dshack

Probably a solid plan; I think I've seen size 23 boots floating around the classifieds for pretty good prices.

Yeah, you'd need to buy liners. You can buy thermoflexes from bomber, heads if you can find them in the classifieds or on ebay, or any sort of custom ski boot liner. The boots are translucent gray, which should fit your fashion sensibilities, but unfortunately they have orange tongues. You might be able to replace or paint the tongue, but no guarantees... If you can work a few items in the same orange into your ensemble (sunglasses, belt, gloves, hat, etc) , you may do fine. Or you could just rip it hard enough that people only see a blur...

Try a softboot snowboard forum or craigslist...

1 base/2 side, no idea why. If someone gave me a good reason to change, I probably would. I ride a madd 170 on groomers, ice, slush, pow.

They're grey, with a little yellow trim. But, please, please don't use them. Trust me when I say it's a lot easier to size down than up.

The liners are included, but if you have 23.7 feet, you NEED 23.5 (or 23) liners. The boots are in good condition; no integrity problems with the shell, and all the buckles work great. They're a little scuffed up, but nothing that will affect the ride. They will accept intec heels, if you want to install them.

Mods, might want to close this thread....looks like there might be an opportunity for a sting. Edit: maybe not...bindings are different. Eerie, though, and still a little sketchy.

I've got some head stratos (the softest heads) in a 23.5. They'll fit a 23-23.5 Head or thick Raichle liner, and a 24 thinner raichle liner. I've got one of the thinner raichle liners in 24, if you want it. $100 + shipping?

At that weight, you probably don't need really burly bindings. And for her, the LeMans won't be too flexy. If she's the right size, get those and some F2 or raichle intecs. A little flex in the system will make her experience a lot nicer.

Your ideal lift/cant combo has to come from within. I guarantee you there are incredible carvers who ride with any combination of lift and cant you can think of. Most people I know on skinny boards have at least some heel lift, usually toe and heel. Try it out, see what it does for you. Carver's almanac (alpinecarving.com) has some good info. I worked through my backside problem (I'm not incredible, but I can consistently carve them pretty low) with a few steps: -Twist your hips into the turn as much as possible. Because of the mechanics of the human body, there's not really a way to over-rotate on a heelside turn. Your goal should be pelvis facing the nose. -Can you touch your front boot cuff with your rear hand? If not, you're not twisted enough. -At the same time, keep your shoulders upright (parallel to the slope).

reverse taper?

It was a metaphor, homes. Flow's are to softboot bindings as intecs are to standard hardboot bindings.

I loved the convenience of the older flows, and the newer ones are supposed to have the option of a more free-style oriented flex. The intecs of softboots, IMHO.

Felt like May. At least 40 degrees midday, with most of the mountain slushy. Riding with a boarder and two skiiers. Some good carving to be had on shooting star and cascade, but I had to adjust from the usual front-loaded driving motion I use on my madd (almost went over the handlebars a couple times). A rotated, centered type of thing seemed to work pretty well. I'm probably mixing and butchering several carving styles. Managed to lay down some really deep ones off shooting star, though. Epic corn snow at the top of heather- fresh tracks in this weird, heavy, carvable-but soft stuff. I wish I had the balls to lay C-turns down it; I'm not ready to hit that pitch at speed yet, so I scrubbed speed between carves with long traverses. The bottom was fun, soft and fast, though slow patches of snow grabs you every now and then; hard carving wasn't on the menu. Overall, a fun day, made more so by a couple equipment upgrades. 1) raichle 125 w/ yellow BTS. butta (though I should get some thermo liners to complete the package). major flex-upgrade from my head stratos (yeah, the flexiest version of the heads). I can nearly sit on my back heel! 2) Zardoz notwax. Liquid teflon. Doesn't do much for you in normal hood conditions, but anytime you've got wet snow, toss this on and you'll slide like you never thought possible. If you want it to last longer, run on a coat, let it sit for 24 hours, then iron a high-flouro wax (drip, not crayon style) over it.

