nils

its plays basically all video format :) http://www.videolan.org/vlc/ Nils

Following my grab of tandem riding, Here is a small clip of Regis Rolland in 1987, showing what style means! He is riding one of his own ST with genuine Bataille bindings ( basically home made in the pyreneans with scissor cut polyethylene sheets ) and boots...I've seen them bindings/boots combination, and its like you have no bindings at all!! The other dude is riding a Hooger Booger with Dynafit tour boots... Or is it maybe Koflach...No idea! Funny to see that the evolution of the sport in europe and north america was slightly different at the time... US were developing/inventing FS with guys like Lamar, and euros were basically riding the pow when not inventing modern sidecuts ( hot one sixty etc...) Regis is the Gerry Lopez of snowboarding!Man i love the colors of the suits! Nils here: please right click on link and save as ! (divx format )

Jean is so stylish ! Here is part of the small extract with Jean tandem riding with Mylene Ducloz ( famous mountaineer family) in 1988 movie Cannon Surf II. please right click on this link and save as! Movie is encoded in Divx format ( Divx Plug in needed) Nils PS: note the other riders are jean-Phi garcia (ex world cup winner i think?) ( red suit ) on a Burton Safari II and also an Apocalypse snowboard freestyle model ( white base ) and yellos suit rider is Regis Rolland himself, riding his Apocalypse snowboard Swallowtail!

You quoted Jacques, not me :) And i'm not sure its about "we're right, you're wrong stuff, or we're better you're lame either..." We prefer to develop our extra rotation style, but basically we do it for fun purposes, not to gain an eventual glory, or make a point... On the snow you are alone with your board, and we want to make certain turns that need that particular style to be performed.... That's basically it! If i wanted to go faster, i'd surely use another technique and a narrower board! :D Nils

In 1988 awsome movie Cannon Surf II, featuring Jean Nerva and Regis Rolland among others, there is a great tandem sequence of Jean riding in pow pow with a nice brunette... She is in front since it seems from the vid that he is doing the driving ( he is jean nerva after all) !!! They do huge turns and also crash nicely ( in the powder thu..). They were both wearing the old snowboarder from raichle on the movie ( white an green / violet boots)... I'll try to post a few frame grabs asap! I'd definitely try to introduce a blind/deaf friend to this, if he is not heavier than me thu... and put him / her on the front ! Because the balance seems very slow motion, and once the weight is at the wrong place, it gets down quick! Nils

I personnaly think bordy's review was fair and nicely written, even if I do not agree with all his conclusions...The fact that he was using a board not for his size and weight might have done a lot in the feel he had on the board! remember that its not a matter of beeing undergunned, or getting the big guy board to be cool, its just that we made whole the boards behave the same... It means the 161Soft has the same behaviour as the 175H, providing they are ridden by the guy with the matching size/weight. The flexes are designed for each rider for the best EC compromise / experience on soft snow and very hard pack... It means people do not choose the board themselves, but we basically dictate what to ride in order for everyone to have the same pleasure as we do... Of course I remember at the SES a few riders did insist: "I want a 175" because i'm riding a DonCoiler 185..." and of course they were not as thrilled by their test as if they had tried the proper 168M for their size! Or same thing happened when the rider did not want to let go his 65° angles and 6° canting for the time of the test... Bordy tried the board with the hardest flex and longest size on softer snow, and found it couldn't get fast...strange because usually when a guy using normally a 168 gets on the 175 he finds the flex and length more stable at speeds! Yes extremecarving is a niche, but we ( and his review showed the same) believe the board we make is way more versatile than a pure race board... then its a question of choice for the rider, on what he likes, wants etc...Personnaly i like cruising laying turns, doing small jumps here and then, even cross a small pow field and i could not do it with ease on my former proton 172...I like the precision you have on a race deck; but for me they lack versatility! As for the nose behaviour: the nose particular shape and scoop is designed to initiate the turn, force the board to carve the way its designed too, but at the same time not locking the turn...On the vids, especially on the extremecarving movie ( 1st one, on a backside by patrice in slow motion) we can see the way the nose guides the board through various snow conditions without ever having the back ( rider+board) loose that edge ).. The nose is basically soft with the carbon matrix that guides it and forces it to stick back to the snow after a bump for example... I personnaly think it is a good quality to have the nose act as a bumper, not a trampoline ( you don't want to loose an edge when u do EC turns on steep slopes).. Backside the nose tends to always want to go uphill, especially when the rider is not using the good rotation technique, and the balance of the rider is tricky because if too much on the tail, the edge will chatter and loose edge... its basically the riders fault each time! Because believe me, when you follow Pat's tracks, the cut is clean, wide in the center of the turn, but not really what i'd call a slide! Everytime my backside edge chatters, i Know its because I forgot to concentrate on the turn! ( a trick is to get the back arm to reach for the opposite side of the stomach: this forces a rotation!)... Nils

thnx jack for link answered there: Here EC forum Maybe riders feedback will answer too... We do meet people that are race oriented and do not like the way the board turns, however its not so common.. so Bordy's advice has to be read with his race eyes.... although some of the speed comments are a bit ... strange! Nils

