maxlean

Cool. I'm going super early to first chair Volcano on my Pow Stick. Which, likely will be only good for a couple runs and then head over to Southern Bell - which should be super nice now.

Hey man, sweet topsheet! You going tomorrow or are you still rollin’ blackout days? Otherwise, I’ll go ‘get sick’ and go up Thursday.

Hi guys, Because of meeting lonbordin, I'm now back in this forum! Yeah! Ok, who is Nitro? Are you Bill or Scott? I'm going up tomorrow EARLY to try first chair Agassiz for Volcano (if it's not bumped). Otherwise I'll head down to Southern Bell for laps. Cheers, Robert

There must be karma in the air (along with snow!). I'd previously been a part of the bomberonline.com community and have attended several SES events. Alas, with the demise of Bomber and the SES events, I kind of fell out of the community to just be that lonely guy carving at Arizona Snowbowl trying not to get killed by straight-liner kids. Maybe a USSA race here and there. Then, last weekend, I'm going up the lift and looking down and see some fine lines! I figure Scott or Bill (the other two carvers on our mountain), but no I get of the lift and there's this mountain-of-a-man Dave Wilcox (somewhere on this board, don't know his username) who's on a Coiler - the same board I'm riding! We take some laps and I remember how cool it is to ride with another carver! And, he tells me that the board has been resurrected and there is this cool event where they are going to rent an entire mountain! Sweet. So I go to this new board and try to register only to find they've transferred my old account! Bless you guys! Super excited to go to Montucky! Will register Monday! I'll be at Powder Mountain the whole month prior, so the drive shouldn't be that bad vs Arizona. WhooHoo! Pic from today at Snowbowl (before the thousands of people showed up and forced me to quit, sigh):

Ladies, Ok, so my super extreme skiier girlfriend is coming with me to SES and she really really wants to try alpine carving (for those days when there are only groomers to be had). I've got a board and bindings for her, but she doesn't want to pony up for new hard boots only to find she doesn't actually like it. Would any of you gals have an extra set of Mondo 24s she could borrow for a day? cheers, Robert

These new liners are fantastic. I actually had a bootfiter in Whistler sell me the prototype of this last year. Very stiff and moulds very well. Warning! These liners heat mould to EXACTLY to the shape you set when moulding! This means if you over tighten your boots when moulding them, ie compressing your foot, they will compress your foot when you use them. I learned the hard way and had to re-mould them. Do NOT overtighten your boots when moulding and use a generous toe cap when moulding. And, invest in a moulded custom footbed. I never think about my feet anymore.

I just got back from 3 days in Vail. Fortunately, on day two they opened China bowl but the pow had this frozen rain crust over powder. So, I spent most of the time on the fresh groomers (morning that is- like I was following 8 cats as they groomed!). I was on my new Prior Pow Stick with hard boots. I was totally blown away by this board - in particular, I didn't expect it to carve as well as it did. Obviously, the width means you can't be lazy at all on edge transitions, but what an all mountain board! But the true test came on day 3 when they opened Blue Sky Basin for the first time after a night of 6-10" inches of pow on an untracked base. Basically, it was about 2 feet of fresh pow. Unfortunately, it was Saturday and everyone from Denver was there and everyone headed straight to Blue Sky Basin. So, the untracked pow only lasted for 2 runs (I've never in my years seen a mountain skied off that quickly!). In any case, the Prior swallowtail was simply awesome in deep pow. One of the easiest and most fun rides I've ever had. The long (almost rocker) tip floated with ease and the swallowtail never put me in the back seat and allowed effortless carving using the back foot. However, one thing is for sure, I will be switching to a soft setup for pow days (Driver X's). While I had no problem in the pow on hardboots with the BTS cranked all the way soft, the real problems is when all that wonderful pow gets tracked up. The most comfortable way to get thru all the mini moguls is to put the board on edge and carve thru them. But, this tends to make you haul ass and when you have to slide to a stop, you just get the crap bashed out of you - especially on the shins. Having a more fexible soft setup not only makes it more comfortable, it gives my shins a break from hardbooting. So, on pow days, if you can't really carve, why go with the hard boots that make moguls more difficult? And, since pow can really end up working you hard, the soft setup will lose almost 5 lbs per foot - which over the course of a day is no small thing. And, by relaxing the stance angles, I also get to work different muscles, which if you want to do 3-4 days in a row is helpful. But, damn, that Pow Stick is simply wonderful... Robert

Rude bump. But, this is a really good deal...

