Dave ESPI

Softboots was on a Rossignol Butaine in 1998. Retired the board in 2008, but have 2 more "BUDLIGHT" boards to keep it company :) Hardboots was on an Airwalk Force 168 in 2008. Saddly retired the board this past December, but hope to replace it soon :) As to new technology boards, I found a new love for a Coilier in Aspen.... Looking forward to a next big "breakthru" in 2011 .

I had to work Jiminy Monday, if the snow was anything like it was there now..... It will be fan-fn'-tastic for jaw dropping perfect turns and superb grip... even for those of us who are in softboots too! See everyone tomorrow, I'm headed up with some "down-state-ers"... hope to convert another rider to hardboots and plates :)

you definately are NOT alone.... There are quite a few of us who rip in softies just as hard. Welcome to BOL. EDIT: I miss my FATBOB :(.... It was a fun board.

http://www.bomberonline.com/store/bindings/td3_stepin.cfm You MUST take those boots to a certified bootfitter and get a professional opinion of them if you are insisting on still using the broken boots.... or else I think the entire membership of BOL will post "WE TOLD YOU SO!" when you bust yourself good when the boot fails. EDIT" please do a search for all the "Injured" threads..... might make you think twice about the "value" of reliable boots.

Having just gone thru this with my GF breaking her tibia in softies, I can say that PT is critical. All the time the leg was not in use it was atrophied and now needs to be strategicly rebuilt with workouts. If there are pains, chances are it is due to inactivity. THis will subside as you strengthen the muscles. The big clunky ortho-boot will help protect the ankle as it heals, but also limits the regrowth of muscles because it basicly imobilizes the ankle. You will feel other muscles compensating and be achey elsewhere. Best thing my GF found was to ice it, as it would swell up with use, and exercise of it. Try to not spend more than an hour out of the boot and definatley not a lot of walking around on it without the boot. Ease yourself back into use of your ankle. re-condition the muscles. follow thru with PT. the sooner you can get motion back into the ankle, the better it will be. One instructor I was talking to in Aspen had busted his ankle, and was only in an aircast for a week. He took it upon himself to ride a snowboard and said his logic was "the stiff boots are basicly a "cast".... It really did not work out for him because a few weeks later he severly sprained his ankle and tore a ligiment. Ligiments take far longer to heal and can require surgery and a lot more time off your feet than a broken bone. If you feel strong enough to use the ankle, do such but don't over do it. We can self assess our bodies better than anyone, but we also need to follow thru with instructions that those of us who know far more about these breaks, strains and tears gave us... AKA: the DRs. My GF was in and out of surgery in a day, a plate 2 screws, and ortho boot because her bone had a fault like break and would not heal strong enough to be weight bearing without damages or arthritis in the future, and considering her active lifestyle, was the best option. Jan 4th, she broke it, surgery on the 7th, out of work 10 days, then up and moving around with an orthoboot for 5 weeks, and this week she is not needing any boot and able to wear normal shoes. she still experiences tenderness and has a slight limp, but her prognosis is a full recovery with 2 more sessions of PT by april first. She hopes to get out on the snowboard again for a few days of spring conditions, but I want to see her running and jumping first. Its not worth risking a re-injury or some colateral injury with a weakened ligimentary connection in an unrelated area due to overuse and under strength.

Turn them into a nice Flower planter in the garden... :( those have seen snow for the last time unless you wanted to donate them to someone who does early season tracking and stomps around in the rocky mountains. I saw a thread where their boots were totaly trashed and scrached up. You can plastic-weld a piece of plastic to it and seal the hole, but as to riding with it, I'd say absolutely not with heelbails. Maybe with an intec step in, it might have some life left to it, but the structural inegrity is definatley questionable at best. there may be more micro cracks in the boot unseen, and that could lead to catastrophy.

snaps! Damn, chances are everytime I wanted to ride something, it was already out under some lucky dawgs feet. Atleast I know what to look for @ Stratton. Thanks :)

U like it cauze it matches yer helmet and blends in nicely with yer onepiece :p hahah J/K. I did not see a NSR @ ses for demo was there one ? I will look at ECES when I pop up this week.

