BigBump

I'm suprised no one has mentioned Palmer's FLF design that was developed with input from Kessler. I'm currently riding the Palmer Timeless(in soft boots set duck) which is a true twin with the FLF shape. Basically, it's similar to the NSR shape. It looks like normal cambered board until you decamber it and see the tip and tail lift up almost to the bindings. The board carves amazingly well, and not just for an all mountain freestyle board. It just plain rips. Also, because it focuses the pressure on the edge between your feet(at least that is what I feel) throwing 180's and 3's at speed is a breeze. Also, for what it's worth, I was at an AASI steeps clinic last week at Stowe and the guy running it was on a burton custom with their V rocker shape(w/ softboots set duck). On friday the groomed trails were windblown hardpack and he was dragging his butt and front hand on all of his heelside carves. With a few tips from him I was able to do just about the same. So it doesn't seem full rocker hurts the carving experience...

I'm with Bob on this....if you are going to modifying soft boot bindings so they can be run at high angles, you might as well just use soft hard boots. Personally, for soft booting(which I do 90% of the time now) I run Salomon Relay Pro's at 15, -9. The relays are sure soft laterally but stay stiff toe to heel thanks to a steel cable running between the front of the binding and the high back and two steel rods on either side of the baseplate. They provide plenty of response toe and heel but allow for tons of range of motion toward the tip and tail. The footbed on them is also kind of thick so it raises your foot up a bit off the board. I have a size 9boot and have them on a Palmer Timless 160 and have no issuse with boot out when carving. I use 32focus boa's with them which are a stiffish freeride boot with no issues.

Informed discussion is welcome. I felt this topic was just boiling down to another soft boot vs. hardboot debate and was expressing that. To say there are many absolutes implies there are absolute to moving over the snow...and I stand by my quote above the only absolute is "it depends". I personally think that if the instructor is good it doesn't much matter. But if you teach in hard boots....how do you show ankle flexion?

Keeping the lowerbody loose to absorb the crud is definitely needed but as the speed increases, the rider needs to be more active and less passive. I use a fast leg retraction to help absorb the crud. As I see crud bumps coming at me, I pull my legs up fast and for larger ones I pull my front leg slightly higher than the back so the nose lifts up to help the board go over the bumps. You can try the move with no gear on. Just stand in your riding position and quickly raise your feet off the floor without raising your hips higher off the floor. It's a quick move, and you won't be getting your feet very high off the floor, but that quick unweighting really helps.

Jack, Isn't the purpose of an instructor to keep a beginner from getting their ass handed to them? Also, arguing about teaching technique is pointless, IMO, because a wise man by the name of Gordon Robbins once told me "The only 100% answer to any question regarding teching is 'It depends........' ". And to that, I'll add my opinion....when I was riding hardboots exclusively, I used to teach in them. I stopped only because I found my softboots to be far more comfortable!

His comments don't sound any worse than the comments people regularly post on here about freestylers/freeriders who don't love carving as much as the community here. The thing that makes having a discussion about snowboarding not turn into an argument is that there are so many ways to do it and everyone thinks their style/technique is the best...

Bousquet is a fun small mountain. It's not very big but plenty of double fall lines and other things to keep it interesting. Also, almost no crowds to speak of and the people that are there generally know what they are doing(almost all ski racer kids and their parents). I'm there riding/teaching Saturday's and Sunday's and just riding Friday nights after 7. Stop by the school desk and ask for James if you want to meet up.

Old Skate deck and a soda bottle. Just put duct tape around the bottle and cap so it doesn't pop open and your done. For extra challenges, try doing it with your eyes closed or while juggling.

I think people on this board need to understand that for some people, carving isn't how they have fun on their snowboard. Just like for people here, FS540's over a 30ft table or 270 to frontboard 270 off aren't how they have fun on their snowboard. Everyone on this board is passionate about carving, and I'm sure it shows in everyone's riding how much they love the sport. But, some people aren't interested in banging turns all day. I'm a staff trainer at my mountain, and I've seen instructors time and time again learn how to rail on their boards and succeed at it in clinic, only to never do it again and go hit the park after. Like Dave's comment above(and a few others adove his), about schooling the kids who think jibbing is the best. For them, that is the best thing to do on a snowboard, just like carving is the best thing to do on a snowboard for people on this board. I'm all for growing the sport and making more approachable, and part of starting that is dropping the elitist attitude. I notice a difference right away with interacting with other carvers when I am on my HB's versus softies. On my HB, they are chatty, we talk about gear and the snow. When I am on my softies, they aren't as chatty and tell me how I should convert...blah blah blah...Get rid of that difference and I think it will help immensely.

