jtslalom

if any of the above deals fall through I will take it.

I can remember the first set of Burton Flex bindings I had in 1990 that also had a top strap and highback lock. I snapped that locking mechanism so many times. After replacing them and snapping them over and over I stopped locking them and never had a problem. I thought the highback straps on those bindings were molded into the binding. I'm not sure but I do remember breaking them a lot. Maybe todays technology is better but I wouldn't ride any soft binding with a top strap. I have never snapped an ankle strap.

If the highback locks, that strap is going to tear apart from the highback. Looks like there is only one screw holding it in. Good luck with that.

Jatkinson, On steep icy conditions i find myself staying much closer to my board as compared to packed powder conditions. I think that some new carvers still have a tendency to carve by ankle flex ion and simply leaning over as your board starts to carve. It is fun and relatively easy to do on most green and some blue slopes. However that same technique wont help you as the slopes get icy and steep. My experience has lead me to be even more agressive under these conditions. Concentrate on flexing your knees more and driving both of them down to the snow to make your turns. Along with ankle flex ion your knees are absolutely crucial when making high board angled turns. This will help bring that board around your turn and back across into transition. I think a great article for you to read is "the physics of a snowboard turn" I think it is one of the best articles written and totally gives me the idea of exactly what I need to do in order to carve a good turn. Read this and definitely watch videos of GS champion. FIS skier Ted Ligety. You will so much from his videos. Good luck

Hello Dan, It was nice to meet you (Monday 2/15/16) on Bear peak. I was happy to see you riding on that Burton FP with Burton Fire boots and Physics bindings. It reminded me of the last few years I rode hard boots. Like I had said, we are going up to Stratton for the last day of ECES. Ken and I will both be their along with three other buddies. You are more than welcome to join us if you get the chance to get up their. I will be riding again more than likely on Friday night and this Saturday and/or Sunday morning depending on weather. See you out their.

xy9ine, I just rode with a pair of Burton Diodes last weekend. I own a pair of Ride El Hefe's. In my opinion the Rides are much stiffer than the Burtons. Good luck

Not sure what the construction is for that model but it is the one pictured in my original post. Some one told me it is the "bat" wing model.

I haven't ridden any good carving boards in a long time now. My last hard boot setup was a volkl Renn Tiger. I've been away from hard booting for at least 10 years now. Since then the only good carving deck I have been on was a Volkl Cross 168 ish. I own a Ride Timeless 168 and a few other soft boot carving decks that really couldn't be ridden with hard boots. Today I rode a friends Rad air tanker 172 for about 4 hours. Afterwards I called him up and offered to buy it. WOW. I've been away to long. I can't even believe how easy it was to rail carves on this board almost effortlessly. The fun thing about it was that if I did actually drive my knees the board was unstoppable. Quick in transition and held a great carve on steeps. I know some people here may know what I am talking about when I say that this board may have been one of the best carving decks I have ever ridden. I know Rad Air is not producing boards now but can any one tell me what would be a good equivalent board.

I had that same board but a 153. I also think that model was made on or about 2001. Its a great slalom deck.

I think it was somewhere in the early to mid 90's when I went to White Face for the first time. Since then I have been to Whiteface a few times. It is a great mountain for steep carving. I'm sure it can be icy but if you are used to those conditions, you will be fine. I like the trail right under the side by side double lift. I think that is called Mountain Run. It is wide enough to make some really big turns at mach speeds. Coming off the top lift Cloud Spin is the one I like best. Its pretty steep and fast. You have to really commit to it.

We are getting absolutely slammed with snow here in Vernon. There is about 8 inches on the ground already and it is barely noon. This storm is suppose to keep going into the early hours of Sunday morning. I will be on the slopes today about 3:00 pm to make some woods runs. By then we should have about a foot of snow. They are calling for 12-18 inches but I think it will be more like 2 feet when all is said and done. Dave, Ken and I will be riding first lift tomorrow morning until it crowds up. No real carving tomorrow but rather hitting the woods for some untracked powder runs with maybe a few soft carving runs. It's gonna be epic.

I ended up buying a pair of the Ride El Hefes last week. I have ridden with them on for three days and think they are an excellent soft binding to ride in. I had a pair of Ride Double Agents that were suppose to be one of the stiffest bindings made as of five years ago. The El Hefes seem stiffer. I also ride in Burton Ion boots from 3 years ago. At the time I was told that they were one of the stiffest boots that Burton made. Those K2 Thraxis boots I tried on were stiffer and had a few more adjustments then the Burton Ions.

