Radial

And, you get 100lbs of cheese if you can actually pronounce the name of that town.

So. I just got back from spending three weeks in Holland. One of my children had a high level training camp and competiton in another sport over there at a small beach town near the Hague. My wife was busy with the other kids and I could get off work so I was nominated to go. I was a little frustrated because last year I had such a great time down at Timberline this time of year. Anyway my son is 16 and does not need much in the way of supervision so I was going to have a lot of time on my hands. I rented a bike and was riding, taking some kite boarding lessons, and generally hanging out for a few days. As I was riding down a street I see a ski shop and decide to stop in. I jokingly ask how the ski business is in Holland this time of year. The guy says, "Good, you know there is an INDOOR SKI HILL JUST DOWN THE STREET" Bottom line was I spent the next 14 days riding for a couple of hours each morning on an F2 that had been gathering dust in the back the ski shop which I bought for 70 Euros. I had my wife Fedex my boots and bindings over. Indoor riding had its strenghs and weaknesses. The good news was that it was always perfectly groomed and there were never more than 2-3 other people around. The bad news was that the run was very short so I had to learn to ride the Pama lift without taking off my bindings. It certalinly wasn't South America but I have had many worse days here in Seattle where I could not see or it was too crowded etc. I will attach some pictures when I get a chance.

Yesterday was awesome. Very warm, like 85, in Portland but the snow held up really well on Palmer. Batteries were dead in my camera or I would have attached some great pictures of a big steep perfectly groomed run with maybe six people on it. I am working on keeping my back shoulder back a little lined up with my toes on the heelside which as been working better. Since I have lowered my stance angles on the wider board I think I was kind of over rotating to about square with the front of the board. After once again spending a bunch of valuable work time gazing at the Sword videos it seems like as long as you get the hip rotation the shoulder can stay a little back which helps with the entrance to the toe side. The interesting thing to me about the ec turn is that it feels more natural to have legs basically straight and be perpendicular to the board rather than the kind of contorted L shape that results form pushing ribs into waist on the conventional turn. It has taken me a long time to come grips with the fact that the whole ec thing is a departure from most of the discussion here. I think I was kind of holding myself back by not fully embracing the ec thing and keeping elements of don't work as well for me. Whatever. 122 days this season. Endurance is way up. Many bumps and bruises from falling on every 4th or 5th turn as I push the elusive heelside. Project just got canceled here at work so I am off for five more days before the racers show up.

not to rub it in, but, Saturday was the single best day I have had in the last two years. I was at Timberline on Mt. Hood with bright sun about 29 degrees perfect light groom and no people. The Palmer lift was open with about 6 people total. Just awesome riding. I have been riding the Donek Blade all spring and I am pretty sure I will never go back to the skinny boards. Just so much more power and better feel with the lower stance. I think I said this last year but here goes again. Mt. Hood is about an hour east of the Portland airport and IS OPEN ALL SUMMER. It gets crowded with racer training in June and early July but is still a great summer option. Hoodriver is about an hour away with great kite boarding and windsurfing. Much better than putting the boards away for six or seven months......

Just back from three days at Whistler. I guess they will be open until about June 1. Conditions were pretty good with lots of snow some rain and some sunshine. I was just kind of wimpy all weekend with lots of very fast skiers coming from above. Something about all of the injuries I have read about here..... My best runs were on Springboard which was usually empty. It seems like I am doing better with lower angles and wider stance on the Blade. Horrific crash when I got stuck in a grooming rut.

I got my new Donek Blade 180 last week. I got the stiff construction since I am pretty big at 6', 210. I have been riding all winter, 65 days, on Donek FC 179. I should say that I never ride with anyone and never see any alpine boards where I ski so I am a little isolated and my perceptions are based on feel and some review of video that I make my kids take of me. It was a very wet spring weeknd with soft wet spring like snow. In the living room the thing looked about twice as big as the 179 and with very little side cut and you kind of wonder if it will turn at all. On the hill, it was good. I have been working all winter on the EC turn with a lot of rotation and this worked ,not suprisingly, well on this board. The lower boot angles make the push pull thing easier for me and the bigger board seems to give me more time to get my legs extended in the turn. The resulting higher board angles seem to make the ride a little smother in the junk.... The whole thing was not as quick edge to edge which I kind of miss since I had been having a lot of fun with turns inside of turns this last few weeks. I did have a pretty monumental run late yesterday where it all kind of came togeather. I have been confused all year on the heelsides. On the narrow FC it seems like you have to push down pretty hard on the outside sholder, ribs to hip to get the angulation. This pushes the hip into the hill with upper body angled away from the hill like Jack's picture. Whether it was the soft snow or the board, yesterday I could just raise my inside arm, keep my body relativly straight, and there it was. Anyway it was pretty fun. More rain today, I am really hating this golbal warming....