Agreed, Saddleback is not a resort, there is no resort village, no resort hotel. Sadly, there isn't much to do there but ride. There are some nice inns maybe a mile from it. But the lodge is gorgeous(just re did it last year I think), has a nice bar for some post riding beers. I realize the original poster said "resort" but I know alot of people just throw that out there when they mean ski area. The lack of people meant, at least while I was there, that there was still untracked groomer to be ridden at 3:00 in the afternoon, never had to wait in a lift line, and most importantly, could rip down the runs with little to no danger that there would be a pack of snowplowers or sideslippers around the corner. It's not the place I would go to for a wild night life....but it's a good pick if you want to bang turns all day, get a few beers, a good dinner, and a good night's sleep and do it all again the next day.....hmmm on second thought....it's a terrible place....just go to the 'loaf with everyone else......yeah....;)

I'm suprised no one from Maine has put a vote in for Saddleback. I went there last year for an AASI event and wish I had brought my carving gear. 2000ft vertical drop, the definition of uncrowded, overlooks Rangely Lake. It has a great mix of terrain from runs straight down the mountain to twisty, turny trails. It's not a resort, so you don't get the resort ammenities and village(which I am content without). http://www.saddlebackmaine.com/winter/html/trailmap.php?s=249 Also, I'd like to say that any mountain is fun and challenging, just sometimes you have to be more creative.......

If you want a hard boot feel, why not ride the alpine? Since you already have pretty stiff boots, I would go with a softer binding, I love the Salolon Relay Pro's. Plenty of response toe and heel but enough flex in all the right places. Contrary to what alot of people think on this board, being able to flex your ankle does not equal slop. IMHO, if you are going to ride softies, embrace it and set lower ankles and enjoy the new found freedom the setup gives you rather than try to force and alpine stance and style and fight it!

I decided to post in this Thread as I took the Level III exam(got a riding retake(passed my teaching and pro-knowlege but failed riding so I have to do a 1 day re-takes next season to get the pin and I was in softboots) at Killington and thought I would tell everyone what was expected since there seems to be alot of confusion over the exam.... First, teaching segments are 15-25 minutes depending on the examiner. For your teaching, you are expected to make a noticable difference in the majority of riders in your group. If you don't, you don't pass. So you have about 20 minutes to improve the riding of riders that already rip and it may be a subject you have limited experience with. Also, on the third day we didn't know what we were going to teach until we were getting on the lift. Who ever was teaching was given the terrain, and the task, and had the chair ride to figure out what to do and you had to ride the chair by yourself. Pro-knowledge is based on your teaching segment and some discussion. Riding is based on your ability to adapt your movements during teaching segments as well as any tasks laid out during the day. Day 1 : The snow was soft, it was actually snowing but pretty warm, slowly getting cooler as the day went on. It was very foggy and tough to really see the terrain well. Our warmup run was a steep, rutted, firm trees for 1/2 the run then a bump run that was the same, just no trees. Riding tasks : GS carve turns regular (and then switch on another run) on a diamond that a pretty much chopped/bumped due to the soft conditions. Small, fall line carves created by the ankles only(regular and switch). The board had to be carving and move edge to edge very fast Ride steep, large bumps staying keeping our upperbodies moving down the falline at all times, no traversing allowed. Aggressive regular, dynamic GS carves on a blue pitch that was bumped and slop about 6" deep with ice underneith Day 2 Sunny, warmer, typical spring riding day Riding tasks : Linked Heelsides in deep slop Short radius dynamic skidded turns regular and switch on steeps. Drop into a 23-1/2' superpipe from the deck and ride it out and ride the pipe the whole way down Challenge by choice in the medium park - my 2 biggest was nosesliding a flat rail and a tweaked method over a 15ft jump Steep, tight tree run that wasn't too rutted GS, high edge angle carves going as slow as possible Day 3 Warm, not very sunny, typical new england questionable spring weather Riding tasks Short Radius skidded turns in a very tight corridor Same as above in bumps Show your best flatland trick Challenge by choice in the park Show your best freeriding on a steep, wide trail Make the same turns as the examiner(no description, just watch and mimic) Best carves you can make on a double diamond pitch. There are more, put I'm at work and don't have the list I wrote. Note that there was no mandatory rails, airs or manuevers for freestyle. At no time was anyone forced to do a 360 or some ridiculous trick unless it was someone's teaching segment. For teaching, I did switch the first day, GS carves on very steep terrain the second, and superpipe on the 3rd. The difference between a Level II and level III instructor to me is that the Level II is a solid instructor and rider, the Level III is a versitile instructor and rider. I don't have a superpipe at my mountain, but I was able to take what I know of riding and my limited experience in the pipe and come up with a passing segment and give meaningful feedback. Sorry for the long post, but I wanted people on this board who had never done the exam process to get an idea of what the modern, AASI-East Level 3 exam was like. Also, out of 28 candidates, 5 passed, and 5 got riding retakes. Doesn't sound like their handing out the pins like cookies........and no one that I saw out on the mountain taking the exam was anything less than a very solid rider.

