SunSurfer

Beware summer's fevered dreams of snow, and it's probably not wise to try to bring them to fruition! Too much time spent watching snowboarding videos in the dark corners of the InterNet takes you to strange places. Exhibit 1: Boone Lennon - Portrait of a snowboarder (Vimeo won't allow embedding of this video) https://vimeo.com/7628238 Exhibit 2: Skwal riding with and without poles. Poles have their uses, especially in moguls. Exhibit 3: But skwal stance always looks so cramped! How could I open that up a bit? This years experiment puts all that and more together. It's an intersection between monoskiing, alpine snowboarding, & skwalling. Start with a Riot Supercarver 180cm x 18cm waist, SCR single radius approx 12m, circa mid 90's. Pimp the Riot with extended UPM inserts, add a 4mm Bomber Boiler Plate with extra holes drilled at each end for an interaxle distance 6cm longer than designed. Bomber TD3 stepins, custom toe blocks built with Dynel cloth and hot glue, because UPZ boot toes don't fit snugly up against the standard Bomber toe bail (whereas F2 toe bails are a neat fit). Set the bindings to a 56cm C-to-C stance, 80 Front, 78 Rear, 1cm off centre bias for a regular stance, with toe and heel lift, and approx 4 degrees of outward cant on both bindings. Build 4th iteration hand armour, creating a stubby bullet shape, and the Boone Lennon Glider effect. Try initially on normal length ski poles for height, then move to 10cm shorter after initial trials. (125cm to 115cm poles, rider 182cm tall). This bastard child of a miscegenated menage a trois, of a snowboard, a monoski, and a skwal (a very Gallic concept) had me scratching my head trying to answer the question of what it is, (definitely an experiment) but getting feedback that whatever it was, it looked "graceful". The stance is very comfortable, not all cramped, and allows easy fore/aft adjustment of weight distribution. It was easy to get up on edge and carve, and you could pole plant, or not, depending upon your momentary preference. The ride was super smooth, a combination of isocline plate and optimal angles for knees to absorb bumps. Skidded turns in traffic and hockey stops were major goals of these first few runs, control first and foremost, and weren't hard to achieve. The first session ended after 5 runs down the 1.2km beginner slope, when I needed to transfer the gliders/hand armour to the shorter poles, having found they worked better. I have a friend with a GoPro arriving end of next week, and hope to get some video of it in action, by whch time I hope be a little more familiar with its quirks and to have tried a range of terrain.

@yamifumithat's almost a skwal. You'll need a little bit of outward canting at those binding angles.

Hand armour/helmets. 2013 I smashed my dominant (R) hand index finger proximal phalanx into 7 pieces (including breaks in the joint surface) in a fall in a NASTAR course. The bone had been leveraged against the end of my wrist guard. An orthopedic surgeon took two and a half hours, and 3 tiny screws to put the bone back together. A year of hand exercises got my finger back to full range of movement, and it's not yet become arthritic. As an anesthesiologist, I make my living with my hands and brain. I wear a helmet on my head, why not put helmets on my hands. Slalom skiers punch guards were my first inspiration. Boone Lennon's Gliders were my 2nd (see the Vimeo video below). https://vimeo.com/7628238 (Privacy settings prevent the video being linked directly) What you see was made out of 1.5 litre HDPE garden spray pots from my local hardware store and a pair of old ski poles. The round shape absorbs the direct impact in a fall, then they slide across the snow being HDPE. I find my whole upper limb is protected by this gradual dissipation of impact energy. The long axis profile was picked because of it's resemblance to a ski tip so that when I touch down they slide and don't catch. My gloves and fingers are safely inside. I've posted these before on the Forum (search for "hand armour"). When I've offered other riders the chance to try them I've had very few takers. I get the distinct impression that my hand helmets are just not "cool". I'm just a "Knuckle Dragger" who's ahead of his time. They are, however, great for starting conversations on the chairlift! _____________ Cardrona is not often that good. But during the 90 minute span those runs were shot in (and a few more that didn't make the cut) it was AWESOME!!!!!!! PS: My next iteration hand armour is due for trial on this trip, as part of a setup which is at the intersection of skiing/snowboarding/skwalling. Yet to make it onto the snow but I have plenty of time to shoot the stills and video.

I made some arch supports for my own relatively high arched feet using the method shown in this video. And I've been wearing them on this snowboarding trip. Like Jack Michaud, I've found that they give great feel through the soles of my feet but I've found some other benefits as well. I made mine with some great toe lift to help rotate my talus into the correct position and with me standing, rather than sitting (look online for discussions around why those things are thought to be significant). I also remoulded my liners after making the insoles as I figured they would probably significantly change the overall shape of my feet inside my boots. This trip I've noticed 2 other things. 1/ My UPZs don't need to be buckled up as tight to give me good board control. Indeed I buckle them up at the start of the day and don't undo them until I stop for lunch or the end of the day. Prior to this I had them so tight that it was unbuckle for every lift ride etc. & 2/ Heel lift is even less of a problem than it used to be. With my prior boot mods it would only happen if I got thrown forward and off balance. Now my foot seems more solidly held. I'm wondering if my relatively high arched foot would kind of "decamber" when put under stress, allowing the heel to lift. And now with solid arch support, that decambering can't happen. Before @Beckmann AG has apoplexy, this doubting Thomas is now convinced of the value of custom fitted footbeds. My arches turned out to be way higher than even the highest off the shelf insoles I could buy. I suspect the sliding forces involved in getting my feet in and out of the boots will cause my formed silicon to separate from the underlying insole in time. Professionally made custom foot orthotics are now on my shopping list.

