WinterGold

Hey ... so much positive feedback ... :) ... thank you ! About the board - it is an SG Full Race Pro Team 163. Specs: nose: 26cm, waist: 20,3cm, tail: 24cm, radius: 11,8m. I use UPZ RC 10 in gray from this season.

First of, I must say that I really like all my different alpine board sizes. The 185s are amazing boards. They are such a comfortable ride, even at higher speeds. And my new 170 (SG Full Race Titan) is an excellent allrounder which handles almost like an SL shape, but makes wider turns when on the edge and it also likes higher speeds better. BUT Reading a lot here in the forum, I found that there is quite a lot of love for the boards in the 170 range and also for the GS sizes, but SL sizes are not mentioned that often. Of course, it depends on the riding style, the different resorts, personal preferences, etc. Nevertheless I must confess that I love my slalom boards ... I use them quite a lot. - when I go to a new resort and I´m not sure what awaits me - when the weather is not good and visibility is poor - when I feel full of energy and I want to work on my board - when I feel a bit lazy and just want to cruise around ;) - when I feel like trying some (new) tricks - when I want to do a bit of jumping - when I work on certain drills (e.g. short turns - not carved) - when I want to get thrown from one turn to the next pretty fast - when I want to have this special "light" edge feeling - when the mountain is crowded - when lots of moguls can be expected - ... Therefore I vote for a bit of SL love !!! <object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvSmUIOaY48?fs=1&hl=de_DE"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvSmUIOaY48?fs=1&hl=de_DE" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object>

benttech - upper body position is a very personal thing and you will find all kinds of positions (EC anyone? ;)). If you want to learn something about your riding, just post a short video and we will help you. I don´t want this thread to turn into a technique discussion. This was not the intention of this thread. Keep improving !

two_ravens - thanks for the kind words! Maybe the raspberry suit will make a return - at least for some pics :D ...

BlueB, it is a 165. Waist width is 255mm. Only 5mm of taper. Materials are top of the line from Burton (Carbon I-Beam, WFO Base, etc.). Of course it uses Burton´s S-Rocker (camber between the bindings and rocker from the front binding to the tip).

I will never understand why the Piranha was only released under the Series 13 program and later as a very limited edition (mainly for the Japanese market). For me, it´s the perfect mix. The Jones Hovercraft also looks very promising this season! It´s not about blowing away, but you saw Terje and you are not convinced that softboots work in such conditions :D ... I like the "free" ankles in powder for cutbacks and other stuff ... for me it feels better than the plastic ankles ... but no reason to argue here ... to each his or her own

Phil, epic conditions !!! The Stellar really looks stellar!!! I love that board! There will be a Burton Fish next year (and it looks great in yellow/gold!) and the Malolo is replaced by a board called Barracuda - the specs are pretty similar. It also has nice graphics (white board). Burton´s S-Rocker works really nice in powder for me (the few days I get with deep snow :(). Coming from a surfing background, I ride my Burton Piranha (a mix between the Fish and the Malolo) with softboots :D ...

Thanks for all the positive feedback Alpine is here to stay :D ...

You are absolutely right. I also had no issues. But the question was about compatibility of the system. No plates and hardly any other bindings ...

All the high end boards will still have the channel for 2012 ... And something else - did you notice that Burton reduces its performance oriented gear year by year? They had very good bindings for BX and carving (C60 and C02) - this year there was no C60 for 4x4 boards anymore (only the est Version - which doesn´t make much sense, right?). For next year there is no more C60 or C02 at all! At least they still have the DriverX, but it´s basically the same shoe as this year. There is also no more T7 (formerly T6) board. Don´t get me wrong. I love Burton bindings because they are so comfortable and I was also a real Burton fan for many years, but this is a strange development ...

All those cool posts :o ... Thank you so much! GeoffV - actually I´m not that far away from the Hochkar! I live in Vienna. I have about one hour to the next mountain by car. The Hochkar is about 3 hours away. I have a few days there every season.

Thanks for your nice comments so far!!! kinpa - I think the song was featured at the end of Burton´s Scream of Consciousness video from 1991. It was a classic scene where riders were going through a wood at an amazing speed. This images will be burned into my brain forever :D. The song is called "I´m free" and it was performed by "The Soup Dragons". Hans - Don´t spill the beans ;) ...

I wouldn´t say that riding duck is just for park riders. I love doing some tricks on the slope (e.g. nose- and tailrolls, nose- and tailpresses, different 180° and 360°, nose- and tailslides, etc.). For such tricks you get a very balanced stance when riding duck. Carving switch is also more relaxed. And I don´t think you get a bad technique just from rotating your back foot a bit (see pics - stance is 18° -6°). For my BX and powder boards I use a forward stance (21° 9°). For me there is not that much difference. It´s just that I do less tricks (and also less switch riding) on those boards. So there is no real need for a duck stance.

