Rob Stevens

No 2... You're right about the leverage aspect of the height of your boots with respect to the amount of pressure you can put on the edge. I don't think the angle of your feet really can contribute to greater, or less, pressure. When you move you COM over the turning edge, the weight is there. The variable here, for me, is balance and maneuverability. As Jack said, if you wind up perpendicular to the length of your board, your ankles are out of the mix and you're left with shins. This is only a problem (as water skiers will attest) when balance over uneven terrain gets involved and you have to stay upright and turn to avoid things. I would guess that in perfect conditions, I could edge a Squall with the same amount of pounds to the edge as a freecarve board with relatively low alpine angles. The problem comes when you hit uneven snow and the Squall leaves you wishing for toe / heel sensitivity again. Hardboots also eliminate (unless they're really soft) your ability to have Lifting (heelside) or Pointing (toeside) really do anything other than give you a pressure "sensation" inside your boot (especially Lifting as Pointing can aid in the boot maintaining a certain degree of shape, rather than folding). I often tell students of mine to relax the muscles in their feet and to concentrate on ankles and shins / knees for lower body activation. Curling and manipulating your feet often just gets you cramping, rather than increased edge hold. On softboots with carbon baseplates, highbacks and stiff soled boots (not stiff ankles-stiff soles) I generally find the same to be true. The same can't be said for s#!tty, flexy baseplates and bootsole combos, where you may feel you need to employ every bit of your lower body to hold on, even after you've cranked your straps to foot breaking pressures.

If your toes are over the edge and not overhanging (drag) or inside (increased effort) you're maximized. It should be intuitive enough to imagine that your joints are built to work in a fore and aft manner so the closer you can stay to that, the more you'll be able to use your ankles to tip the board over. Of course you can still tip it with higher angles, you'll just want to think about where you feel the pressure on the shell of your boots. The closer to 0 your bindings are, the more you'll feel it close to the tongue (toeside) or back of the cuff (heels). If your angles are higher, you should feel more pressure on the sides of the cuff. Think about Where you're pressuring the cuff, rather than How you're flexing your ankle joints. It was asked earlier about an exercise for feeling a sensation where the tilting of the board starts as low as possible. Try this: Imagine you're pouring beer out of the top of your boots. If you do it too fast, you'll get head (not the good kind). Just play with it and you'll lose the other body moves that might have not been that effective.

The last time we had El Nino effects in Alberta, I remember the snow as being pretty on. I think it the was late 90's, or something. The s#!ttiest winter we've had here was a non-El Nino winter, with no real snow until xmas.

You've got me pegged, there. I could make it happen on the bigger gear, but I don't want to fight it, or have it be a violent experience. The ride I'm looking for will like middle of the road speed, turn size and pitch. It won't have to do all mountain riding either. The only time this will come out is when the groomers are on and it hasn't snowed in a few days. Powder day... Summit 800 and the Noboard (no rope, of course) Freeride... 174 Fastback or 162 Radon. Freecarve... ? ... though I'm alot closer to making a call than I was before. You guys are an incredible resouce. Thanks very much, all.

PowderKING Allee... KING! North-central BC... The place gets mad snow and is aways from any large urban centre, so it should be empty, even at xmas. Neil G... Yah, let's ride this winter (you too, Allee). I haven't been on plates for quite awhile until last season on a monster of a race board. It was too much for the conditions (tracked out and bumpy) and the number of people (lots). Sort of the reason for my last thread... I need a board that is more like the boards I used to ride... Rossis, F2's and Oxygens, when they were still wide and shorter (around 170-175).

How about something farther off the grid? Powderking? Castle? hike up Fortress and stay in a cave? I can't ride in a crowd... people get hurt or at the very least, look kind of put out.

I need an alpine board and the ones I have are too nutty for me. I have a Coiler 18something from 02 and a relic of an Oxygen Proton 18something from before the turn of the century. Both these things are built for a kind of alpine I'm not really interested in. I want to do more EC-type riding at moderate speeds. I looked at the Swoard and it's pricey, but if it's the best one, price won't be a consideration. I'm just interested to hear from anyone who is around my weight (220) and ability (unreal) as to what sort of "freecarve" ride is the "best". A clue about modern boots wouldn't hurt either and low bindings... I don't want any rise or cant. Someone might say that I could read this information on another part of the site, but that would take the fun out of it for me. Also, it is snowing here and my leafy trees are looking pretty sad. Also, ride the bike park at SilverStar in BC. It is better than Whistler. Also, go noboarding this season.

