Keopele

Chris, Thanks for organizing a great day. I appreciate and am thankful for all of the work that you put into this. Unfortunately my day ended early. I was really trying to improve my riding today. Just when I was starting to make some progress and start to really feel myself putting energy into the board and tightening up my turns, I ended up getting locked into a heel side turn and flying into the trees. I feel pretty lucky to have walked way with a torn nostril (from impact) and some bruised ribs. So, if anyone saw the casualty today.. it was me, and I'm fine. Hopefully next year will go better and I'll be there long enough to pick up some tips. Especially some tips on what might cause a person to get locked into a turn and how to avoid it next time :) Thanks again Chris, hope to see you next year, Geoff

This is great. It looks like there will be lots of other "beginners". Last year I felt like I was the only one that sucked. Add me to the list of not getting a chance to ride with other hardbooters (other than last year's event). I'm really looking forward to riding with everyone. I'm hoping that a clinic of some sort, no matter how formal or informal, is a go. See you all Friday :)

Although I hadn't started riding hardboots yet when I was there a few years ago, going from memory, Smuggler's didn't seem very carve friendly either. Hopefully lots of people will provide feedback from Stratton in the next few days.

Hey Websight, Thanks for the offer :). I'll send you and email through your website email address.

Hey Shred, Thanks for the offer. I'd definitely show my appreciation, to anyone who can help, with a bit of money or a 12 of beer. Hopefully someone from this side of the border will be able to help out. I'm about 45 minutes from Buffalo so it would be a bit of a drive to meet up with you and I'd like to avoid having to cross the border if I can. I appreciate your generosity and the offer, but will pass for now. Anyone from around here? Please? Just noticed your title of "whats GTA" GTA stands for the Greater Toronto Area :)

I'm hoping that someone heading to ECES may be able to do me a favour. If I can find someone heading to ECES who is willing to help me out, I may be buying a board from a forum member who will be attending ECES. I was the newbie at the SOS on the short Renntiger and I'm hoping to be able to upgrade to a nice Coiler. Is there anyone from the GTA heading to ECES that would be willing to bring back a board for me? If you're driving through the Niagara area borders that would be a bonus. Please let me know if anyone is able to help. Thank you. Geoff

email sent

Interested. Sending you an email now.

Thanks for a great day everyone. It was motivating to see so many good riders and nice to pick up a few tips. Thanks for posting the pictures Eric. You were able to get some really nice shots. The one of me is helpful for me to be able to see the mistakes I'm making in my body position. Hope to see everyone again next year.

This will be my 4th day on an alpine set up and my first time riding with other hard booters. I'm really looking forward to riding with everyone and hopefully learning lots. See you all there.

Im interested, email sent

Chubz, it is so good to read your post. I had the most frustrating day today. The conditions I boarded on today were exactly as you describe. It was my third day on hardboots/alpine board. I had so much fun on my first two days and was expecting today to go as well. Most of my runs today went worse than my first run ever on hardboots. I thought maybe it was me.. perhaps I had developed a bad habit. Or I thought maybe I was booting out because the board was digging so far into the slush. I had so many butt slides just as you describe. Everything feels good, laying down a nice turn and then its just BAM.. not like a usual slide out.. no warning.. just like the edge falls out from under you. Today was likely my last day of the season, so reading your post encourages me that although I know I have a lot to still learn, at least I have hope that I'm not as bad as I thought and I can look forward to having more fun next season :) One thing that added to the frustration is that there were quite a few very good carving skiiers on the hill. They seemed to be tearing it up and loving it.. having no trouble at all. That's what was making me think the snow had nothing to do with my dreadful ability out there today. Perhaps the snow conditions just magnified my weaknesses and amplified everything I was doing wrong. What I could get away with on good snow didnt work on the 'bad' snow. Hopefully next season I'll get to ride with some other carvers and get some tips.

Thanks again everyone. I have to give credit to the forum for helpful advice last year on equipment decisions. I got lucky with the board. It's an old Renntiger (yellow and black) that someone local was selling. I also got lucky with the boots with someone local selling. The boots were the hardest to find and took the longest waiting for. Don't worry YYZ. I didn't take your comment the wrong way. I totally realize it's my technique that needs to improve. I won't be upgrading my equipment until my riding justifies it. I was actually saying to my softboot friends "the guys on the forum talk about amazing boards like Coilers and Viruses and metal boards and how great they are. I can't imagine how good they can be becuase the old board (renntiger) I'm on seems amazing already." Seriously, the difference from my old soft set up to this new hardboot set up feels SO much better and is way more fun. I can't imagine how a board could feel any better. I'm hoping to be able to find someone local to ride with one day. I was actually thinking about going to the meet up that happened a few weeks ago, but felt my first day on HBs might not be the best idea. If I had known how well I'd take to it though, I would have joined you guys. Thanks again for the replies, ideas, and suggestions. Edit: Out of curiosity, how does the SL Renntiger rate in therms of "softness"? I would have thought it to be fairly soft because its a slalom board. Perhaps I'm wrong?

