Radial

Hey, I have 13 days on my $99 Spring Pass at Tline which is suppose to expire at the end of the month (May). I guess they are going to extend this pass until June 14th. Conditons have been great before the summer camps start with wide open groomed lanes. A little hard in the morning and too soft in the afternoon be great in the middle.....

I was just looking at the video on the Crazy Wild Guy thread and thinking about his turns. He is obviously riding at a very high level in a style that many of us would aspire to. Please note that he is not turning 180 degrees and is not taking up the entire run. His turn radius and general line down the hill are pretty similar to an expert skier. He is going fast but is clearly not out of control. I think he would be pretty hard to hit but it is always helpful to be on a perfect empty run......

Hey, Sorry about your accident. Those things take a lot of energy and even if you arn't hurt the anger can ruin an otherwise good day. I kind of agree with Bumpy about the fact that we are in the minority and really have to accept the burden of looking out for ourselves. I was just thinking about something Mike Jacoby (see other thread) said to me at a clinic last year which has changed my riding style and helped with this problem. He told me to focus on the first part of the turn through the middle with less edge on the bottom. The effect of this is that the acceleration comes down hill, not across. I used to have a tendency to freeze into my "Jack M" pose at the end of every turn which takes up a lot of space and is not really porductive in terms of setting up for the next turn. Now my line down the hill is more consistent with the surrounding skiers and I am much harder to hit.

I have had my 177 for about three weeks and would probably sleep with it if I was not afraid of dire consequenses. I had been riding my old faithfull Doneck 179 FC I for the last couple of years. I was rattled on the first couple of days which happened to be at Cypress in Vancouver in miserable conditions dodging the Nazi snow patrol... Anyway, I got it home changed the edge angles a little, moved my stance a little wider and WOW. I have been on it the last ten days in pretty soft conditions, been steped on in the lift line and dropped it in the parking lot and it still looks fine. I was worried about the larger radius but this has not been a factor. Small turns are fine and big turns and crud are great. We have not had much ice so I don't know about that but with my new confidence I am sure it will good. I liked my expirence with the Prior guys. The board was done on time and is beautiful. I wish I had made the change earlier in the season but I am really looking forward to Timberline this spring....

I think you are absolutly right on with this post! I have become a carving addict. I really have a hard time admitting how much time and effort I have put into this sport. I am a 53 year old business man whose car smells like the YMCA locker room, with muddy boots, various knee braces, candy bar wrappers, Red Bull cans, and more than a few beer bottles. I admittedly have some age and physical limitations working against me but when it comes down to it, it is the fear of looking like a scared old man that drives me up to the hill every day. I understand about the lean/centrifical thing but for me it is really more about confidence and fitness. We have had unusually hard snow and poor visibility much of this season. Sometimes I wonder why I am putting myself through it on the tough days with the board clattering my back teeth out and my legs shaking with fatigue. Then I get a day like yesterday with few people, softer snow and good visibility and I know that it is all worth it with effortless edge changes deep fully controled carves on both sides and people just going nuts up in the chairs. I can't think of another sport where you are going to have 14-15 year old kids seeking you out for high fives and wanting to know what the secret is.......

It sounds kind of anal but I keep a carving journal of the days I ride and what I was thinking and learned. I have just passed through 325 days on the Alpine board and really good things are starting to happen. Here are five things that have made a difference this year. 1. There are some ski instruction videos on YouTube with Bodie Miller. They turn up at the end of search for Alpine Snowboarding. There are about five segments showing carved truns, ice, steeps etc. He is not a pretty free skiier. He is very efficient and steady. The segment on ice just changed my whole perspective on carving. He emphasized balance, good position, and using your feet. Somehow watching him ski moved my riding much farther than all of the hours I must have invested in the EC boys. 2. Hips up and forward. 3. Follow the tip. 4. Relax my arms. 5. Don't curl my toes.

Last night was the best of my ten days so far. Soft snow, no crowd, good light which has been rare over the last two weeks in the NW. We have had a ton of mostly wet sticky snow and I am usually very careful about making sure my binding is clicked in at the top of the run. I obviously thought I was clicked in and made a couple of turns down to the top of a big face. I always try to start with a heelside, fine, and then as I was really reving up into the toeside my back foot popped out, I swung around and had a pretty tough fall. My knee hurt last night but thankfully seems ok this morning. I guess there is no point to this story other than to be careful out there.

