Phil

If you don't find anything better than VHS, I'd gladly convert it to any format that you would like. Let me know...

I would like to add that there is no "skier turn" and there is no "snowboarder turn". To try to reason with people (who are unreasonable) by telling them that you make turns like skiers is actually using faulty logic to combat faulty logic. You were specific about SL and GS turns, though which was good. However, we should not even entertain the idea that they are different at all. At every level of ability on both skis and snowboards, you will find that there are people who enjoy a certain style and certain types of turns. I'll bet that almost everyone here (who carves a board) who skis makes killer carved turns on their skis. If I go out to ride around a prejudice bunch of skiers and I make GS turns, I will get all kinds of crap for it. The usual comments: "I don't know why you have to ride as if you are some kind of racer or something", and "You are making ruts all over the hill, you are going to cause someone to fall", etc., etc. You have heard them all. On occasion, I have gone in and changed over to skis and come out to make the same turns. My ruts aren't nearly as deep, but everything else is the same. Do you think that I get ANY complaints? No. All of the sudden I "fit in". I have even rode the lift with people who don't remember me from an hour earlier when they made their asinine comments. Several times, I have gotten compliments on my turns!! Money talks. The argument that "the turns are different" is a Red herring. Trying to combat that Red herring will only cause it to be replaced by another that they think that the public will buy. Telling them that they are going to lose your business altogether (and presenting it in a civil manner) is the way to go. If the money lost from the snowboarders turns out to be more than the money lost from the skiers who wanted their own trails, they may reconsider. As it stands, this may actually be a good decision by the resort. I am not saying that I agree with it at all, but if they keep their skier base happy AND have plenty for the snowboarders to do, they may benefit greatly from it.

There are at least two here that are 6'7" if I remember correctly. I don't know if there are any bigger than that. My friends could tell you that I probably qualify as the biggest dork that rides hardboots. ;):D

Is that the SL? I've never seen that one before. I know that in the past they have had the Speedster, Sp. GTS, Sp. SL, and Sp. RS. As a big guy, I would only get the race boards (SL and RS - in fact, I do ride an RS), but that is just me. That's where my Donek SL is from. $200 - almost new! It was the perfect board for the perfect price. Waiting and watching will also give you a better idea of what is a good deal and what is not (hint, hint).

There are quite a few guys that are our size (and bigger) here. I am 6'6" and 240 lbs. The great thing is that when people say something is stiff, it will not be stiff for you - so don't be afraid of stiff. Get some beefy bindings. I have broken my share of bindings and it is not worth doing any more. I like TD step ins and they are a little stiffer than standards laterally. They are not cheap, though. For a small hill, I find nothing better than a slalom board that can make a small hill feel bigger. My SL board is a Donek 162. I absolutely loved my F2 SL 166 that I had before the Donek, but they don't make the 166 anymore - just the 163. I loved the 163 as well, just liked the 166 better. Any decently stiff SL board would work well. Again, I use the word "stiff" lightly because there is no SL board that will really feel stiff to you. Good luck!

More Ken Block in the snow - I love this one: <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSDmZrwyVGo&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSDmZrwyVGo&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

I would like to preface my response with the fact that I am out of the loop on servicing hardboots. If/when mine break, I get a new pair. I also never upgrade - just ride them out of the box. That being said, can't you go to any ski shop and get new buckles? I know that I used to do this years ago. Please correct me if I'm wrong. If you can, then can't you just choose the ones that you like? It seems like there is a lot of hardware out there. Wouldn't someone have the buckles you want? Edit: Not trying to shoot down an idea, but rather give other options.

It is funny how people assume that when you do both that you must have skied first. I snowboarded since the late 80s and tried skiing once in the 80s. I continued to snowboard and dabbled in skiing from time to time when I had the urge to do something different. At one point, I gave up skiing for a few years b/c I wasn't happy with the lack of sidecut - snowboarding had just become too much fun. Once enough ski companies had really gotten the sidecut thing down, I got another pair of skis and loved them. As an instructor, I have always been a snowboard instructor who can also teach skiing. I did all of my cert work on the board and never even considered doing it on skis. At one point, the powers that be wanted me to train ski instructors, so they asked me to pursue certification. I decided to skip level I and go straight to level II (you can go to or below your snowboard cert level). I passed with flying colors, but did not really like the PSIA side of things (just personal preference, not a flame), so I never went any further. Now I wear both pins and almost every time I meet someone new in the industry, they somehow assume that I am a skier who turned to snowboarding. I am not sure where I fit into your poll. It is not about flipping a coin. I am a snowboarder for sure. I ski on occasion, and am pretty competent according to the PSIA L II standards ( :lol: ) but I don't really consider myself a skier. As a Freestyle Coach, I teach both disciplines, but would still prefer to be on the board.

Oh, and DB, I totally contradicted myself this year by getting Driver X's. Obviously they are very stiff as well - very comparable to the Tremor Boa's - at least in the house. Unfortunately, I don't think that the 13's (the largest size they come in) are going to work. I am going to give it the old college try and hope my feet don't pay for it later.

DB, They are the Atomic Tremor Boa's. Chewy, You are talking to me, right? 1. The highbacks are already rotated as far as they go. 2. My Cartels and CO2's are stiff enough for me, so I can't imagine that these won't be as well. 3. No, there is no locking flad, neither would I want there to be. I have had a bunch of locking highbacks over the years and find no advantage to them. The response point remains the same whether it locks or not. The disadvantage is broken flads when the chair is too low (or is that, the snow is too high?). I know people who release their highbacks when they get on the lift. That will not be me - I am way too lazy for that. Of course, I haven't gotten them on snow yet, but they really seem to be a solid binding.

