Aracan

Worth a try. Although I had to replace the third buckle (from the top) because it got busted from chafing against the second when I put down the knee in frontside turns. The new one doesn't look too hot anymore either.

I did like the FLO liners. My only issue with them was that they did not last very long and turned out to be expensive to replace, so I went with TF instead. But they were fine while they lasted. (Nothing like the old UPZ liners, which were indeed utter crap.)

No problem at all, just order new tongues.

I just had a look at the assembly (which is not installed in my boots). I don't see a way to remove the spring without removing the assembly. On the plus side, it's not a big deal.

Bib-style without sew-on pockets on the outside of the thighs or the butts. Ride them a few times, then have a tailor add Keprotec where they show wear. Thankfully my old pants that I bought over twenty years ago came with a lot of Keprotec which I kept when they disintegrated. The stuff still holds up amazingly.

That's close, but not the one. That would be Krippenstein. Since the run ends at about 650 m above sealevel,the season usually ends sometime in March.

What a nightmare. My home mountain has one groomed 11-km-run (plus a few backcountry runs) and one 60p-gondola that runs every 10-15 minutes. When we actually meet someone on the slopes, we tend to greet each other.

Since you, like me, seem to adhere to the "one man, one board" adage, here are my 2 Cents. I have a (now somewhat long in the tooth) Pureboarding Bastard 168, and an almost-new Coiler Contra, something along 166, I believe. Both are great boards that will handle anything the mountain is likely to throw at them. The Bastard offers a livelier ride (obviously, as it's the glass board of the two) and carves somewhat tighter. The Contra is a tad more relaxed, and the edgehold is a tad better. Both great quiver killers.

I don't have the instructions before me, but I suspect they will install the same way as the Forward Lean Mechanism or Drupi's spring system (video is on YT): Unscrew the ankle nuts to separate the cuff from the lower part of the boot. You can then slide out the original mechanism first from the bottom, then from the cuff. Install in reverse order.

Ah, you have those newfangled bindings were both bails are in front. Proper bindings have a rear bail on the front binding, don't they?

Used to be that UPZ were considered to be relatively wide in front, narrow around the ankle. Deeluxe the other way round.

What lowrider said. If the position of your shoulders relative to the board is a constant, your technique is very different from mine.

Have you tried asking on the German board, where knowledge and helpfulness also abound?

Burton plates were never made by Burton themselves, at least not the ones that are still in use. The Carve Company bindings are made by a later incarnation of the company that made the original Burton OEM bindings.

I would strongly advise against buying a boot based on what the manufacturer says about its riding properties. Buy the shell that best approximates your foot shape. Flex characteristics can be tweaked.

Hallo Stefan aus Österreich, hier Stefan aus Österreich My 2 Cents: Go for it. The RSV SL is old and stiff and has some quality issues - the screws will rust, you MUST secure all of them with Loctite, and the liners are utter crap. BUT: The basic shape of UPZ shells has hardly changed over the years, and they tend to fit a wider range of feet than, say, Deeluxe. So, if it turns out that the RSVs aren't quite the thing, you can still find newer shells and reuse all the shiny parts you will have bought. My own boots are also older, stiffer predecessors of the RC8 (although not as old as yours), and they work just fine. Softer tongues are definitely a must, especially for EC. Personally I love the red tongues, but I am somewhat lighter (around 75 kg), so the blacks might suit you better. If you purchase replacement tongues, you will automatically get the newer version with only one screw + one strap (Mountainslope style). If you are located in Upper Austria or thereabouts, consider giving Wolfgang from Aitec a call and drop by the factory. He is a helpful kind of guy and you might get the chance to at least carpet-carve the red and the black tongues. Softening the fore-aft flex would also entail another spring system. The stock system is fine in theory, but it offers only a short stroke and is still rather stiff. Personally, I don't view the spring as something that improves the riding, but rather as a safety measure for me ankles - better than riding with the mechanism unlocked. The DGSS is high-quality and easy to install. The RSV liners, as said, are crap. Some people don't like the current UPZ liners. I liked them while they lasted, which, unfortunately, was not all that long, and replacements are pretty expensive. So I went with Palau instead. They are all right, I guess. Not on your list: If you go the thermofit route, get some quality aftermarket insoles. They are worth it. And finally, if you want to try EC, sell those Intec heels for cash What's your home mountain, BTW?

What st_lupo said. The boots make or break the alpine deal. Re ski boots vs. sb hardboots: I can supply anecdotal evidence from the other side. Back in the day I had a pair of orange Deeluxe Indys, which I would rate on the very stiff side of hardboots. I used them on skiboards, because my kid was small and learning to ski. Even those very stiff hardboots even on those short skiboards felt rather noodly. Therefore I suspect ski boots on a board will limit your ankle motion to the detriment of your riding. Of course, as always, YMMV. The Burton plates may or may not be fine after all those years, but some important parts are made of plastic, so even if you like them, you might want to try and score some newer version from Ibex or Carve Company. Re step-in vs. bail: There is a difference not just in comfort, because step-ins basically mean Intecs and that means your heel will not be able to "rock" laterally because of the pins. This will affect your riding to a greater or lesser degree - the wider the board, the greater the effect.

Not just talking about someone else within their hearing, but actually going to the trouble of taking out and using an electronic device to do it? I must be getting old, because that seems extremely rude to me.

Oh.

I am honestly struggling to find the sexual references. Anybody care to give me a hint?

After reading a long piece about the Chinese alpine skiing team the other week, I am not surprised. The reporter wanted to meet the team, meet their best racer etc. At first she was welcomed, of course she could talk to everybody, was even invited to the team's hotel. But every time a meeting was due, some official had failed to okay something. After weeks of this she had only managed to meet their head coach (an Austrian, naturally). She never found out their best racer's name nor even which discipline she would race in. The head of their coaching staff, a Chinese, tells everyone that he CAN ski, but no one has ever actually seen him skiing. Reportedly, the head coach stated that the goal for the games was for everyone to get to the bottom unhurt. And it seems that the girl in the picture is either going backwards or riding uphill. It seems that although the central committee of the CCP wants to see medals in classical winter sports, it takes more than three or four years to turn a swimmer or track-and-fielder into a world-class skier

I don't do softboots. One thing I have observed is that alpine stance widths have increased somewhat in the past. Probably because we don't tuck in the rear knee anymore. An old slalom board of mine has 46 cm between the center inserts, a more recent (though far from new) PB Bastard is maybe 5 cm longer overall, but center stance is 52 cm.

Heel lift may not be required, as UPZ boots come with more than enough ramp angle to start with. However, some toe lift on the front foot will probably make things easier for the same reason.

Same as last year: #1 board is the Contra 166. Backup for days when conditions look iffy is the trusted old PB Bastard 168. Between those two, the mountain is not likely to fling anything at me that cannot be handled.

That's - 20 boards? Four times as many as I have gone through in my entire 30-year carving career