rhaskins

I am definately up for a mass ski carving sessions at ****ch! I still have a gift card from this year in one of my jackets. I would have to work on my form tho. What would be better is a group of soft-boot carvers laying trenches. THAT would tend to shut them up. What they going to do - ban soft boots and boards and loose half of their revenue? Rick

RED impact shorts. Wore them all year this year. Last year I had 3 major hematoma's on my hip/ass area. This year none. They work. If you want to see what a hematoma looks like do a search on Bobdea's arse. NOT a pretty picture. The horror! Rick

I have 6 bikes, all assembled from components but one: I purchased a complete from http://bikesdirect.com/ I got one hell of a deal on a road bike there. The only updates to that was taking it from a tripple to a dual. Those guys have great deals on almost every kind of bike, all seem to be made by quality factories were almost all bikes are made: Tiawan and China. Just look for quality drivetrains. They come in a carton and you have to do final assembly, which is really easy (if you have been wrenching on bikes for a while). Shouldn't cost too much at your local bike shop if you bring the beer. Rick

What every one is talking about in the ride mode is they want an "active suspension" so to speak. BTS allows that with a progressive resistance due to the springs. The trick is to get the springs matched to the amount of input (weight) in the system. If you ride in ride mode, the analogy is a fixed frame bike, walk mode is a full suspension bike with some big design flaws (no limits to travel potentially until the full stop is reached), bts is full suspension with travel limit and progressive resistance to movement. Think about a better BTS system, one with dampening. If you could design a system to apply to the back of the boot that had springs and a dampner (shock absorber), it would probably be ideal. Think modern suspension bike, coil over shock, etc. Especially if it was adjustable. You could dial in your spring rate and dampning, and the dampning would help on any impact during riding andin a crash. Oof course your sprung/unsprung weight would change . . . I wanna see someone out on the slopes next year with a fox shock hanging off the back of their boot with a BTS. That would cause a lot of comment on the slopes. Rick

Need a new poll based on height, weight and inseam. A bunch of lighweight 4 footer's not having any injury in ride mode is not indicative of the general population. Seriously.:D Breaks at the cuff of the boot indicate a third pivot point after all the flex was taken out of the system in a crash. It **could** mean that the crashes were such high energy that no system could survive without a failure. Not trying to beat on heuristics and experience, but without further data, there is not anything to show that walk mode is safer in a crash. 4 foot 100 pound little people crashing in walk mode at low speed is not the same as 6 foot 4 inch 250 lb. Scandinavians (or Minnesotians or Buck Hillians) crashing at high speed in ride mode. The moment arms are completely different and the total amount of energy in the crash is completely different. It is the energy that causes the problmes, and the more there is, the more likely there is to be damage to the system. Rick

