SunSurfer

I broke the finger when I caught an edge during transition from one edge to the other in a NASTAR course and fell forwards over the nose of the board. If I hadn't put my hands out I would have planted my face into the packed snow of the course. When I'm free carving the vast majority of my falls are to one side or other when I lose the edge grip from poor technique.

Hopefully not as much wrist/finger strain as a gloved hand contacting an uneven snow surface at speed. The rounded surfaces of the vessel have minimal edge to catch and grab on surface irregularities. The device may well tempt/allow people to put more pressure onto their outstretched hand though, especially as the polyethylene should slide better and have less braking effect than a gloved hand.

I smashed a finger in my right hand in February 2013 while racing NASTAR at Highlands. A fall forward onto outstretchedhands at some speed. I was wearing wrist braces at the time, and looking at the injury it seemed likely that the bone had shattered against the front edge of the wristguard. There are xrays in the Alpine Injured List thread if you're inclined. My hands are crucial to me earning my living and so up until now I'd ridden with a deliberate "no hand to snow contact" style to try to protect them. Anyway, I'm sitting at home contemplating my hand in its' splint and decide that what I really want is better way of protecting my hands when I ride. Something that will absorb shocks, race gate impacts and falls, slide across the snow in a hard turn rather than puttting my gloved fingers at risk, still allow me to pull out of a racecourse start gate, and possibly even allow me to self arrest if I fall on a steep and icy slope. The starting idea was the punch guards that ski racers use in slalom racers have on their poles. Some of the more recent versions, like the Komperdell Wide World Cup are designed to slide across the snow "if you ski angles like Ligety" to quote their promotional material. The first photo shows the prototype pair of hand armour - gauntlets if you like. The one on the right has been lightly sanded to remove the markings which show what the original object was, a 1.5 litre garden spray pressure vessel, made from high density polyethylene. Learning as I went along about the heat welding and shaping properties of the material, I made a tidier job of the second one on the left. The photo just above shows the left handed armour. An old Leki ski pole has been cut to length to just not quite protrude from the open end of the pressure vessel. Then the tip has been riveted in place inside to protrude as shown. A stainless steel wood screw holds the top of the ski pole handle in place and polyethylene scap has been welded/melted around both top and bottom ends to firmly hold the shortened pole in place. The pressure vessel has been cut as shown, with the direction of the fore/aft axis of the pole indicated by the middle of the three line drawn on top the pressure vessel. The aim being to provide a sliding surface instead of the riders hand actually contacting the snow, even in the most laid out extreme carve. The assymetric opening/pole relationship makes them Right and Left handed. The flattened surface, oriented at right angles to the fore/aft axis of the pole, allows the user to firmly pull off from a starting gate. In an ideal world I would have a minimal gap between the bottom of the rubber pole handle and the beginning of the flattened surface, although I may find the extra leverage from the extra length is an advantage for people with very strong wrists in gaining starting speed. The pole tips are there primarily to allow self arrest, having slid out of control down an icy slope after a fall in the past I would have loved to have been able to slow, control or stop my descent. These have not yet been tested at all. I have just torn an Achilles tendon playing another sport, and will not get to try them out this year. Obviously a concern is going to be how unwieldy they may be in actual use. Happy for anyone to take the idea and run with it, develop it, modify it, whatever.

Fin, At this stage unlikely to get to SES in 2014. What with the smashed finger in February, and now this, my total income for the year will be significantly reduced. We will be living more simply in order to make sure we meet commitments like mortgage payments etc. It also means I won't be tempted to push my rehab too hard, too early, and re-rupture the tendon, something that I would be more likely to do if I was trying to be fully fit for February 2014. So 2015 it will have to be. :) Lowrider, Yeah, I have a project or two on the go in my mind. One has reached the stage where I was ready to try it out when I hit the snow this year, which of course is now not going to happen, so I'll post the prototype pictures and explanation in a separate thread "Alpine Snowboarders Hand Armour". Alan

Almost certainly out of action for this Southern Hemisphere winter. Probable ruptured Achilles' tendon while practicing with a social sports team of workmates this evening. Classic "who kicked the back of my ankle" sensation. Ultrasound exam tomorrow to confirm the clinical diagnosis of a likely complete tear. 8 weeks in plasters & orthopaedic boots is the likely scenario before real rehab can begin. SunSurfer :(

Plenty of unscrupulous offerings from "big pharma". Read "Bad Pharma" by Dr Ben Goldacre, a medical doctor in the UK, known initially for his book and InterNet web site exposing bad "science". He is passionately angry at how medical scientific knowledge has been debased by pharmaceutical companies' manipulation and suppression of data from trials of many different drugs. Anywhere there is money to be made, be it alternative or conventional medicine or any other area of human endeavour, there are people willing to fleece those who are desperate for help. SunSurfer

It's winter in the Southern Hemisphere, with some NZ fields already open. Thanks to a big storm they're opening with a really good base, mostly over a metre already. Just how keen are you for some snow...........

