Strider

You'd be taking a huge risk doing it that way as it puts a lot of heat in a small area. It could be done, but it would take a lot attention to not overheat an area. An iron gives you consistent, adjustable heat over a large area so you minimize the risk of burning your base, yet it still happens to people. With the heat gun you'd only have to hold it on one spot for a fraction of a second too long, or put it just a little bit too close to really do a number on the p-tex. Unless you have a lot of prior experience applying hot wax I don't think I'd risk it.

Heh...didn't see where he was from. I know NASTAR gates hurt if you hit them, but I was only suggesting it so he can get an idea what its like to be in a course. Its not very easy to find snowboard gates set up for public use on a regular basis. There's also a good chance they won't be using snowboard gates for their fun race and you definitely run a different line on skier gates than you do on the stubbies.

The most important thing is to go and run a NASTAR race or two before the weekend. You can read all you want here, but unless you try a set or two of gates before the race all you're going to be able to think of on the hill is "oh **** gotta turn now." Recreational races aren't usually too hard as far as sets go, but it takes a bit of practice to be truly "comfortable." The most important thing is probably what Noah said and that is to turn before the gate....once you're late you can almost never get it back without skidding.

I don't plan on spending any this year, but that's unusual. I got my Coiler last year, TD2's the year before, and my freestyle gear doesn't get ridden enough to be replaced very often. I also have the advantage of proforms for most stuff since I've been teaching for 15 years...so that helps a bit with the skiing and freestyle costs, not so much with the hardbooting.

I would guess that the flex pattern is probably not ideal for skiing as it looks much more like a snowboard boot design, and given that it may also be a bit different from a true snowboard boots flex as well. That being said, I'd be interested in trying it just so I don't have to lug another pair of boots out west every time I go. Would these things accept intec"s? I would guess not as the DIN heel would be a pain to put on and off every time.

I would love to hear answers from anyone who has ridden both as well. I need some new boots and was leaning toward the Heads because of my ridiculously wide duck feet, but I love my BTS system.

All of us in the Midwest are cursing you people with mountains.

23/15 on An atomic Don 165. When I put my plates on the same board I ride at 30/23. Carves in either setup and handles the bumps/pipe/park well.

The only question I have is how much powder are you going to be riding over at Mt Olympia :rolleyes: Not that we have much more over here at Tyrol :)

I'd have to agree that soft boots work best in the powder, but I get the sense that you already know that and are looking for a way to make the hardboots work for you. If you're like me, you only see epic powder on trips when you hit it right and can't afford to drag along 3 or 4 different set-ups. I've learned to ride my hard boots in powder and have alot of fun with it by doing many of the things mentioned above. However, the biggest difference for me is that I also ride the park and pipe in my hardboots and have them mounted on a 165 Atomic Don freecarve board. Its wide enough and flexible enough to make the nice floaty/surfy turns needed in powder. The one day I ran my Prior ATV in deep powder I hated it becasue I couldn't keep it on top of the snow unless I was really moving and that doesn't work so hot in trees. A total soft set-up will always perform best in the pow, but I do think that board choice is more important than boot choice and boards like the Axis are just too narrow and stiff to really float the way you need to in powder. Even the skiers have figured this out now with their super-fats for heli-skiing and epic pow.

Archery opened here in WI, but its been too damn hot to go out. My dad was in CO bow hunting for elk 2 weeks ago. They got one bull and had 5 legal bulls come within 60 yards. He was so pissed it wasn't gun season :) Pheasant season opens here next weekend which is my bread and butter. The dog is 3 this year so should be improved over last year, but I did manage to get 23 last year.

If you were using a pigment type stain, which I assume you are since you used a "walnut" stain, instead of a paint like colored stain, then you need to wipe off any excess stain once you get the desired color. Those type of stains usually are not meant to be left until they dry on their own. I do all of my own woodworking and have an addition that is completely finished in wood. You can vary the color of the stain by the amount of time you leave it on wet before wiping it off. Once its been wiped it should completely dry within 24 hrs and then you can topcoat it. If you put it one wet you can get the problems that dingbat mentioned, as well as not getting the type of protection that the topcoat is supposed to give. At this point just wipe off the gunky stuff real well and let it dry overnight and you should be good. You can tell its dry enough if you rub it with your fingers and it doesn't feel "oily" anymore.

Haha...At first I thought I was going to see this The stilts look pretty cool too.

