Fastskiguy

Heh, maybe so, I can remember telling people they were crazy and then finding out they were right and I was wrong a few times too.

You know, I was reading this thinking they'd solve your problem for sure...until I got to the last line. Total bummer! Well, the board has had it, maybe you should just give it away. I'd be happy to give it a good home :) But seriously, this can't be a totally insolvable problem. I'd be tempted to raise holy hell at SH, first they write you off as a nut job, then assure you the other shop didn't know what they are doing, then their repair fails in 6 runs. I don't have a big problem with a repair failing but if you're gonna ignore the customers concerns and say the other place doesn't know what's it's doing then you had better make damn sure your fix works. I don't mean to get you riled up but man, that pisses me off!

Cascade Mountain $322 http://cascademountain.com/seasonpasses.php

Now is that constant *pressure* or constant *radius* because on an inclined plane it's got to be one *or* the other.....

I've been struggling with toeside chatter on hard snow for most of my 3 year hard booting career. I get less if I 1 Get the board on a high edge early, usually by trying to get my hip towards the snow which means "Get into a funny contorted position" I tend a bit towards "hands down, butt up" but I'm working on it. 2 Stay in the drivers seat and don't move towards the tail 3 Stay flexed so I can extend a bit if the board skips 4 Reeeaaallly watch the pressure, I can push pretty hard at the top of the turn but by the fall line I've gotta really modulate and soften it to keep the board from skipping. An aggressive extension to 80-90% at the top and aggressive flexion at the bottom helps even out the pressure and avoids the "skipping at 8 o'clock" issue I've been having (I'm goofy) Not sure why moving back works for some but it's chatter-o-rama for me if I do that, I've gotta stay at least in the middle and a bit forward works best. Heck, maybe *I* need a metal board LOL :) Good luck man :)

Just get a metal board for god's sake!

I love inserting this picture. What are we talking about?

It's fun to hang out with people sharing the same interest, that wouldn't happen in a lot of places without BOL because there just aren't many of us.

I've seen some masterful class handling by some clinic leaders when trying to give some hell myself. Now I'm not a great hell-giver but at one race camp (with no lane or timer...Grrrr!) somehow I was the class troublemaker and the other people were like "you don't need a timer for a race camp" and I was like ????WTF???? We can make medium radius turns on gentle terrain at home! I'm hear for a friggin' RACE CAMP! well, anyway. So I've got to tell the story of my buddy going to the Harold Harb clinic. He learned some things...about how to make one move take a whole day to explain (the leading with the downhill foot move he's famous for) 1. Start Late 2. Do some free runs 3. Drills on the bunny hill and be sure to climb, don't use the lift or rope tow 4. Video tape 5. Lunch 6. Video analysis 7. Review 8. Few free runs with lots of "atta boys" 9. Recap, hand shaking, put our poles in a circle and clank them around Yeah, I'm thinking about getting into the clinic business. I could be the expert, the "man from out of town with slides!" LOL

Here in the midwest it's all about medium radius turns on gentle to moderate terrain. But we've got decent terrain parks so it's a good idea. Not sure if our aging ed staff would be up for the big gaps LOL. My CE event this year was "race camp with the D-Team". The group leader was fantastic...as all of those D-Team guys are. But PSIA-C didn't have a run or lane for us and no timer either so I was pissed. But it's not the first time, I've been to other "race camps" put on by PSIA-C with no timer. On the evaluation where they ask "what would make you take more events?" I always write "Timed runs against the ed staff" but they're just not into it. Hard skiing at a PSIA event in central is pretty much non-existent. It's disappointing. But for me...well there's AASA so maybe I'll start with Level 1 and see how it goes. One thing I'd like to add is that from what I've seen, you have to really stand on the boards well to make Level III. Knowledge and teaching...maybe about the same as Level II or just a bit more. But skiing, that's the big jump from II to III and you've got to be pretty good. To get on the ed staff you need to be as good as the other guys on the ed staff. You don't have to be as good if you're a girl...though some are. I'd like to think it's that way with AASA, if it's not then I'd bet it's only a matter of time. Standards are good, guidelines for teaching are good, there are a lot of different ways to do it and PSIA is an inclusive organization. But they also have been working hard to optimize outcomes for a long time and have a pretty good idea of how to do it. The nice thing about racing is that the timer does not lie-if you're faster it is a better run period. Rating the skiing or riding of candidates is a little more subjective but I'd say it's less subjecting that you might think. Kinda like the "supervalidators" in wine tasting. It's subjective....but they're pretty good at ranking skiers (or wines).

