Fastskiguy

my race (ski) boards all had the sidecut radius printed on the topskin since the late 90's...at least 10 years ago. But it's as if sidecut radius is the only factor in the way a ski or board turns, it's *a* factor but not *the only* factor. It might not even be *the most important* factor. It wasn't all that long ago that rossi made both their 7S and 7G with the same sidecut <gasp!>. Or maybe it was that long ago..... LOL :) I agree, sidecut radius is overrated in recreational skis, no doubt.

Here's another link. http://www.snopes.com/photos/animals/whale.asp Not a troll, honest....

I just want to say that I'm not trolling and I *did* just look this up. http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/bl_blue_whale.htm

Sure am sorry to hear you knew people who have died kiting, I didn't realize that kind of thing happened. It looks so graceful and safe! But that big air, man, that is really amazing.

Soooo....do people get killed doing this left and right or what? When you said "jumping" I was thinking....they shoot off something, fly 100 feet or whatever, then land. I didn't think you were talking about 100 feet UP! This brings new meaning to the phrase "Big Air"!

Thanks for the nice words guys :) I've gotta tell you, I picked up a ton of stuff riding with Tom a couple of years ago. I need to hook up with you guys again soon, ideally with a video camera! As far as Wisconsin....the places I've been to the most have been cascade (with Tom), alpine valley, tyrol basin (with Brent and all of the ski race guys), and half a zillion years ago, mt. lacrosse(with Mark). They've all got their strong points....probably it depends on where you are living at the time but I'll shoot for a summary Alpine: high speed lift, no flats on the top or bottom, moderate pitch, can get crazy crowded but pretty empty weekday mornings and you can bag 50 runs in 3 hours! Cascade: high speed lift, flat on top and bottom but has a nice pitch in the middle, a little steeper than alpine, great snow, empty during the week, not sure about weekends Tyrol: cool place, great bar, measures our < 300 ft vertical by my watch, moderate pitch, lots of freestyle stuff, racing, and a pretty large bunch of alpine riders, fixed grip lifts Mt. Lacrosse: I think it was steep, like the steepest in wisconsin, but it's been like 15 years or something.... Was at granite peak a couple of years ago, high speed lift, decent pitch on top, long flats on the bottom but with the fast lift it was pretty good Where in wisconsin is she going to live?

Thanks for the link....amazing the power of ideas. Imagine...yeah, let's have a fancy place that the super rich can come, hang out, and be a bit more "normal". Let's create this great place.....and then it happens. Then let's throw it all away. The article said he'd made a fortune before, lost it all, made it again, now lost it all. Probably will make it again. Classic for the manic genius. BTW...I'm from Rockford, we should hook up and ride sometime......

That's a good point, they just drive around an oval in nascar which *should* be boring as hell but it's super popular. Maybe big powerful engines are just inherently more interesting?

Where does that line start? [waiting with money in hand]

I'm thinking....auction off a "prominent" member of the forum for a day. So if you won the auction the person could carry your stuff, give tips, find a seat at lunch, get the lift tickets, maybe get the beer at the end of the day, etc. The person auctioned off wouldn't be responsible for paying anything....just doing the leg work or whatever the winner wanted. If we only had a prominent member who really cared about raising the money. They'd have to be a highly skilled rider, ideally with some teaching or coaching background. They'd have to be fun to hang out with and be up for a beer or two after riding. Hmmm, any ideas?

LOL, you filthy rich bastard, I'm just filled with class envy! Seriously....thanks for doing this subjective test on these boards. It's a real service to the community and....although painful for the #4 board....it may help raise the performance of the alpine snowboard.

I never thought of moving east but.....

Thanks Phil for outlining this stuff for all of us who don't know what is going on. I think it's a shame for a talented athlete to not get to participate because of budgets....but then....it's that way for all of us and you've got to go with your best prospects if your job is to bring home the medals. And now to go off topic a bit...it's super cool that you (yes..YOU!) can race in the world cup if you just qualify. Talk about fair, that's great! Except when we were young "and could do it" (LOL!) we didn't have the money. Now that we're geezers with plenty of money we just "don't have the speed anymore". Maybe we need a geezer world cup that we can't qualify for LOL :)

I think I want mine in anodized purple with gold anodized spring thingies LOL

Screw the plans for a metal board...I want a happy fun plate!

I think you've nailed it...it's the FHP baby, "Fin's Happy Plate" Can we preorder the FHP yet?

LOL, as an expert skier I can say that expert skiers get clipped too when "free carving"....but realistically, the alpine board is better at 180's than any ski so the riders are more at-risk

Maybe you could just loop Challenger so you get a full 10 minutes ;)

I'll throw in with the square torsion bar group, even though we've been told it won't be square LOL

I've got these gloves http://www.thundercloudmarketing.com/FreePage22.htm and they have some kind of freakishly durable fabric on the palms and fingers, might be worth checking out. The thread holding these panels in place area a different story...but the fabric itself, I think you could go knife fighting with this stuff and be OK. Great idea for the pants, my hip panel is getting mighty thin!

Gotta second this comment because it's really true. Yeah, the downhill guy has right of way but if you're doing 180's down the hill, you're moving so fast from one side to the other, the averages snowsports enthusiast isn't going to be able to time a pass. You literally have to go *at* the guy in front because when you get there, he'll be safe on the other side of the run. But that's not "instinctive" so we get hit. Rules are great butpeople are stupid and it doesn't matter when YOU get injured. And the ski patrol and hill management don't really know what we're doing out there. So....keep checking uphill and be careful out there!

LOL, I think this thread is going to help sales but I just want to say THANKS for taking us along the development process :)

Hmmm, I'll have to rethink my seasonal sports given this new information....thanks guys :)

What is the deal with this place in the spring? They close almost 2 months after the big places....is it up and running with lifts and grooming or is it more a skin up with your AT or tele stuff kind of thing? Do people plan trips in April or May? Seems like an easy way to stretch the season by MONTHS!

Something about that is fishy....in an EC turn the board is flat at that point in the turn and the body compressed....