ur13

Ya, looks good. Looks alot like the Nordica liners I have in my Heads right now. That's a very good thing.

Burton Elevators or Palmer Power Plates are a MUST for BX. The leverage on your edges is key.

This is all really nice to hear and has really shown me it is wise to wait until next season to buy a pair of 700T boots. Thank you. I'm especially glad to hear the info about the liners. I've had a few sets of Thermoflex liners in the past, some I molded myself, most my bootfitter did (The Starting Gate in VT). I've never liked them mostly due to their mushy feeling and material quality. This is why I was trying to find a pair for 700Ts with the standard lining (I found out Bomber is selling their demo boots with the standard liners). But reading the above is good to hear. (Though I do prefer the aesthetics of this year's white boots over the red ones shown in this thread. But I'll take functionality over color anyday.)

Burton made that once. Andy Coghlan's Safari 210s were just that. Not to mention they weighed as much as a Cadillac which helped to "go fast".

It's the logo for my favorite band of all time, The Sisters of Mercy. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sisters_of_Mercy

I started snowboarding when I was 10 years old. Got my first pair of Koflach mountaineering boots and plate bindings 2 years later. Of my 25 years snowboarding, 16 have been only in hardboots, 6 have been mixed between the two and 3 have been in softies only. Other than at Stratton I've not seen anyone under their mid 20s on alpine gear in some time. It's sad really. I know they are out there, I no longer race, but haven't seen them.

Yes, Whistler.

"ice" is relative to where you come from it seems. What passed for "icey" at Whistler on my recent trip would be "hero snow" in Vermont or New York. In my mind, "ice" is that stuff you can see your reflection in or the dirt/grass under it. Everything else is just hard snow. "chalk", that stuff that looks (and feels) like white sandstone, is often called "ice", but it is simply hard snow. That being said, ice is carveable with the right slope (for most, me included). The steeper it gets the more your margin for error and/or sloppy technique closes. So, in my mind, it mostly comes down to skill. Maybe 75/25 skill/snow. A good rider can adapt to any terrain/conditions and ride accordingly. Hero snow is named just for that, it makes everyone a hero.

Thought I'd share these photos, since they make me happy. Two hours doing laps does this. I felt sorry for some of the beginners falling in the trenches. Bluebird day. More here (along with cheesy tourist photos) if anyone cares... http://www.flickr.com/photos/fourtwelves/

If you are comfortable with that duck stance but can't link carves yet start there. However if you can link carves with that stance try something around +27/+12 and get a feel for that in softies. One of the massive problems I see with people who have learned to snowboard in the past 5 years is how many instructors teach people to ride in a duck stance for normal (i.e. non-park) riding. It really teaches bad habits. You'll be surprised how different it feels moving to a more "classic" soft boot stance of +27/+12. it won't be alpine but you'll see the difference and it will help you move on the road of riding alpine much better than a duck stance.

I find myself extending my body past the apex of a carve when I get lazy, especially on toe side turns. It definetly scrubs speed and holds up my edge transfer as opposed to staying compressed. It's an old legacy thing fir me, too many years of soft boots and carving like that. I found increasing my stance angle up into the high 60s has helped me control this habit as it forces my body forward facing and actually makes it harder to resort back to that layer out toe-side style. When my legs are fresh I have no issue stating compressed. Heel side turns I also never stretch out. I chalk this up to another of those bad habits I need to keep in check.

Back in Manhattan after another grueling flight home. It was nice to meet some of you locals. It was a bummer you found me after I had 3.5 hours on my legs of direct carving on the Madd, but still it was nice to meet you guys. Nigel, sorry we never met up...but it sounds like you had a great day as well. Good on you! You locals have a beautiful mountain. On the downside, if I lived around there I'd rarely ride alpine gear... I'd probably ski most of the time or at the very least ride softies and a big mountain/powder board. There is just too much fun stuff out there that would keep me from my hardboots (as much as I adore them). It seemed the two days i rode were some of the "hardest" and "blueest" you guys have had in some time (as I gathered on the lifts). Maybe I brought you guys some east coast love. I'll be back. It was grueling trip travel-wise, but that sure is a beautiful part of the world. Not to mention Vancouver is amazing (my GF and I spent some time there on Saturday, at Granville market and one very amazing Dim Sum place!).