Sweet conditions. 415-608-9267 if you want to meet up

IMHO for the $400 you'd spend on the pilot you could probably hook up: -both a sub-$200 dedicated carving board (rossi race, proton, shorter burton ultra prime, sims) and an all-mountain board (alp, wider rossi, burton coil) for days when you want to carve but also plan on hitting some trees/pow/etc. -a used prior 4wd, which I've heard is a great all-around board that can carve eerily well. look for a 159. these go for around $300-$350, depending on condition. -a used madd in the f1 flex, though they're hard to find. similar price to the 4wd above, and a better carver, but less versatile. I'm on one of these now, and it's heaven when you have groomers, but I toss the plates on a freeride board for pow days. Things I've learned as a lightweight, beginning carver stretching a budget: -Too stiff: bad -Raceboards in powder: bad -Well-fitting boots: absolutely essential (this one is universal to all carvers)

You need hardboots on the volkl (when Rebecca said "soft" above, she meant soft for hardboots). Check the classifieds and ebay; I'm not sure if a women's 7.5 is too small, but there's been a lot of size 23 raichle stuff floating around. You could try heads, but at least for me (wearing a 23.5), the middle two buckles hit each other when the boot is flexing, and restrict your range of motion. For bindings, get some burton plates, snowpros, xbones, or F2 Challenge comps (if you want to go intec). At that weight, for a beginner, you want a good amount of controlled give in the setup. If you want to get her a softboot setup instead/as well, you can grab those burtons, but since they tend to be less (if at all) heat-moldable than some other brands, you won't be guaranteed a great fit. Personally, I'd find a pair of boots with a thermo liner, like 32's, and a quick-lace system (boa, speed zone, or just a pull-lock). It'll make her experience a lot more pleasant. As far as softboot bindings and boards go, you need size small on the bindings, and a women's board, because most men's boards will be too wide for her to have good leverage across them. If you've got to invest in one thing, though, make it the boots- their comfort will decide whether she rides again after the first time out, so measure her feet, buy the right size, and get some thermo liners.

Oakley HI Blue wisdoms for the overcast days, carrera polarized rose for everything else. Each one works in 80% of the conditions I'm likely to encounter. If I was building a two-goggle 'quiver,' it would have one low-light pair, like the Oakley HI's, Smith Sensor Mirrors, or anything clear, and one polarized rose or gray one.

We've got the silliest snow base I've ever seen. 15ft? Really? I'll be riding tomorrow; give me a call at 415-608-9267 if you want to meet up. Also: All this powder has been making me contemplate a board that can float. If anyone has any interest in letting me try an O'Sin/Dynastar, tanker, fish, etc, please let me know. I'm light and have small feet, so something under 2 meters is probably best.

Board will go out monday.

1) Original Head Stratos, clear gray polyether shell with orange tongue. I don't have the original Head liner, but ships with your choice of thermoflex NT (the thinner, tongued version) or CPD (wrap-around, from the Raichle SB series) liners, each molded once. The boots are 23.5, but the liners are 24, and fit perfectly. Boots have scratches on the shell, but are otherwise in great condition. The clear gray polyether looks really cool. 2) Raichle SB 125 boots, unused as far as I can tell. They come with the classic "ortho fit" liners; not moldable, but leather with soft yellow sections over the instep and ankles. Size 24-24.5, with size 24.5 liners. I can also ship these with either of the above thermoflex liners. $125 shipped each.

My understanding, from the forums and carver's almanac, is that thermo liners are officially endorsed as moldable up to six times, and each time, you lose a little volume and they get a little stiffer. That's fine with me; I'm not trying to fill up a huge amount of space with them. However, I called a local well-reviewed ski shop today about molding a set of twice-molded speed liners, and they said that if the liners have more than 25 days on them, a re-mold probably won't do much of anything for them. Is this true (and hence something that should be mentioned in the Almanac)? If not, anyone know a place to get a good fitting done in the PDX area?

Doing a little thinking today about waist width and powder performance. Add a cm to the length of your board, and you've increased its surface area by somewhere between 23 and 28 square centimeters. Add one cm of width, and you've increased it 5x-9x as much. no? I hear the desire for a narrow waist; as a light rider, I find underhang robs me of a lot of power on freeride boards. That said, you'd need a pretty deep sidecut to maintain tip and tail width while keeping a skinny length. I'm thinking something with a 21.5-23cm waist, 8m sidecut, and 30mm of taper (or a tail cutout) would be amazing. Basically a stiffer, skinnier fish-type deal.

Meadows is weird right now- strange, styrofoamy powder-but-not-really-powder. Beat up my already twisted ankle, and the wind gave my face some free dermabrasion. Hopefully I'll see y'all up there next week.

Is there anything printed on the lower part?