asdfzxcv

THANK YOU to everyone that responded! Unfortunately, I could only pick out 2 winners, and I have just done it, so the "drawing" is over. Have a great season, everyone! Any newbies (or know of any newbies) looking to switch to hardbooting, but the cost is too much? You're in luck, I'm cleaning house and my ol' TD2's and even older Catek Olympic bindings are on the chopping block. Why isn't this posted in the Classified's? Because I'm not selling them, I'm giving them away with free shipping. I wear a 9 or 9.5 depending on the setup. I'll let you do the research to figure out if the binding will fit your boots. These are very well used (and at the time, I was 210lbs riding hard), but they faithfully held up and I have had absolutely no problems with either of them. (I've just moved on to the TD3s, and softbooting more often than not these days). Also, (if you want) I'm offering these worthless ski boots... that actually worked half-way decently for my first season hardbooting getup. I went into a big box store and looked for the seemingly cheapest made ski boot with the most flex. Send me a PM and a short note, I'll "randomly" pick the 2 winners and PM you back for your contact info. Sorry, not going to respond to everyone, but I'll post back when the winners are selected. Also, I'm not going to ship outside the US/Canada. If you turn around and sell these for profit, I swear the forum gods will haunt you to your grave until you give back to the universe to even out the karma. You may ask on behalf of someone, but I will only ship it directly to that person. I don't want these going from my dusty closet to yours. Good luck!

Hey, Sorry, I know this is short notice, I didn't think to post until just now. I'm coming out from Chicago, will be snowboarding at Beaver Creek today and tomorrow (12/11-12). If anyone is around, say hi to me. Can't miss me, I'm the one, carving on the Prior pow-stick swallowtail board (wearing red jacket). Yeah, I know there's no powder right now, but after last season, I ride that board anywhere and everywhere. Plus, I'm superstitious, and the board is my good luck charm… it always seems to snow within a couple days after I ride it, haha! Anyways, this is my first run of the season, so I'm going to take it real easy today. I'm around until Christmas, but after tomorrow, I'm riding with non-hardbooter friends. Strawberry Park Express 9am. -Alex

Just wondering if there was anyone out there planning to watch the LOST episode at the SES on Tuesday night (Feb 9) at 8pm. The schedule has a "free day" and a party at the Bomber house until 7pm. I'm not sure what's going on afterwards, but I personally MUST watch that LOST episode at all costs - anyone with me? And if there is a large group of us, any suggestions where would be a good place to view the LOST episode? Also, an optional lively/geeky LOST discussion to follow, haha.

Hello! Drove up from Chicago to Michigan - I'll be at Boyne Highlands tomorrow and Monday (Jan 18-19) if any carvers want to come out and play. Road conditions are bad, but once you get here, the snow is SO GOOD right now - I was at Nub's Nob today and it was just a ton of fun! Going to try to be at Highlands right at the opening, it's supposed to snow another 3 inches tonight. I'll be the one in the bright red jacket and riding a swallowtail pow-stick. I'm Alex, say HI to me!

Nigelc, Excellent! I just sent you an email - that's probably the best way to communicate since I don't have a phone that works abroad. Were you planning on going to Coronet on the weekend or weekday? My tentative plan was to spend the weekend in Queenstown (since I've heard it's quite a fun city) so I'll be there or the Remarkables Fri-Sun (aug 29-31) . Then I was thinking of taking a shuttle to Wanaka to snowboard at Cardrona and Treblecone Mon-Wed. Then, depending on how things go... I can stay in Wanaka, go back to Queenstown, or even possibly change move my flight back to Auckland earlier so I can try out Mt. Ruapehu. Thanks, B-2. It would have been a funny surprise if I had shown up at the resort with all of my luggage! Thanks, Allee. I just arrived in Sydney, so I will definitely check out the Aussie packages! Thanks, Jas. If I do make it to Ruapehu mid week, I'll definitely let you know here. -Alex