Nothing but rumors, and I've heard them before down here, but there's scuttlebutt that Tyrol Basin's (SW WI) owners are trying to get out. They are definitely going to be open this year, and I don't know if the rumors are true, but some things have been happening there that make it more believable. I hate tio say it, but if it is true I hope that someone bigger buys them so they can stay afloat. I learned to ski at this place back in '74, and have taught there forever. It is my favorite place just because it gets a local crowd and is a ma and pa place.

Fun music Be sure to watch the closed captioning.

Its an old rap group from back in the day...N.W.A Not so PC, but it stood for Niggas With Attitude. They were around when Public Enemy was just getting started and the old schoolers like Sugar Hill Gang and Grandmaster Flash were kind of on the way out. The group included a lot of names you may recognize like Dr. Dre, Easy-E, and Ice Cube.

What Neil wrote is exactly what I was trying to convey with the tail swish and edging on the sides of the moguls......he just knew how to actually say it :)

I ride moguls all the time and really enjoy it. I suppose it came out of neccessity of chasing all my skier friends around the hill back in the 90's. Its generally considered "bad" technique anywhere else on the hill, but in the moguls I found the easiest way is to use the "tail swish" that a lot of beginner riders use to initiate turns, just not as dramatic. Like someone said earlier, try to pick a decent looking line, keep the nose of the board flowing through the line, and use the tail to ride up the sides and slow your speed down. Its a whole lot like riding the zipper line on skis, and young knees definitely do help. Mostly, always remember to stay flexed at the knees and relax. If you get bounced out of a line, stop an pick a new one until you get the confidence to just pick it right up if you get bounced out. If you edge a bit on the sides of the moguls you can control speed pretty well without having to "whack" them to slow you down.

Every year we go on a mild whitewater canoe trip with the old college buddies and try to drink like we used to back in the day and that usually means that we buy a bunch of the cheapest cases we can find. With that said, the worst beers I've had are: Burger (should be an umlat over the u) pigs eye grainbelt some horrible thing in a green can that started with an L I think we paid about $6 a case for most of those. You'd think that floating down a river in the hot sun anything would taste good cold, but some of that stuff was so bad it wasn't even enjoyable then.

So will BMW make nice chainsaws then too :D ;)

Has anyone seen this guy, or more importantly, own his CD? I love the old school scratching he does and his website says that all of his cd's are out of print. If anyone has one I'd love to make a trade or send some $$ your way for a copy.

Isn't there a great beer commercial with and American guy making fun of a Canadian's attack beaver? Molson I think?

I used to always ride race skis as that is what I did and just got used to using them everywhere. After boarding for a long time now, I started my son out on skis and had to go back to skis. I had a nice pair of fairly new Volkl race skis that were still current as far as sidecut and length go, but they were kicking my A** all over the hill becasue they were way to stiff for my ability level now. I started looking around for a high-end all mountain ski and found that at least 80% of them were all twin tips now. I think they did that because of the perception, and marketing. They will ride backwards, but their flex pattern is more directional just like an all-mountain snowboard. I like having the twins becasue I can go backwards when need be, and the backs slide down the back end of moguls real nice :) I think the trend toward fat skis is a little ridiculous if you're not riding where there's lots of powder. Even wit hthe same sidecut radius you're adding weight, and time on edge to edge transfers so it makes no sense. I've been on them and they are not any more stable than a thinner ski. I definitely think that it is definitely a marketing ploy, and anyone in the Midwest who advises their customers to buy a fat ski when they do 90% of their skiing here is doing them a disservice.

I know its old news, but if you have patience, ebay is the way to go. I've got my sons stuff there for the last 3 seasons and never paid more than $100 total for bindings+skis, and 2 of the 3 sets came in their shrinkwrap. Problem is, you have to be patient and wait around for your deal....although spring and early summer has been the best for me since people aren't thinking skiing then.

Well, We got a tour of the mountain by their corporate photographer (Sherri something) as we were looking for good places to shoot. The places we rode were great and I never waited in line. I really wanted to get off to the sides and the back at then top because that terrain looked awesome for freeriding. Unfortunately, we spent so much time doing the video shootrs that I only got 2 freeruns in the whole time. I think if it had new snow you'd never get bored looking for new stuff to ride, especially if you get out near the boundaries. The wider runs in the middle were fun on the carving board, but I was lawys stopping for the video camera so never really got to open it up. If I can find a decent flight price to Boise I will definitely try it out again if for no other reeason than there is really nobody there to worry about running in to :)