michael.a

Of course you can do it with a Vantage. But I'm a firm believer in having the right tools for the right job. Btw, BlueB, have you ridden a Gen4 board?

For sale a pair of Head Stratos Pros in 29.5cm. Probably the last pair available in this size on the planet :) Lightly used but in like-new condition. I'm asking $450 plus shipping from Europe, which is $70 by courier (delivery in 5-7 days). Please contact me to get more details and about what else I can include with the boots.

Up for sale is a pair of barely ridden Burton Wind boots size mondo 30.0 (inner shell size 31.0 cm), maybe have 10 hours or even less, even the QC stickers are still on them. Really great boots, slightly softer than stock Head Stratos Pros, I would say similar to Deeluxe 325s. They look brand new except for a few very minor scuffs here and there. One of the buckle's plastic molding broke but it's only cosmetic. I had the buckle taped up but took it off so you can see what I'm talking about. One of the liners has a very light stain, but I'd recommend getting new liners for these guys anyway as for me they were way too soft, flimsy and cold. Price $130, paypal only. Boots are in Europe, shipping by courier $70 (5-7 days shipping time).

Those are really general concepts. I could also ask you how good is the grooming, how good is the snow throughout the season or how good is the wine and cheese. But on the whole zero or minor lift lines and perfect grooming. The main "connecting" slopes are pretty bad shape by the end of the day, but the rest are pretty much deserted to ride on at any time of the year 'cept for the February skiing holiday period. Btw, could you show me a trail map of "Aspen" and what's covered under a single lift ticket as I'm not sure what we're comparing. Here's a map of "Les 3 Vallees", I think it's about 300 miles of connected ski slopes using one ski pass. The Dolomiti Superski pass covers about 800 miles of ski slopes, 200 miles connected by lifts while the rest spread around different mountains so I guess that would be pretty much the entire Rocky Mts. I've never been to Zermatt so I won't include it, even though we're comparing the "most expensive". ?????? What does the devaluation of the US dollar have to do with the inner economic workings of... lift ticket prices? Then again I don't know what you're complaining about, the US has the cheapest yet best quality in terms of clothing, electronics and other consumer goods, as well as having cheap cars and really cheap gas.

Jim, I specifically mentioned only normally-priced single day tickets to provide a somewhat standardized base for comparison. If I were also to factor in multi-day passes or other deals offered by EU resorts than I think your hair would stand on end. I can snowboard for free in some resorts as long as I book accommodation for a minimum of four nights, or also get up to 30% off when booking from the resort's website. At other places, when going with a group, every upteenth ski pass (eighth or tenth) is for free. And deals through travel agencies? My god, for $400-500 you can spend a nice week in any number of resorts in the Italian alps. Downhill alpine sports are naturally expensive and really something open to only affluent whites, but my god, $100 a day... one day.. for a lift ticket? Or 50 to 80 bucks for some lower tier resort with aging lifts and poor grooming? Jim, that is really really really really expensive, even for European standards. Like Dave said above, I probably wouldn't be able to afford this sport at these prices if I were in my teens/early 20s.

For me, the use of the "insurance/litigation/frivolous lawsuits" argument by US businesses to justify the extremely high costs of medical insurance or in this case life tickets (hypothetically, since we're speculating why lift tickets cost so much in the US) has for me always been a huge scam. I can agree that the punitive damages awarded in the US are far far higher than in the EU, but I still can't see that being the cause for a service costing two to three times more than in Europe. For me, it's rampant greed. I looked around and found that probably the most expensive life tickets reigns in Zermatt at 62 euro for a one day pass. But that's in Switzerland, so it doesn't really mean much. For better comparison in terms of EU vs. US, I think the most expensive lift tickets is at Les 3 Vallees at 53 euro a day and then 50 euro for the Dolomiti Superski Pass. But these lift tickets are for resorts that have something like 400 miles.. that's miles.. of linked ski slopes. Mind you, you can easily chill out at some of the smaller Alpine resorts for 30e a day, and in my neck of the woods (Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia) 20-25 euro max.

The video showed lift tickets at some resort for $116 a day, is that an average price for, I dunno, the Rockies? Either way that's insane. I think the most expensive lift ticket in the Alps is 45 euro for a one-day pass.