Wow, what a move. I lived in Chi-town for a while and loved every minute, but I would bet that I wouldn't mind Tuscon either. Lucky dog!

We've ALL been in South America snowboarding without you. We were ALL giving daily ride reports with pics on here. Then a bunch of people started attacking each other about facing the nose with their narrow stance with ski boots that had too much overhang and the wrong angles and incorrect cants and lifts on rockered boards. Then the threads got deleted. I guess you just missed out and will never get to see all of the fun that we had while you were gone.

+1 on the Burton 3L stuff (Burton, AK, and Ronin). I've never gotten wet in any of that, and, like Noschoolrider, I've spent all day in the rain MANY times.

You and your friends have been hard booting since the early 20th century? That is amazing! Jack, add another option to the poll... Sorry, BlueB, I had to...

I think that I made the switch fairly regularly in 96 as well. I wish I could say I started young, though. ;) All that being said, I have been riding softies more in the last two seasons. This is not necessarily by choice - teaching FT on a race board hurts my knees now. :( Being a freestyle coach doesn't help either.

What a great deal! Do they have a snowboard pass, too? ;)

http://www.sundayriver.com/EventsActivities/Summer_Mountain_Report.html

If you stay on the stuff that I outlined at Diablo, it is not too rocky at all. If you go over to the other side, I would imagine that you would consider it to be abusively rocky. In an effort to get a better comparison for you, I contacted some guys who are in the know (1 pro and 1 expert DH'er) and they both thought that Springs is a great place for someone who is getting their feet wet in DH. It is not overly technical and a lot of the trails are relatively smooth and fast. OTOH, they also said that it is NOT the place to go to learn to jump better. They were speaking pretty poorly of the jump builder there. The jumps are plain awful. That is coming from two of the better jumpers that I know. I still think it would be great for you to go, I just don't want you to get your hopes up about the jumps there. As far as tires are concerned, I have to admit that I am just plain out of the loop. It's going on six years since my first child was born and about six years since I have really been into the MTB scene. I am running Maxxis Mobsters in the front and Nokian Gazzi Jr's in the rear on my FR and DH bikes. I could not tell you what is good and what is not. I usually just looked for a good deal even when I did get tires. Both the aforementioned were free for me... If you are interested, I have some 3.0's that I would gladly give away. They are big and heavy, but the traction is sick. Your call...

I cannot speak from personal experience, since I haven't been to Springs in years (trip this summer got canceled...grrrrr) but from what I have been told, it is much more tame than it was back then. Back when they were doing NORBA (didn't they do a WC as well?) some of the courses were pretty sick for the day. I remember the DH pros actually complaining about how rough it was. There was one gully section that they just dozed boulders into to make it "passable". I know I still have some video of that somewhere.... Anyway, I haven't heard how high the gnar factor goes at Springs nowadays, I just know that there is a lot of smoother stuff there. If you haven't already, check out their video page. Looks smooth and fast.

Diablo is very rocky on most of their trails. Some of them are just silly rocky. I know guys who do not want to ride the rocky trails b/c they don't think it is worth taking the chance of screwing up their bike - even if they don't fall. Whatever... Diablo has some of the most fun and gnarly stunts that I've done. If you thought Blue was really rocky, then you will not like the rocky trails at Diablo. On the other hand, Diablo is an outstanding place to work on your jumping skills. <object width="606" height="455" ><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="movie" value="http://www.facebook.com/v/31608397368" /><embed src="http://www.facebook.com/v/31608397368" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="606" height="455"></embed></object> This is on Lower Dominion. Those jumps are over my head when I stand next to them. Upper Dominion, Covenant, Reality Show, and Salvation all have smooth features on them - no rocky mess. Some of the features are pretty gnarly, but they are basically a jump and jib park for a bike. I believe that Deviant has the beginner jumps on it. They may be 4 feet high with 10 - 15 foot tables. I am not sure. Pretty easy, but fun and can help you learn jumping skills. All of these lead to Lower Alpine. This is a fast, smooth, bermed (and optional wall rides) switchback trail that takes you most of the rest of the way down. I don't know if you are into drops, but the progression drops are near the bottom of Lower Alpine - choose from 2, 4, or 6 feet (or something like that) and drop to a nice tranny (make sure you apologize to him/her). If you are really into drops, well, take your pick - they are everywhere. My friends and I measured once and "Road to Nowhere" can be safely jumped to 22' vertical (that is the only measurement that I've given that I am sure is accurate :)). The "Road to Nowhere" is the pic that I posted in your other thread. Lastly, don't miss the Indy Cross course. It is a blast - smooth, bermed and fast! The only prob is that if you don't like the gnar, it is hard to get to. Here is the map so that you can cross reference what I have said: I am definitely riding in Oct. Most likely the 3rd and the 17th. I am not sure if I will hit Blue or Diablo - I may even consider Springs. When I figure my life out, I'll let you know. Hope all of this helps. Stay safe.

Here they are on the board. Of course, they are definitely not optimized for a forward stance. That being said, they felt amazingly responsive (for carpet surfing ;)) My boots are pretty big, so they really are snug. That feels cool and definitely gives me the idea that they will be responsive on snow. One thing I am guessing - like hardboots, they will make it difficult to really get tweaked out in the air. Of course, they will not make it any more difficult than my old fart body already does, but I need as little impedance as possible. I'll report back once I get them on snow.

Did you try your TD1's with your new boots? I never had a problem with mine. Unless you are really looking to buy new bindings, it might be worth a try...

Sorry for that threadjack. I just couldn't resist. ;)

Make sure to check this out also.

Someone posted this vid in another forum. I remember it vividly along with the stoke that it gave me for snowboarding! Enjoy: <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRb8O9b2Gf4&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRb8O9b2Gf4&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>