Hi Guys, I guess I am the other rider out there. I spent Friday,Saturday and Sunday at Cypress while visiting my daugher who is in school at SFU. I have the Donek that was in the rack. I really enjoyed the mountain and hope to get back in a couple of weeks. I am from Seattle. I spent most of my time on the long intermediate chair since visibility was poor on Saturday. These were my 59-61 days this winter and I am feeling pretty good about things. I did have the worst crash of the year yesterday afternoon when I went over the nose trying to avoid a couple of off duty instructors who came down from above me. I was just about to run them into the trees so I bailed and spent a couple of seconds looking down at the snow before a truly spectacular crash. For anyone who does not know, Cypress is about 20 minutes form downtown Vancouver and will be the site of some of the 2010 Winter Olympic events. The views from the top are awesome, lift ticks are afordable and the whole thing is a lot closer than Whistler.

Nothing wrong with taking good care of your stuff. I actually don't care about the truck I use for snowboarding which is a good thing because it takes a beating. I try to wax and care for the edges as often as possible. It just seems a little over the top to actually hurt someone elses equipment for what is usually an accident of sliding too far forward in a lift line. There are few enough of us out there as it is without creating bad vibes...

You know I just don't get this. I ride almost every night at an area that is best described as an urban jungle with a hundred or so PMs and other bizar creatures. I have had people spit tobaco juce on my frozen board, I have even had a girl pass out on top of my board but I really have not had a problem with people sliding on top of the board. It they did it would only add to the scrapes I have from teaching two of my children and my 10 year old nephew to ride. I don't really see what you are trying to protect. The resale value of a board that has been used a couple of hundred times? Or should I really be worried my Donek will delam from some inadvertant attention from another board or ski? If so what is the problem with the manufacturing?

Since virtually all of my riding is at night, this isn't a problem for me. The bigger issue is hiding my two beer bottles in the snow bank before I go without any of the local kids seeing me so they will be there when I get back. I am currently at 36 days/nights this winter. This forum is a constant source of information and inspiration to me. Thank you all.

Its funny that this came up. I was just thinking about it on the way home from the mountain yesterday. Yesterday was my 26th day this winter and the first time I have seen another alpine board. My whole perception of the sport comes from a Snow Performance camp and a dozen or so days at Mt Hood last summer. Also, reltentless video analysis provided by trusty camera person daughter. So, from my perspective everything has been progressing very well this winter. I have had some great days and have been feeling pretty good about the whole thing. Then, someone shows up yesterday. We didn't get a chance to talk but I kept seeing his riding from the lift. He is much better than I am and his style is completly different. He is way more forward with much more upper body movement than I have been practicing. OK, so despite my best intentions, I imediatly start imitating him and everything I have been working on goes out the window and I was pretty much riding like crap for the rest of the day. Funny, I was thinking maybe I am better off in the dark....

I realize that most of you are well past this part and maybe this thread has been posted before, but I thought it might be helpful for some of the lurkers to hear my story. Background. I am 50 years old 6', 210lbs. I ski raced when I was a kid, but essentially have not skied over the last 20 years and had never snow boarded before this year. I live in Seattle with a ski area about 50 minutes from my office. Several years ago I had seen a video of someone on an alpine board and more recently I had been visiting this site and getting increasingly psyched about learning. I started out borrowing an old board and using an old pair of ski boots. This was not a complete waste of time because I had to learn to snow board anyway. Still, it was pretty tough with many falls and many embarrasing and humbling moments. Finally, I went to Bomber and bought a Donek 179 FC1, TDII and Suzuka boots. I went to an excellent local boot fitter who added foot liners. Then I called Sean at Snow Performance who spent a day with me and set up my bindings and gave me a great lesson. Between mid January and the end of May I rode about 80 days including three days at the Mamoth Snow Performace Camp. I just got back from my third, three day trip to Mt. Hood this summer. I am happy to report that things are comming togeather and I had by far my best day over the weekend. I am a long ways from prime time but every third or forth turn has a little conviction. Here are some of the things that have worked for me. 1. I don't spend any time worrying about the board or the binding set up. I mean I wax and file but I try not to think about other boards or binding set ups. I figure it must be pretty close and I can always try different things later. 2. I have had to work very hard on my fitness. I have lost about 12 pounds since January and my legs are a lot stronger. I still have a long ways to go in this area and see the most potential here. 3. I have made good progress on the rock hard snow at Timberliine in the morning by watching and imitating the ski racer angulation drills. I love the double turn drill which has helped a lot with better edge changes. 4. When everything is not working, I go back to Sean's hands behind the back drill which gets me into a better fore and aft position on the boad. 5. Taking a video cammea is humbling but can be very helpful to see what you actually look like. 6. I have been riding on the T Board two or three times a week this summer. I am not sure if this helps or not but it is a good excuse to walk up a lot of hills. I am so happy that I made the commitment to learn something new. The actual sensation of a good turn is even better than it looks and I pretty much cannot wait for next year. If anyone is hesitating out there just think about Waren Miller's old saying that, "if you don't do it this year, you will just be another year older when you do."