Thanks Allee, I like your comment "you don't need entertainment when you have the locals". Every NZ-er I've ever met in Tahoe or Colorado has been super-cool. So I've always thought how cool it would be to just go to NZ and hang out there for a week. My work is sending me to Sydney the week before, so the decision to go snowboarding in NZ was a no-brainer. I couldn't convince anyone to go with me, so I'm definitely hoping to meet up with some friendly boarders & skiers. "The Regrettables" are you referring to the Remarkables? Not a big fan of the place? I've snowboarded in Chile a couple times, so my lower body is quite familiar with the "joys" of the poma "button lift"... thanks for the warning. Those things were not made for snowboarders! Thanks Gord - I'll definitely use JUICE if I rent. I'm most likely to just take a shuttle, stay at a resort a couple days, and then shuttle to another resort for another couple days. The bungy sounds fun... I've never done that. Did you do canyonswing.co.nz? Probably not going to do the Milford bc/any day not snowboarding is a wasted day IMHO :) Thanks for that update, Jason. I was actually considering Ruapehu bc/I have relatives in Auckland. But someone incorrectly told me that you guys weren't having a good winter. Bad info. I'll probably stay in Queenstown & Wanaka, but I fly through Auckland, so it's good to know that I have options. When you say "Forget weekends" do you mean that all accommodations are booked up already? I haven't made any accommodations yet because I still haven't decided where to go. I was going to "wing it" and stay in Queenstown for a couple of days (Coronet & Remarkables) and then book accommodations a couple days in advance when I know where I want to go (Cardrona & Treble Cone). Depending on how much fun I have and the people I meet will be the deciding factor of whether I stay at a resort or move on to the next. Thank you, all, you guys are GREAT!!! I don't know why I don't post more often.

Thanks B-2, That was great information and very helpful!! I'd love to fly into Christchurch and just drive down hitting every resort on the way South, but I thought that might be too ambitious for me (especially with what they say about the roads in NZ winter). I'm flying into Queenstown, and so I think I'll stick to the resorts near Queenstown & Wanaka via shuttle (wimpy, I know), at least for this year. As you say, if all goes well, I'll be more daring next year :) I'll post updates to this thread while I'm down there. Did you see a couple carvers here and there in NZ? -Alex

I don't usually post (lurker), but I thought I'd just throw it out there just in case there were any New Zealand boarders out there. So I decided that I can't wait until Nov to go snowboarding, so I've booked my flight to New Zealand! I'll be in New Zealand from Aug 29 - Sep 7. I haven't decided where I want to go, but I'm pretty sure that it will involve Coronet Peak, Cardrona, and Treble Cone. Anyone want to meet up? Also, I've never been, so if anyone has ever snowboarded there, please tell me how you liked it, where you went, and where you stayed. Thank you! Normally, I'd put this post in the "Ride Board" section, but I didn't see a section for "New Zealand" (maybe we should have an "International" section for people taking trips abroad). -Alex

The skier's sign said "Ernie weeps" and had a picture of Ernie Blake, the founder of Taos with a tear in his eye. Supposedly, on his deathbed, Ernie asked his childern never to allow snowboarders. But like I said, in my previous post, there wasn't any hostility, and even this guy was laughing with everyone else. Even funnier, his sign was mispelled. It said, "Ban Snowboaders".

