance to see it when the Festival does its international tour. It would be good if any gamers out there gave it a try. You don't need much... and old board, some gription, a hill and it's on. You Coloradononians with all the pow should get out there on your local golf track and do some for me. I looked at that bulls#!t weather map in another post (it's only bulls#!t because I live in the 50% zone. If I was in the 150% zone, it would be fact), so I may be on the dirt jumps for awhile yet. www.noboard.ca If you get hooked, knock over a liquor store and go heli with it.

Helvetico; I hear you about the avalanche thoughts bunging up the brain. Avys are a big reason why I like the noboard so much. On low angle terrain, it's still a heap of fun. You probably would like the no binding deal simply because you wouldn't have to force your feet into them. You would still probably want to run proper snowboard boots for the lateral ankle support, though.

... take a whipped board, put some grippy stuff on the top, go to the nearest hill and ride with no bindings. You will be happy. Just promise me you will use the snow you're given.

Look man, I probably just stopped thinking after I got served for saying something that people think is worth a few civil words was "utter nonsense". Most are going to get defensive when they get called out like that. I can guarantee that a more even response would have been given if there had been some respect shown. I guess I was no better for coming back at him the way I did, though. Jack seems cool and I give him credit for not roasting me for my post back. He probably thought I was a real dick for that statement and he's right. It's just hard to not react sometimes. You on the other hand are a real piece of work. Talk about beaking out the Pedigree... I get it, you're a first class Gnar Shredder and Conveyor of Gnar. I don't want to be too hard on you, though... it could be possible that you were "taken advantage of" by some AASI priest back in your altarboy days and never got the counselling you needed. You could also use some help with the "stream of conciousness" thing you've got going here. You're bang on, Billy, you must not read what you write because you contradict yourself so often. Maybe that's why you're going off on me... you don't read your own posts... why should you read mine? ***To the Community*** I guess my previous post of putting a bullet in this exchange is not really accurate. If you all want, we can take it outside, but the ticket price just went up to $5.

Linus- Yes you can. That heeside shot is killer. I wonder if he could do that with a flatter back foot? Pat Moore- You're a machine, buddy.

Yeah, yeah... I take fun too seriously, I guess. Sorry for polluting the electroweb with my s#!t. Speaking on what this post was really about, we'll only know when we're all at the Wrinkly Raisins Retirement Villa, shuffling around sideways, in a tuck. P.S. Billy and I don't so s#!t for less than 50% of the gross.

Oh yeah, jnshapiro nailed it... The student centred approach is the one. This is what CASI promotes, but is only as effective as the person giving the session. With beginners, this can be harder, but you can still get the intel you want if you just ask.

I'll quote you some here, Billy... Also do you really think it nice to use statements like "IF YOU HAVE FRIENDS" in post. ---I didn't mean it like that. I sure don't have to read between the lines to tell how much respect you have for others. To beleive that creating new riders who do not care witch way the stand is just False it will always be easier to stand on way then the other, for just about everyone why not use that to help them progress??????? ---You called me out for claiming you have a bias to an old way of thinking. Do you not think one possible future for freestyle atletes or dedicated f/s riders could be multi directional balance and ability, to the point where they can do it expertly? ONCE AGAIN... this is not a hard and fast for teaching beginners, but if their goal was to be a high end freestyler, they might want to explore this thought with their coach. You can consult with your tech commitee all you want I am positive there are thousands of people who would sit down and rip your ideas to shreads I am possitive I would! However I dont see it as a right or wrong I only see it as technigues used for teaching some thing in your bag of tricks. ---I said the same thing. It was an idea "batted around" for discussion. I sound like a broken record here, but I'm pretty sure I said "it's a tool". Use it or dont. The idea is to not bag on anything that may work out, for whatever reason. Snowboarding is a super easy sport that produces millions of riders If you really think all riders inspire to be what you and your TECH COMMITEE think then I feel poorly for any rider you teach. How did any one learn prior to the AASI PISA CISA! ---I learned by falling alot and watching others. Now, people don't have to play it that way. If you get someone as a teacher who knows how to do the job, you'll probably get it faster than the time it would take a 12 year old who just learned it for a teacher. When someone lays down the $, they want fun and results. Any one with or with out any experance can teach a first timer how to ride The fact that you and your Tech Commitee feels as though they should be deciding how is just a joke you all tell yourselves at night to pretend that you are important, its a common issue with instrutors (more so with one who think they are molding the future). You spend so much time telling people what to do you find it hard to listen to others. ---You're probably right about my listening skills, but it seems that in many respects, we're on the same page, so I wonder if you're listening to me? I was skating the other day. I watch a little girl about ten years old practicing how THAT IS REAL TEACHING WITH REAL RESULTS. Those girls had a blast and will keep on skating. And tried to push their own learning to the next level. ---That's great. Many people learn from friends. I always try the experimental stuff on mine (as limited in # as they are). Usually they wind up on their asses alot. Perhaps you should work on you people skills a bit since they seem to be a bit rough on line. Maybe a little change in your outlook would have a bigger impact then how you set up your students feet? ---Good one coming from you, fella.

