nils

it is correct the 14m radius of the board is part of a 14m circle viewed from above :)

we use circles of different radius on each model...12.1-12.7-13.3m Nils

Well here is a small video that wants mainly to show the slopes. I am editing a much longer one with almost every rider that was there doing all kinds of turns/wipeouts, but it will be ready in a few weeks only, and available only through peer to peer because it will be like 300 megs. I'll keep you informed on how it goes/where to download it (bitstreams ? edonkey? etc) Enjoy this one, about 4.5 minutes / 12-15 mb http://www.swoard.com/films/2004/mov/zinalECS04.mov quicktime version (better quality) http://www.swoard.com/films/2004/wmv/zinalECS04.wmv windows media player version N. PS: sorry for the Pink Floyd Purists this song is NOT an original!

I saw and tested the flex (by hand) of the madd 158 at fin's factory! Man this board is stiff!!! how can you bend it is a mystery!! maybe put the bindings like a monoski?? ;) Wondering how such a stiff board can hold an edge on ice ( seems it is the best tool for the east ice). I found the board heavy as hell, but looks springy and too bad fin didn't have it at the Aspen SES grrr would have loved to try!! As for demoes: I demoed an Axis 172: Had a huge fun :) Will order on soon as missing gap between a full carver and a swallowtail ! nils

Hey Maciek, well pretty busy with Swoard after the return from the SES :) am also doing an architecture competition that is time demanding !... New movie will be up tomorrow : Its a small 4 min clip showing the slopes of the ECS we had in Zinal end of January. Am editing a long version with every single turn that took place there almost; it will be online later on, on a P2P network such as bitstreams because otherwise our server will explode! ( we are already eating up as much as 130 gb bandwith a month ( almost a small porn site hehe)..) Hope you guys have fun at the ECES, Fin should bring there three Swoards for test there too, one of each 175's ( soft, medium, hard flex) so basically anyone over 175cm tall and from weight 70 kilos to 100 will be able to try! (just make sure you guys reduce your angles as much as u can, and ride flat!) New gallery will be also up tomorrow thursday :)! Nils

The KR series was developped by Karine Ruby with Oxygen, and then became the Proton. Its basically the same board (older) and the KR was then getting a lot of podiums ( 96-00 era) under Karine's feet! Nils

Michelle and Fin, Thnx VERY much for this event, it was really incredible for us! Quality of the organization, quality of the groomed (ok i know you have nothing to do about this), weather (same!). It was nice to see the locals, as well as people from the whole continent gather here and share their experiences. Thank you also for letting us have people try our boards there. We saw many guys getting to the euro / extremecarving things too, and it was fun to see the trenches after a few hours (the buttermilk slope was just a huge mess after half a day hehe) We'll do our best to come next year, and maybe will see you and some other riders join us at the Zinal ECS next year too! Nils

its 243 :) Nils

Isabelle Blanc won the Olympics on the PH-1 model. basically Phiokka (italian company) oem's for many european brands like Virus etc. since they have a HUGE industrial capacity in CNC machines ( their core business is making parts for rockets, sattelites etc...) Its true a lot of racers a going toward them these past seasons (seems from the donek website one of their rider is riding phiokkas too). We have one PH1 in test, but didn't really have the time to test it (soon). It looks rock solid, the bails are thick and look strong. The canting/lift is given by plastic cut discs that are between the plate and the conic base of the plate. Nils

we'll hang out with a small EC crew from thursday till SES begins... :) Hope the weather is clear enuf! Nils

- edges: everyday small diamond, file if damaged - wax: every 5-6 days, or when T° really changes - Grind, Sand: once a season if I have too, otherwise not. Sand belt and no stone grind. N.

Just edited quickly a small view of Jacques riding that slope two weeks ago at the meeting: quicktime clip 1,7 mb Shows its steep ! I like the part when the ski woman has to stop in order not to get into the spray :).Quality of compression not optimal but had no time for more (pokkis am still waiting for your tapes so i can edit the full video of the event !) Music from stoked!> "breathe" , its a good remix by "Telepop musik" (all letters attached) , a french electro band. Original song is from a band called Dinner time, but has less groove, song might be called "another day" in this version. N.

well as mentioned earlier in our forum to gdboytyler, steep for me is when you cannot link laid carves anymore! I guess my personnal limit is in the 35° range, which is already kind of steep. Above its not carveable, or by very few people, or by using another technique as race technique, implying you are likely to increase speed and get killed ( ;).. As for steepness in the different opus's, stoked was mainly shot on a 30° something slope, and Extremedreamer has been shot there on this slope (picture) its near the 32-33° I guess: same resort but a mile away. Am trying to edit a small clip someone shot at our meeting two weeks ago that shows how its still possible to carve low, maintain low speed and survive :). Will post it when ready! Nils

no wonder the board was a success with such a name ;) N.

is it the asym model or the symetric? Cos they were both.. I'll ask jacques to come here and give you the specs! Nils

some of them are incredible! I wonder if I would have been carving in powder rather than on my swallowtail that kind of day... always a dilemna! Nils

