SunSurfer

Until you learn how to carve the gates properly, and you leave a few of them in your dust. At which point you start getting respect.

Thanks John, Watching you all in Aspen while I'm here in Wellington is such sweet sorrow.

Modified Head Stratos Pros. Buckled up as if riding. F2 Intec Race - 60 degrees rear with 6cm (oops 6 degrees) heel lift, 65 degrees front with 3 degrees toe lift, no canting. 50cm C-to-C. Photos are screen shots from a single video. Reference points: The Intec mechanism pin on each boot. A mark on the roughly middle of each tibia facing the camera. Position 1 at rest, relaxed as if just sliding along. Position 2 dropped down but balanced over both feet. Rear lower leg moves through 13 degrees, front lower leg through 4 degrees in these photos. After these photos I'm starting to wonder if I need red BTS springs on my front boot, or maybe ditch the BTS altogether and just go back to a variable position lock.

Not quite a skwal, something a bit more substantial. That's another project currently on the go......... More info when I get it onto the snow in July/August.

Kipstar, I ride 65 front & 60 degrees rear, and yes I do ride with my pelvis and upper body aligned so that my whole trunk and head is facing forward. I feel like I drive my edges with the sides of my boots from the knees, rather than with my heels and toes by ankle movement and fore/aft flex.

Yeah, plenty of limitations but getting a clear series of pictures with sufficient reference points that would enable you to compare the various angles while carving a turn in real life is way beyond my technology. The pictures come as screenshots from a single 1920x1080 video to keep the view/background constant. Boots not worn to try and show what's happening to the joints, hence also the markers drawn on my skin before I shot the video. Oh, and my rear ankle is still quite stiff after I ruptured my Achilles 6 months ago. The point I'm trying to make is that while over a pair of linked carved turns a skier's hips/knees/ankles will both go through the same range of movements this is not so for a snowboarder. My impression is that my rear ankle, in particular, flexes more than the front. The pictures are there to try to make that single point more clearly. So for a skier having both boots with the same flex makes sense. It doesn't necessarily make sense for a snowboarder. If I remember correctly, you're a ski and snowboard instructor, so I'd value what you have to contribute to this discussion. I'm aware that I often look at the same stuff as other people, but frequently come to different conclusions from the "received wisdom".

from a current thread about BTS setups.I'm not the only person who thinks the front and rear boots should be different stiffnesses.

I've come to the conclusion that for me I need my front and rear boots to be set up differently. The front relatively limited in forward/back motion, and the back with much more movement available. Both boots need lateral stiffness to drive the edge into the snow, but for me to move my weight up and down, while remaining balanced over my feet and the middle of the board I need to move my lower legs differently. Above, I am in the at rest position, a slight bias of weight to over my front foot, standing upright with a degree of heel raise on my rear foot. My normal stance is about 50cm C-to-C and my feet are just under 30cm long. The white lines join dots I have drawn as fixed markers on both my lower legs to give reference points. Next picture shows me crouched down with my weight balanced and centred over the board, with roughly the same weight bias to the front foot. The angle between the initial white lines and the new ones is around 30 degrees for the rear, and 17 degrees for the front. Last picture shows me now crouching but also leaning forward. I am now unbalanced, with my weight over, and forward of, my front foot. I am putting tension on my lower back. But only now do the angles of movement for front and back match at just over 30 degrees. Some riders will say they really put weight on the nose to initiate their turns. They may well feel that the third picture represents how they initiate their turns. For me, I try to remain balanced over my feet, with my centre of gravity always within the span of the two balls of my feet. I heavily weight the edges to commence my turns, not the nose. If you watch the Vimeo video on how I've modified my Head Stratos Pros you will see that the two boots are setup to move quite differently. This does indeed show the range of movement possible, but it's also the actual way I have set up my front and rear boots. It works for me. <iframe src="//player.vimeo.com/video/54657654" webkitallowfullscreen="" mozallowfullscreen="" allowfullscreen="" width="500" frameborder="0" height="281"></iframe> Head Stratos Pro Mods from Alan McKenzie on Vimeo. So then, having both boots as loose as the rear wouldn't allow me to put adequate pressure on my front foot without becoming seriously over balanced to the front. Having both boots as tight as the front wouldn't allow me to get down as low, I'd either have to stop or bend up the rear of the board to get enough forward inclination. Having different stiffnesses, rear loose, front stiff, allows me to do both.

Make your own! See the Hand Armour thread. http://www.bomberonline.com/VBulletin/showthread.php?40207-Alpine-Snowboarders-Hand-Armour&highlight=hand+armour

Just watched the Vimeo link from lonbordin to "Portrait of a Snowboarder" about Boone Lennon. The guy could rip a carve with the best of them! That's a video that deserves to be better known.

A plate does not make the board a bit more turny. A plate alters the torsional stiffness of the board it is mounted on. It does not make the board more or less bendy along its' length. The aim of a plate is to allow the board to bend as its' builder designed it. For any given distance between plate mounts, a stiffer plate will give more torsional stiffness to the snowboard it is mounted on than a more flexible plate. For any given plate, increasing the distance between plate mounting points on the board will increase the torsional stiffness of the snowboard it is mounted on. The stiffer the plate, the harder it is to twist, or "pedal" the snowboard. Racers have so far typically mounted their plates with the sliding hinge under the front foot. I am about to start trialling having the fixed hinge under my front foot to see if this gives a more direct feel of the snow. The general observation you've made about where to mount your bindings is close to how I set up my boards with plates. Aim to have the front axle(s) aligned under the ball of your front foot, or very slightly in front of the ball. That way when you put lots of weight onto your front foot, that weight will be between the axles of the plate, rather than out beyond the front axle and almost like bouncing on a diving board! I've aimed to maximise the torsional stiffness with my own boards/plates so have set the mounting points to the maximal distance I can achieve with them centred on the centre of the snowboard's effective edge. I then centre my stance on the plate. This means that the ball of my front foot is always well within the span of the axles.