Donek Incline? http://www.donek.com/01_products/freeride.htm

You know, it's Friday night, put me in the getting really drunk group too.

Man, that is a brilliant poll. You see what Bruce wrote? You see what Bordy wrote? Bruce is a class act and D-Sub, you are a genius.

There was an article in one of the skiing rags that profiled old abandoned ski area. They had all kinds of neat pictures of the rope tow and T-bar towers, the broken down buildings that housed the mechanicals. It was neat but sad a bit, to see these little places go under and gradually get swallowed up by the woods. They had pictures of old lift tickets and stuff. I've often thought of a "tour of the mom and pop ski areas" someday, high speed lifts and mega resorts are cool but they're not the only cool places to ride.

I don't know anything about it. I started skiing at Majestic Hills in the last 70's. What is this Mt. Fuji of which you speak? I must know!

See, 2 and 3 million feet, give or take. It's like most of us are a few hundred thousand....then there are these guys getting 8-10 times as much. How are you guys making this your reality?

OK, 20 hours of teaching and a sign off, got it. We need CE and my theory is that it's more fun and almost as easy to get level I snowboard as it is to do any other CE event. I was really thinking I'd blend in as much as possible. But maybe the alpine setup would be more funner, have to think about it. Thanks for the info :) and it's FASTskiguy. Don't forget the FAST part LOL! Joe

Congrats man! Way to go! It's not easy....sometimes....to get thru if you're "unconventional" and have skills, looks like you played things well and got the job done. Excellent. I have to say, I've had some AASA leanings myself. I'm a PSIA III but "retired" a few years ago and picked up alpine carving 3 years ago. My last day of the year on Saturday it was like "I sure would like to share this with other people". Plus my race camp CE with no timer is really starting to piss me off! I mean, it's a race camp, we have a d-team guy here, let's fire up the timer FFS! And we need to take our event every 2 years anyway so why not just go for level I AASA? You're writeup has only encouraged me! But I don't really want to teach on a "regular basis", my question is...can I study the manuals and....without teaching a lesson....get thru level I? What do you think? I can get the ski school endorsement no problemo. Long term I have visions of an alpine leg of AASA. It might be a hallucination. But alpine riding is so unbelievably cool I have to think that people would be interested in learning how to do it. And you can't do it from the outside, it kinda has to come from within. Congrats again, I hope this is just the beginning for you :) Joe

LOL, well said

I'm not ready for the cheater boards quite yet, got some things to learn on "old" tech first. Gotta confess, just put friction shifters on my bike, looking at 27M radius GS skis for next year, and might just buy a manual transmission car tomorrow. I'm not against technology but just because it makes something easier doesn't make it better. Totally agree Bullwings!

Well, I came up just a bit short of my 500K foot goal this year at 499, 172 but I'm claiming it as "meeting goal" because, geeze, it's pretty dang close. So what have ya'll got in this year? I think most of us are in the 300-500K/yr range but there's a few of you guys out there getting +/- 2 million vertical feet. Let's hear it, brag away, and if you'd be so kind, let us know how you get the big vert. For me it was 2/3rds of my days busting ass to Alpine Valley in southern wisconsin, cranking out 50-60 runs, then hauling ass back to work or home for a 6 hour round trip. 1/3 of the days were on vacation. Those were great!

Woops, sorry! Good luck!

This sell? I bought one like it from Fanman, ended up riding it more than my FC2 and Blade....combined! Just wanted to chime in and say....it's a nice board!

both? what's the type of boot?

and good light!