Willow 15

Keep up the good work, I to am looking forward to watching your new vids. Post again on the Brit forums, most of them are perplexed by hardboots but if you convince one peron to try it out it will have been worth it. Have a good season and hope to see one of you on the podium.

Check this out http://fis.smugmug.com/Sports/Parallel-Slalom-Landgraaf/19360640_pfWFsh#1527682442_B5zR4Ln and see for yourself GeoffV. Black Pearl riders are there, Simon Schoch and quite a few others.

I would have thought that a racer would want the newest technology especially if it makes you faster. Maybe the Vist is just as good as a floating plate, just heavy. What pique's my curiosity is Apex (the board manufacturer) is making three systems. The flex plate and the flex plate wing, which from what I can gather is like a Vist/Hangl system Then they are producing bob which is like BBP or Apex plate. Did any one notice which system the Apex riders were using? I guess there will be a lot more plates on show when the tour gets outside onto a Pgs course.

After seeing the mens podium I was thinking the exact same thing.I also wonder when Northwave .950's finally become extinct. Surely the ones still racing must be nearing their shelf life.

Get your camera out:biggthump

Looks good for an interesting season. I also am mightly pi%$ed off as I could of watched it live on Eurosport. Hopefully Eurosport will show the rest of the season's races. Were you there Hans? If so did you see any new and interesting plate systems?

Very true, but hard to accomplish in the UK. If you can, head for somewhere in the Alps for a holiday that has a good selection of shops which cater for us non conformists. There you will be able to try them on, if that is not possible use Bomber's boot sizing guide. Buy your boots then find a good ski shop that will make you some footbeds and mold your liner for you. If you are handy enough molding them yourself is not that hard, but I definitely recommend footbeds made by a good boot-fitter. Phil is right,I use them but I have small feet so can get away with it and I also ski so no boot swapping for me. It also saves on th Kg(if you are skiing and boarding) when flying budget airlines. But I'm guessing you have large feet as you are a six footer so get snowboard specific boots. They have a smaller foot imprint and also flex in the correct manner which will be better for you as you are starting out again. I would hazard a guess that most people who use ski boots are racing, ex-racers or compromise seekers. I am two of them. As I have said to Mikeyboy 123, get yourself upto Scotland this winter and I will be more than welcome to help you out. Also kieran is a fellow bomber member who is up in Scotland, he has a glass Donek that will put you off big boards. That board is a work of art but needs to be treated with a LOT of respect, especially when the piste is about 8ish metres wide.

Wow, with you and mikeyboy123 on board hardbooters in Britain are nearly into the tens. Keep a close eye on ebay UK as some gems come up. Don't narrow your search to hard, race or alpine etc as most people have no clue about alpine equipment in UK and a good hardboot board may have no referance to the fact.

Ask on these sites http://www.frozen-backside.de/wbb312/index.php?page=Index http://www.extremecarving.com/forum/index.php You will probably get a better response.

For the money you will make and the hassle of posting to Europe, you might as well keep it. As has been mentioned 12m scr is not big by todays standard gs board and you are big enough to bend it. See if you can get a pass out from your better half and come up to Scotland for the amazing winter thats on its way. I will be more than willing to meet up and help you out. What size boots are you after? As for indoors stick some plates on the Eliminator.

Thats brilliant. Note to self "do not let my kids see this". I aslo wonder how long it will take him to figure out that he can make that big pile of dirt into a 'ramp to trampoline'. Perfect for backflip practise. Have fun Spidy

Got nothing to do with your board sales, but good fortune with the upcoming season from a hardbooter in the UK.

Ha ha ha did you forget where you live.

Thats the trouble, they are not specialized enough for the UK market. Anyone who rides hard boot gear here wants more modern equipment (Kessler, metal, etc) so I think you might struggle. Kieran is right about the Geman market but even then you will struggle with a £199 starting price on the Speedster. Good luck though.