You all notice that this is just another version of the great helmet debate? I am a mech e and have done a fair share of material testing and systems analysis in my time. Regardless of how you think about it, the snowboard-binding-boot-rider is a complete system that will have a group of failure modes if pushed to failure. Ignoring the odd face plant and back slam, and just focusing on the lower leg to board interface, there are far fewer failure modes. Binding break, board break, leg break and lots of shades of failure in between and combinations and permutations. The idea that walk-mode is "safer" or not can be analyzed. On the board, your ankles are your pivot point in this structure - actually more of a restricted swivel in hard boots. I wear UPZ's, and I definately have fore and aft movement with some (not very much) side to side flex, mostly provide by the board flex. In addition, the board provides flex in a number of directions so there is a lot of possible movement no matter how stiff the boots are. The UPZ's come with 2 different flex tounges to change how much flex there is. I have also had Deeluxe 325T boots that also had fore-aft flex. Know what a spring is? the boots act as a spring, storing energy when they flex and giving that enery back when they unflex. This is not an efficient storing and releasing of energy but it does do it. Lets look at a situation where there is a high probablility of a failure in the system. You are carving along and you come to a sudden stop - or the board comes to a stop. For the purpose of this example, assume the board is only heading forward and stops. You have 2 pivot points - the front part of the board and your front ankle. Ignore the rear ankle in this example, in this type of crash you don't rotate along the rear ankle, you straighten the rear leg and you rotate forward. Where does the energy go? First, the nose of the board absorbes a lot of energy. If the boot-binding-leg structure is completly rigid and unbreakable, the nose of the board absorbes all the energy, and acts as a spring. If that was the case, the board is either going to absorb and break or absorb and release the energy. What would really happen is that the board will absorb a lot of energy, but the rest of the structure (rest of board, binding, leg and rider) will pivot over the front of the board. IF the instanteous loading on the nose of the board exceeds the structural strength of the board - you gots yourself a broken board. This could happen very fast and the actual process of breaking can absorb and release all or most of the energy in this situation, essentially leaving little more energy to hurt (damage) the rest of the system. Now, assume that the system is live, as in all components have flex and move like they will. If the board stops, in the same instant that the nose starts to deflect, the rest of the system will start to rotate over the front of the board, and the front leg will ALSO rotate around the ankle. The front leg rotation will pressure the front of the boot, which acts as a spring. This spring will resist any forward movement but not stop it. The rear boot-binding-leg interface is more or less just along for the ride and most of the forces involved are on the front of the board. Quick test: where does a wheel rotate around going down the road? The correct answer is the point contact on the ground as that is the only point on the wheel not moving. There is also rotation around the axle, but all parts of the wheel are in different velocities around that point. Multiple rotations happen in a lot of systems, just like in a snowboard crash. About that front boot and leg. Everything has a failure point. You take wood, concrete, steel or A LEG and put in compression on a tester, and it will fail. Put them in tension on a tester, ditto. Put shear forces on them in a tester and you get failure also. Get a lot of each sample, test them to failure and you can develope a real good bell curve of the material properties. Legs will fail at certain loads depending on length, size, density, etc. Sounds rude and crude, but human factors are human factors. The boot, made of plastic, will deflect to a certain point before the limits of the materials are met and then it will fail. A leg will break if the load is too high - or another part of the sytem that has less total strength gives way, like a knee. You carving in walk mode? In a nose stuff crash, your boot provides less shock absorbtion than in ride mode. You have no limit for the forward rotation except for the boot tounge flex. You have a magnitude less forward resistance as the rear of the boot is not providing any shock absorbtion or movement resistance. You have less immediate loading on the leg, but more shock at the limit as your velocity and momentum is going to be higher when it eventually stops. Carving in ride mode? In a nose stuff, your boot tounge and rear is providing rotational resistance and shock (energy) absorbtion from the beginning of the crash, and your rate of acceleration of the front leg is slower than in walk mode. The boot acts as a better spring. While there is high loading ultimately, there is less shock loading at the end than in walk mode. Failure mode? As above, the board can break and release most energy. The binding can rip out. The boot can break. The leg can be injured or break. The leg injury depends on a lot of factors. Tall heavy people have more mass that will effect the boot ankle system, and impart more energy. Short light people will put a lot less energy into the sytem. It is a moment arm thing. What will really happen in a crash? I don't have modeling software or I would be hard at work right now, modeling the sytem, varying the inputs and looking at the energy put into the system and how it reacts. And don't forget about luck, chance and random input in any crash. I mean it is possible to just fall down and injure you head and die, no? Most crashes will not be on a single axis but on a number of different axis and have other inputs. Total system energy has to be dissipated somehow. These types of crashes can have a lot of energy and force put on the ankle, tibia and knee. There is a lot of leverage put on ankles. 3 weeks ago I had a crash where I was laid out carving on toeside and went over a little hill and went airborne at high speed. I hit the ground about 10 feet vertical drop later and nosed in. The board nose folded over, my shin touched my toe. My momentum kept me going forward rotating over my board nose. The board then released all it's energy and I went flying upside down for about 15 feet or so and landed perfectly flat on my back. The force of the landing was distributed over my entire backside and did not hurt. I left quite the divot in the slope. Total air was on the order of 30 some odd feet. I got to hobble off the slope. My tibia was smashed into my talis (so says my doc) in the initial impact and then my achilles tendon was streched by my boot flexing forward until it stopped on my toes. No obvious damage to the board, binding or boot. I am walking normally now with some pain still. Coulda been worse, coulda been better. I think that I was injured less because: - I am a short guy, 29 inch inseam, less moment arm - don't weigh a lot - I strech a LOT. My muscles are kept loose. - I broke my leg 2 years ago and stuffed a lot of calcium in me. I think it helped, but it is definately not advised as calcium can cause a lot of problems (inner ear balance problems and prostate issues) - I was in ride mode on my UPZ's and got a lot of protection from my boots I tell ya, I never, ever believed that my shin could touch my toes. Yeouch! Just my 2 cents. Sometimes it comes down to what you believe. I belive that my helmet helps protect me and that walk mode is more likely to result in injury. Rick