IF you like watching idiots risking their lives at 200 mph, just do a few research on kazaa, edonkey etc with the word getaway in the video them! I personnaly like the norway guy doing 200 mph on a small country side road ( bike norwegian 300 kmh is the name of the file), the F-40 doing 205 mph on a english /austrialian road... but my fav is this one ( please use right click on the link, and save as...i'll remove the file from my server in a few days) Police chases a Opel Lotus Omega ( in vain ) For those who never saw that car, it was a lotus modified Opel around 1989-1990.. Basically your everyday sedan with 400 hp.. N.

agreed with the stall, but its exceptionnal, and in jeffreys bay, maalea or mundaka u don't see many people stall ! Btw the sentence is a quote from Kelly slater or tom currun, late 80's early 90's.. have to flip a thousand pages of surfer to get it :) I kinda like down the line surfing, with barely no turns just racing on the edge, feeeling the water and the glide feeling ! This is why i like speed :) N. ps: as i said maybe not understood correctly: water is harder than powder :) especially with speed!

yes a longboard in the short range ( 7-8') will help! Bic makes great industrial models for all learning curves! You'll come to the ECS Zinal in 2006 :) Nils

Not comparable to carving i'd say! However, it is comparable to riding deep powder: the main difference lies in the surface you have under the feet: a wide surface of surfboard that is on a hard surface you can press, sink the board in, but basically cannot go as deep as you would on a powder board in the snow..Another difference is the way your feet are connected to the board... anyway the closest snowboarding was to surfing was in the 1975-1983 area, when riders used no bindings and ankles were free!! The idea with surfing is to keep speed, because speed is essential, once you loose it you loose everything... In snowboarding you will have slope angle to recreate the speed so its not that much of a problem!... Other huge difference, but you will notice it quick is the skills required for paddling at the right timing and at the right place for the sweet spot ! It can take more than a decade of surfing before you are really confident at taking off at tacky spots... The learning curve from kook to basic rider ( am basic rider ) is zillions time longer compare to snowboarding ! And you eat it way more in surfing ( takes long to learn a proper duck dive to perform when you paddle out :) HAve fun :), get stoked! Nils

Italy is a dead country for production in august, almost as bad as France!! the Whole country stops, takes a month off and u just have to wait for them to be back in september :) N.!

okok :) I get your point! Strange from them cos writing a few emails is quite fast and would have prevent all these posts :) Please post pics of the madds when u get them! N.

As someone that also subcontracts the making of the boards, I can say that it is VERY hard to schedule and plan the exact delivery dates for boards that have precise specs: you know what u want at the end but basically that is all. There are so many ways to make a snowboards, and all the steps have differences in each factory.. for example a change in the resin or cooking temperature implies different flex pattern and board lifespan for example...Then the molds, the fiberglass etc everytime you change a data because of the factory: u need to retest protos, remeasure the specs etc... Its a very long process! There is also problems that can occur in the making, schedules that has the factory with its own production that usually gets priority treatment, etc etc.... Last year for example we had an issue at the factory with bad mold temperature combined with demold agent that was making the topsheet come appart... Took the factory 3 weeks to solve, and costed us 25 rejected boards!! And the factory was only 2 hours drive: I can imagine the nightmare if it was an ocean appart! I haven't ordered a Madd ( would love to try one ) but all I can say to the impatient clients you are is be patient ! Its already a miracle that someones makes the board again( and at the price you have it ;) ! its worth a few more weeks wait no? N.

From england the huge package deal stuff are organized to France and the main "industry" resort.. - Tignes / Val d'Isere - La Plagne / Les arcs - Les 3 vallées ( Val Thorens - Les menuires - Courchevel ) - Les deux alpes this for the biggest names and the lack of mountain spirit ( ugly constructions, huge amounts of brits and dutchs ;) ..) but great quantity of slopes and freeride when the conditions are good. then you can choose small resorts, such as Serre-Chevalier, La Rosière, Montgenevre, La CLusaz etc.... Those have more a Village spirit, and less crowds... One of the main tip for travelling France: avoid school holiday since its VERY crowded then: - dec 23- jan 03 / Feb 1-30 / March 25 -april 10th. Basically out of these dates no problem appart from sunny week ends.... Check for snow reports too, and if you really like freeride, might be nice to check the cham valley, or La Grave ( with a guide )... Carving gear is VERY rare even in the biggest resorts for rental, but u are likely to find a few Hot Blasts or older Rossis or F2 in a few places.... Same goes with the bindings and boots for example! Best is to bring your stuff here with you, or organize it before travelling ( once u know where u go: yellow pages of the resort and phone all shops one by one!!) Hope this helps! Nils

