Aracan

Without ever having had one or the other in my hands, from pics it seems that the Phiokka H1 shares some design characteristics with the Catek.

I apologize if there have been one or two misunderstandings. I took "other boards" to include the wider snowboard you mentioned. I wholly agree that time on skis will help more to master an alpine snowboard than times on the water or on wheels - the ability to "read" the snow alone is a big plus. Still, I believe he could benefit even more from a wider board. The OP's whole setup, not just the board, but the bindings and to some extent even the boots, are decidedly on the stiff side of things. It's certainly feasible to learn on that kind of equipment, but it's probably not the safest or painless way.

2° side, 1° base, recommended by the manufacturer. I plan to change that to 2.5° side while keeping the 1° base, though: I am in the habit of using the diamond (Rotofinish) after every day of riding. By keeping the diamond at 2°, I hope to achieve sharper edges without sacrificing more material.

Deleted to avoid stepping on anyone's toes.

Hardbooting is not about speed. Speed is the result, not the method. Once when I already had years of Alpine experience, I followed my then 6yo down a very long, demanding and in many places icy slope. She was an intermediate skier at best, and I was struggling to keep up.

That is one aggressive board for a beginner. If I were you, I would put the bindings and boots on a wider, more forgiving board and work on my technique. On a long, narrow board you might be tempted to seek stability in speed, which, lacking experience, may well result in you going over the handlebars in spectacular fashion (anyone got the link for Jasey Jay's epic crash?), with the risk of hurting yourself and others. Edit: found it.

The foam-injected liner has been around for as long as I remember the UPZ website. Glad to see they are keeping the 8 in the lineup.

Very cool shot at 0:35

Definitely start with the boots! Carving in boots that work and fit well is fun, no matter the board. Carving on the finest 5-figure board in bad boots is not.

By and large, yes. There were some issues in the past, but these days, any current binding should accept any current boot. Most plate bindings will also take most ski boots with no or small modifications. Note that if you want to use an Intec (step-in) binding you will use Intec heels for the boots.

This can have too many reasons to give meaningful advice over the internet. E.g. my knees are a bit on the arthrotic side, and the doctor told me that muscle is a good thing. Over the years I found that cycling builds those muscles and alleviates the problem. A guy a ride with has good knees, when his knees hurt it's simply a sign that he forgot to properly set the forward leaning mechanism. Stance, footwear, canting etc. can all play a part.

Maybe their North American distributor does, if he still has some bindings lying around. Snowpro has not produced plate bindings (bail or F.A.S.T.) in almost 15 years. While I liked the bail version, hardly anyone had anything good to say about the step-in version.

I have never used the Intec system, but my wife did for a long time. I always found it was a bit of a garage solution. I am curious to see what Mountainslope will cook.

Reminds me of the Swingbo. They certainly looked impressive, though why one would go to those lengths just to eliminate the advantage of being able to carve ONE edge instead of two is another question.

It is. I am quite glad that from what I read, even the softer iteration of the .951 sounds to be far stiffer than I would like, so I am not at all tempted. That said, I think the stiffness index could use some work. Even my cheapo 80 stiffness ski boots are stiffer than the stiff-as-hell (for SB boots) orange Indys were.

+1 for checking the shell size as explained by teach. I'd say that 15-18 mm of air behind your heel is still acceptable, but if it's more than that, you should hunt for smaller shells.

This is the T-bar 200 meters uphill from my parents' house. It's still in operation and looks pretty much as it did back then. They replaced the short-stick T-bars that needed a liftie to hand you the thing with longer-handled modern ones, and they can make snow now (a necessity at an elevation of around 2,500 ft). In the 70s, vacationers would patiently stand in line four abreast, more than a hundred deep, when the lifts higher up couldn't operate due to the weather. When it was less busy, it functioned as my ersatz kindergarten - hike up in the morning, ski until noon with pals, ski home for lunch, hike back up.

One poster on this board once reported that his standard answer to questions of that kind was "no, but my mum makes me do it".

Not "heard", and not lift line. But I am certain y'all are familiar with the demo effect: You ride at your local hill, you spot one of those rare birds - another carver. Time to really give it your best shot. Time to carve that hill up as hard as you can. Time to - wipe out in spectacular fashion as the demo effect kicks in. Yesterday I was at the receiving end of the phenomenon, and I have to admit it made me grin.

On the first two photos it looks as if you ride with underhang on the rear boot. If yes, may I inquire as to the reason?

IIRC, they used to do two runs per round in PGS and PSL, one on each course. I think they got rid of the format because it was hard on the eyes and on the competitors.

Myself, I have never had a boot break. But from what I hear, 400 days is decent mileage for those boots. Gray tongues and RTR cuffs sounds a lot stiffer than the red/white T700. Have you re-tried the softer parts?

Only one way to find out. Personally, I like a lot more splay - something around 15-20°, if memory serves. It helps to have a wider board for that. Did you ride with the forward lean system open or locked? Some riders I know get knee pain if the ride with rear boot locked.

The thermo-moldable liners can be cooked about 5 times. However, with each iteration they lose some volume. If you don't need that volume, you can buy secondhand and re-mold them.

Definitely start with the boots. The first order of business is getting the correct shell size, determined as follows: Take out the liners and step into the shell. With your toes touching the front end of the shell, there should be 1-2 fingerswidth of space behind your heel. Less would be cramped, more would be dangerously loose. Custom liners are only necessary if the stock liners don't work for you. You'll feel it if they don't. If they do, count yourself lucky and enjoy. As for which board: One possible starting point would be Pureboarding. The TWO is built as a do-all board with the former softbooter in mind.