Hi guys, I've got a rather unusual request. I would like to share lodging but I don't need a bed. I'll be bringing my new 09 roadrace/dirtbike/ski-tuning shop Sportsmobile Van. (See http://www.sportsmobile.com/3_bikes.html). All I need is a place to park the van and a bathroom/shower/hottub. I'm willing to pay $ to share. In the winter the bike storage is converted to bunk beds and a board tuning shop which I'm also willing to share. There is also a 128 can beer fridge which will be fully stocked for anyone willing to share their condo. Thanks, Robert PS, the van also has in motion sat-tv, 20" TV, diesel heater, Onan diesel generator, and a $13,000.00 sound system. Dirt bagging in style...

JC, The email addr you sent me was returned undeliverable. Scottsdale isn't a problem but I don't know my schedule then (I'll probably be riding somewhere). Robert

For two and a half years I suffered thru really bad, painful shin bang. After installing a powerstrap and BTS on my Track 325s, my shin bang is utterly gone! I suspect this may have to due with the ability of the BTS to absorb powerful transient hits. I'll never go back...

Ah, motorcycle terminology, I get it. So if we accept the proposition that the more camber a board has, the more weight that will be on the tip and the tail. In theory, this would cause the tips and tails to "bite" allowing the board to more easily de-camber - like seen in the pics posted on this thread. Now, here's the mind bender: we all know (assume?) that the side cut of a board determines the radius of arc a board will carve, right? Well, if you lay an EC carve where the board is completely perpendicular to the snow, the side cut has no effect on the radius - the radius at this point is determined by how much the board has "de cambered," right? Explain that all you big braind b*tches! cheers, Robert

Has anyone ridden a Prior Swallowtail splitboard? That seems like it could solve lots of problems....

Thanks guys. Snowboardfast, that's interesting that you use softies in the pow. I've actually tried to go back a couple times and, frankly, just hated it. I'm sure it would be great in pow, but when I tried to go back on a groomer, my Solomon Malmuts (very stiff soft boot) just folded like a cheap tent and my feet got very tired - it just seemed like so much work after being able to "stack the bones" on hard boots. So, why did you give up hardboots in the pow?

Well this is sure to start a war. Now that I've unloaded a bunch of my quiver (many thanks to you guys) I'm ready to get a new board. I don't need one, but, hell it's still cheaper than a crack habit. I have some diverse requirements so I may end up having to get two boards; it's ok, I'm willing to make the sacrifice. I've been carving for 5 years and weigh 160 lbs. I really want to try a metal board - I've heard so much about them. My current favorite board is a Silberpfiel 172. I really like this board. It has so much better damp, edge hold, and power than all of my Doneks. So, since I don't know how to spell Silberpfiel I go out and look at the board. In reading the specs I see the following "v30 quadrax titanal." Holy s**t, I've been riding a metal board for a year and didn't even know it! Talk about your blind taste test. I'm sold on metal. Back to my requirements: - I really want to try some EC carving (but I don't necessarily want wider stance angles - just like being in line). - To facilitate EC, a big sidecut would be nice. - I like fast edge transitions But, also: - I'm dating this rad chick who is an extreme skiier who wants to do some big mountain steep (40-50 degree) pow terrain. (But, I refuse to do the ski-to-base-jump with her). - She likes my long stick, but I don't think my long snowboard is going to work here. Suggestions? PS How do you pronounce titanal? I personally like tit anal; kinda reminds me of that Jessica Simpson comercial where she say's "I don't know what that is, but I want it..." Robert