RDY2Carve, that was a great description of Taos. I agree with everything he said. Except maybe the part about me being a "much better carver" - I was the 4th hardbooter you saw on the opening day, with the red deeluxes. I was riding a 171 Donek Freecarve I. Sorry, I missed you, I really was looking out for other hardbooters, but never met up with any all week. I didn't post because I wasn't sure whether I would be skiing or snowboarding that week - I met up with my cousin & his wife & their 4 kids, and promised to play ski instructor in return for free room & board. In fact, it was just a lucky coincidence that the week I was there, they opened to snowboards. And as luck would have it, I was riding on the lift with this nice lady (a skier!) who gave me her raffle ticket to be on the first 10 chairlifts... so I was on the 3rd chairlift up on the day they allowed snowboards! It was really exciting - there was so much energy in the crowd that morning! So here's my take on Taos: this is an AWESOME mountain - at the top of the lift, you're at 12,000 feet. I had a pounding headache the first night I stayed there because of the elevation. I know everyone blames "the altitude", but I definitely know that altitude was making me tired, when I was breathing hard after just bending down and buckling my boots. I always thought of New Mexico as desert, not realizing the Rockies extend straight down from Colorado. Personally, I thought it was a bit steep for me. I would never take anyone here to learn how to snowboard, much less learn on an alpine board. I like to warm up on easy runs - but the problem with Taos, is that you have to go through several steep runs to get to those "warm-up runs" :) The people there will tell you that some of the marked "Green" runs used to be marked "Black", but were changed to "Green" for marketing purposes so the mountain could claim there was a "Green" run extending from the top of each lift. Some of the "Greens" are steeper than the "Blacks" in Wisconsin (where I usually go). My few attempts into the bumps almost always ended in disaster because they're just so steep. And since it didn't snow all week, I didn't even think about attempting any of the chutes. However, I think the challenging terrain brings this great added advantage (and makes it ssssooo worth going): Taos is one of the least crowded resort that I have ever been... in Colorado, Tahoe, Wisconsin, Michigan, or Vermont. I was there all week, and that was during the Texas spring break, and it never got close to as busy as I'm used to here. Even on the day with all the snowboard craziness, it wasn't bad at all. I was considering trying out Angel Fire for a day, but then changed my mind, when I talked to all these skiers that went to Angel Fire thinking they would avoid the "snowboard crowd" at Taos, only to discover that Angel Fire was a crowd disaster. And Taos remains uncrowded even with slow lifts! RDY2Carve claims that Taos has high-speed chairlifts, but if they were high speed, they were the SLOWEST highspeed chairlifts I've ever seen. (Though I agree, Ski Santa Fe was slower!). I'm hoping the added revenue from the snowboarders will allow Taos to upgrade. Though, I think even with allowing snowboards at Taos, you're never going to have the huge crowds that you see at other resorts because of the challenging terrain. Which is why I will definitely come back every year! I've been totally converted. My favorite runs were Bonanza into Firlefanz and Lower Totemoff. In general, Lift #8 is definitely where you want to be, and this is why: everyone takes the main lift #1 and #5 (#5 lift is always less crowded because you have to take off your snowboard and walk up the stairs). All the beginner skiers go down White Feather. Everyone else skis down and sees the #2 Lift, and take that lift not realizing that there is another lift further behind. On the morning they opened up to snowboarders, I went straight to the #8 lift and just camped out there all morning. I must have done 5 runs before even 15 people got there. The only crowds you see are the ski instructors with their students, because they know that it's the best place to practice carving (for both snowboarding and skiing!) Once you've carved up those runs, then you take the #2 lift to the top of the mountain. Follow Honeysuckle down, smiling for the action photographers (no digital, they use real film!), but after the first steep drop you want to make a left into Lower Totemoff. This is my second favorite Taos run because the entrance isn't very well advertised, looks narrow, icy, and even inclines upwards slightly. Hence, nobody goes there! But it immediately opens up into an absolutely beautifully WIDE groomed run. This might actually be the most perfect carving run at Taos, if it weren't so short. At the bottom of the run, you can take lift #7 (with a nice view of the terrain park), and repeat as many as times as you like. When you get bored with that, I would take lift #7 and immediately take the "7th Heaven Lift" back to the other side of the mountain and do the Bambi run down to lift #2. Nice fun rolling hills. Only after doing all of this, would I suggest that you take Honey Suckle down to the Kachina #4 lift. These runs are nice, but the Kachina lift is ALWAYS crowded because there is a restaurant at the bottom of it, so I generally avoided this lift as much as possible. These runs were also the most crowded. It's nice and open at the top, but it all funnels down through this path under the lift, and for some reason, the skiers like to congregate right there. It seemed like everytime I went down the run, I would think, "What a cluster#@?!" But once you get past that part, the top of Baby Bear is pretty sweet (and incidentally, where the action photographer is). I actually thought "catwalk" run (Rubezahl) back to the main lodge was fun. I did see some snowboarders unbuckling, but if you're on a carving board, you should have no problem just cruising right through (well, except if it's slushy and 2pm). One other note, that I feel I must mention.... the people at Taos are GREAT. All the skiers were incredibly nice and even supportive of the snowboard movement. If anything, they were just curious at how the snowboarders would handle the bumps and steeps. And I definitely got a lot of questions about my board. (I mentioned this website a ton of times, and there was definitely interest among the skiers). I didn't meet anyone all week, who was upset about the snowboarders (well, except my cousin's wife). And I actually skied 4 days at Taos, so it wasn't because I had a snowboard. One of the old timer locals put it this way, "Taos is about enjoying the great mountain. No one I know really cares about the snowboarders. It's only the yuppies that come from out-of-town that are complaining. But that's not Taos. They're the ones that are destroying Taos." In general, I like everything about Taos. The people, the mountain, the food, the lodges, the weather. The chocolate store at the base of the mountain, the cute photographer at the top of the mountain. If you don't mind the steeps (and you're carving more than you're sliding), than this is definitely a worthwhile mountain. I skied 4 days and snowboarded 4 days, and still wished I could've stayed longer.

Hi Felicia & Al, We met at SES last season. I was planning on being at Cascade this Sunday, too! I'll see you there. I'm coming with friends (non-carvers), so I don't know exactly when we'll get to the slopes. But a small place like Cascade esp. early season, I can't imagine we won't run into each other. See you there! -Alex asian guy from chicago yellow nidecker slalom board