skategoat

Guess who's not going to Mammoth? Me. I'm sitting at home writing this after being sent home from the airport due to a wildcat strike. Apparently, the baggage handlers for Air Canada feel they are owed something more for throwing around a few bags. No flights out tomorrow which basically screws my business meeting in LA. Do yourself a favour boys and girls and avoid this crappy airline if you can. Unfortunately, us Canadians have little choice. We can only hope that Westjet expands and puts Air Canada out of its misery.

Fair enough. Those are perfect size for my son who is bugging me to get him alpine gear. So rest assured, they will go to good use.

If still available, I'll take them and could meet you this week in LA. skategoat25@yahoo.ca

Just a last callout to anyone riding Mammoth on Friday or Saturday (Jan. 21 & 22). Would love to ride with you or go for beers and garner some local knowledge. I just read about a guy who got lost for 11 hours at Hemlock. I wanted to ride off-piste but I'm reconsidering now. Shoot me an email. I'll check again on Thursday morning.

Looking forward to it. Thanks for setting it up. We still don't have a good name. How about: Hosers On Trays BTW, Arthur Tateishi wouldn't be related to a Marcus Tateishi, would he?

That is so huge. Congrats to Jasey and Bruce. That board looks wide. I wonder what pattern Bruce used.

This weekend, I'll be at Mammoth. Ya, I'm gonna miss MSLM.

I ride mostly at a family-owned hill. I avoid the Intrawest owned resorts like the plague because I hate their real estate-first policy. Mind you, if I lived close to Mammoth or Whistler, I might have a hard time sticking to my principles.

Gabe: My son got a few seconds of my riding and I was appalled. I looked out of control with my arms waving madly. I'd love to see if Ken got any video of me so I can confirm if this was isolated or my unique style. See you soon, Henry

Beaver balls - death cookies Canadian style.

bumpyride, you can always vote with your dollars. If you don't like Jackson Hole's pandering to the rich, then why would you choose to ride there?

I don't think it's anything new D-Sub. It's called free enterprise. If I'm going to produce a descretionary product or service, I'm going to target people with disposable income. We're all part of that group. 4-5 snowboards each and participation in a very expensive sport. bumpyride wants to eliminate the rich. I've got news - we're all rich. From a global perspective, that is. So what if the King of Siam (or wherever) can afford to buy the the tram at Jackson for a day. That just means he's at another level of rich.

Southern Ontario is full of private ski clubs. It surprises me that this concept hasn't caught on in the rest of the world. If you can afford it, why not? It's no different than golf. Now, the "advantage" tickets that let you cut into line at regular resorts - that bugs me. But then again, you can pull this just by buying a private lesson. And at places like Whistler, you can pay for a "Ski Esprit" package that sort of a group skiing package with lessons that gives you priority in the lift line.

It just occured to me - Feb. 6 is Superbowl Sunday.

Fantastic exposure for snowboarding, Jasey Jay and Bruce. No one's going to care if the article is accurate or factual. I already have two voicemails from skier friends who I have been trying to convert. "Hey Henry, can you get me one of those Coilers?" Ya, get in line.

Does anyone have a set of three hole disks for either the TD1 or 2 that they are willing to part with? If TD1, I would need 0 degree. Let me know. Thanks, Henry

I have to stickhandle my way out of a family commitment for Feb. 6 but I should be okay. Might cost me a spa day. I wonder if those of you with multiple quivers could bring extra boards that you don't mind others trying. I would love to take some runs on a narrow race board and anyone is welcome to try out my Prior 4WD 174. The week before, we could draft up a list of committed riders and their quivers. It would be useful for co-ordinating rides as well. See you there. Henry

Um, what's the cable between the two bindings?

Actually, judging by Randy's post, the chain restrictions sound like a good idea. A good safety measure for those people unaccustomed to winter driving. There are few snowstorms that you can't negotiate safely if you just go slow enough.

Guys: I just talked to Bruce V and he's willing to come and do a bit of a clinic and help us dial in our setups. Let's make sure we get plenty of notice so we can all fit it into our schedules. Henry

One of the problems with 4WD or RWD is that the drive wheels sometimes work against you. Let's say you are sliding towards a ditch. The nose of the car is facing the ditch, so you turn the wheel away from the ditch. Problem is, your rear wheels are still pushing you into the ditch. Since your front wheels have no traction, they are not steering you. The only way to counter this is to throw the transmission into neutral and then steer. People driving automatics (which is like 95% of all SUVs) don't know to do this. You have a better chance in a manual transmission since it's more instinctive to depress the clutch.

Alan: Please post or email me with links to your pics and/or vids. I'm very interested to know what I'm in for. Henry

I read in the latest Mammoth snow report that tire chains are required on US395. Does that mean chains on all four tires or can you just put them on the drive wheels? Is there a place between LA and Mammoth where I can buy chains? I'm not sure what kind of rental car I'm going to have so I can't buy chains until I get there. They might be the wrong size. Do these things count as chains?: http://www.flextrax.com Crazy thing is, I live in Canada and I don't know a single person who uses chains. Yet, I have to have them in California. Strange.

gawdzira: I used a Fuji digital still cam in video mode. It captures acceptable video in VGA resolution. I then loaded into iMovie on a Mac and saved it out at 320x240 res. I just used the default settings. I've played with Premiere and found it way too complicated. iMovie does everything I need. On the Windows platform, Microsoft's Movie Maker 2 is actually pretty good as well. Henry

So that's what they do when they're not clearing snow in Toronto?