[Thirst XC 171]

Good to hear with a Thirst on the way, literally in the mail (if USPS doesn’t lose it)!

[Sugarloaf 2020-2021]

Question for Loaf experts for when I am up later this year.  How long a ride assuming winter roads from Sugarloaf to Saddleback?

[Madd 158 SL]

Try the for sale section and thanks for letting us know it is iconic.  None of us decades on hardboots people would have known what a Madd is.  

[Who was at Wachusett today??]

Finally have a gold pass this year, so should be out a lot conditions and safety permitting.  Who else calls this place home base these days?

[BTS for Deeluxe]

Anybody have a used set they want to part with before I buy brand new?

Thanks

[New Board Porn 20/21]

Looks amazing.  Can’t wait to get mine which will look a lot like that SC but a different color palette.  Have fun!

[Recommendation for Intecs]

Worth noting that Titanflexes retail for $100 USD more than RS Intec for someone "just stepping in."

[Recommendation for Intecs]

I would go right to F2.  I love Bombers, but for light weight at your weight and and skillset F2's will be great. Either the Ti Race set or softer and less expensive Carve RS Intec will work great. 

[Jackson Hole for carving?]

Agreed on having a deep snow contingency.  I was there many years ago for a friend’s wedding with one skinny alpine board and next thing I knew, I was bolting my Cateks on a crap rental freestyle board.

[Best over glasses goggles?]

I use Smith i/o x over smallish glasses and it works well.

 

[AT ski boots for plates?]

26 minutes ago, dudedude said:

Hardboot angles (>50 degrees) are where I’ve been running into a challenge. Even with the rear boot lean max’ed out, I still can’t get into the right crouch position. I need some heel/toe lift, so that’s where I’m stuck for the moment. The boots were stiff enough to drive an alpine board at ~45 degree angles, but I had a lot of overhang and so couldn’t really push it. 

Really curious if you’re able to get your position worked out on the Madd, and how the boots feel for you at those angles. 

All that data is super helpful--thanks dudedude.

I will let you know re: high angles.  My Coiler is 20.5, so I will have high angles on both boards--not just the Madd.  I fear the same as you without lift and cant tweaks to help--while I wait to get a new standard binding setup, I will be on my old Burton bindings, not my heavily canted and lifted F2 intecs, so my testing may be incomplete unless I score some F2's last minute.

[AT ski boots for plates?]

After being on 325's or Free69's (same thing) for nearly 20 years, my own Backland experiment begins this weekend with 4 days at very average mountains on family vacation.  Thanks to Grip for the boots.  As I try to dial the setup for myself, the testing matrix looks like this: 

1. Liner test: Intuition LV tongue liner that is currently in them versus my Palau Wrap 151's out of my Deeluxe boots.  

2. Strap test: Atomic original power strap versus my red Boosters.

3. Lean test: Forward lean of Phantom springs in ride mode (I would welcome anyone's guidance on ranges here and front relative to back).

4. Board test: My Coiler SLAMT 165 everyday board, my old Madd 170 for something skinny with high angles to test, and my Fish for a non alpine board even though I'm not looking for any New Hampshire powder in the next few days.

5. Fitness test.  How the f@ck can I survive without the crutch of Intecs at the top of each run after 15 years that way.

6. Ski test. Going to ski in them as well on some borrowed gear. If I can ski and ride in the same day on the same boots, great.

In my living room testing, these things are indeed light as a feather--basically half of what the Intec'ed, booster'ed Free69's weigh, and the volume just seems so much smaller overall.  Looking forward. 

 

[Gear for sale]

Are f2 carve rs bindings still avail?

If so I will take them!

 

[F2 Bindings QUICK!]

Leaving for a week trip on Saturday with my new boots that are not intec.  Need a non intec f2 setup fast!  Don’t make me use my uncanted 1997 Burton bindings!

Anybody got a set?  Can be RS or Titaniums.  

AC

[SOLD Atomic Backland 27.5, Phantom Link Levers, Intuition Dreamliner]

I will take them.  Paid.

andrew

[AT ski boots for plates?]

38 minutes ago, lonbordin said:

Oh yeah... Like helium.

My 29/29.5 shells with no liner are:

912g or 2.01 lbs

That's half of my UPZ shell weight!

 

Thanks.  Do they have to be the carbon model/ultimate to achieve that lightness in the Atomic?

[AT ski boots for plates?]

Do they feel appreciably lighter?

[Heard it in the lift line - 2019/2020]

Look, it’s a monoslalomskiboard.

[More foot pain--help me find relief]

Wow, another old topic of me complaining.  To close the loop on this one, I heatgunned and punched the forefoot out with one of those leveraged ski boot stretchers and it did the trick—no pain.  Now just to solve for bad technique on bad snow!

[Poor heelside turns for me this year]

Thanks Erik, nothing new in gear--only chance for variance is swapping the F2's from one board to another and adjusting angles slightly between the skinnier Madd and slightly wider Coiler.  I also have been out riding with young family and not concentrating on myself. Hopefully I can have a narcissistic session with myself soon and start over.  This weekend's weather looks like a disaster coming though.

 

 

[Poor heelside turns for me this year]

Thank you all--good food for thought for this weekend.  I am going to give myself 5 degrees of splay split between front 57 and back 52 and then work on the fundamentals discussed here especially facing the nose and looking where I am going like Jack said.

 

[Poor heelside turns for me this year]

I have been out a few times on the ice we have had here on the east coast and I feel like I have forgotten something or set up my stance wrong.  I don't really lay out much anymore, but I try to carve as opposed to skid as much as I can, cross-unders on easy trails etc...  My toeside turns are ok, but I find myself struggling to feel comfortable on the heelside in icy conditions--unbalanced, not getting a good grip, skidding, etc... This is happening on my Coiler T165 SL-AM 20cm waist every time I am out, less so on my Madd 170, but still there.  Both boards recently sharpened. I have the G bias set up but not to the extreme and am running regular foot 55/55 per my usual. Any armchair thoughts/tips, fundamentals short of me making embarrassing videos next time out?  Splay more, etc?

 

 

[RIP Jake Burton Carpenter]

Sad news indeed and I owe him gratitude like all riders.   That said, I would be remiss if I didn’t say I wish that he had found a way as the founder of the company to keep an Alpine lineup intact as the most influential brand in the sport instead of contributing to push it out of the light consciously.  While I love all the Madds, Coilers and Doneks and Kesslers and Thirsts we have had niche developed for us as a result of no mainstream brands caring for a while now, I spent the first 10 years in hardboots in Burton boots, bindings and boards (and clothes) and still feel “betrayed” that the brand that brought me my Safari, PJ, M and Factory Prime would now tell me hardbooting sucks—and I should be more like Shaun White.  

My .02

[Snowplow black diamonds]

Aren't we a just a group of grumpy old men.  Glad I never went down any hard trails before I was ready as a kid.

 

[BTS and aluminum intec heels?]

There is a secret Bomber store online for only inner circle people that can't wait until a new owner is found.  Knock on the digital door 3 times slowly, say the password "important" and you will be able to buy the gear that no one else can right now.