Drzone, You are likely not to find them because their posts are fake. We happen to know exactly where our boards are sold and who owns them: it means there is no 168 available from them. I'm am also wanting to clear a few things here: The board review is supposed to be used by people that actually tried the board, ride them a bit etc.. What we see here besides Rob and Peter who happen to be real customers (they could still write bad reviews if they wanted) is two guys (same one?) with fake emails, that pretend to have both ridden a 168, and try to troll the average rating down (in which they succeed). First guy is 100 kilos and says he rode a board designed for a guy who's max weight would be 85-90 kilos. He is 189cm tall, when the board is designed for a max of 181.. etc etc.. (he should have written 175 would have been more credible). Funny thing is he even says the board is too stiff when in real the board would be VERY soft under such feet. We accept critics on our boards as long are they are motivated by real persons that actually tried the boards. You can be against the concept, the website, and express your point of view, but until you haven't tried the board: please ! We happen to be able to trace down everyboard from the serial number that is linked to every owner: a good way to show you are real is to put the serial in your review (it will show everyone you are real and not trolling). Hope this clears a few things. Feel free to answer too if our (swoard team) point of view seems too radical on the subject Nils

and jack, its the same here in europe, appart from few exceptions!! Can't wait for my first issue of Snowboardjournal!!! Nils

used to use injected liners from SIDAS (conform'able line) They are the ones most pro riders use, are prettystiff and helped made my too soft shells stiffer (and more comfy too). Its really great but the pressure can be unbearable just when you stop riding (entering queue lines) and you often need to release buckles a bit cos feet just get all blood pressure back and it hurts! N.

Those boots are a generation away when it comes to real carving and power carving, they are soft and the plastic bends a lot when carving hard. They were the kings of the hills in the 1990-1993 years and many competitors used them. Now they are a good choice for riding a powder board with hard boots, because they have a flexy feel that makes it better than lets say modern deeluxe. The sole itself is a real mountain vibram sole, not tiny little pads of rubber. I ride mine on my swallowtail boards with TD1, and the great thing is that the vibram allows for a lot of lateral movements. Last week end I was (lucky me) in Verbier, Switzerland in a meter of fresh pow on my 2m swallow, and I fell hard because a small road was crossing the pow track, and I fell on the nose, hopefully in that case the front binding opened and saved my knee. The vibram got so compressed the binding got loose. Downside of those boots > a bit on the heavy side Nils

Raichle SB121 with vibram soles I have no idea if you can still find them, but they are great, crampons fit on them like gloves, and they are flexible enough (they are the last version of the raichle touring boot that evolved into the snowboarder to the sb121). Ebay.de has plenty of them check also your ebay there. Nils

Was wondering what the resorts policy was in the rest of the world. In France and most of europe: off piste is allowed everywhere at your own risk. The resorts decide to shut off lifts when there is too much avalanche risks ( level 5 usually ) except two areas in france which are Chamonix and La Grave, where the authorities visit the conditions every morning and just put out a warning when its level 5. Some resorts like Zinal in Switzerland have put a control gate at the entrance of the main freeride areas that automatically beeps and opens when you're wearing a beacon. It is supposed to get people responsible about going offpiste, and it seems to work. Wondering how areas in other countries control and enforce offpiste riding? Thnx :) Nils

Until i lost my board in the chair lift once in les 2alpes resort last december. The TD2 screws had gotten loose on the feet length settings with the vibrations. The board was held on the feet support on the lift until i moved it out and then it fell 8 meters, gliding like a plane down, horizontally and finally hitting the flat snow area right where the chairlift ends. I can imagine the result if the board had collapsed on a kid or someone... Now i'm verifying screws everyother hour, and plan to use loctite on them asap :). I am also using a leash since that moment on the board with non loctite screws.. Nils

- Patrice Fivat and Nils Degrémont - Switzerland and France / Home mountain> Zinal, Cham, Verbier... - Attending Aspen days only - We'll be there 2 days prior to the opening ceremony, and then will have a few Swoard Extremecarver boards for people to test ride (hopefully everyone is in the 75-85 kilos and 1m75-1m90 range ). Patrice is still uncertain because of vacation permit with his job ! But he'll bribe anyone he can.

Pat, I'd recommend avoiding the Lancelot. Among all the Swallowtails on the market, it is the one with the worst flex design. It is a marketed board that F2 should have spend more times fine tuning before releasing to be franck... There are many swallowtails (not split tails) available, both in north america ( Nitro, Prior, Voilé, Winterstick) and in Europe ( Swellpanik, Miura, Pogo, Rossignol, O'sin/Dynastar.... and you'll have boards that will be really better than the Lancelot if you choose any of those brands...The O'sin for example is a nice powder board that carves bits and seems easy to find in the US. The new nitro pow has also a new flex that makes it stiffer and better for hard booters... Hope this helps :) Nils PS: got nothing against F2 in general, they just made the bad board this time :)