xy9ine

exactly. i see the new breed of wider, decambered multi radius boards & softer binding interfaces as high performance hard charging all mountain gear. as rob says, we need to see a bit more interdisciplinary crossover, and perhaps, an injection of youth - the fact that most of us are old bastards does little to inspire a younger demographic. i'd love to see some racer kids mix it up and redefine & evolve the image. all-mountain freecarving. where it's at.

i've been juggling babies; opportunities to desert them for a full day are scarce. hopefully i can make something happen this year.

you must be new to the internet. geeks battling over esoteric minutia is the core foundation of the interwebs. well, that and porn.

this is a bit scary - the future of the sport lies on the shoulders of a very few people. i'm sure it's not fabulously lucrative, and it wouldn't take much for one or more of our critical manufacturers to disappear - whether for financial or personal reasons. random: i'm a little disappointed prior hasn't put more effort into supporting the scene locally (how was their presence @ ses?). i know you can drop by the factory & grab a board for demo, but would be cool if they did the occasional vancouver appearance, onslope demo @ whistler, or organized a wes for we westcoasties. perhaps bringing in some boots so you could try & buy a complete setup (yes, i recall the days when you could try on hardboots in a physical shop). alas, i'm sure the alpine sales are a fairly small percentage of their total production, and perhaps not worth the effort to flog. given we're home to one of only 3 alpine builders in n/a, have heaps of great riding, and the olympic race legacy (starting w/ rebagliati) i'm surprised the scene is as small as it is here. i figured whistler would be a hotbed of hardboot hardcores.

indeed. could use some affordable & forgiving entry level hardware out there. alas, the current micro builders can only sell so cheap. we need a major to get on board again. tough hill to climb. the new designs (ie, decambered, vsr) certainly have the potential to appeal to a larger audience. not everyone can afford a quiver of narrowly focussed boards.

agreed. i have little interest in racing, and believe it has relatively limited spectator appeal, however i can see growth in hardboot allmountain / freecarving. you don't even necessarily need comps - just talented riders getting exposure in magazines & video. with skiers staring to learn to love their edges, and 'mature' snowboarders looking to differentiate themselves from the spinning & jibbing crowd, i can see potential for a hardboot / freecarve rebirth. granted, the lack of readily accessible hardware is a major hurdle to overcome... are there any decent aggressive freecarve vid clips out there? i've scanned youtube w/o much luck. not much interested in the extreme carving thing, more hard charging of variable terrain...

online zine would be rad. in conjunction w/ this forum would be ideal (lots of examples like this in other sports). i'd love to see a repository for hardboot oriented semi/pro photography, stories (technical & lifestyle), resource links, etc. i'm sure there's some writing & shooting talent out there. i think it's the next step in disseminating / growing the niche.

i'll take the td3s. will you ship north of the border (vancouver)? usps works for me.

i'm a big fan of this stuff:

though i haven't tried the others, i was pleasantly surprised by the roominess of the rc10 toe box. nice wiggle room for sure (while still locking the midfoot / heel down).

i like the idea of an informal semi organized carving session. i need suitable justification to escape the family for a daytrip. apparently usually happens at whizzler a bit later in the season. get on the yvr mailing list (contact boris or roy) - email updates almost every day as to who's riding where & when. guys are at cypress at a pretty regular basis.

as i just found out - they're out of the green topsheets & shut me down on another clear. the unidirectional carbon they use now (as opposed to the weave on this model) use probably wouldn't look that great on a full clear anyways. greater likelihood of imperfections to boot.

sick! love the square nose. blunt weapon.

haha. going green. unlike many of the gearwhores here I tend to keep my hardware till it dies (hopefully more than 20 days this time). unless it sucks this will be a longterm keeper.

wicked. im pulling the pin on a flc 173 wide this week. will be my one board quiver. alas, build time is at 3 weeks...

confirmed. should be 13/15. as such, i'm going with a 173.

whoa. want. thanks!

is the current bright green topsheet fluorescent? hard to tell what it really looks like from the website. anybody have actual pics? pondering my topsheet. too many choices!

colintkemp - IM BETTER THAN YOU! leaning towards the long now... arghh.

haha, you guys. I demand concensus! my logic was that the 173 w/ stubby nose would come close to the effective edge of the 177. that said, the decambered tail and dual radius would improve versatility over my old 177 hammerhead 177. and since the 173 and 177 share the same scr... what's a couple inches? for what it's worth my old hammerhead was just fine in varied conditions. had a great 8" powder day once; surprisingly effective the nose decamber is.

i'm 165. if i can get them to do a hammerhead nose again, i'll gain a bit of effective edge as well. sold on 173! for the moment... thanks!

or go home?

good info there. spending a bit more time on my current single radius / no taper donek makes me think the decambered tail w/ taper is more suited to what i like to do - multi radius, from tight fall line 'j-turns' / slarving, to big gs carves. the tail is a bit less willing to release & whip about compared to my old tapered wcrm. i'll be ordering a wide regardless, so should make for a versatile one board quiver (or as close to it as i need). now deliberating between a 173 & 177flc. both have 12/14m sidecuts. what to do (my wrcm was a 177 @ 13m). hmmm...

awesome! brings back memories. would love to do a gnu antigravity 'squiggle' in homage to my first board.

just pure conjecture on my part that less 'hook', might equal a less energetic turn exit. yours is the positive reinforcement i was looking for. just need to chose a length...