Adam Mcleish. I think he's actually Canadian but races for GBR. Its amazing where a Mc can get you. http://www.fis-ski.com/uk/604/613.html?sector=SB&listid=&competitorid=149884&type=result Some not to shabby results really.

Not my better half but a friends. They were watching the news and an article came up about a war somewhere in one of the African countries. News reporter was discussing the merits of arming the guerillas, and it was at this point his good lady started to ask "Why are they arming monkeys, its totally irresponsible". Sounds implausible but he assures me its true. What worries me is her misplaced nomenclature of apes, monkeys etc.

I have Trailmaps on mine, which is ok. I have never used it though as I worry about dropping the phone of the chair. I might change my mind if someone brought out active tracking on an detailed piste map. Untill then paper ones are fine and free.

This is a great forum. Which binding are you using John, I would be very interested to know. When I do take out my softie's I am using old C-60's (solid carbon high back) and love the responsiveness but if I get some nice low heelsides in the heel cup is always catching. Maybe I should go real old school and use both at the same time. Who was the guy back in the day that did? I seem to remember he rode Barfoot, and was his first name John. Damn my old age and senility, i know someone here will tell me.:)

After reading Stef1's thread about the rapture/enlightenment it got me thinking. Does anyone know any hardbooters who gave it up for soft boot only? I don't mean learners or poor boarders but proficient hardbooters who knows the feeling of major G's in control. This is probably a crossover thread aswell, powder or cord. I don't know anyone, but given a chance and equipment plus time I know I could convert some softies. I still have soft boot set ups but I really don't know why!

That's cause you are to tall.... or I am a shortarse!

I am using Full Tilts for both disciplines and love them. Every snowboard boot I have tried has given me awful shin bang but the FT's work a treat. The added bonus is leaving them on when I ski with the kids. My only problem was width but once they got blown they were perfect. Next season I am going to get some Palau liners to try. If I can find a cheap pair of Kryptons I will snap them up and try them out. Here's a picture of them skiing.

I can't comment directly on the bbp but Kieran kindly lent me his Donek Plate a couple of days ago. It was mounted on my SG race 163. The conditions were atrocious, wet/chopped up snow. I have been a little spectical about plate systems especially on short/slalom boards. I only had a couple of runs but WOW:1luvu:. I am now totally convinced. I to was worried about weight/responsiveness but after I realised the plate system was making crap snow feel like fresh groom I was upto speed. Kieran can confirm this. So Hans definitely do it.

Hi Martin, it called "Carve La Plagne". The footage is a bit shakey and my riding is not what it once was but I was enjoying myself. I blame age and symetrical boards, it maybe time to dig out the pj7 and have some botox.:lol:

Its not that bad, Ive had two good weeks in La Plagne this Feb. Here is a bit of evidence."> <iframe title="YouTube video player" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/VVzeXHsruMw" allowfullscreen="" width="640" frameborder="0" height="390"></iframe><object width="425" height="344"> </object> The snow could be quite icy but thats one of the reasons I ride alpine. I am trying to get up this month, will pm you when I am going to see if you can make it. It would be good to put some turns in with Kieran. <object width="425" height="344"> <embed src="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVzeXHsruMw?hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></object>

I have just watched the finals of the World champ PSL race and it made me think about many questions. There were not that many plate systems, and the ones that were there were old systems such as Vist. Most of the boards were Keslers, with the odd Apex and of course SG. There was a lot of tech, board wise. I watch a lot of ski racing and today's Kitzbuhel DH was amazing but I did not see one DH'er in 10 year old boots. At the snowboard world champs I have seen boot's that should be in the bin win two world championships, PGS & PSL. Its not a fluke, Shoch was second wearing the same antiques on his feet. We spend so much time loving new boards, maybe we should be thinking about the contact points. I.E. BOOTS. I think forums like this could get those moulds made again. I have loads more to talk about such as slalom poles, super g, timing and parallel or clock but I can't be arsed at the moment. Don't get me wrong, I bow down to companies that produce hard boots. mmmm if it ain' broke don't fix it.