You OK, or should I be looking in the Alpine Injured List?

Yesterday was one of my best half days at Cardrona. The first 90 minutes were amazing, then the crowds arrived and by lunchtime it had clouded over with flat light. Closed due to high winds and snow as I write. On my 174cm Coiler Nirvana Energy Torsion+, 0.4mm Titanal, Ptex top, built 2017. Hope this cools down your summer somewhere.

@1xsculler https://koruashapes.com/ Not sure which model. Look on YouTube for people carving them, or in the Softboot Carving Worth Watching thread.

"I was enjoying watching you carve." said the young Swedish snowboard instructor who stopped beside me at Cardrona today. Sadly, a male Swedish snowboard instructor. He's got a Korua planned as a carving board purchase in the near future. Must be my new dark red Marmot jacket/trou. I've been getting a few "We were watching...." on the chair lift rides.

1st day of the season for me. Got 90 minutes after flying in this morning. Unclipping at the end of the last run. Young woman with brightly dyed red hair (boarder) comes up behind me. "What is THAT?" Standard explanation, carving skis, carving snowboards etc. "Man, that is SICK!!!"

Hitting Central Otago for much of August 2022. Always on the lookout for other hardbooters. Will be mostly Cardrona but will have some days at Remarks, CP & TC. One week to go!

The emphasis wasn't on strength, but on the ability to detect movement (visual reflexes, and position sense at ankle). The overall system (proprioception) is human's ability to detect where our body is in space and how it is moving in relation to the objects in that space. So can you train someone to be faster and better at this, OR are the elite outliers just outrageously faster and better at this?

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2022/jul/23/how-innovations-in-sports-science-can-help-identify-australias-future-gold-medal-winners I found this article fascinating. It's about testing for the visual and physical control of movement in athletes. The actual description of some of the testing techniques is towards the end of the article.

Lots of gate running. I watched at 0.25 x speed.

"Facing Monsters" In Aussie cinemas now. For wider release & streaming later this year. https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2022/jul/15/the-slab-surfer-taking-extreme-sport-to-new-levels

Only that you enjoy yourself. The thread is actually about technique for someone aiming for top level racing. Fun is secondary here.

Plenty of top level riders who ride with the line of their shoulders aligned with the long axis of the board on heelside (- stance) Nevin Galmarini is a good example. A few years ago I would have said the majority of top riders rode "-" on heelside. There were a few notable standouts who rode more with their shoulders relatively across the board (+ stance). Vic Wild, Sigi Grabner, and Ms Ledecka amongst them. (Need to edit the "+" video playlist examples. Also see Ester at Beijing above and Vic Wilda at Sochi Olympics.)

1/8 finals through to medal races, men and women, Beijing 2022. As above 1/8 finals through to medals.

In fact, several days of cold wet wintry weather have dumped snow on our South Island mountains. Best season start for many years! And with that storm we've had a rash of small tornados, previously pretty uncommon in this part of the world. A bit of extreme weather for here. Hoping it stays cold.

Don't get put off by the initial non-English text, and the narration in (?)Russian. There are extensive English subtitles and a graduated program of instruction.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the Equator, NZ fields are just starting to open for the season.

Echo @Odd Job A proper coach and a training program is your best way forward and guidance as to whether you have the ability to go that far. You will also need someone with plenty of money to support you cause proper gear, and cost of training, competition and travel are not cheap.

You may get more response with posting video and a request for feedback in the Carving Central section. Video of you free carving will also be useful for feedback. A racecourse constrains your turns and sorts riders well if it's difficult to ride smoothly. Is your goal USASA racing, NASTAR, or ...?

Welcome Evan. Are you after race technique tips or general carving tips? I have collated a whole range of carving snowboard videos, including some instruction videos, into playlists at https://youtube.com/channel/UUCbFkVPcmsd5oH-Oe0s3LEM You may find Marc Cirigliano's Midweighting series helpful.

I watched the linked video and had more thoughts about Rodeo hand/arm. Here the rider appears to be deliberately practicing a slarved entry to a carved turn, a technique often used by racers. To do that they unweight the board at transition and twist/slide the board round to an angle closer to the fall line before the board edge grips and the carved part of the turn starts. Newton's 3rd Law of motion: For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. That action, of twisting the lower body and board while effectively weightless, is achieved with a reactive rotation of the upper body in the opposite direction. As the board them grips and begins to carve, the rider recovers the co-alignment of upper and lower body. We see the swing round of the arm on the outside of the turn, "Rodeo hand", as that realignment occurs. The more forceful the original lower body rotation, the greater the degree of recovery required. A very energetic and dynamic turn! Conversely, in a completely carved turn, where only edge change happens at transition and the curve of the edge drives the turn, there is nil/minimal rider rotation and so minimal recovery needed. A very smooth and energy efficient turn. Anf of course, there will be turns made where the rider gets out of shape & off balance and that same arm movement occurs as the upper body is brought back into realignment just as a recovery movement.