In 1988 I was putting ski boot liners in Sorel boot shells and using them for snowboard boots. Almost 30 years later I tried on a pair of K2 Thraxis soft boots. WOW! What a difference 3 decades makes. These boots were as stiff as some of my old Burton hard boots. Strapping in to a pair of Ride El Hefe bindings and I felt like i was clicking into my old Burton physics race bindings. The new generation of soft boots and bindings really makes riding comfortable and fun and with every new year comes softboots that give me the feel of the support of hard boots.

I have had 5 days on the snow so far this year at MC. Last night (Wed. 1/13) was the best out of all of them. Although only one main trail is open MC has managed to keep the snow conditions nice for carving. This weekend they should have quite a bit more open. They have been making snow like crazy lately. I will be out again this Friday night with my kids and Saturday and Sunday mornings with my carving pals. Hope to see more carvers out their.

I think that sounds good Eric. I will talk to Ken and set something up.

I have to say that this is one of if not the worst year so far for snow making. I've lived in Vernon most of my life and truly can't remember that this late in December where we had no snow on the slopes. Mountain Creek has turned on their guns once since the late fall and it doesn't look like any snow making temps are in sight. Accuweather says that the next possible days are this up and coming weekend (Dec19 20). However it looks like warm temps will settle in again after the weekend through Christmas. After that it looks good. It looks like any one in the Mid-Atlantic needs to head north for any kind of snow for the Christmas break.

I can't get the link to work but hopefully you can copy and paste. You have to see this line. By far one of the sickest lines I have ever seen on video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYmcm5bKvxk

Go to the ECES this February. You will learn all you need to know about carving a board. I'm sure there will be plenty of people more than willing to talk to you about it.

I remember that video being brand new. I also remember when every one who competed in sl or gs also competed in half pipe. We were all truly all around riders back then.

MC made some snow at the beginning of the week this week 11/27/15. It doesn't look like any good snow making temps are on the near horizon. Hopefully by early December. Keep your fingers crossed.

Congrats Patmoore. That's a pretty big bungee jump. Happy you got around to doing it.

Mountain Creek is having a banked slalom on Sunday 3/15/15. If the weather holds I think that Ken, Dave and I will be there.

Drive your knee forward while unweighting from your heel side turn in transition then drive it directly down to the snow creating an good board edge angle to start your turn. As you go through your turn and and get lower over your board edge you can create a greater board edge angle by driving your knees closer to the snow

Riding at my local resort in northern NJ can be scary at times. On the weekends starting around 10:00 - 10:30 am the crowds start coming. By 11:00 it seems half of northern NJ and NYC is riding down the slopes. This isn't bad if, as a local rider, you know how to avoid the crowds. This avoidance occurs mainly by riding any steep slopes. Usually the crowds tend to stay off these slopes. Today was the exception. While riding down our steepest slope and driving good round turns I noticed a big puff of snow to my uphill side while just starting a toe-side turn. Not thinking much of it I continued my line down hill making another dozen or so turns and eventually coming to the end of the slope and then the lift. While unbuckling I noticed another rider trying to get my attention. I stood up from unbuckling after the rider tapped me on the shoulder. He said, "You cut me off on the slope. I was coming down and you were making big turns and cut me off." I started to laugh a little, smiled and replied, " I can't see up hill while I'm riding. Being the uphill rider, you have to yield to me. I am downhill." He said, " You can't turn like that on these slopes. What makes you think you are aloud to turn like that?" I replied, " I am aloud to turn like that and always do. You have to be aware of how people are riding below you and yield to them." After this the kid got a little belligerent and basically told me I suck for turning the way I did. I basically said just because you suck as a rider and can't control your speed doesn't give you the right to yell at me. A few more words were exchanged and then both of us parted. I am happy that the kid didn't hit me and rather bit it off the side of the slope to avoid an accident. It was funny seeing the kid for the first time and noticing that he looked like a snowman. I am surprised that he truly thought that I was at fault. It goes to show you how ignorant some riders/skiers are. I wish that I had handled the situation a little better but I just couldn't take the fact that he thought I was at fault and had no understanding what so ever about the skier responsibility code. I guess from my perspective I shouldn't carve turns like that during crowded hours but it was my last run and I didn't want to waste it.

On the top peak take cloudspin all the way back down to the summit quad and upper skyward all the way down. You will not get any steeper of a run with a sustained vert. They are steep. You must take the summit quad for these runs. The other run I like for carving that is pretty steep and usually clear of traffic is mountain run. Take the mountain run lift. Have fun.