Thanks for the replies guys. My board is actually pretty short. Im riding a 158 Renntiger SL with F2 plates and Indy boots with blue BTS. I weigh around 155, so I was worried about the boots being stiff but they feel fine and sometimes I wish they were stiffer. Thanks for all the tips. I have a lot to work on.. I can't wait :)

So after a year of reading and waiting to get all of the equipment, I finally was able to get out and try a HB set up. I've been on SBs for 3 seasons now, but after my first day on HBs, I much prefer them. I was expecting my first day on HBs to be a disaster, but it went much better than I anticipated. By the end of the day I was making nice arcing turns on Greens and feeling very confident. On greens, I'm able to lay down nice arcs with no skidding and feel some real gs. It felt like i was leaning the board over nicely. Everything felt great. I was feeling comfortable on blues and modest blacks (east coast), but I know I need to improve a lot on them. I was able to make arcs, without skidding, but.. My problem is that on anything steeper than greens, my turns are MASSIVE. I end up doing these giant, hill swallowing, fast semi circles. The speed was a lil scary since I'm still learning... but fun. I know that's not the way to do things though, and I'm not happy with it. I want to be able to make real turns on blues (and maybe one day blacks). I know about going back up the fall line to scrub speed. And, on greens, I do/can, but on blues, i end up going so fast and the turns are so huge, that even on the widest of trails, the end of my turn is almost in the trees. Is this a common problem? Is there a usual suspect? What do you suggest for me to improve? Anything? thanks :)

It was a pleasure doing business with David. He met me and took the time out of his day to teach me about the propper fit of boots, and gave me some tips to think about for my first time out. He made sure the boots fit me perfectly and gave me an amazing deal. Thanks David.

Im interested in the boots and could meet in the west end of the GTA to try them on.

Id like a pair too :)

Great video clips Willy. You seem to have a talent for posting great videos. I just enjoyed them and didnt even know the Xman was on Jimmy Kimmel. cool! Thanks for the Tim Curran tip.. I'll check it out.

Thanks RDY, but I live in Canada, so I have to pay the shipping plus taxes and duty and I figure that will bring the total up to at least $300. If I was in the states, it's a no brainer for sure. The Bent Metal and Black Russian would be less than 200 after tax. So I guess what Im wondering is are any of the 3 bindings listed good? Am I better off spending the extra 50-100 bucks to get the carbons? Thanks

There is a sale at a local shop this weekend and I want to upgrade my soft bindings from garbage to something decent. From reading through the forum, it seems that the Nidecker Carbon 900s or SPX pro is the way to go. Unfortunately I can't afford those at regular price and they're not available at this store on sale. So I asked the sales rep which of the bindings he feels are stiffest and best suited to carving. I've done many searches here and with google and can't find much information. Can anyone recommend any of the following? thanks so much. Head PX10 (found one review in the forum that liked them) Bent Metal Step in (not actually a step in binding) Atomic Black Russian (all I can find is Atomic propoganda) So what do you think? Are any of those decent for carving? The most expensive of the bunch are the PX10s which will cost around $250 after tax. I can get the Carbon 900s via mail order for around $300 after shipping/tax. Is it worth it to pay a bit extra? The Carbon 900s can be shipped free in the states so if there is anyone that lives around Buffalo or Niagara Falls (american side) maybe I could have them shipped there? That would be a huge favour. Thanks for any and all suggestions :)

Great video of that guy on the didge Willy. I've never seen anyone play two didges before. While on the topic of Didg playing, there is an australian Musician named Xavier Rudd that has a really laid back, surfy (a la Jack Johnson/ Donavon Frankenrieter) sound who also pays the didge. Check him out if you're interested. John, that's great that you're feeling the aloha and wanting to spread it around. That's what it's all about :) I hope to be accross the border on Sunday to do some boarding in Ellicottville so I'll send it then. Enjoy

Thanks Willy :) My friend made that table for me. The long pieces of wood in the background are actually didgeridoos and I love them. No you can't have one ;) Good try though heh

Hey again John I just tried to email you the picture and I couldnt figure out a way to attach a picture so I'll post it here instead. Here ya go

Hey John, No problem :) I don't think the shipping will be very much. I'll let ya know, but if it's under $5 don't worry about it. I think the sleeves will be okay for you. I just checked my dress shirts and they're 32/33 sleeve as well. I have a super skinny neck (14.5) so I guess that's the standard sleeve length for that size shirt? Anyways, the sleeves on my dress shirts fit me fine. And although this rash guard is supposed to be an XL the sleeves are actually slightly short on me so I think it will be perfect for you. I just took a picture of myself in it and I'll try to email it to you right now. You'll see that it's slightly baggy on me and the sleeves are ever so slightly too short. I hope it works out :)