Aracan

Pretty much my story. I did take up skiing again when my daughter wanted to start - a snowboard doesn't give you enough flexibility to introduce a 2 y/o to the joys of the hill. I found the shaped skis easier than what I was used to, but I didn't notice that much of a difference. Now the little one is finally big enough to try snowboarding, which was what she had been looking forward to for three years - stood her first turn this past April http://www.bomberonline.com/VBulletin/images/smilies/lol.gif

Does anyone have an idea how popular snowboarding is in terms of equipment sales? I'm asking because a few months ago I came across a newspaper piece (in German) stating that around 15.000 alpine boards are sold per annum globally. Would be interesting to compare with softie sales if anyone has a number.

Only 24 days for me. We had a rather strange winter, with lots of snow, but also lots of rain in between, and a few illnesses in the family to boot. Plus my home mountain closes on Monday after Easter no matter what the snow situation is. I hope to get a head start into 12/13 season with a Pureboarding camp - financial situation permitting :-/

Really? I thought Bruce's boards would cost notably less (base price 840,- for a Coiler vs. 1.000,- for a Swoard EC). Don't know how much the difference in shipping cost would be, though.

I´d be surprised. The PB guys are all about hardbootin´.

They are definitely camber, and they are definitely made in Austria (says so on the sidewall), although Jörg's company is Swiss. Waist width on the Bastard/BD 168 is about 24.5, about 1 cm taper. IIRC, sidecut is progressive. I believe SCR on the Bastard/BD is rather larger than on the Two, but I don't have the numbers.

Same here. Can't comment on that, because I don't know the Axxess, and my Bastard is a 168. Yep, it's part of the Pureboarding idea: one man, one board, so to speak. In Europe (i.e. carversparadise), the Bastard/BD costs about US$ 750,- before taxes, which certainly is real money, but not outrageous for a well-built quality board (non-metal). Joerg regularly visits the States, so you might get in touch with him via pureboarding.com if you want to work something out. I have never seen a used PB board in the classifieds of ANY alpine forum. One Bastard was offered to me privately because it was a 162 from before the 168 came out, and the owner wanted to upgrade to the 168. But that was it.

Sorry, no Swoard experience here. Have you tried the EC forum already? If you are not after a dedicated EC board, something like the Pureboarding Bastard might fit the bill: extremely versatile, good for hardpack, carving, extremecarving and pow. Of course, there is always a trade-off involved. You will find a better board for any one purpose, but there are not many boards that offer the same completeness (I haven't had the opportunity to try boards like the Donek Axxess or Coiler AM, though). A fact worth considering is that I know of no other board that is harder to find used - I know I'm not parting with mine :D

I think that's exactly what Jack did NOT write. That said: I speak as someone who has never so far owned a metal board nor Bomber bindings. Should I ever decide to spend that kind of money, I would research as carefully as possible which pieces of equipment can be expected to work well together and which are not. In case of failure, that would at least make it easier to determine the cause.

As others mentioned, it's a question of which board? A soft setup is not good at transmitting power laterally, which is a must with steeper angles. A narrow board requires steep angles to avoid overhang. If the ratio between board width and your shoe size is right, it might work. If not, not.

The poll lacks one option: "Bought new BOL gear from other source". Because yes, Fin has retail partners in Europe - yay! ;-)

Looks like the right boot is set to more forward lean. I run a similar setup, but I ride regular. As Denver Steve mentioned, many people have more forward lean on the rear boot. For goofy, this does look strange.

Last season, Rabanser Snowboards offered the RBT, a sort of BTS for UPZ boots. Still seems to be available on scorpionracingcenter.com - I have no experience with it, though.

I'm considering that, since bootfitting paraphernalia are hard to come by hereabouts if you aren't a sports shop. Yes, custom ones which already do take up considerable volume, though not enough.

Thanks for your inputs! Now I'll try to hunt down bootfitting foam and/or the 141 liner on this side of the pond!

For me, it depends on whether or not I'm trying to teach a 3yo the basics of skiing when it happens. :-)

Thanks for the offer, but no need. I already love my Bastard, and the wife already loves her Cult Maybe the need for a name change came with the addition of a softboot board, which meant that there were now two "All Mountain" boards that needed different names to tell them apart.

Another boot-related question has arisen, and I hope you can help me: My wife uses Blax/Head boots and has just now upgraded to orange Stratos Pros. Since the stock liner provides a less than ideal fit, we molded a Palau overlap liner - I think it's the "Overlap Liner Soft". Molding got good results, and the size is right, BUT: These liners lack volume at the instep/beginning of the shin. They just don't really fill up the space between foot and shell. The stock liners actually do a better job of that, I'm guessing because of the tongue. Can any of you offer an opinion as to which moldable liners would be better suited to solve this? I notice that Palau does offer thermo liners with tongues, but none of them are recommended for alpine snowboarding.

This has been mentioned lots of times, but better safe than sorry: Do NOT ski in SB hardboots, even if they fit in the binding. They do not have a DIN sole, and the leverage will be wrong, which means you risk injury because the bindings might not release when they should and vice versa. What you CAN do is put on your SB hardboots and use skiboards (or snowblades or whatever you like to call them) that have bail bindings. No problem there.

Really? I always thought that "Cult" was just the new name slapped on the board formerly known as "All Mountain" after the first one or two years. BTW, Cult und Soul are both out of production, though close-outs still seem to be available on Sigi's website.

Good to hear that! It kinda looked as if their new location had pushed them way over into softieland

When I started teaching my daughter to ski, I used snowblades with my Indys. In theory, they are perfect for the purpose, but I found myself picking up a used pair of Head Monsters at the end of the first season: She would not take me seriously as a skier. Instead, she tried to emulate on her skies what my wife was doing on her alpine board. So, give the blades a try, but be prepared to adapt :-)

Also, be aware that with Head boots, there is no difference between a full size (e.g. 29) and the next half size (e.g. 29.5), except the footbed. At least that's what the Hardbooter's Almanac says and what I have found in the Head boots I've seen so far. Your choice would be between 29, 30 and 31.

Two more things: Firstly, Snowpros haven't changed over the past 9-10 years. I know, because I have various vintages. Secondly, if these bindings are identical Snowpros, they have 3° inbuilt canting.

AFAIK, Deeluxe thermo liners are uniform on the outside, while standard liners have patches of different materials. I believe there's also a vortex-like logo that comes only on thermo liners. How 'bout posting a pic?