1. avoid them by following rules of good senses 2. put lots of chances on your side: - train and follow rules - never ride alone - all use beacon, shovel, pole and BOTH learn to use them - use ABS airbag backpacks such as this model ( i use this one its very comfy) - use avalung breathing device ( undersnow breathing stuff) never tried it cos it implies putting the scuba mouth while you ride! Nils

the koflach albona ( yellow ) with its normal duct tape reinforcements, its nice walking position, and its lightweight ! The red model is the Dynafit tour I think, but could be the ancestor of the raichle SB21, before even the famous snowboarder model, before it used its cable wires on the sides and fluo shells... experts will say!: both were backcountry ski boots! Jean Nerva and many people in those years used the koflach as back foot boot ( almost a hard soft boot feel) and a rigid Salomon SX91 equipe ( the red one) on the front foot! I had less $ at the time so only had a pair of the albona's and rented the left foot at the resort ( to get the cheaper SX61-71 series). The face of the rental guys when u say u only needed the left boot was something not to be forgotten! thnx fin for the pic ;) Speaking of Old School, I recently got my hands of pure jewels: -1984 Apocalypse Snow 1 -1985 Apocalypse Snow 2 -1987 Cannon surf 1 -1988 Cannon surf 2 All feature Regis Rolland, and the two later also Jean Nerva, riding his Safari 2 with style! If someone has a way to set a bittorent server so we can share them it would be awsome! I'll just give a download link then he can maybe put some of them online on the torrent network! The Apo 1 movie is just incredible with Regis getting chased by an avalanche on a binding less almost Winterstick. It is the movie that launched Snowboarding in europe, and got the mania started really by beeing shown to all the teenagers we were there. Cannon surf 1 - 2 are my long time fav with great slow motion footage of fluo suit guys carving powder turns with smile on their face and lots of style! Nils

most european manufacturers, such as atomic, blizzard etc manufacture for much smaller companies, and it is hard to say how big is a company when they make their boards with Blizzard unless you know people there.... I'd say ski/snowboard companies are small size when they are below the 500 mark. Between 500 and 5000 they are mid-size and above they are big :). But as always, selling 2000 skis at 1000 USD each pair or 8000 at 300 USD is not the same business! Nils

The red rocket (spaceship like) is the last great racing board made by rossi, all the following ones were using foam cores and monocap construction.... It's a 94-95 season model, and the 95-96 already had the foam cores and was not as snappy or efficient ( many pro riders used the red spaceship model and stopped using rossi board after trying the foam ones for the reason they weren't lively enough...) I even saw early BX with riders on plates winning on that red rocket :) It came in 159 and 167, and maybe a shorter one too... Not sure if they made a longer than 167 cos never seen it ( 171?).. I still ride mine on rock days despite the twisted core ( after all these years) and the narrow width... Nils

We can help you but i guess you'll find lots of info on the net, and in past issues of the various mags.. alpine world began in 1986-1987 so issues of mags, especially from europe ( france, austria and germany mostly ) will show you lots of info, history. hard to answer in a forum on such a wide question!! Nils

Custom topsheet are easy to do if the technology used in the process allows it. Basically you have various ways of making a topsheet: - ABS with printed graphics: these ask for screen painting with epoxy paints and are not customizable. - Polyamid topsheets: these are transparent: they are either painted under with screens, or left transparent with some fabric making the color. This is the technology used by Donek: it allows good customization. - Sublimated topsheets: These allow customizable graphics ( basically a printer jet dots the topsheet ). No Idea what Madd uses, but do not dream too much: if they use screens and paints: its now way they will be able to offer customization. We did not since we used ICP ( polyamid ) and painted under stuff. Nils

Great Pics Colrider! I love pics with huge sprays of Snow: here is my fav from a friend (Jérome Wilm) that rides a 200cm Swallowtail here in La Grave. Here Nils

Cindy is actually writing an article for a mag ( Pro Rider Mag AASI), so all thoughts are welcome! (especially if it helps our sport!) Nils

Excellent :) Laird Hamilton, who pionneered the sport, said he tried hard boots but they were too heavy after wipe outs, so now he is using softboots and step in system..Needless to say when you ride in 10' waves and more its better to stay on the surface after a wipe out :) Nils

you forgot the SUV vs small car one that was fun...! It all started when french diesel cars where insulted :) :) Nils