Welcome in out of the shadows! Depending upon whether you have enough money to spend on a new board you might want to embark on a conversation with either Sean Martin at Donek or Bruce Varsava at Coiler for a custom build. A plate on top would allow you to carve on torn up groomers for longer, both from the point of view of lumps and quads muscle function, and give you more stability at speed and over ruts.

The ones with plenty of testosterone are! ;)

So how far does your "horn" extend beyond the nose of the board? What length is it? Any grief from lifties/patrollers?

Have to say that the 2014 Nordica Transfire and Freestyle boots look like interesting options for hardbooters, possibly even the Hell and Back Hike EXP touring boots. The Freestyle models have particular potential for tweaking with apparently all the buckles and canting mechanisms attached with screws rather than rivets. On these models the 45 degree angle instep buckle is attached to the shell at the same point as the cuff pivot, rather than separate and higher on the FireArrow.

I would love to see a video of someone carpet carving a pair of racetuned Northwaves with various degrees of tuning from the spring system, ideally from no springs at all, through a range of tensions up to as tight as possible. I would like to see the boot being flexed forward and back from both sides and front and back, to see how the range of movement available and how much deformation of the foot shell occurs. That would give us a much better idea of the performance characteristics of the boot and what people might want to emulate in their modification and tuning of other boot models.

Still not fixed as of 16 January. Nice to see some other Bomber guys hitting the top end of list e.g. Jim Callen. But he doesn't seem to have convinced Angie to have a try. Now, we just need Fin to lean on Michelle! :)

Injury has ruled me out of attending SES this year but I think the clinics represent an excellent opportunity to create online materials to promote and teach our sport. There have been plenty of video cameras at the last couple of SESs. My results would have been better if I had got together with Corey, who instructed both the Intermediate & Steeps Clinics and planned a bit more. If I could have done just one thing different it would be to put a lapel mike on the instructor and record what they said on a device like an ipod, iphone, or Zoom sound recorder.

Nordica Fire Arrow F1: Shell design similar to Dalbello cabrio with just 3 buckles and only 1 on the cuff. Ankle/heel hold down at 45 degrees and attached to shell only, not the cuff so no alteration as the cuff flexes forwards. Adjustable cuff flex mechanism. Cuff hinge is relatively high. Strangely enough those first 3 features are what I achieved with my mods to my Head Stratos Pros. Maybe I wasn't crazy after all. http://www.bomberonline.com/VBulletin/showthread.php?39237-Serious-mods-to-the-Head-Stratos-Pro&p=392580#post392580 <iframe src="//player.vimeo.com/video/54657654" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen></iframe> <p><a href=" ">Head Stratos Pro Mods</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/alanmckenzie">Alan McKenzie</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>

Last year (2013) I informally videoed Cory's Intermediate & Steeps Clinics and tried to turn the footage into teaching resources for those not able to make SES. Any plans to video your session or any of the other clinics at SES this year?

http://store.sae.org/caesar/ Civilian American and European Surface Anthropometry Resource Project—CAESAR® CAESAR®l The most comprehensive source for body measurement data Just an example. This kind of stuff wasn't available when Northwaves were designed.

SES 2013 Clinic Videos <iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/OCE8hH5j5Ws" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/U8WCcie09Q0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Plus First tracks at Aspen Ajax <iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/oCk0stdylic" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Just sent some photos through. The larger photos are from a pair of mondo 28s I got my hands on but which were just too small for me, and I passed them on to DiveBomber. He's had that and a pair of 29s through his hands as far as I know. Search the for sale threads for photos and owners. I'd have to agree with BlueB, to a point. There's something about the Northwave design that works for racers. But other boots also work to varying degrees. JJA won his gold in modified Deeluxe's if my memory serves me well. Part of the problem in snowboard boot design is knowing what the design goals are. My suspicion is that the setup of front and rear boot needs to be different, with the rear boot set up for more fore/aft flexibility than the front one. Any boot needs to lock down the foot, and particularly the heel, comfortably. The design debates will be around lateral & fore/aft range of motion/flex, making sure the heel stays locked down when flexing forward, and where the pivot point for the ankle should be sited. Finding a mouldable plastic that is stiffness stable in the working temperature range may also be a challenge. There may well be online databases that shoe manufacturers use to work out the range of foot shapes and volumes. Have fun, look widely, and think hard.

Is your e-mail turned on so we can send you stuff? Either that or post your address as name at ISP dot com/gov/edu/org. Just reread Drew's post above. When will I learn not to hurry!

Skiing, riding a chairlift at Mt Hutt in the early 1990s. An Asian hardbooter below me rides down leaving a sinuous, graceful, smooth line behind, looking like mercury flowing down the mountain. "I have got to learn to do that!" Started in 2008, and expect to be learning till I take my last ride. Carving is the most beautiful way of descending a mountain, it has an aesthetic all of its' own.