I just traded my 2000 Legacy 5 speed wagon (bone stock... they don't make them base like this anymore) for a Dodge Caliber R/T AWD. I usually stay away from 1st generation cars, but whatever... this thing is cool. Like my sled, it has a CV style tranny which doesn't step gears... just one gear all the way up and down. It's a bit plastic-y on the inside and my DH bike won't go inside like it used to in the longer Subaru, so I got a trailer hitch mounted bike rack. I hate having stuff on the roof, though, so it'll be a drag to go back to the box for winter. Can't wait to take this thing to Revelstoke and then down to Trout Lake in sideways weather, towing a sled and trailer. Should be good times. I did have some narrow cookie cutters on the Legacy for awhile and you could not put that car off its line. Never did any mods on it for more power... not that I don't get into road shredding, it's just too expensive in gas and fines.

Machine your own or suck it up and drill it out. Once the 4 hole came out, all the old "standards" just got dropped.

How do you know it's not a "roadie on board" sticker?

you have no rear license plate. watch out for the cops.

There are a few guys in the crew who use the O-sin and others like it. They're great for float, but when you drop the rope to ride it surf style, they're a bit heavy and don't really want to stick to your feet. they'll rise up and float, for sure, but the swing weight makes them a bit if a bear to pivot left and right. For this application, I would find the lightest board you can. I use a Forum Streetdweller in a 160 (a pre-production). No edges and no inserts. It sticks like glue to the feet and won't cut your head off when it gets to the end of the leg rope and comes back at you. 160 may seem small, but you'll tend to set the pad up with a fairly rear-biased offset anyway. My 160 nobooard winds up with the same nose length as my 174 Salomon Fastback. In the right conditions, with the right board, you will s#!t when you find yourself doing beatiful turns with no hands and no bindings. I went heli last year in 40 cms overnight and stayed with the guide all day and a group of competent skiers. They didn't hold back on terrain selection, either. Just the usual avalance considerations, but we still rode the whole range that day.

I've said it before... If you're going to ride without binders... www.noboard.ca

Go with the original C4 if you find some. All the others are good as well (C16 and C60) Never heard of the other kind, but if they compare well with the Burton, post some pics... I'd like to see them.

Funny you should ask about your head... We go towards the sides of the hill alot when we ride, but very few people actually look there. When I watch you come down, you're looking into the fall line the whole time. That's enough of what looks "wrong"... Here's something to try: ***Lead with your chin.*** This is not the kind of advice your boxing coach will be giving you, but nobody is trying to knock you out here. It's ok to look down the fall line when you're going into, or in, the fall line, but the rest of the time, look where you're going. ***As you finish a turn, you should be looking to the side of the hill to start the next, then to your apex and then to the exit, or the side again.*** All that misalignment happens right when your board jets away to the left or right and you're still gaping down the mountain. You're only going down the fall line for a third of the time. Spend the other 2/3rds looking in those other directions. All the rest of the body stuff will fall into place when the head is doing it's job. Two other benefits that will come with this: -Speed control. Your turns will be finished off cleaner and you may actually be able to carve on steeper terrain. -Safety: When you turn your head into a toe turn from a heel turn, you'll probably spot the mouth breather about to mow you down when you rode in front of him. This one is key to living a healthy life as most expert riders I know "compliment" their blind spot by never taking their eyes off the fall line through the entire heel-toe switch. When you look across the hill, peripherally, you can see up the hill as well and will have a much better idea of who is in your space.

When I say "flat", I'm thinking of rotating the binding until the toe and heel of the boot are overhanging the edge by no more than 1 cm on both sides. You can use the offset slotting on your discs to get this even, toe and heel. Some riders like to have the toe and heel lined up perfectly with the sidewall, when viewed from above and some even have their boots inside the sidewall a bit. I don't go for the last one as I think running angles any higher than needed "handcuffs" you a bit. Even if you have a little bit of overhang, you'd probably never notice, unless you're at 90 degrees of edge angle. This doesn't happen too often unless you're ECing and even then, it's so minimal, it shouldn't "boot you out", causing a fall, unless it's solid ice. Trying to EC on ice will wreck your nice jacket and pants, though... If you can, take the camp with Christian and Steve. They are both great freecarvers as well as knowing lots about race style (Chris was one of the Olympic coaches in SLC and Steve coaches the junior national team... Both came up in the CASI system so are equally skilled at freecarve riding / teaching).

Not a bad idea to just shed the binders altogether... and then get a sled or heli and drop that rope, surfer. www.noboard.com Try this for timing... Now baby, don't be shy when you're holding my hand (toeside)... ...'cause as time goes by you gots to understand (heelside) It's true (dodge gaper standing around) I got the best for you (quick speed pump) I been searchin' high, high, high (back in GS mode) I been searchin' low... (Back to the liftline to scream out...) I'm talkin' 'bout, I'm talkin' 'bout, baby... Don't forget my number... Love will see you through. Thanks Milli... and you too, Vanilli... I don't give a s#!t if you were lip-synching.

