Furi

ive been riding tiehack for the past 3 days and love it...like Ernie said by the afternoon you can still find nice groomed sections. I mostly stayed on the express lift in the morning until it was tracked out then head over to tiehack for the afternoon runs :) The other postive point about it being so damn slow is that its empty and you can really take up the width of the run since few people visit that side of the mountain. Yah it takes something like 12-13 mins to get back up but it gives me a chance to catch my breath and reflect on what I needed to work on next run. And yah the mascot bungiee corded to the chair is always good for a grin on the ride up!

welcome to the board! the Salomon Malamutes are great boots and plently stiff. I run 32 Forecast and they are fairly stiff for my weight - about 160-165. Not sure how much you weight but you said you were on a budget so the 32's might be a good option for 150 bucks: http://search.the-house.com/?keywords=forecast&Submit=Go

i'll be trying them out this Saturday - although not sure how qualified I am to review them since it will be my first experience with real snowboard specific hardboots :)

Hey Mark - i'm brand new to hardboots as well and i'll be in Aspen from 12/15 till 12/26 if you want to hook up. We can go be newbie carvers together and try to figure out all this gear :) If you don't have a hardboot board/bindings by then maybe you could just bring your hardboot and we'll strap you into my bindings/board for a few runs to try it out. I'm also bringing my Tanker with softies as well if you just want to ride the mountain :) Pop me an email if you are interested and we'll see what days we could hook up for riding.

hey guys - new member that is just getting started with HB'ing :) calandar looks good for that weekend so I think I'll be joining the crew! Not sure if I'll be driving up from San Jose or taking a flight...the drive seems like a straight 8 hour shot north. good forward to meeting all you guys!

JoelP - sounds great! I'll drop you a note once I get there. Thanks for the tip on buttermilk, I'm used to waking up early so I'll certainly try to catch some first runs there!

for bindings I can throw in another recommendation for the nidecker bindings. The carbon 900's are amazing, super comfey, good damping with shock absorbing pads and toe riser. Great response. I'm not sure if you would flex the carbon backing too much so maybe the nidecker 800 pros might suit you better.

wow Pat - that is an amazing looking board! The flame job and color really pop ,hope you have many great runs on it and congrats again!

Hey guys - Newbie HB carver coming to ride in Aspen :) I'll be there from about Sunday 12/16 till Wednesday 12/26 if anybody wants to ride :) I'll be dialing in gear and getting used to HB carving but but also bringing the tanker SB setup when I want to explore the mountain. If anybody wants to ride let me know, I'll have laptop access at the hotel. And I'll gladly trade some beers for a few carving tips :D

keep that snow coming! i'm headed to Aspen on the 14th and really looking forward to some nice snow and getting a chance to ride my new Tanker NorCal just got 9 inches last night which was very much needed. Let's hope for a good season everywhere.

wow..thats amazing! I can't believe how close they get to the cliff walls, it looks like just a breeze could push them into the cliffs...crazy stuff!

All - Thanks very much for all the responses and advice. You guys certainly gave me a warm welcome and the responses on this thread are more then I ever expected :) I think i'll be going with the Tanker! This will be the longest snowboard i've ever had but really excited about riding it this season! D.T. - from looking at the specs on the 06/07 line the 172cm should have a 10.75m sidecut. yah, i'm looking at the board from RJ :) I sent some an enquiry email last night. hmm skill level - well I would probably rate myself as "advanced". I'm not sure how that compares to others but I have been snowboarding since the early 90's. Started out at Okemo, VT when I lived on the east coast. I've riden all across the world - Switzerland (hence the screen name), Chile, pretty much every resort in CO, Utah, BC, VT, etc... I'm comfortable with any slope and grade on resort trails, done some heli-skiing, cat-skiing, and light backcountry. I can ride switch down most blues, stay on edge all the time, and still ski a few times a season :) Although now as I'm getting older and my injuries from snow and other sports have added up I'm getting more conservative in my riding style. I tend to take less risks nowadays and enjoy safe controlled challenges...my days of looking at drops and saying "oh cool, let me huck off that" are done and now its more like "hmm how badly is this going to hurt" From reading the "feel the carve" articles I would say I know how to carve and stay on edge all the time. I doubt I have the style and skill the experienced hardbooters here have for carving but I like to think I do a good job on my softies and I certainly enjoying carving out trenches more then anything else these days. DiveBomber - I would really like to get into hardbooting. I think at the end of this season I'll start hunting for deals and get into it. For this year I'm still holding onto softies more out of familiarity then anything else. I've always envied the hardbooters when I ride in Europe, i'm just not quite ready to plunge into it this year. I know I can find some reasonable setups cost wise but since I'm trying to buy a house this year and i've already planned/paid for 4 remote snowboarding trips this year my budget is pretty much set and a board is about all I can get away. If my timeless wasn't on its last legs I would probably still be riding it this season. I'm following alot of threads and making notes so I'm sure i'll be asking for advice soon on my first hardboot setup :)