The 1 footed softboot glide is more of a skateboard style, its all in the hips and pushing the board out in front of you and then swinging the leg up in front of it and stomping the heel and toes down, and letting the tarsals of your feet and toes do the work to keep the board from squirting out under your foot. Just watch all the park gappers skate around... they are naturals to learn from ;) By chance, what angles is your stance at? If you are booting out on the heelside, you will need to offset them to more toe drag, or just live with 1 side of a carve being stronger than the other, or increase the binding angles more aggressive, or more duck.... or worse, doomed ride a toboggan width board like us BIGFOOTS ;)

I heard from a reliable source it was a tad foggy and warm today, but the snow was "nice". I know Jiminy in Mass was really crappy in the first runs, but rapidly got packed down and amazingly grippy and by 11 am was superb for railing turns. I can only assume Stratton was somewhat similar once the fog lifted. Warm temps will make it nice this week with the random skied-off patches of boilerplate to just watch out for. HTH.

4.41 ! oh mannnnnn Why didn't I think about that when we were doing G-meter competitions @ SES ! you should get the belt for the most Gs ! Glad you are OK, and yeah, that helmet is toast. Make it into a lamp shade, or just use it to hold ice and a few beers on the back deck :)

wow huge win for Canada! Awesome races. I had to go to a local bar to watch it all as I don't have a tv, and the internet was not broadcasting it. I left when I saw that Klug went down in a edgeloss, and the US men were out of it, and just got home. ohwell, atleast there will be replays on tomorrow. I give those guys huge props for racing in that "pea-soup" and very spooky conditions and fog/rain. Definately requires "a brass set" to run in that stuff and go for broke.

Something I came across while doing some work related training videos... SMOKERS: In addition to the dangers smoking poses to your health, it also contributes to low back pain. In fact, smokers are up to 2.7 times more likely to develop low back pain compared to non-smokers. Smoking also contributes to the decay of the spinal discs. The carbon monoxide in cigarette smoke interferes with the blood's ability to deliver oxygen to the muscles, bones, ligaments and tendons of the back. The nicotine causes the walls of the blood vessels to thicken, contributing to restricted blood flow to the lower back.The combined lack of oxygen and loss of nutrients weakens the back and compromises its healing capabilities when an injury occurs. If you are a smoker who is experiencing low back pain, consider quitting. The benefits to your back and your health are worth it.

I get it more from flatlight. Slowing down and also scanning ahead 3 turns helps as does riding near the tree line as the trees cast a color hue into the snow and helps with picking up definition. When the first tracks ran AJAX @ this years SES there was mixed bag of conditions down thru copper canyon run. It was indeed fairly confusing and I think that being unfamiliar with trails helps add to said vertigo. Just my thoughts.

I'm rooting for the comeback kid... KLUG KLUG KLUUUUUUUG !

Buell, not for confusion, I was the one who had the horror (and insta-stomach churning feeling) of watching the kid do it to his arm/ wrist while I was on the hill. Luckily it was not in a lesson anyone was teaching ( ugh... oh the mountains of paperwork!) but it was just someone riding in the park and I was watching them while sitting off on a side trail next to where the rail feature was. I knew the kid was hurt, but didn't know the extent. The park ranger notified the first aid crew. I just was whitness. I wish there are some things I never have to see..... especialy when people get hurt snowboarding.:(. Peoples faces and bodies contort abd bend/break in crazy ways.... its just "wrong". The ski patrol guys are not always correct, but they see far more injuries of this nature and have a fairly good idea of what is what. Considering the patroler who made such assessment based upon the facts and obvious break has over 35 years of experience as a crew chief on an EMS squad and as a 100+ day a year ski patroler.... I'd say he was spot on with what I saw and he had not spoken to me at the time until a half hour after he brought the kid down in the sled and examined him. Its purely physics and this situation was fairly clearcut and dry with where the break was at the end of the wrist guard support structure armband area.... or it was just random chance of it being in that location, but I'd be cudious to hear what the Ortho Dr. would say as opinion on it. Either way, it just sucks! Steve, hows that ankle? been to the Dr. yet ?