It is funny, but I really can't decide. I have been going for about 40 minutes a day for the last month. We take both boards and .have been switching back and forth. The T board is quite a bit lighter which is nice for getting back up the hill. This seems silly but the amount I ride has to do with how tired and hot I am on a summer afternoon standing around on new ashpalt. I went to the Snow Performance camp earlier this summer and based on the comments and video I am working on starting the turns earlier and making the carve at the top instead of the bottom of the turn. This whole concept was a huge insight to me. Both boards work pretty well for this drill but I actually think the feeling especially on the heelside is more accurate with the T board. I am really really worried about getting hurt while practicing on skateboards for the real sport which is alpine snowboarding. On the T Board if you miss a turn you can run down to the bottom of the hill without worrying about speed wobbles. From my expirence, this seems like a pretty big saftey factor since I am trying new things and miss a lot of turns. The Carveboard looks cooler and I actually think the amount of lean or angle away from the board that you can ride might be higher. It looks that way anyway. I really think either board is great for fitness and keeping your mind in the game during the off season. Hope this helps.

I know this has been done before but I just want to say that I have been having a great time with my Carveboard. I actually have both the T Board and the Carveboard. They repaved the road above my house and there is almost no traffic. I have been spending about an hour a day out there switching between the two boards and arguing with the local Sector 9 kids about who is having more fun. I have been thinking that the T board is a little more consistent with the actual alpine turn. I wish the board was a little longer and maybe narrower.... I got the video from the last Timberline camp and I know what I have to work on which is just about everything. One advantage to being old is that my daughter who just turned 16 has been drafted as the lift driver..... Not as good for the fitness but much easier on hot summer afternoons. Back to Tline for four days this weekend. Too bad I won't get to hang with my buddy the Snake Charmer.....

Hey Gavin, Yea, I feel really sorry for you, riding all day in the sunshine, kiteboarding in the afternoon. I only wish lift lines were the worst of my problems today! My advice is to focus on the cute coaches. John

Nothing special. Stay healthy, maybe start wearing my helment. Recover from nagging thumb and rib injuries from this year. I want to ride more away from Snoqualmie where I have spent way too much time over the last three years. Maybe a little in Vancouver and for sure much more at Timberline. In any case I expect to stay around 100 days. My riding continues to evolve and I don't really have specific goals for next year. By far the best run I had all last year was after a couple of shots of Jaeger. That was just before the fall that took out my thumb. In retrospect is was worth it to just go for it without the constant holding back/self preservation that seems to take over as I get older. Still, I probably won't try that again. I guess I am not a good role model..... so it goes.

I live in the Northwest where it is typically warm and frequently wet. I have found that rubber work gloves like the fishermen use work best for most of my year. At my local marine store they cost about $5 a pair. They tend to melt and get pretty gross after several sessions so I usually buy 5 pair at a time. I only drag my hands when I walk.

Hey Gavin, I guess you are the spokesperson for all of the carving world this time of year. I had a great time up there and left with my legs pretty much cooked. Windsurfing was great all three days. I would really like to thank the Calgery guys who helped and inspired me with their awesome riding and Kesler boards. Gavin is looking better every every day and will be a force by the end of the summer. See you next weekend.

I have one. I rode it for much of last spring and summer. At first, I thought it was ok and I liked the lower angles and wider feel. I now think that the whole EC thing really held back my progress during that time. This year I have mostly been riding my Doneck FC1 171 and I have made awesome progress. I like the feel of the shorter board with easier to initiate turns. I was thinking about taking the Blade with me this weekend to Timberline and see what I think now that my skills are much better. It is funny we don't hear much from all of the guys who must have bought all of those Swords from Bomber...

I have to say that I have had a great year living in close proximity to the Park Monkey crowd. I guess it is the combination of being old and big and increasingly good that no one ever gives me any trouble. Generally, the miserable conditions kind of bring the die hards closer togeather regardless of what we are riding. This last couple of weeks have been kind of interesting here in Seattle. As the other areas have closed, everyone still riding has been forced to our local hill. Therefore, I am finialy getting to see some other alpine riders. I have to say that I am very unimpressed with what I see. Sorry guys, but ripping straight down the fall line at 40MPH does NOT meet my definition of a carved turn/run. No wonder people can accumulate thousands of vertical feet if they never turn. I guess everyone should do whatever they want but the assumption that speed is a substitue for ability is wrong and I don't think it makes us look good as a group. All boards will go fast straight down. All boards will do shallow turns at very high speed. To me, the cool part of this sport is the speed/force that comes from the arc of the turn. This requires you to actually turn and complete the turn more or less accross the fall line. Getting to the bottom of the hill is a by product of this process. When you actually doing multiple completed turns, the flaws in your ability will become pretty apparent as they tend to repeat and exagerate on each successive turn. All this is hidden by racing straight down so you can tell the park monkeys you are on a Race Board. So, what I see now is that my 2-3 hours of extreamly hard work with the sweat dripping off the end of my nose and only several runs cannot really be compared to race track mentality of ride the chair, run straight down.... Sorry for the rant. I know there are some awesome riders out there and my instructor this year is one of them. I usually suspect that there is quite a bit of BS on this board but this weekend I could see at least three examples of inflated perception vs reality......