skategoat

Front foot in hardboot. Back foot in softboot. Just for the hell of it. Report back to us.

Is there any advantage to using the conventional binding on the front foot?

Send me a pic. I might be able to help you out. I know guys who collect this stuff. skategoat25REPLACEWITHATSIGNyahoo.ca

As I get older, I get a lot of naggy, little injuries. Nothing major because I just don't take the risks I did when I was 20. This year - bruised kidneys, sprained ankle, jammed shoulder and tender twinkies from 3 straight days of hard riding wearing loose boxers.

A while back, I complained about the crowded and narrow Eastern slopes and how hard it was to ride them on my 174cm Prior. I asked for recommendations on a new board but little did I know that the perfect board was sitting in my basement gathering dust. A couple seasons ago, I bought a 164 Volkl Spline for $200 in a closeout online deal. Rode it a couple of times with soft boots and put it away. Last week, I threw my TD1s on it with 50/45 degree angles and tried it out in soft conditions. Holy Crap, I could not believe how much fun I had. I wore a stupid grin for the rest of the day. I was carving huge trenches with the thing and could lay it nearly vertical on both heel and toe side. To add to the fun, the Spline gave me great confidence over the soft bumps that built up over the day. I stayed loose and I rode over them like waves on a wakeboard. Now I'm left wondering if it was the board or the new angles I was running. I normally ride mild angles at 55 and 48 on my Prior. Has anyone else ridden one of these things? Can you share your thoughts?

This is something a Coke collector will buy, not necessarily a snowboarder. If I were you, I'd throw it up on eBay. You'll probably get an insane amount of money.

I just bought boarding/ski pants from Altrec.com and I thought I should share the experience. The pants I bought were Arc'tyrex which retails in Toronto stores for CDN$500+. I paid CDN$253.00 which included shipping. The crazy thing is, Arc'tyrex is a Canadian company and the pants are made in Vancouver. This tells me the retail margin on these things is crazy. The whole transaction was flawless. I highly recommend it. Check out the clearance deals. I have no other interests other than as a happy customer. Henry

Another source of sponsorship money is local politicians. With the election in November, the timing might not be the best, but they all have money kicking around for just that kind of thing. Plus, they can put your daughter on their website and brag about supporting amateur sport.

Kerry is also one hell of a hockey player. Played on the U of New Hampshire team if I'm not mistaken. Hockey builds character. Baseball builds prima donnas.

Chef, I hope you found a TV and a date for Sunday night. If not, I taped Sopranos for you.

I always disliked Killington. The runs are either cross-country level greens or killer double blacks. I could never find anything in between. And the "17 mile" run. What a joke. A 90 year old grandmother on x-country skiis would be bored on it.

I think we're talking about a different Blue Mountain. The one I went to is in Ontario. www.bluemountain.ca I think there's another one in PA. BTW, this Blue is not without its faults, not the least of which is ownership by the Evil Empire - Intrawest.

Overall, it wasn't too bad. Loose granular and broken ice turning to slush by the afternoon. On the steeper runs, there were nasty ice patches under the loose stuff. Occasional bare spots, the odd loose rock. The busy runs were all mashed potatoes by noon. The further north I went, the worse the conditions. I guess they focus the grooming and snow making on the south end. The best snow by far was L-Hill but the L-Hill chair was closed so it was only accessible halfway down. Not quite rock-board conditions but I wouldn't bring out the brand new Coiler. I'd say another 2 weeks of decent riding.

My idea of the perfect girl: 5'10" 190lbs 27.5 mondo point feet Rides plates That would automatically double the quiver. One can only dream...

Thanks guys. The reason I want to ride Blue is because I have a 5x7 pass there.

What are the conditions like? I have some time off next week and plan to do some riding. I'd like to know if the drive to Blue is worth it. I heard they stopped grooming.

Well I'm just trying to prove a point to a friend of mine who happens to rep ski equipment and refuses to carry snowboard gear of any kind. I'm trying to convince him that there's a big enough market for alpine gear to justify representing amount of gear. My argument with him is that alpine snowboarding looks familiar enough to skiers that they would consider it if they could gain some education on the discipline. At the same time, it's sufficiently different from freeride and freestyle, that it will survive. I'm telling him that skiers are more likely to try hardbooting than kids riding soft boarding gear - IF there was equipment available. He's trying the Betamax/VHS argument on me and I'm telling him it's not the same. There was not enough clear advantage for Sony that they could hang onto the market, even as a niche product. I think the Apple analogy works nicely. Apple fans are fanatics like hardbooters.

Something tells me a lot of people bought new bindings this year - like me. The TD2 might have had something to do with it.

For the 2003-04 season, how many dollars (US) have you spent on alpine gear?

I must bother because I have a marketing background and my training tells me I must size this market. Just for the hell of it. 960 members of this forum serves as a good starting data point. Now for some really convuluted projections. First, let's round up and say 1000 hard booters on this forum. Let's say 25% of the registered Bomberites are just curious soft boarders. 750 real hard booters here. Let's say 90% are from the U.S or Canada. That leaves 675 N.A. riders. Let's say at least 50% of plate riders know about Bomber and are registered here. So that's 1,350. Let's muliply by 5 for a worldwide population. 6,750 hard booters in the world. How's my math? Too high?

Hey, a guy from Utah can't have a hoser avatar! Unless you can show me a Canadian birth certificate or passport, eh.

Does anyone have any stats on the number of alpine snowboarders out there? What about sales stats for alpine boards? Do any of the mfgs release production volumes? I'm trying to prove to a non-believer that alpine is not dying - it's maintaining a steady state.

The Dubh Linn Gate has all the nutrition you need - Guinness beer. Their solid food ain't bad either. Great view from the patio if you can snag a table. http://www.dubhlinngate.com/pages/dubh_linn_gate/about.html

I have a 174 Prior 4WD. Stiff and stable. For a wide board, quick edge to edge transition. My only beef may be that it's a bit too stiff in the tail. But, this could be a function of my binding placement. I'm going to move them around a bit and experiment. Overall, a very nice board. Well worth taking out for a demo.

Volkl Spline is another bordercross board that is now discontinued. Generally they are stiffer and longer and a bit narrower than freeride and are adaptable to both soft and hard boots. They are twin tipped like freeride boards. I've ridden the Spline on both hard and soft boots. I much prefer it with the hard boots.