This is an appreciation thread :D ... I have been on a snowboard for almost a quarter of a century. I always try to take what the mountain has to offer. It doesn´t matter to me what kind of equipment I use. It just has to fit the conditions. I have just spend 11 straight days on my boards. Riding a freestyle board (yes, in duck stance ), a BX board, an SL alpine board (SG Full Race Pro Team 163) and an allround alpine board (SG Full Race Titan 170). Therefore I think that I have a certain feeling for what can be done in the different areas of this sport. I will never understand why alpine underwent such a strange development. There is so much potential in this sport (but I guess this is the wrong place to emphasis this fact ;)). When thinking about the development, a certain ad from Burton always comes to my mind. Victoria Jealouse doing a nice laydown frontside carve at the top and the bottom read "Alpine is dead." in big red capital letters. Back then I thought it was just meant as a provocation. But now I understand that many people already had this opinion in 1995. We still kept up the alpine spirit in those days :D ... see the picture below of a frontside in 1998 (on a red Burton FP in 157 - that was a really small board ;)) ... In 2001 I wrote my diploma thesis on the influence and development of freestyle and alpine snowboarding. By then alpine had been pushed out of the limelight almost completely. The alpine market made up about 3% to 5% of the whole snowboard market. Not sure about the numbers of today, but I guess they haven´t improved ... But then something else comes to my mind - the being different, the feeling of doing something special, the other people on the slope staring at you in wonderment (they still don´t know what they are missing ...), all the new friends, the great community (like the one here!), the few but extremely dedicated companies and the passion behind their efforts, etc. All this would not happen if we were mainstream ... so I guess the development is not that bad after all ... Keep slicing the frozen wave! (The second shot is from this November - going fast on my SG Full Race Pro Team 185) This video is from the last few days - I´m on the SG 170 - Alpine is dead, right? <object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMMOVl4FBhw?fs=1&hl=de_DE"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMMOVl4FBhw?fs=1&hl=de_DE" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object>

Buell, I will happily comply (PM is on the way ...) By the way, everything you just posted is also true for an SG raceboard, which is no real surprise, right?

Sweet ! I love your flow ... very smooth transitions!

Willow 15, you know that we are talking about the top WC companies here, so I wouldn´t say that there is a winner. But of course there are differences in the concepts which according to personal taste might be an advantage or a disadvantage. For my personal opinon, I have sent you a PM ;) ...

philw, excellent observations ! I must say that I never missed the 'pop' in this kind of boards, especially not in the SL sizes (where you can push the boards into really tight turns and get a good kick at the end of it), but this is just personal taste and there are definitely boards with more pop.

Buell - excellent quiver ... I was thinking about the Jones Hovercraft myself for this season, but I still have a functioning Burton Piranha, so there was no need for it ... still, it is such a beautiful board! And the Kesslers look amazing!!! The white one is so nice and the blue one is even better ... István and *Ace* and lowrider - ... Did I miss something? What are you refering to?

There is no magic formula to it. You just have to force yourself again and again to go backwards. Remember all the exercises and routines you went through when you started snowboarding. BlueB posted some very good exercises above. You must always remember that the weight distribution is turned around now. By the way, I learned switch carving on softboots (you have a more relaxed stance when using low angles) and later transfered the technique to hardboots. As a regular rider, have you ever tried riding goofy for a day (or at least an hour) or the other way around? It is a very interesting experience - especially skating to the lift and using ground lifts ...

Sweet, crack676!!! A bit more details, please ! Specs? No inserts for plates? :D

The question is how old you were when you started snowboarding ;). We are not old as long as the young riders don´t kick our butts :D ! Experience goes a long way ...

The Kessler site has been updated. There is also a bit of information for the 3 plate types. http://www.kessler-swiss.com/en-US/pages/products/bindingPlate/presentation All of the plates can be adjusted in the width.

You shouldn´t have said that. It ruins the illusion ... But nevertheless tell us your results! I have heard quite a lot about these two boards. Can´t wait to try the Full Carve. All I know is that the Full Race works according to plan :D ...

Of course there are some general guide lines concerning canting and lift. And it is logical that you use canting for lower angles and lift for higher angles and all kinds of mixes in between. BUT I don´t think that one special setup is more comfortable or has a better performance than another one in general. As I understand it, there are several people on this forum who use outward canting on their back foot. If inward canting and outward canting work well, why shouldn´t flat be an option? And about the setup of professionals - it is true that most racers use rather a lot of lift and some also a high canting, but this is also not universal. Benjamin Karl, one of the top technicians in the world, uses only a minimal amount of lift in his setup. I wouldn´t adjust my setup only carpet carving.