jtslalom

Rode with Dave, Ken and Jimmy today. Conditions are getting nicer as the winter days continue. Today they were pretty good. The trails at MC are definately wider than they have ever been. I will be riding tomorrow morning at north. Hope to se other carvers out there.

1xsculler, I ride with my back angle 3 degrees greater than my front angle. I ride softboots now but still ride rather steep angles. I think my back angle is about 60 degrees and the front is 57 degrees. I do this so to make my back knee drive into the back of my front knee. I ride with my knees together. I don't think you need to seperate your knees and prefer not to. I feel that having my knees together helps me round my turns more especially when riding steep slopes. Good Luck Jt

Im not sure where this thread has gone but to answer the original question; No, you don't have to ride with your knees apart in order to ride bumps or steeps. The article that Jack Michaud has referred to is true about how riders back in the 1980's rode with their knees jammed together. It is still ok to ride with your knees jammed together. My stance width is about 18 inches. I ride this way in order to jam my back knee into the back of my front knee and drive them together when making turns. I feel that it really helps me on steep trails when I have to round my turns and actually carve up hill to control my speed.

Ken and I will be riding Jiminy this Friday dec. 30. Maybe there will be some other carvers out there to ride with us. C u all then.

I saw it with my 11 year old son. We both thought it was an awesome movie.

Thanks for the info fellas. Very helpful

Jack, Does it really matter? Since going back to softboots over 10 years ago I still visit this site time to time. It doesn't matter what name it is under or how it is titled. When l;ooking for advice or simply perusing the forum I listen to the people I think know what they are talking about and ignore the rest. If a person is to uptight not to look on a site that is notorious for its "Carving" talk just because a heading says hardbooting community and not carving community, maybe they shouldn't be on any snowboarding site. I really wouldn't worry about it. Jt

I ride about 54 dgrees front and 57 degrees back on softboots for hard carving days. 20 front and 20 back for softer carving and riding switch and in the woods. It seems like there is quite a bit of advice given already so to make it short follow a this simple rule to softboot carving. If you feel like you can't carve at certain angles its not your binding angles causing you not to carve. Its you not knowing how. Any good carver can carve on any angles with any equipment.

(Thursday 12/15/16) Well day number one is in the books. Mountain creek is now open from top to bottom. There are really only two runs currently open. At north, Horizon is open and the Sugar slope as well. Both the Sugar lift and the cab are open. On the South peak only one run from the top is open. Not sure of the run but its nice because none of the park features are up yet so you have a nice wide open slope to crank turns. I wouldn't bother racing out for a day of riding at MC just yet. Slope conditions are pretty firm, however MC is making snow as much as they can so conditions will get better. I think they will have a bit more open by the weekend. Hopefully the rain we are suppose to get on Sunday doesn't melt away to much snow. C u all oout there. Jt

Barryj, I find that Ride bindings are my favorite for softboot riding. I have quite a few pairs including the El Hefe's that I have mounted on my Rad Air Tanker.

I was told to ride regular stance because "most riders do." There weren't many people riding back then so I just went with it. When asymmetrical boards came out i was happy to be riding regular. It was a little harder to find goofy asym boards.

Great video. I see more and more kids riding like this every year. I'm happy to see them carving on softies.

Pow, I bought the same El Hefe's for my 171 Tanker. I had the same problem that you had. I simply used on older type of washer that was a little smaller and it worked fine. Those new double washers are used for the new style hole configuration. Obviously old boards don't have that same pattern. I think you will be fine with what you have but be cautious about altering equipment. It will void any type of warranty.

I'm looking to book a trip to Sugarloaf this up and coming winter. The guys I ride with are top notch, some ex racers and the rest just rip. The two things we need is wide open steep groomers and alot of natural or cut glades. I've been told that Sugarloaf is the place for both of these. We also need some night life. Although the youngest of us is still over the hill we all like to go out at night a put a few back. Looking for comments or suggestions about sugrloaf Maine resort.

If you want to watch a real skier get low watch any video of Ted Ligety (FIS). Not only does he get low by rounding his turns, he also wins gs races while doing so.

I've never really heard of the "EC style" of riding until the early 90's. Before that time I have always modeled my riding technique from racers. For those of you that have ever ridden in a race course you know that some of the toughest conditions occur when you are one of the last racers to run a course. The course is totally iced over and rutted. If the technique racers use is to carve through icy steep rutted terrain then that's the kind of riding I want to learn. Those are the type of conditions I am used to riding on my home mountain and that is the type of riding I do. I believe that the race carving style that I ride gets my body close to the edge, gives me a high edge angle, and also lets my body get close to the snow but in more of a compact position than that of the "EC style" carving. To me their are only two techniques of riding. They are slalom and giant slalom. I'm not quite sure where they fit in to push, pull, under, over, EC, or any of the other styles. All I know is that most of my early days of riding were spent with snowboard and ski racers, all of which can carve some of the best lines I have ever seen. SO I model my riding after them.

Thanks for the update. I think my season is done.

Is it worth it to drive to Stratton and ride tomorrow Sunday 3/13/16. How bad is the snow coverage?

That virus is spreading quickly. There is a lot of it going around. My local hill caught it as well and will be closing Sunday.

I just saw pictures of Whitefish Montana. My buddy is riding their for the next week or so. I just can't believe how wide the trails are. He claims a football field wide for a lot of them. I don't know what that is like riding on my home mountain. So all you living out west please just post pics of slopes that seem to be endlessly wide like the ones at Whitefish.

Tanker 172 with blue "S" stripe down its length. The best board I've ever ridden. I'm such a fool for not riding a Tanker until this year. I wish I was on one years ago but I'm happy to be on one now

Dave and I rode at Jiminy this past Friday 2/16/16. I can't say conditions were good because they weren't but we had a great day riding anyway. We talked to a woman who claims they were the worst conditions she had ever seen their. I guess after two days of rain and dropping temps good conditions are hard to come by, however I had my 172 Tanker out and it did the job. This board is one of the nicest boards I have ever ridden on soft boots. Definitely left some nice lines on the slopes. Well I hope to make it back up their again this year.

Every year I get this, "Do you also snowboard on a regular board?" This year I was told from someone on lie that "Whoever set your bindings up screwed them all up. You shouldn't be riding with your binding angles like that." My favorite this year came from some guys who know a little about hard booting, "I thought you were on hard boots"

Yes Dave, That Tanker is one of the nicest carving boards I have ever ridden. I've been on rocketed boards for the last few years so much that I have forgotten what is like to ride a cambered board. Riding the Tanker on soft boots reminds me of the last few years I rode hard boots. The board drives so smoothly through golf ball ice and hard pack that it is hard to put it away. I had it out today and really got the chance to get on it and make it turn tight radius turns. I can't believe the grip it has while driving through a carve. I definitely want another one but possibly a little shorter for the mountain i ride does not have wide slopes. Thanks for letting me ride the "bat wing" and selling me the blue base with blue "S" Tanker. It's a great board that will see ALOT of days riding. JT

Ride softboots like you are riding hard boots in the sense that you MUST steer your turns with your knees. Even on heel side. Take a look at this video to help you out. This is on softboots. http://www.tristateclub.com/sic/jt_zerog.mp4 If your angles are relatively flat you must incorporate more ankle flexion and get your butt closer to the board.