Allee can say in 10 words what it takes me a 100 to do.

The best runs will require all of the above. Up and down unweighting, angulating and inclining and combinations of the four depending on what's in front of you. To answer your question Oldsnwdrdr, I would have to say that my first carves were pretty inclined, whereas now, we like to try getting folks to feel it in their shins before leaning into it too much, just for stability. If a person did lean to feel it first time, I would still be stoked for them. The inclined method seems to be the humans natural default setting, but sometimes results in a few more falls. This season, my goal is to learn frontside E/C's on my freeride board, set up a little duck, actually. (35 and -5) Being on my back, instead of on my side like you would be with higher angles is going to be a core strenth challenge. I did get new binders that have no heel overhang profile, so I think it might happen. I did post on that subject awhile back and got some interesting responses. Toeside E/C's all day long...

...Billy, I do think your comment about strapless sport riders not having their back foot turned out a bit on average is funny. I would ask you to look again. I also think it's ironic how a person expousing openness can say that past performance envelopes will dictate what might be normal in the future. Once again, CASI is not saying that duck is the way... it just might work for some. I like it, but I won't ram it down anyones throat.

I like where you're going with that "I stand sideways" stuff, Billy. I'd like to think that future high end athletes will be able to claim that. True multi-directional riding will be a milestone in freestyle. The hostility is fair, though about the percieved dogmatic approach some trainers have. When we started what is now CASI back in the late 80's, the riders who were involved were very open minded people who saw all solid suggestions as "teaching tools". Along the way , the organisation became larger, requiring some standardization of approach that could be trained in a canned sort of way. Certain tools where "highlighted" as the ones to use in a one time beginner lesson. When these lessons were trained on courses, the presenters gave the most attention to the favoured exercises and would metion breifly other things you could do with students to improve the same skills (stance and balance, edging, ect...) The problem that arises, however, that when you have increasing numbers of Level 1 trainers presenting the material, you don't always wind up with lateral thinkers who can find alternate routes around a problem. certain personalities come away with a "this is the way we do it" sort of attitude. I can honestly say that I have been shocked myself at how senior evaluators over the history of CASI have had pretty closed minds. This is just the way of the world... In every group of 10 people, you'll have 3 cool folks, 2 nazis, a couple of tech-heads and a few more gapers who don't have much going at all and are just along for the ride, parroting whatever they've been told. If you have friends, you now what I'm talking about. Would all your friends make great teachers? Well, if they took the conversation I had with my Tech Committee about how duck MIGHT work as an AVERAGE way of approaching beginners as ABSOLUTE GOSPEL and made it their mission to teach THAT WAY ONLY, at the expense of all other useful tools... well, I think their future students would be best served if they stuck with their old job.