Yup. Yea, because everyone just sits around all day hoping to get their equipment ruined in order to "flame" (it's called feedback, not flaming) some ski/board shop, and then sit back and say "well, theyre the only game in town so I'll just take it up the butt". Get real. What's with Americans always pushing the "give em a second chance", "they were having a bad day," "work together and be merry" BS, as it's getting boring. I pay you for a job you better deliver. I'd expect not only full compensation to have the board repaired by someone like SkiMD including shipping and packaging, but compensation for your time and the lost value of the board (in terms of edge/base life) It doesn't take a genius to figure out that when a customer shows up with some really expensive skis or a pretty rare race board to put two and two together and figure out the guy knows what he wants and therefore deserves a tune far far better than the upteenth billionth "wax and sharpen job" for the yokels. The fact they allowed an inexperienced or lazy operator to tune your board speaks volumes. Appearances deceive. I used to also think that a clean, bright beautiful shop stood for quality and care. Maybe a decade ago it did. Some of the best ski shops and mechanics I know work in places that I would say are downright filthy. Not all, but 75%.

Ursle, I know how to size my boots, the whole deal lies with the fact that I ride in three different pairs of boots (HSP, AF700 and Burton Wind) that all fit me very well, and not only do I have the original liners (which have their pluses and minuses) but also four different pairs of thermos to play around with (Intuition Gold ID, Raichle blacks, Raichle reds and the cheapo Scarpas).

Yes. Only early generation boots like the Earth, Reactor and Furnace don't accept intec heels.

Yea, unfortunately it is a bit of science when it comes to mixing/matching something "simple" as liners and boots. I'm currently staring at three new pairs of boots I bought and four different thermo liners and have no idea what to do.

No anatomical problems per se, just that I'd like to use standard bindings on the front leg and step ins on the rear. Actually Im going to go back and read your info on bindiing configuration.

That's cause your goggles don't fit your face. When I used crap-fitting goggles there always was some gap between the foam and my face that blew wind into my eyeballs, or I always had to fiddle with them as they'd be too tight on the forehead, but then too loose around the cheeks or vice versa. I had to go through six different pairs of goggles to find ones that not only fit my face and helmet, but also worked well when riding. This included having the right field of view, ventilation and options like being able to quickly swap out lenses. I settled on the Smith Prodigy, bought two pairs as backups for $60 each on ebay and a ton of extra lenses. Now I'm happy as pie. Buy the goggles that fit your face/helmet and not the ones that look cool or are on sale.

I'd like to bump this thread and ask those who have mix and matched their bindings for some advice on differences in binding height, I was thinking of using a TD3 front and F2 rear but the TD3 is more than 1cm higher.

Thank you Eric, just sent you an email. Slopetool, I don't understand any Germany either but have to get by somehow, for now I use Google to translate the entire website. It's terrible but gives you the gist of what people are saying.

Thank you Hans, I emailed Fahrer, we'll see what happens.

As idiotic as it sounds, yes. But it's legal to import it... (oh the irony).

Rumors rumors... If you want rumors I got em... naming no names A certain boot manufacter may re-release a boot they discontinued A certain snowboard manufacturer is going to produce their own line of boots A major ski manufacturer is interested in producing alpine boards A major ski manufacturer is going to buy out a well-known alpine snowboard manufacturer A well-known alpine manufacturer is up for sale and may be bought by a major snowboard company to get their foot into the alpine market

Hey, I'm in Germany quite often now and am trying to find out what ze German carvers are up to, but I can't for the life of me register on the frozen-backside.de forums as my "email address is invalid". Well, I tried all three of my gmail address and nothing works. Can anyone find out for me or ask an admin what's the deal here, or provide me with some contact details? Do I need a German-only email address? Appreciate any help Michael

Well, actually... neither. What Alex is asking for is called copyediting (or copy editing), not proofreading. But to answer your question, both ways of spelling proofread are correct, although the shift is towards integrating two part verbs and nouns as one word.

Professional translator and copyeditor reporting for duty.

I drive a station wagon because its more practical than any other hatchback or sedan to carry stuff, snowboards, people, as well as having better handling than any truck getting good gas mileage.

Yea, I got that, but I dont care about Mad snowboards. Im asking about Madd snowboards.

Yea the wax whizard is a great addition to one's toolbox esp. when travelling but I dont know why its being recommended here instead of a proper iron, scraper and set of waxes. Again, the right tools for the job.

Quite honestly I thought Madd snowboards was all but defunct.