Whoa, don't hold it in D, you could hurt yourself! Tell us how you really feel. Rick

We just pulled the DVD out and watched it last nite. Makes me want new furniture. Soylent Green is people. That's not in the food chain yet, is it? Rick

Soylent Green, by Monsanto? Rick

I have Axxess 167 Bindings at 55/52, Catek OS2's 18 inch stance 6 degree front lift & 6 degree rear lift, 0 cant 5 foot 7 inch tall 160 lbs. I'm not the greatest rider, but I can initiate turns fairly easily with that board. Your board may be a bit long? My FCI is a 171 and it is a lot different animal to turn than the Axxsess, it is more locked in than the Axxess. It is easy for me to face the front of the board, so maybe you can try changing your binding angles. Load the nose going into the turns and end up with more weight bias in the rear for the transition, the feed the dollar thing. Or, it could be that mine handles easy because it is red and yours isn't. Rick

So Dave: are you going to make your students wear a helmet? Are you going to work to change the policies of your hill to require helmets for students of all ages and all instructors? Or are you going to just go with the flow? Change has to begin somewhere. And I am just curious, not trying to start anything. BTW, congrats. Rick

That's how I feel every time I get to go! Rick

Eaglez: you make too much of what is going on. In a lot of endeavors, it is monkey see, monkey do. Just watch any young kid learning anything and it is pretty apparent. You come to a mountian, a cold bright/cloudy place to learn an arcane sport, and you can only take in so much in at one time. Most people are gliding around and looking cool with three-quarters wearing sunglasses as their only head protection, what are you to think? People learn things differently. There are a lot of people I have met that could be given a demo, and they can do it themselves. they are more "physical" in their learning. Other people (like maybe engineers?) study every facet of the new sport before they commit to actually trying it out. Others just put themselves in and go. Vastly different approaches to learning. Richardson may have turned into a skier or she may have decided that she would rather base jump, who knows? You cannot judge from your pile of experience if she even made a mistake as her level of exposure and experience was so minimal. The statement "You should wear a helmet" coming from an instructor not wearing a helmet and a holiday atmosphere at the resort where most people are not wearing helmets, is just not effective. Turn it around tho, and state "you must wear a helmet at all times at this resort unless you sign a complete liability waiver" coming from an instructor who is wearing a helmet WILL give a newby something to reflect on before they worry about getting helmet hair. That gives them a sense of perspective. Make it apparent that all people with purple ski passes have signed the waiver (and organ donor cards) and those with regular colored passes and helmets have not, and then all your arguments make sense. Put it this way: You go in and purchase a house and you have to sign a purchase agreement, and all those loan documents. Do you have any idea what all those documents, clauses and statements acually mean? Unless you are a lawyer and have a real estate practice, you do not. That's why you rely on the people in the process to help you, and that is why a lot of people get/got screwed on their mortgages. You would need a month of classes on mortgages, finance and real estate to understand the basics of the risks involved. And I stress just the basics. There is a difference in making an informed decision and just making a decision. Richardson probably had just minutes to make that decision on what equipment to use. Peace to her and her family. Rick

take a right at Des Moines, drive a few hours thru secenic Nebraska, stay with my sister in Denver (heh heh) and . . . Or, I was offered a free 3 day trip to Lutsen in April today out of the blue. Gotta work on my ankle. What will Lutsen be like on April 1, 2, 3? Rick

I am sooooooo sad about Buck closing. I am a week away from getting on a board again - the ankle is coming back to life quite nicely. I just pulled a 17 hour shift yesterday, and have put in roughly 80 hours so far this week and I NEED recreation soon. I want to board dammnnnit! I want to nap ON the snow! Serious withdrawl goning on here. But I still have to wait a week. Looks like Spirit or Lutsen. Rick

No helmet http://www.startribune.com/local/east/41124007.html?elr=KArksLckD8EQDUoaEyqyP4O:DW3ckUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUUT Sad. Rick

