Fastskiguy

Haha, no mention of "what" you were carving....but a switch (addition?) from sith lord ski carving to alpne snowboard has been great! Same physics, just easier to lay it way over. Harder to find gear. What is this soft boot to which you refer? ;)

Holy crap, 5000 people could be reading this??? <sits down, gulps>

Great thread!

LOL, here too, cool, windy, and I shot friggin' double bogey golf! Damit!

Gotta vote pow. But it makes me wonder....what if you only had deep powder to ride, would it get boring after 10 years? 20 years? 30 years? As deep pow is a supreme delicacy for some of us (like maybe a day every year or two!), gotta vote for pow.

Yeah, what he said. Gotta just love a fast running board.

Now that is a good idea, I'm sure I have some of those laying around here somewhere.... They're wool, fitted, and thin. And can be cheap (or expensive). Cool.

A little off-topic here but can you put a snowboard boot into a randonneur type binding? Something like a deeluxe or head into something like a Fritchi binding?

Gotta be a euro thing.....wish it was a US thing......

Surly wool cycling socks is what I really like-I wear'em year round. Last a long time, especially if you don't put them in the dryer on "High". Sometimes I like to put on a cotton tube sock just to freak out the guys with 30$ "ski" socks. here's what they look like http://www.jensonusa.com/store/product/SH401A01-Surly+Wool+Logo+5+Sock.aspx

I thought you wanted to BOARD your CAT or something! They can do just fine alone in the house for a day or two.

Oh man, thanks for that link, now I can plan for the site of my business, the first franchise which will expand and eventually take over the world! <que evil laugh> Seriously, you are right but it's still a place where a common man can be successful. At least we have the possibility of moving up the socioeconomic ladder.

Well spending all but a couple of days riding in southern Wisconsin is the problem, if I was able to get into the back country a lot then I could justify getting some trick gear. But cobbling together something with my ski boards, that is gonna be fine for a day or two per year I think. I'm looking forward to it :)

They can predict but not with any accuracy greater than you or me. "I predict lots of snow" is just as accurate as their long term predictions.

Ah, OK, a homemade thing, I might be able to do that! And I think I can handle the board on my back *and* I have some wide ski boards so I think I'm going for it! Thanks a lot for all of your help guys!

What kind of bindings are those? I'm thinking my cheapest option is to convert some ski boards not currently in use to ascent skis. Then I'd just need a binding and some skins and I'd be set (I think). The splitboard looks good but they are not exactly cheap. I could get the kit and an inexpensive used board and get out the saw....but I'd still be in 150 for the kit, 150 for the skins, and 50-150ish for bindings...plus the cost of the board. Sounds like 500$ minimum.

Ok, this has been helpful so far :) Let's review Ascent skis or Splitboard Now I've got some ski boards, fat ones, maybe 99cm long, could those work as ascent skis? What kind of bindings will work as regular tele bindings won't ( I don't think ) with alpine snowboard boots. As far as application I go on a trip each year with my brother. He's a tele god and I'm a midwestern Sith lord ski carver. So he knows a lot and I know not much about backcountry stuff. We've hiked up "some pass" near Sun Valley for the last 2 years and it's been pretty neat. Not very steep, maybe a blue run for you western guys (black here in Southern WI), but it's like, pow (!) baby. He's like "just get some tele stuff" and I'm like "sucks in the midwest!, need a local application" so that's where snowboarding comes in. So for just a couple of days per year I don't want to spend a ton....on the other hand I don't want a few dollars to get between me and a good time. I'm thinking ascent skis but...with more info...what do you think?

OK, not a wizard with searching but I tried, honest! How do you guys climb when riding in the back country with hard boots? Do you just use snowshoes or maybe little "ascent skis" or what? Thanks :)

Yes indeed!

There was an article in Scientific American a little about this-the study compared health for the rich and for the poor-people would declare where they fell in the socioeconomic strata by picking a rung from a 10 rung ladder. They tried to correct for obesity and lifestyle differences like smoking and diet, they tried to correct for the differences in healthcare due to not having as much money. Interestingly, that even corrected for all of that stuff, people who felt they were low on the socioeconomic ladder actually were less healthy. They theorized that the stress of being poor, or actually the stress of thinking that you're poor, actually increased the risk of disease. Which kinda makes sense. The stress of thinking about which carving deck to buy is just a lot different than the stress of maybe not eating dinner tonight or having a place to stay next week.

How did that work? The 50/40 angles with the Swoard

OK, long story, it's just that with alpine skiing I can carve the **** out of it with just about anything as far as boots are concerned. I can run my boots without buckling them and it's no problemo to carve it right up. Not exactly going to win the world cup with a loose boot but very high level carving is not any trouble at all. It is really a matter of getting yourself lined up right, it's not like a ski boot (even a "soft boot") flexes sideways to any appreciable degree. Canting makes a difference, and the insole is important IMO, but if you can roll your ankles and body in the right direction, modern skis (borne of snowboarding I understand) will hook right up and rail around. So could this be the same with snowboarding? Do we need all of this stiff stuff to really rail it? Tipping the board on a high edge and pressuring it just can't require a super stiff setup....or does it? And some ability to absorb irregularities, now that just can't be a bad thing, can it? (sorry this is way OT)

You know, you remind me of my brother-in-law (which is a good thing) You don't live in Florida, do you??

So, got a dumb question maybe but how well can a skilled rider carve with soft boots? Are we talking carving like the pics from SES last year or some of the extreme carving videos from the swoard guys? Or are we talking more laid back carves...best on soft snow kinda stuff? I'm not trying to start any flame wars, I just want to know how carvy a guy can get with soft boots.