Dave, I didn't say anything about moving his knee forward. I thought his moves with his back knee looked fine, just needs to start driving the turn with his front knee.

What's wrong with Bousquet? Or do you want to be shot because of the certification?

My friend Sue and I ripped up Bromely in our softies a few weeks ago taking advantage of their tuesday deal($39 for lift ticket + lunch at their bar). We carved up the mountain and when our legs needed some rest we'd take a photo run. The snow was perfect and much fun was had by us both.....

I wouldn't change your angles, and wouldn't worry about getting a bigger board or alpine setup if you like what you got. I also agree with bob, don't try to pinch your knees together. All it really does is focuse your weight between your feet rather than keep it distributed along the edge, also it just looks bad IMO. You've got a very smooth, fluid style which is awesome... It looked to me like you generally ride with your weight a bit back, this is mainly due to your back leg being compressed much more than your front in that whole video. I would focus on driving that front knee down towards the snow on toeside and really drive your front calf into the highback on heelside. This will help move that weight forward at the start of your turn.

First, I think what the OP was talking about is "feel", feeling how far you can lean the board at a given speed, the rate at which you angulate...blah blah blah. It's tough to teach, I have a few exercises for it. Alot of times a lesson on something like this, boils down to just riding with the instructor using his/her trained eye to say "on those turns you weren't getting it up on edge early enough in the turn" or "you were too extended at the finish". Those little bits of feedback can help accelerate the learning/development of board feel. As far as styles, instructors and coaches shouldn't be getting caught up in generalized "styles", they should be knowledgable about all the movement options available for making a carved turn and know what is needed to be added/taken away/modified to suit the students style. This is the difference between working with a skilled instructor or coach and someone who simply rips. In general( there are exceptions obviously) someone who rips will tell you what works for them(which may or may not help you), a solid coach will tell you what will work for you......

First, there's a reason no one makes 3 strap bindings anymore and it's not that every single snowboard company has it wrong..... Second, riding softboots above 30 degrees makes as much sense as riding hardboots below 30 degrees......you just turn what is an asset at one set of angles into a liability at a different set of angles.

All good advice here, but one thing that always works for me is to switch the brain off and just ride in the moment. It's real easy to get caught up in all the tech talk on this board. I am lucky enough to ride on the weekends and a few nights a week and the evenings are my time to focus on technique and think about what I'm doing. The weekends are spent just ripping and banging turns just feeling what the board is doing and how the snow feels. I don't think about where my arms are or that advice that WB or Jack posted earlier in the week. Just take a day to get out and ride, have fun, and remember why you love the sport rather than focusing whether or not you need a little more heelift in the rear......... Also, try doing something different. My carving has really improved once I started spending time in the park on my softboots. Learning how to 50-50 and boardslide and cleanly land jumps has helped me really feel what my feet are doing in the boots and improved my balance dramatically.