Took myself to the Doc, and: No tissue damage, no broken or cracked bones. Got a really bad "bruise" from my tibia smashing into my talus (big bone in the foot). Should be ok in a week or so. Got off easy. Lotsa swelling and a lot of blood below the skin. Next time I going in head first. I got a helmet.:rolleyes: Rick

It was a great morning, lotsa sun, snow was in good shape - ice crystals that held good. I took a few runs and met up with Karl & wife & friend, and saw a couple of other HBer's out there. I had a few runs before I saw Karl, but it was getting a little busy with meat pylons on skid boards, but a lot of fun using them as slalom cones. It was just great out, blasting down the hills and just taking it all in. I shared a chair with Karl up the four pipe, and we talked about his trip to Steamboat. We parted at the tip while he went to change out his Kessler for something smaller, and I headed back down fourpipe. At the bottom of fourpipe at the entrance to the lines to the chair, I was cross-slope in a hockey stop when a skier to my right veered over about 100 feet and hit me. I went down and he flew about 15-20 feet and landed up in the ropes. He was not even looking at me and hits me from behind - which was my front side in my hockey stop. His skis took the brunt of it, with my edges gashing them. In a sort of weird situation we ended up sharing a chair, him all the way over to the other side from me. Funny how he didn't have anything to say on the ride up. Next run, I was carving down when a swarm of skidders came in from the right, so I had to get to the left of the run. They were all over the place and were getting further left so I went further left, but I was finally getting ahead of them when I hit the 3 rollers about 2/3rds of the way down. The first I had on a toe side, the second on a heel side and was going over the third on a toe side when the bottom dropped out and I did a one-point landing on the nose of my board. I did not know that your shin could touch your toes in hard boots. That happened at the bottom of the jump - it was a jump at that speed - on edge. The board then decided to release all that energy and threw me vertically into the air with my back down. Flyin thru the air I was thinking that my foot was going to hurt (it was one of those slo-mo thingies) when I smashed into the slope and bounced once on my back. I knew it was going to be trouble when I couldn't raise my board into the air to spin it around. I undid my bails and managed to stand, but the ankle felt funny - painful. I loosened the boot and managed to walk down the hill to chair. Got lots of offers of help from the ski patrol and some other kind folks, but didn't think I need it. I tightened the boot up and clipped in to get to the top and that actually felt good, putting some traction on the ankle. When I got to the top I tried to board back to the chalet, but it was no-go, I had to walk out. It is now 7 hours later and the ankle really stiffened up during that 2 hour ride back. I believe that it is the end of the season for me. March seems to be the bad month for me, 2 years ago on March 10 I broke my leg skiing, and last year got the hematoma from hell at Spirit falling on my left hip, and then broke up that hematoma 3 days later falling on it at Buck. But it was a great day up to that little incident. It was one of those times when you feel very confident, like you own the mountain and can do anything you want to do, it was just playing. I guess I don't play well with jumps tho. In a stroke of coincidence, my son did the exact same thing to his ankle a year ago on opening day, and we have all the braces and etc. for imobilizing the ankle - WHOOOOOOO-HOOOOOOOOOOOOO! He was out for 8 weeks, this feels like it will last a couple of weeks or so. No indoor rock climbing for me for a while. I am going to medicate with vodka to see what happens. And people wonder how I got my sig name. Rick

Just like a driver's license, eh?

Plus Simple Green and a 20 ft by 20 ft heavy canvas (not plastic) drop cloth to use under it all, makes cleanup a snap. Rick

