jnshapiro

Call them. They have rooms available. I know for sure as I just cancelled mine. Won't be able to make it after all

Thread drift warning... I did something similar, but at Snowbird in Utah on reasonable snow. Knocked myself out briefly. Came to and saw ski patrol looking down at me. They went through some diagnosis and pronounced me fit. Went to the bottom and into the first shop I saw and bought a helmet. Been riding with one ever since. Oh, this happened in '95.

I haven't ridden Time pedals. I've spent my time on Look (road bike) and Ritchey (MTB). Campy all the way IMO, the ergonomics and function of the shifters makes more sense than what Shimano offers.

Argh. Boilerplate, and that lovely blue field of "packed powder." Ah, the memories. I learned to ride on those conditions. Proper technique is important. Which translates real well to west coast conditions. I'd say that you learn good technique. Good technique makes for a better rider than bad technique and hero snow.

Now there's a cake! Happy Birthday!

I skiied for a very long time before I started in on snowboarding (does 20 years count as a very long time?). Frankly, I have no memory of learning. I was 5 or 6 at the time. My wife learned as an adult and managed just fine. She's rather uncoordinated. If you are athletic, have spent time on a snowboard, I can't imagine you'll have much difficulty learning to ski.

I have the perfect answer for the perfect fitting bike. Serotta. http://www.serotta.com/ Check the web site for a shop near you with a fit bike. Shops that carry them can fit you for a custom Serotta frame. Then you can build it with whatever components you'd like to put on it. My wife has one (Alum frame, carbon fork) outfitted with Campy Chorus and Rolf Vector wheels. I think it was around $3600 that way. You can save a bundle by going with different wheels. Those Rolf wheels set us back a lot. Another option is good old Italian steel. I love the way that steel rides, but many of them are too flexy. I solved that with a Colnago Master Light frame. Built up the same way as my wife's bike. I absolutely love it! It's a great ride. Joel

I carved some wood, does that count?

Just set it up to where it feels comfortable and ride. You can always make changes later.

Thanks for the encouragement, I think . I've done some writing before and have published 2 books. So maybe I'll take up the challenge of writing an essay on it. Joel

Yeah, reheat the liners and reset them. You have to be careful when you close up the boots for storage. Make sure that there aren't any wrinkles in the lining before you put 'em away. If there are, they'll set. Also, I suggest you get to a real good bootfitter. There are a couple in Tahoe and might also be one local to you. I don't know. I went with custom cork insoles and a different liner (Intuition). My boots are super comfortable and they lost almost a pound each in weight with the new liner. Well worth the $, especially since the liner and insole can be used in other boots.

I spent quite a bit of time looking for beginner setup articles and came up empty handed. The ones I found were just a little too involved. For a beginner type article, it would have to be dead simple and explain the lift/cant thing from the standpoint of someone that has no clue. I hope someone comes up with one! I don't think I know enough to write it.

I saw those articles, but would sort of like a "Setting up plate bindings for dummies" type of article. No, I'm not suggesting I'm dumb! Lots of technical knowledge in those articles, but they read like they are geared toward established riders that are looking to tweak as opposed to someone just starting up. Here's what I did with my new board... I fit my boots to the bindings first and then, while standing over the board, rotated them on the plates until they were just shy of getting to the edges. Now I'm going to install 3 degree cant disks on front and back and will adjust the cant/lift until I am fairly comfortable just standing on the board. I'll tweak from there based on where my weight is while carving and how the board acts. I'm very uncomfortable standing flat on the board or with just one disk. I broke a bunch of joints in various rock climbing falls and injured my knees skiing. So my setup will be for comfort instead of performance. I have a 6 degree disk as well in case I decide I want to use that. Once I get it dialed in, I'll sell whatever disk(s) I don't use.

Not by a long shot! As in Reno, Nevada? Bunch of hardbooters in the Tahoe area, which is where the closest riding is. I'm looking forward to the snow!

That got it, thanks! And thanks for putting that vid together. Great stuff.

Ha! Good one!

It wouldn't play. Something about not having the right Codec? But no specifics.

Not nearly antagonistic enough!

Due to reasons beyond my control, I'm not going to make it.

Ok, what's this SAC thing you guys are mentioning? I do must of my shopping at small stores both B&M and online. I much prefer the personalized service, support, and advice that I get when shopping. It's a lot easier to get exactly the right item. So I pay a little more. That's ok. The service and support has a value that makes it worthwhile.

We just got my wife's deadline schedule for '07. It's amazing, neither weekend I'd be gone is she on deadline. So I'll be there! I'm really looking forward to it!

This is a remarkably civil board. I'm really glad to be a part of it, no matter how small. Joel

No worries Justin. Easy to jump to conclusions like that.

Justin, I wasn't saying it was good or bad. Just that folks seem to want to do it.

Polarized, absolutely! The polarization cuts down on the glare significantly. I light yellow lenses. Darker amber for sunny days, lighter yellow for cloudy/snowing days. The reason is that the color really increases the contrast and makes it easier to see the bumps and ridges in the snow. On cloudy days, the yellow brightens things up too. I absolutely HATE mirrored lenses. I seem to get reflections of my eyes and find that very distracting. Joel