skategoat

Guys: What's the price on the Hangl, F2 and competing systems? What plate is Benjamin Karl using and is it available to the public? From what I have heard, the Hangl is too stiff and too heavy for lightweight riders. Does the Apex overcome that? How are any of these plates sold? Do you have to call some secret phone number and give them a password?

This is hard to believe. I was just looking at her photos from Vancouver, all smiles, in the pouring rain, prepping the BX course. She will be greatly missed.

A 7.3 Burton FP with boots and Burton (Carrier?) biindings. $250.00 http://toronto.en.craigslist.ca/tor/spo/1642427539.html What's up with the boots? Never seen Raichles like this:

Very cool. Sounds like one of those Ferrari in the Barn stories. If I were you, I'd sell that thing before something happens to it. And eBay is where it's at. It sounds like you already have an idea of its value.

Kind of odd to see a nice board like this on Craigslist but here it is. http://toronto.en.craigslist.ca/tor/spo/1637190474.html This has got to be a BOLer. Fess up. Who is it?

Just out of interest, can you give us some background? How did you acquire it? Did you ride it much?

Good luck Tex. I hope the A/C in your car is strong. BTW, the best thing I ever did for my back was ride my bike regularly. Sounds counter-intuitive, being hunched over handlebars but, I think the riding strengthened my core. Maybe you could find Lance Armstrong for a riding buddy. BTW, I now make about 1/4 of the salary I used to pull down in a job I hated. But, oddly enough, I feel a lot richer now.

$20-$30 depending on the condition of the rope. Is PayPal good?

Funny you should say that. I was showing my son videos of Stein Erickson and telling him Stein was the height of cool in the 70s with his beautiful hair and his boots glued together. The next time we were out skiing, he asked me if I could still ski like that. I told him "of course" and tried it with him watching. Well, I discovered shaped skis don't like to be that close together. I took a massive crash much to his amusement. As far as I can tell, I hooked the tail of one of the skis which caused them to cross. All I'm saying is that old guys who learned on 40m SCR skis *had* to be more versatile. We had to learn many different ways of turning. Now we've got rockered and shaped. That's just cheating.

There is one problem with shaped skis. Most kids who grew up knowing nothing else can only turn by putting the skis on edge and riding the sidecut. They don't know how any other way to turn. They don't know how to pivot which you kinda need on occasion. Moguls, for instance, require slipping and pivoting skills. Back in the day, when we were running 200cm+ skis, nobody talked about sidecut radius. I don't think the manufacturers even measured it. If they did, they'd be 40 meters or so. If you rode long, straight skis the same way most people ride shaped skis, there would be a lot of body/tree interaction.

That's pretty much what I heard from a VANOC insider. Don't know about the sinister stuff though. Gord, I heard those HBC jackets pretty much absorbed water. Up at Whistler, they were telling the volunteers to wear Goretex underneath their blue jackets.

A three-piece just wraps around the foot better. When you buckle it, the shell actually reduces in volume. A rear entry doesn't do that. Any volume deduction is done with straps and cables and little tweaky gadgets. See the black knob on the side of the boot in my photo? That was Salomon's solution to reducing volume in the forefoot area. You turn the knob and it squeezes around the liner. Not a really good way to make a boot conform. Don't know about the forward lean. BTW, why you asking? Did you Mom offer you her old boots or something?

I remember watching that as a kid. It made me want to be a ski racer but alas I lived in a town where the highest ski hill was 120 feet. The only thing close was Bill Johnson's balls-out run in Sarajevo in 1984.

The Salomons and Hansons were actually pretty good. The Hanson's had a split shell and you controlled flex by moving the clamp that kept the shell together. Resulted in nice, smooth flex. Problem was, the split was right in the front so snow would enter and melt inside your boot. By the end of the day, your foot was squishing around in a half cup of water. The Salomons had a sliding flex adjuster that worked well. When new, they wee a nice fit but when they packed out, there was really no good way to adjust the fit. The original orange SX90s were used quite a bit in World Cup so they couldn't have been that bad. This was the first rear entry boot I ever owned. They met their demise when I landed hard off a jump and blew those aluminum rivets right out of the plastic. One thing I'll say about them - they were warm.

I demoed about half a dozen skis last season and settled on Volkl Unlimited AC20s. They are billed as intermediate skis but I liked them better than the top of the line Fischer Progressor 9s or the Head Supershapes. Edge hold is fantastic and they seem to have no speed limit. If you're going to be on the groom, don't get anything wide like the K2s. For boots, like BlueB says, get something that fits your foot shape. There is a huge variation in boots - in volume, width, hinge point, etc. Nothing beats a professional fitting.

They just don't have the fit of a three-piece, especially in the heel hold department. The front piece of a rear-entry is basically one big piece of plastic and the rear piece is just pushing the foot against it, like a clamshell. To keep the heel down, the mfgs resorted to all sorts of strange cable and strap contraptions. Back in the day, I owned top-of-the-line Salomon Equipe SX92s and after the first season, I had to ride with my toes clenched in order to fill the void in the forefoot area. That resulted in tension through my calves and pretty much my whole lower body. It was tiring and restricted mobility in my ankles and knees.

Corey: Try www.sportinglife.ca right now. I ordered a pair of A-Frames for $89.99 - 20%. Came out to $65 and change. You have to use the coupon code LASTRUN to get teh 20%. I think Sporting Life gets away with discounting Oakley because they are the biggest, most powerful, high end sporting goods retailer in Canada.

I was talking more about the 180 Kessler with Hangl plate. I can see how a BX board is good in powder but a full-on race board?

Ya but the Baume and Mercier keeps really good time <G>.

This is the best time of year to ride (a snowboard). Lots of snow, sunshine, longer days, apres ski beers on the the patio. Love it.

I'm ready to go on the BTS. I gotta do something about getting a set for my backup boots soon so let me know.

Trade you a cherry Burton Factory Prime for it. Seriously, post it up on BOL. You never know.

Dupraz D+ 6' Rode it on plates. Rode it on softies. Rode it on pow. Rode it on groom. Great board. I'm not sure how you can ride a Kessler in Western pow.

I'm adding Okemo to the mix.

Stratton, Smugglers, Stowe or Jay? Which is most carve-friendly with decent on-slope lodging? I'm leaning towards Jay right now.