In 2003 at Yellowstone up in the mountains, a Grizzly bear came tumbling down a steep and landed on his butt directly in front of me, and all I had was a f'n camera and telephoto lens to fend him off. I guess the SPOT would have helped find the remains if the Grizzley had decided to have me for lunch. There I would have been, a pile of scat somewhere. Point is, I can't imagine myself lost for a WEEK and not finding my way back. There are discussions about this couple all over the place, and a lot of people are not being kind about their route finding skills, but are praising their survivability skills. And a lot of people have a basic problem with SPOT and any other service like it - it promotes a feeling of famailarity and negligence with the outdoors. The outdoors is a pretty wild place where anything can happen. You should prepare. SPOT sevices will tend to get more SAR call-outs for needless rescues. The cellphone already does that, people getting into situations and assuming that their cell will a) be able to connect and b) get immediate rescue. I read some SAR and Sheriff reports, and they are a hoot. I think "Accidents in North American Mountaineering" 2008 even touched on that cell phone instant helio thing. When the 3 climbers on Hood perished and there was a massive call-out to SAR, Sheriff and National Guard, there was a bill put before the Oregon legislature to start charging for rescues - it was defeated. But that type of thing will happen in the future. You press your "rescue me" button on your SPOT and you are automatically in for a $10,000.00 rescue fee? Because you don't have a $20 compass and $5 (or free) map? And never took an orientieering or route finding class for free or minimal charge? Now if I fall down a scree littered slope next summer and break a leg in Colorado, I will remember all these arguments as I slowly freeze to death (or get charbroiled by lightning!). But I will have my compass, map, crampons and ice axe with me, a change of clothes, food, water, bivy sack and that bottle of Advil I always take with me. Hey, with that said, I could probably use my ice axe to splint my leg, take a strap or two from my pack and help with the splint, grab the signal mirror and keep flashing the trail and try to crawl back up to the trail. Eating energy bars and drinking water all the way (but collecting my litter). hopefully someone will see me, my mirror or my yellow helmet bobbing up and down as I crawl up the mountain to the trail. I'll have great pics. Just some Sunday morning musing. Rick

I got out today at 3:00 and the snow was S - L - O - W and stickey. I took about 6 or 7 runs and gave up. Push piles everywhere, ruts, big ruts, trenches, it was a mess. Switched to skis and it was better/easier. Rick

Up front I want you to know I AM NOT criticizing the couple, I was not there and it is truely a tragedy. I have a grab bag (6"x10"x3") in my car at all times that has tinder in a water proof container, firestarter, lighter, water proof and wind proof matches in a water-tight container (nothing is going to stop me from starting a fire), water purification, signal mirror, compass - a good one, small first aide kit, cord, emergency blanket, toe warmers, 3 long burning candles, a bandana and a energy bar (that sucker is getting old). And a water bottle with water in the trunk. I throw it in the backpack if I am gonna do something spur of the moment in the wilderness/unknown area to me. All I need is a map and I am good to go. If my GPS is with me, I am superman. If I plan to go out, I have extra clothes, headlamp and other crap to keep me comfy without being burdened down with unnecessary crap. The really bestest thing to do is always figure out where you are and keep yourself found. Know your limits - if you have a medical condition or no physical conditioning, stay in sight of the road and car at all times. Spend your money on a school that teaches you how to navigate and survive in the outback and you will be better off than having a SPOT. Then, having a SPOT and etc. are prudent but mostly not needed except in an emergency, usually an injury. Avalanch equipment is required in the backcountry (off-piste) in winter - shovel, probe, 4 leaf clover, avalanche beacon, AvaLung, etc. If you rely on a SPOT or a cell phone and not a solid set of skills, you are asking for problems. Laurence Gonzales' book "Deep Survival" was a real eye-opener to me - I thought I was always prepared but it made me rethink and replan. My 2 cents. Rick

I get tomorrow afternoon off to board at Buck!! WhooooooooHOOOOOOOOOOOOO. Rick

Been there, done that, have the Tee shirt. The OP makes me look good for waiting 20 days to bitch. Do a search on 'Catek Customer Service" and do some reading. Catek makes a fine product, stands behind it, and I am impressed. After my little tizzy last November, I got my bindings a few weeks later, and after that orderd and received another set of bindings and some other parts from Jeff & Co. I have learned to sit back a little in my chair when dealing with them - patience. I know of no person that has been stiffed by them, no design flaws, just a little pause in communications now and then. I have spent over a grand there and got value for my bucks. I would buy from them any day. And will again. And the bitch about customer service? TD3's were out of stock for extended periods. I bought from Donek when they were re-tooling and it took a lot of time to receive my boards (it was ok, it was the summer). Other industries with great products have there fulfillment issues also. My Subsonic boards took over 6 weeks, my Radical trucks took a while AND they forgot to bill me. We ironed all that out (BUY RADIKAL!!!!!!!! and SUBSONIC!!!!!!!). Quality stuff there. Give Jeff a break. I have had suppliers loose loved ones, get divorced, get injured and have no communications, and felt bad when I got testy with them. Chill. If Jeff is a one-man operation he needs some lead time and understanding. Or, you can purchase a lesser product elsewhere. Rick