valsam

Chris i don't think that you are right,my burton speed 1.68 wide is an old school board (2002 model)and compared to protons which i have ridden is way better and more lively and with more pop! As for what you also say about that the only similarity that old and today's boards have is they are both called snowboards i would definitely have to disagree also! Are the madd's that everyone is drooling for in here new gen boards? Metal don't do miracles !

I also bought very expensive bindings new (20 euros)from ebay and charged both board and bindings to my credit card that i could not pay off that led evidently to the almost collapse of the hole european banking system! It was either my fault then or maybe the Greek and european crisis has something to do with some people buying houses and boats and cars and 1500$ snowboards that they couldn't pay off,does the name lehman brothers ring a bell? Someone had to pay for every ones mess ups (yeah you know who I'm talking about,ill give you a hint it's across Europe and you cross the Atlantic ocean to get there!)and it was little Greece that had the traitors politicians that where wiling to betray there country so it would take the blame and be shown as the black sheep! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zmin3OZnC0w

ΒlueB why don't you recommend the highly expensive burton speed 168 wide that you recommended to me and i broke the bank paying 150$ for it? I haven't ridden a sword but last week on hero snow riding the speed i thought that there can not be any other board for even 5-10 times more money that can do what the speed does !

It's always the persons who is coming from behind fault when a collision like this occurs but to say the truth we do take up to much space with our long radius turns, have been alpine snowboarding since 1996 and until 3-4 years ago i had only one or 2 slight collisions but the last years since taking up EC style turns people crashing into me is very frequent!

Slow is better and boards with 11-12 scr's are just fine to carve at lower speeds and if you get hit it hurts allot less,my days of long boards with big scr's have long gone for me! Check out how many times Ben looks up hill in his vid,well i do it twice the times! A helmet with a camera on the back side of it that's connected with my mask would be an excellent gadget!!!!!! Or maybe a jacket like this:

I personally check up hill as i said 2-3 times before initiating some turns but you can't have your head all the time turned up hill while riding it's physically impossible you also have to look in front of you and before you can turn your head up hill again "bam" there comes a skier flat liner! Most of the people who hit me always say the excuse "but you made such a wide turn" and i answer to them "so do the little children learning ski on the run, next time aim at them you stupid jerk"! Now that i saw it my avatar is from the day i got hit last year and at the almost same spot the picture was taken just after 20 minutes or so ,my left hand is with the broken finger so i'm wearing a XXL miten so it could fit my self made cast inside and i was keeping it up all the time!

Since taking up EC style 4 years ago this thing and even wosre happens to me at least 2-3 times a season,i mainly go on weekdays to avoid recless skiers but even that did'nt help on a day that there where probably less than 20 people on the whole mountain and only me and a skier on the same run last year i hurt my wrist very bad because i raised my wrist to avoid the colision and to protect a broken finger on the other hand,my wrist still has'nt healed completly,lost a whole season because of a broken finger(catched ice while ECing) on one hand and a broken wrist on the other,i couldn't work for 3 months! Now snowboarding ain't that much fun to me anymore because i always before making a EC turn always have to look back 2-3 just for one turn, this is just like what happened to me and gave up motorcycling,after getting hit twice by reckless drivers and being hospitalized (almost lost my life the one time) i tried to ride my bike again but it just wasn't the same, in every road at every crossing everywhere and all the time i was being extra cautious and thought that anytime soon someone will do something stupid again,I GOT FED UP FOR DOING OTHER PEOPLES WORK OF BEING RESPONCIBLE,the same goes for irresponsible skiers and snowboarders!

Μy oldest board(production date) is also my newest (i just bought it new)Burton speed 168 wide 2001! Thank you BlueB for recommending it to me ,it's probably the funnest do it all board i ever had and the most value for money board to(150$),i cant imagine what more a 800-1000$ board could offer me!

In Greece we might not have a lot of money but we sure do have a lot of snow,all the ski resorts have close to 1 meter snow coverage!

I got one for 120 euros with shipping to Greece last week,so i think i overpayd for it,damn it!

mazydog what would happen if somebody charges and hits your board on the lift line? I would definitely like to see your face expression if that ever happens! And i also hope that you don't Carey a gun when you go riding,because if i had a peace of art like that and carried a gun i would definitely think of using it if someone did anything to hurt it!

I think that everyone who is into Extreme euro carving breaks at the waist more or less,without doing so there is no so called "leap of faith" for getting in full laid contact position with the snow! Somebody correct me if I'm wrong please!

You lucky guy,i'm always searching on ebay europe all the time for alpine gear but for the last couple of weeks i stoped because there was nothing interesting for sale! Hope you like hardbootig,if not i will be glad to buy the board from you with a little profit for you! Send me a P.M if you regret your buy!

I would have to disagree with you and most in here ,tried both,started from short then went long and longer and longer and started going shorter again, shorter is way easier with less effort and by far better(for me that is),the only sacrifice is stability at really high speed! 16-18-21-23 scr's are for runs that are wide and at normal speed's no mater how good or heavy you are it still takes a lot of speed and effort to bend them on narrow runs (and I'm 6,4 and 240-245 pound's!)! On my 1.67 10 scr board there is enough room now to make complete circles at runs that i wouldn't even dream of me fitting with my 16-18 scr 1,85 board! Shorter boards are more versitile and playfull and that's a fact! And for you that seem to forget! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VsAtK47c8PM And this is what Casper wrote! "i currently am 68kilo., i purchased this year a prior 163 metal wcrmr. i thought that this board would replace the beamer for turning super sharp but it is too hard flexing for me. to much work. the beamer is very soft (8.5scr). not good for high speed but turns incredibility sharp and EASY to ride. i don't ride fast typically. i am almost 50 years old and don't have the strength that i used to have. that is why i think soft flex.?" By the way aren't most of you old fart's like me (I'm 46!)in here?