I skied 1 day 15 years ago. Hated it. Dec 18th I skied for the first time since that day. I went out with some very experienced coworkers, they lesson-ed me, and then gave me pointers, we headded up the hill, did a few trails after the bunny slope and 4 hours later, I was "bored" and went back to the plank. When asked what I though about it, I just simply said "meh, so I can ski, but Skiing makes me board.....". Maybe in another 15 years I will go again. It was really just good to get a bigger understanding of the mindset of a skier and being able to apply that to and from snowboarding perspectives with relation to body motions and techniques.

A bunch of us (drunks @ a apres ski party.... errr snowboarders) thought about buying Brodie Mountain in MA and making it an exclusive destination for the eastcoast for boards only. But we are snowboarders.... aka: poor dreamers. :D It would be nice because Jiminy Peak is just around the corner too, but I doubt there would be a huge calling for such a resort, so we just kept drinking, and spent our down payment money of 204.89 on beer instead.

The head ski patrol examiner said it was how he fell on the wrist guards and rail that caused the break to be transfered as his arm "folded" over the end of the stiff plastic under his forearm where the wrist guard ended. It was definitely freaky to see. Its not an example of failure, but just of how the energy of impact was transfered further up the line. The upside is that arms heal better than scaphoid bones do.

You first have to ask yourself what the purpose of the board is, where you want to ride, and how. Secondly, what is the actual board, and how will it respond best with regards to stance, setback, offset, and what is anatomicaly comfortable. When it comes to softboots and boards, it is a personal thing and there is no "rule" as to how to set according to inseam. Fat twin tips and wide stances that are ducked are stable, and good for switch riding, or park, where as narrow stances and directional boards are more condusive to AM riding, and "carving" by comparison. Every board and rider has a preferance. I always begin with my standard stance of 20 3/4 (inseam of 32-33 pants) , angles that set the toes and heels on the edge of the board. Once a baseline is established, play around and find what feels comfortable and then tweek it to the optimum you seek.

Ecco +1 on this. I've hurt my wrist but thankfully not broken. I always say to "ride with fist"... as it is easier to punch out a skier, and then fist-bump yer bro after it!".. the guest laughs, then I say actualy the fist is stronger than an open hand and will be less likely to hyperflex and cause injury. One co-worker said something a while ago that made a lot of sense... Wristguards protect the weaker link, but also transfer shock to the radius and ulna resulting in a much worse potential scenario. his words ring true as I whitnessed just such event a few weeks ago when a kid (wearing wristguards) in a beginner park fell baddly and busted his arm on a rail.

I don't have any pull with the STRIDE people or else I'da put in a word for them NOT to cancel. :( Perhaps next weekend? I can however; get you ten bux off a lift pass if it helps .

cauz u need a shorter board like I need a longer one? ;) im just sayin.......

yep thats them... thumb ripped open and the top of the one has a hole in the fist from dragging them in the snow..... haaha Sweet! thanks. Will figure out a way to get them from ya.

OSB, nice work! I felt the yellows on the TD3 were too soft for my taste. Having put them on the td2 blues and bases I'd imagine they were really nice and responsive. * (considering you are heavier than myself) did you have any delay in response, or did it just soften the ride the perfect amount and allow you to cantilever the board with your legs and still have it react as it would without the sidewinders but just a softer elastomer set of TD3 bases? any canting, or are your bases both zero ? I had mentioned how I thought using just one sidewinder on the back foot had merit for overall movement. Perhaps a stiffer setup in the front and soft in the rear would be more accurate use of such in this case? curious about your thoughts on it since you have been tinkering with them more than most of us at this point.