Same storm caused extensive damage to Wellington, where I live. Wind gusts to 200km/hr, 15metre waves, heavy rain, the rise in sea level caused by both the low air pressure in the centre of the storm and the high tides from the super moon all combined to damage many properties and roads along the coast. The two sides of climate change.... More precipitation from more moisture in the atmosphere making for a great lot of snow and coastal property damage from the stronger storms. Our house is on top of a hill here in Wellington but was designed to stand high winds and was undamaged.

Al, that is great news!!!!! My own sciatic symptoms are also substantially better and I'm no longer using any meds (pain since August 2012, disappeared with a steroid epidural in mid January 2013, then recurred at a lower level), but no specific treatment was involved over the last couple of months apart from exercises and stretches. The natural history for sciatica is for it to get better in many sufferers by itself. And it's that, that makes working out what really helps as a treatment so difficult. For an individual, they may do any of the wide range of treaments on offer and then get better and, in their mind there is a clear connection between the treatment and the improvement. You may have seen Sean and Fin's snowboard mythbuster video thread that's just started. Medical science, in the form of randomised, controlled, and blinded trials, is a genuine attempt to determine the myths and truths around treatments for conditions like sciatica. Anecdotal reports, like yours and mine about an individual's progress, while heartening when things get better, are of little value in determining what really works.

I have a well used pair of SnowPro Race bindings that might suit. E-mail me at aj dot mckenzie at clear dot net dot nz

I ride seriously modified Head Stratos boots. But I agree with Phil above. I only modifed the flex in them after I'd learned to ride my board to at least Intermediate level (smoothly carve greens and blues top to bottom). I moved the Intec cables to the inside of the heel before then, but that was due to problems with the cable causing pain on the outside of my heel. As someone starting out, working out your comfortable stance width, front and rear foot angles, rear heel lift and whether you want front toe lift on your bindings are really important steps towards enjoying your time on the board. Then learn some sound basic technique in getting your board to carve. I recently posted the Intermediate Clinic video from SES 2013 in the SES 2013 thread in the video section. Corey gives out some simple tips to get you carving grooves on the greens and blues.

Turoa midstation Monday May 13th early morning. Too soon yet for anything, really needs a metre of snow to cover most of the rocks!

http://www.trademe.co.nz/sports/ski-board/snowboards/161-170cm/auction-591701192.htm F2 Silberpfeil 162 Not my auction nor do I have any relationship with the seller. Board for sale for anyone who's interested resident in New Zealand or Australia. SunSurfer

<iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/U8WCcie09Q0" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" width="640"></iframe> Instructors: Corey Dyck, Steve Recsky & Fin Doyle. Shot on a Contour HD1080 helmet cam with my external mike optimised for riding videos, not to pick up Corey Dyck's voice. In some parts you'll need to turn up the sound to hear what's being said. I was trying to ride the Intermediate Clinic and shoot it, but I was so disappointed with the initial raw video that for the Steeps clinic at Highlands I changed cameras and concentrated on shooting. Anyway, if you're a intermediate level rider I hope you find it helpful. If I get to SES in 2014 maybe we can do a better job next time. SunSurfer

Cool dusk comes early Hot metal drips molten wax Sharp steel craves new snow

Hi Bigwavedave, You seem to have misunderstood me. dbmgreen quoted my advice. The rest was my conventional medicine understanding of what causes sciatica, and my personal experience so far. As an anesthesiologist I'm a conventional medicine practitioner. Chiropractic is an alternative/complementary treatment system whose explanation for illness and disease has little in common with the way conventional medicine explains the same problems. That is the primary reason I wouldn't go to a chiropracter. I don't believe in the treatment. Obviously other people do, otherwise all the chiropracters would go out of business. I'm not going to hijack this thread to debate the merits of chiropractic. I just hope Algunderfoot gets seen by someone who can take a good history and properly examine and diagnose his problem, and that his symptoms go away long before the 8 months that I've had so far. Cheers, Sunsurfer

Lowrider, is the Pope Catholic? ;))

Measurements above confirmed by checking actual board which as advertised is unridden. Additional details 1cm camber 58cm between outermost binding inserts BOBSI = 13 (which makes it a pretty stiff board) PS: Found the Jagaball link referred to above http://www.jagaball.de/Boardsport/-233.html SunSurfer