Riding with Steve and Christian, huh? Lots of combined knowledge there... Chris is one of the best freeriders I know and a real noboard fanatic, like myself. Steve just about single-handedly has kept competition alive in the maritimes of Canuckistan. I'll keep it simple on your questions... 1. I started wearing a MTB DH knee / shin pad on my back knee instead of increasing my stance angle to avoid snow contact. The flatter you can get your back foot (without drag), the more you can edge the board without having to move your hip to the inside so much. This should keep you over top of your s#!t without losing your ability to pour on the edge angle. I run the knee / shin front and rear for freeriding as I've had a few close calls in pow with rocks and stumps just under the snow surface. They fit right to the boot top and are unnoticeable after you get your pants on and sure do make you feel more secure. 2. Don't set your stance back. Keep it centered as the others suggest. When I rode hardboots regularly, I used to fold the nose all the time as most race boards were shorter and softer than they are now. If you can get a stiffer / longer (or both) board, you may be able to drive it instead of being a passenger. I wouldn't go too crazy and wind up with a big GS board, though, or it will feel too wierd. You shouldn't be afraid to move forward and inside to start a toe turn. If you are because you buckle the board, don't compliment its inefficiencies by changing your style... you could be out-riding it. Can you borrow another board to try? 3. If you're still wiping out on your heels, slow things down a bit and get your timing together. If you get that down-unweighting (cross-through) thing happening when you're just a bit out of position, your board will be too far away, too quickly to catch up to. Once again, slow the movements down, not the speed so much, just your timing... you still want the speed so you can get some pop when you change edges. I have this little card that says I'm an instructor, but I still don't know you and have never seen you ride, so this could be all bulls#!t. You should post a video clip so we can all tear you to pieces. That would be fun.

Try www.casi-acms.com. There are some short vids posted and you don't have to be a member to access them. On the top bar, you'll see "Courses" and the pulldown will show "Course Standards". Once you're there, select Level 2 Basic and intermediate carving. These are probably the best of the videos as they are shown at a speed that lets you see what is happenning in the turn. If you ever get to Canada, you'll find that taking an instructor course for $300 (3 days) will teach you more about riding than most full-day private lessons. Even if you don't care about the teaching stuff, the riding skills improvement will be worth the $$.

I'd say Canmore, AB, but you're late on the affordable housing... Calgary is a good town... lots of shred and LOTS of jobs of all kinds (thank the oil boom for that).

Because skiing is supersorad, there are that many more of them. We have an almost identical rate of injury, because skiing and snowboarding are both equally sketchy and stupid. They just have a greater number of "no longer breathing" types because they probably outnumber us 3 to 1.

Those Oxygen harboots sure were pieces of s#!t...

If there's no connection, then why is Ross suing these people and the CTV? I read the article (thanks for the scan-job) and it didn't seem like they were trying to burn him, they were just telling a story about what he's up to. Without prefacing it with his weed connection, though, there's no context and no basis for his suit. If the "media" were stirring s#!t up, they would have gone to him, quietly living in his cave, to ask him what he thought of network TV getting over on his story. As it happens, though, he went to them, holding his story out in front of himself, asking us all to scrutinize the whole thing again (which I had to do already as the CBC snowboard commentator for Nagano). A frivoulous suit, to be sure, but without his "inspiration" mere creative writing could have never devised a plot so compelling.

Jason Ford did ride an alpine board. At the time, though, all the racers I had a chance to ride with ran high angles with a soft set-up on squaretails (CK, Delaney, ect...). The only guys riding hardboots and plates at the time seemed to be freestyle riders like Damian and Jose Fernandes (though Jose was kind of off the back of competition by then). That was a time when competing pretty much meant that you went to the comp and raced one day, followed by some v-ditch the next. Jason raced gates in a time that is long gone, kind of around the time that alpine was just starting to look "different" (via the turned-in back foot) and thereby "weak". I seem to remember getting back into ski boots to ride alpine around 1990 and the comments from my friends were mostly of the "why do you do that to yourself?" variety. It was hard for them to understand why anyone who felt the "comfort" of soft boots would volunteer for the "pain" of hard boots. This was in Whistler and the people making the comments were respected riders. This place and its riders have set the tone for what's "in" and what's "un" ever since. We should all know by now that alpine "blows"... as to why that is, though, most probably couldn't say.

I guess I might wind up an idiot for saying this then... If you're wide-open over blind rollers, eventually you're going to get cleaned up. It might not be "your fault" because people aren't supposed to stand there, but they do, drop-jawed all the while, breathing through their mouths. The only reason I tend to shut off before launching is because I expect people to stand in the dumbest places. "Chopping the throttle" can be a hard habit to break, even while heli-ing or snowmobiling where you can be 99% sure no one is going to be "down there". When I was a kid, however, I didn't give a **** where you were standing.