michael.a

Hit 2 to 1 on my last day: 52 days this season :)

May be some problem with song copyright, evidently the vid wont play on mobiles and only directly from youtube. :/

Ok, I admit it, false advertising, there is in fact a top and bikini... but 50kmh on exposed nipples is harsh... Just got back from Bormio Italy with some really sky high temps for a few days, 26C in the valley and something like 18 up at 2000m, needless to say Kasia and Iza couldnt hold back... apparently neither could the lift attendant :) This was my first trip ever with another group of carvers and really enjoyed it, and you really do learn through osmosis. To all the loner carvers out there, find a group of hardbooters pronto, either sex! :) <iframe title="YouTube video player" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/y2tj_DzLlZ0" allowfullscreen="" width="480" frameborder="0" height="390"></iframe>

Maybe I was too brutal, I apologize for that, and Ive never ridden in a pair of Northwaves I should add, but Ive read a lot about them on EC and not everybody is raving about them. I just look at it as a cost-benefit ratio, you can pick up used perfect condition HSPs for $200. 500-700euro for Northwaves. Not worth it but then again Im poor :)

I remember when I asked the same question on the extremecarving forums and all I got were a bunch of no-answers or smug "the best boot ever if you must know hurumph hurumph", which leads me to believe that anybody who bought the boot is in some serious denial over what they spent 500euro on, ie: basically ugly ass 15 year old boots.

in my car jumper cables tire chains liter of oil, liter of windshield wiper fluid plus 5 lts of coolant blanket, small shovel, first aid kit, extinguisher hidden 2nd key deicer windshield scraper with brush for car and boards 2 towels for drying boards spare set of bindings plus intec heels/regular heels in the backpack: all sorts of pills and bandages and some beef jerky some burton snowboard tool plus spare screws for boots! and bindings a diamond file plus tons of little things i dont remember right now

Youll be surprised how much muscle you lose from not using your leg for a few weeks or month. Literally your calf and thighs will be half the size of your other leg. My golden advice is, besides the physical therapy and equivalent home exercises, invest in a dumbbell bar and some weights and start doing some very light and very slow squats.

Sorry I want to hijack this thread cause Im really fascinated, can you tell me what kind of bias you run

email sent!

I am serious, PM'ed you

I took mine apart and lubed everything with white grease after 2 seasons of use, but now looking back it was overkill and unnecessary, invest your time into thoroughly inspecting the cables

Got the yellow erings, thanks!! Still looking for HSP orange or black tongues, I got the silvers and like em but want to try something softer :) Thanks! Shipping will be to an address in the US, not Europe

I typed up this big long spiel but f it, Im a brutal bastard but Im not going to tear apart some of the stupid ideas here or whats better or whatever, AND MAKING CARVING GEAR AVAILABLE EVERYWHERE IS ECONOMICALLY UNVIABLE AND SUICIDAL, but I think have the answer, I dont even want to give it since I want alpine boarding to stay a niche sport, but I worked with a few marketing gurus and this is what I learned from them, most important is the rule of 3 in small scale marketing: More carving sessions. I mean lots more. TONS MORE. and more important are the weekend meets. They can be informal. But 3 carvers MUST show up. Minimum 3. If only 2 dont bother to show up. Ride together. Youll break the conformity barrier immediately. If it can be regularly held all the better. Next is take advantage of the bystander effect. Again it can be totally informal or formal. A small booth or tent or even god damn flag with some music with one but better 2 people standing in the middle going on about alpine boards some boards as example it doesnt matter what, but there must be 3 "paid" actors as the audience listening in. It will immediately attract attention. Word of mouth wont work here quite honestly, but more talk to friends about those wicked Gs you pulled or how sweet this or how next year your gonna go to the olympics or whatever, it doesnt matter, but MAINTAINING THE AIR OF EXCLUSIVITY. its snobbery but it works. because thats what makes it cool. Niche sports that broke off from larger sports like kiteboarding started off from windsurfers, finding an audience from non winter sports dudes wont work. Our target audience of course is snowboarders but imo its skiers. thats it. :)

Have you ridden in the boots yet? Or just carpet tested em?

Does anyone know if the new F2 topsheets are the same plastic/holographic stuff from 09/10? I dont even know if the 10/11s are similar... Cause quite honestly I wont ever buy another F2 board if they continue in that direction, it gets so easily scratched, torn, bent and chipped that I get depressed just looking at it. You know how a car somehow drives better when its just been washed and waxed? Same thing...

Weird I ran my front bindings flat today and I dont know if it felt better but my toesides were much much better. Im at that phase where I prefer heelsides to toesides and all of sudden I started loving my toesides, will test it on other boards :)

Depends on the board and snow, but normally its to have no part of the boots or bindings protruding from the board edge looking top down. Im terrified of bootout. If theres fresh snow or its soft then I tuck the boots/bindings a bit further in, almost 2cm from the edge as I like to obliterate moguls by riding straight into them :)

Arnaud, you dont count man! :D Thank you all so much for the responses, I feel much much better about skidding out or experiencing bone shaking chatter, nothing like positive reinforcement! I guess I should have rephrased it as "sliding" or "flipping over" rather than falling as I doubt few of us actually "fall". I'll add to what you got going John E, I feel somewhat proficient yet it cost me an ankle injury with a 3 month cast.

Lately my carving has been really going well... until yesterday when I was at a mountain with steeps and quite a lot of ice/frozen hardpack. Somehow nothing was working for me, kept reaching for the snow, angulation was ok but then Id be standing up exiting the turns or god knows what else I was doing wrong... gave up at 1pm and headed home. Of course I kept falling over, almost every 5-6th turn would find me losing edge and skidding a bit on my side or ass. But it was enough for my new pants to already start fading around my ass with most of the zippers fraying. But even in pretty good conditions I go over 2-3 times down a run. Do I suck so much or is losing that edge a common thing when carving for you? We're talking about average snow conditions, no hero snow, with your average weekend crowd. Btw, Im counting falls that you recover from by using your hands to push yourself back up :)

Wintergold, please dont take this the wrong way, but I watched your vid and it looks like you are breaking at the waist and bending way too much forward. I ride similarly and have been trying to stop bending forward like that, but maybe thats ok? Could anyone help me out here?

Seriously, what makes these boots so good to command such a high price? I am a mondo 29.5 and interested and besides the EC crew "using" them (as I think they now use Deeluxes) Im interested why they are so good.

"Pssshh, look, his board is only round at one end, is there something wrong with it?" The couple (actually the girlfriend) then asked me what kind of snowboard I had followed by a million more questions. Evidently all the attention I was getting kinda ticked off the boyfriend and as soon as we got off the lift he yelled at her "we're going this way" and pulled her off of me :)

Most loaners are new or semi-new cars, there is almost nothing a garage can spot that you cant without your own eyes, and those things are largely cosmetic (scratch there, dent here). The problem with buying loaners and rentals is that due to the abuse they all experience, that once they reach some higher mileage a lot of problems can show up, reving a cold engine, burning rubber, hard braking, 'rallying' all take a huge toll on the engine, transmission, suspension. I would not recommend boarderboy unless you can work on that price a bit more, and exactly how much of that warranty is left?

I cant wear anything over my mouth as I hate it, even when it hit -30 C with wind chill a week ago, so I cant help you with that. For me as long as I keep my body warm but breathing, Im ok. The answer has and always will be: merino wool. I have everything in it, thermals, sweaters, underwear, socks. Either from Smartwool or Icebreaker.

Having the rear binding angle greater than the front is unrideable for me. I cant even ride with parallel angles, the back foot always to be at least 3 degrees less.