hmm good question. I guess thats tough to give a cookie cutter definition the more I think about it. Tahoe snow is pretty consistent in the early season. Well expect for 2 years ago when we had huge powder dumps all the way to april. But during a normal season the snow is usually nice and firm up until Feb or so. After that you get harder snow in the mornings and really wet and mushy snow in the afternoons. Plus the conditions in the afternoon get even more washed out if its a busy weekend. Then you get the random huge dump days (last season was pretty dry though). I like to think of a versatile board as something I can ride the whole season in those snow conditions. I realize you'll never get a board that is perfect for the whole season and one of these years I should probably buy a few boards to handle the changing days better. For terran thats a bit easier for me at least, I don't ride the park or the pipe, no moguls, no crazy narrow chutes - so I'm mainly concerned with a board that can perform well on the fresh groomed runs, but also handle the powder stashes in the trees and light backcountry duty. Our little group will hang out on blues until the better riders get bored and then we break off and find the steeper runs, the powder stashes, and the trees. So my day might start off with wanting to bomb or carve trenches on the blues or easier blacks, then later on move towards trees or spend the rest of the day hiking and hunting for powder. descriptive enough? I tend to be long winded :)

Rdy_2_carve - I would like to get into a hardboot setup, hopefully start getting some equipment at the end of the 08 season. But for this season I really need to stick with softboots. Hopefully I'll be able to get a HB carving setup going next year and sell off the softie boards and just keep the SB for the pow days. Cindy - thanks :) glad to be here! Lonerider - glad you responded :) I was hoping you would since from reading most of your posts you had alot of experience with tahoe and the boards :) In fact most of my short list was based off threads you were on heh. Sounds like I'm right in between those boards. The tanker really interests me because it's damp and has the larger sidecut for carving. I wonder how is the stiffness compared to the phoenix? I guess it comes down to either lively board with good tail snap, or a more damp ride with a dead tail. Hmm, so a question for you - does the tanker suffer from a slower edge to edge trans then the phoenix? Does it make the tanker feel like it needs make larger sweeping turns? Or is it fairly responsive and quick?

Hey guys! Long time lurker here since I found this site, its been a great source of information. I was wondering if I could get some advice on a new board for this season. Any insight/thoughts are appreciated! weight: 165 (no gear) height: 5.9 boot: 32 forecast size 9 binder: nidecker carbon 900 board: ride timeless 161, unity pride 159 I mostly ride lake tahoe area with a few trips each year to CO, Utah, BC. I would really like to get a new board since my timeless is on its last legs. I don't ride the pipe or the park, I mostly ride groomers since we try to stay together with a varied ability group. Some days a few of us split off and do some backcountry (nothing extreme, just tame short hikes), trees runs (on-piste), and powder. I stay away from moguls as well. I do some jumps, but mostly natural kickers and will maybe spin if im feeling adventurous :) I really like to carve smooth turns and like controlled speed runs. Hope that sums up my riding style well enough. Based on my research from reading posts here I have this short list. I'm trying to stay around 500ish and need something that is generally available now since I have several CO trips planned for early Jan. Donek Phoenix 160 05/06 Tanker 172 I also considered the donek incline wide but with the softer and always changing tahoe snow this might not be a good fit. Plus I'm a bit worried about its ability in the trees and pow. Any advice on which board would be better suited for the tahoe conditions? I've never ridden a 172, but it seems like you guys says it rides smaller so I shouldnt worry about it? thanks again for your time and looking forward to your comments!