Having had sciatica since August 2012 I have not, and would not ever, consider going to see a chiropracter. I have a very small L4-5 disc prolapse which is irritating one particular nerve root. The findings on the MRI are entirely consistent with the distribution of symptoms that I have. I am an anaesthesiologist (specialist anaesthetist) who works regularly with a spinal surgeon. He has provided advice to me as I've worked through this. Do you actually have sciatica, or just a sore back? Sciatica is a syndrome of ache/pain, numbness or altered sensation, and/or leg weakness, with symptoms extending below the knee. The primary cause is nerve irritation to one or more of the nerve roots of the sciatic nerve, or the nerve itself. The irritation can be at spine level or occasionally by muscle pressure as the nerve follows it's course through the buttock to the back of the leg. At spine level the pain can be due to a combination of physical pressure from a squeezed out (prolapsed) intervertebral disc, or from narrowing of the spinal canal, or narrowing the holes in the side of the spine where the nerve roots exit to join up and form the sciatic nerve. If the problem is due to a disc prolapse part of the problem may be due to inflammation chemicals released by the damaged disc. How to relieve the symptoms will depend upon what the actual problem is. If you have a sore back, see who you like. Keep active, concentrate on exercises that strengthen the muscles of your abdomen and spine. If you have sciatica and the symptoms have not resolved spontaneously within a couple of months then go see a doctor to find out what is actually causing the problem. Controlling my symptoms: I have a small prolapse. For me, 200mg of ibuprofen taken twice a day controls most of my symptoms to where it doesn't stop me doing stuff. Occasionally I add in a 500mg acetaminophen (paracetamol)/8mg codeine tab. I do core muscle strengthening exercises. I stretch out my hamstring muscles, which have been very tight for many years, to take some of the pressure off my lower back when I bend forward. I sit as much as possible on a kneeler chair to improve my posture. Late last year the tablets and the exercises were just not cutting it. I was starting to get ready to consider having a surgical procedure to treat the problem. It was at this point that I had my MRI because up until then I was not willing to even consider having an operation. When the prolapse was found my surgical friend recommended a steroid epidural, with the aim of damping down the inflammation from the chemicals released by the damaged disc. I took my time thinking about that as an option, steroids are very powerful drugs and there are, like everything in medicine, some potential side effects and complications from the treatment. I was planning to go to SES in February so I finally had my epidural done in mid January, long enough ahead for any problems to be sorted and for the treatment to have a good chance to work but to have not yet worn off. It took about 2 weeks for the effect of the slow release steroid drug to really kick in. I was essentially symptom free for SES and remained so up until about 6 weeks ago when the symptoms gradually started to return. They remain controllable with exercises/stretches and the same sorts of doses of medication that I used before. My spinal surgeon colleague is very clear. Don't have an operation unless you have exhausted every other option and you are desperate to get relief. The studies in the orthopaedic literture are pretty clear too. Sciatica tends to resolve over time, with or without an operation. That said, it is something you should be guided through by an expert, not by people who cannot talk to you directly or examine you on a snowboarding website. The appropriate treatment depends upon what is the underlying cause of your symptoms. SunSurfer

I have ongoing searches on Trade Me (NZ's e-Bay) for alpine gear with e-mails of search results as things turn up. I've picked up a Riot Supercarve, a Coiler AM, an old Avalanche board with Snowpro hard bindings, a pair of mondo 28.0 Northwave .950s, and two pairs of Deeluxe hard boots from it over about 4 years just by keeping my eyes open. And now this board with the wicked topsheet for NZ$95. All I need now is the onesy to match!!!!! :) The seller clearly had no idea what they were selling, and yes it was clear from the get go that the photo showed the tail, not the nose. The specs posted make it sound like a very nice freecarve machine for tighter trails. SunSurfer

The answer to my own question eventually came via a little more information from the seller and the InterNet Wayback machine at http://archive.org/web/web.php http://web.archive.org/web/20060810191521/http://palesport.com/boards.htm The board was made by Pale Snowboards, probably dates from 2004-5. The model disappears from Pale's archived webpages after about 2005-6. The site was archived only intermittently. The Spook was a "race carve" shape and flex, made in 160-178cm lengths. Wood core, ABS sidewalls. At that time Pale made 3 other alpine boards, the G11, G12 & G13 (all cap construction, woodcore). I've just agreed to buy the board, the 170cm version, and get to pick it up in a week's time. It's said to be in new condition. If it turns out to be a dud, I won't have wasted a lot of money! Will report more when I get to ride it once enough snow arrives here in 3-4 months time. SunSurfer

Friday's best 13.91% over a Chris Klug par. Saturday's best 10.50% over Chris Klug par. Cross checking the NASTAR National Champs results site and doing a little math M Hogan (M50-54) & D Brook(M40-44) shared the fastest Friday handicap at 23.09 over par. D Brook fastest Sat handicap at 22.06 over par. Working out the par time they would appear to have been rated against and then comparing it with Chris Klug's times we get CK Friday: 8.05 over par CK Saturday: 10.45 over par On that basis it would appear the 10% handicap allowance that snowboarders get is about right for NASTAR competition. Pat, if you have more accurate information I'd be glad to see it posted. SunSurfer

I eat avocados, especially when they're in season here! If other people don't like them, then all the more for me. Don't tell people they're delicious! Of course there's guacamole, which I'm sure a lot of guys will have eaten, not necessarily realising what it is.

<iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/FtHm4ZE-HoE?list=UUw73QZNOGJm1qIprKfKGEug" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Thanks to MaxCarver for posting on YouTube!

<iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/4ZRBsmM9OFk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> SunSurfer