As the years go by it's natural to improve in technique i see the difference every season in my riding but despite that i try to work out at least 4 times a week, stamina, bones and muscles ain't the same that the where 10 years ago,the same run's that i did non stop at max speed ,now i need to make a stop somewhere to catch my breath and relieve my aching legs,that's why i turned to a more forging setup (softer 3 buckle hardboots,softer,forgiving smaller and wider AM alpine board) that when i try to overdue it(chater and nose fold),it warns me that I'm not for that any more!

Very well said! And i agree that some people give up on hardooting because they never can get as good as they hoped but also i think that alot of people give up on it because they realize as the years go by that they can't be as good as they use to be because of old age! Come on guys you have to realize that there ain't no viagra for hardbooting! I still play basketball at the age of 46 and i would be the dumbest person in the world if i thought that i am better now than when i was 26!!!!!!!

If your physical fitness gives up on you and also your muscular structure (legs) after a certain age then its time for a softboot setup just for light cruising and fooling around and forget about park's and big air tricks(because the older you get the loooooonger it takes to heal!)! In my opinion its easier and more comfartable to buckle up and fool around at slow speeds on a softboot setup and for more hours (wich i find no fun at all!)than with alpine gear! EC carving and alpine snowboarding demand stamina and leg muscles!

Geting older(40+) made a couple of my friends turn to softboots for recreational riding because from what they say and from what i see it's more comfortable wearing and riding softies for 7-8 hours,i also was thinking of switching to softboots because of the cramping feeling of harboots and the general discomfort that alpine boards setups have but i just can't give up hardboots yet,because dispite the pain it's still to much damn fun for me !

Not quite in the lift line but the last time i rode 2 weeks ago i did a couple of completely fully laid railing body dragging turns at a very steep run and on the last carve came to a complete armpit to snow stop on the run so i could wait for my freestyle buddy to come so we can continue together so a skier pules up next to me and asks me "are you O.K?" and he continues "man that was close,be careful this run is pretty steep"

It was on e-bay and i didn't purchase it because after thinking about it,it had a to slim waist ,18cm,it was sold for 72 euros with bindings!

I have torn my ACL on my left knee 2 times ,first time back in 1988 they just streched and bolted down the same ACL and it broke again after 9 months and the second time they tried the new way "plastic surgery" they called it and it still holds up until today but with allot of pain (my left knee was'nt the same again!),after that i also torn both my PCL'S (all from basketball)! I couldnt ski after even the first surgery because skiing is very stresfull to the knees thats the reason i tryed and stuck with snowboarding! Basketball has done it again,partly torn my left MCL this Christmas at a veterans basketball tournament,after a month i rode but the pain is huge! I think that there is no way someone could ride without a ACL because the first time i torn my ACL i waited nearly 6 months to have surgery and i was limping all the time, my knee could not bend or extend 50% of normal and i was loosing it all the time!

Since this thread is open then let me tell you my problem so maybe someone can help. I have no problem keeping edge hold while extreme carving in most conditions except maybe ice or very bumpy terrain but my problem is that i find it difficult to release easily from a carve to initiate the next,despite my boards small SCR i usually find my self using the hole width of the run (i want the carve to last long and laid!)and that's why i like riding on steeper slopes so that i can keep some decent speed just enough to initiate the next turn just before i run out of terrain width , the only way to release and not eat up the whole width is by shifting my weight back loading the tail and then sort of like jumping into the next carve but that kind of takes half the joy out of the cave because the carve is much smaller and only lasts for 2-3 seconds. So is it me? Is it that the runs are narrow(probably)? Is it the boards small SCR or maybe the board is hooky? Is it all the above 3? None? Or is this just normal?

The guy selling it just e-mailed me and told me that he don't have further info's about the board,he says he got it 2 years ago from a friend and that the dimensions are 22,5|18|23 that he measured for me,waiting for him to send me more photos. From the dimensions he gave it looks like it's a Dangerous,I'm 6,4 and 230 pounds will this be to soft for me? Anyway after going wider (21,6 waist board) because of my 31 mondo boot size i don't think that i can go back to a 18 waist board,after 2 years i took out my Elan Ballistic again and it seamed very hard for me keeping my balance at almost still or slow speed's(i was giving my daughter snowboard lessons but on the Ballistic it looked like i was the one needing them!)

The guy who is selling this board says it's a 1.70 aluminum board and didn't answer my e-mail for giving me more specs or more pictures,so does anyone know any thing about this board? It don't look like any proton. The oxygen logo on the base looks like the one they used in the 90's,the 1,70 length was used in the LTD line and the protons didn't come in that length but neither the protons or the LTD'S come with a full metal topsheet also the tale looks to be much tapered.

+1000 for affordable gear! Most of my friends who got into softboot snowboarding (to a couple of them i lent my alpine gear to try out and besides that they found it harder than softboots they found the prices for hardboot gear insanely high) the last 10 years bought new gear (board-bindings-boots)last season models at a fraction of what alpine gear would cost them,1 friend last year spent 400$ and got pretty good freestyle stuff, a salomon special board with some technology in it such as Ghost Light core and Carbon and rubber,not the top models but somewhere in the middle towards the top model solomon boots and bindings! Could someone buy a brand new medium to top range last year alpine set for that kind of money?