Hey guys. So the only Internet access I have up here it via my iPhone. So this message is costing me like $4.50 to write. I rode today, started on the blackcomb side and got bounced around for a few hours then took the peak to peak over to whistler and found some better stuff to ride. I found the conditions far to my liking over there. Spent some time on the upper mountain but ended doing laps on the Olympic chair in the sun until my legs gave out around 3. Call me a wuss but that chair and what it services rocks. It could be steeper and I feel sorry for the beginners dealing with my ruts. But doing laps on hero snow in the sun with a slow triple chair (to rest the legs) is my idea of heaven. So all of those people who emailed me... I'll be doing laps on that chair tomorrow, starting around 10am, so if you want to ride with me come find me there. I'll be on the MADD tomorrow as I spent the day on the donek and found the 10m sidecut too big. So if you can slum it for some laps come over to the Olympic chair. Maybe you locals can talk me into going elsewhere if it is that smooth. If not feeling being knocked around tomorrow... Nor are me shins/calves! I did try upper dave Murray today. I could see that being fun but by the time I got there it was bumpy as hell. There was some other fun stuff to skiers left of it too. But none of it was as smooth as the Olympic area. Maybe I'll see some of you tomorrow.

Emial has been sent to all of you guys. I get in tomorrow and will get situated and figure out what my hosts have planned for my girlfriend and I for Thur and Fri. I'll email and post here once I know what my situation is. Some turns on Friday sounds great, I just can't say what time yet (gotta be a good guest first). Once I know. You'll know. If we miss one another for whatever reason. I'll be the guy on the silly short board. My Madd is 158, my soft Donek is 163...either one will be small to all you manly men on your giant boards. I'm from the east coast. If i can't see my reflection in the snow, I'm out of my element...hahaha. All that fluffy stuff....blah!

Working my ankles was what I relied on for so many years with lower angles. With narrow boards I struggled with the higher angles for that fact it took me a while to figure out that ankles played less of a role. Increasing my angles has helped alot to get that through my head. The whole higher angle thing happened by accident anyway. When I mounted my trusty TD1s on my Madd 158 this season it had been a few years since I set up a board. I misread the angles on the plates and then realized I was close to their limit (close to 70*). I rode like that for two days before I realized the angles were not the 60/57 I thought I put on there (my old "angles". I was having a much better time riding the board and was far more aggressive, the angle change made a noticeable difference. Especially when I stepped onto my Donek Freecarve, which I had mounted a new set of OS2s on (which I knew were set to 60/57 correctly)...I had alot of the same issues I struggled with when I was riding alot learning how to ride the higher angles. As soon as I moved those to 70/70 those issues went away and all was right again. Most of it is in my head but it sure has changed my riding this season...

1) The old rule of thumb for me was anything under 45* is "too low" (for hardboots and the upper limits for softies unless you had a 3rd strap) in the sense you begin to loose the forward facing stance and any advantage you get from that. I used to ride a Donek incline as a freeride board at 30/20 but trying that this year I'm damned if I can figure out how I used to enjoy that and make it work. But it's also relative to waist width. 70/70 on a 20cm waist board will feel slow and sloppy unless you have giant feet compare to 50/50 on the same board. 50/50 wouldn't work on a 18cm waist width board for most people due to overhang. 2) I rode 60/60 for years (since 2002). But this season I've upped my angles to 70/70 and much prefer it. It helps put me in the forward facing stance and keeps me there. It's hard to get lazy and resort back to riding a alpine board side to side like a normal board (which given all my years riding lower angles in softies and 45/45 in plates on asym boards was easy to do when I got lazy). 60/60 was a half step, albeit a long one, for me it seems. I simply can't imagine going back to the "lower" angles. Then again I like skinny short boards with tight sidecuts.

Ok, I'll be on snow at Whistler this Thursday (Feb 26th) and Friday (Feb 27th) all day and possibly for a few hours Saturday (Feb 28th) morning early. I'll most likely be spending Thursday with the people I'm there to hang out with but would love to meet up with some locals for a few runs here and there most likely on Friday. As I said go easy on me, by Friday my legs will be mush...not to mention I'm going to be playing with my stance and board setup trying to figure out what gear I will buy for next season. If for whatever reason we miss each other if you see a guy in all black (or a yellow soft shell if it's warmer), yellow HEAD boots and either a MADD 158 or red Donek that's me. I'll be the one lost on the mountain.

Well then you don't want a Donek Axxess. It will do fine on groomers, but as someone said it's a pickup truck for autocross. There are better options out there for dedicated groomer riding, especially if you prefer high stance angles. I figured, given the all-around board, you were looking for an off-piste hardboot option. If it's simply "a good deal" but not a good fit board or preference-wise...save your money and spend it on a board that has the correct dimensions for what you want.

High angles in off-piste all mountain riding will force your body forward, in the gunslinger stance (if you will). That stance is super effective for loading the nose or tail on groomers and/or riding (and staying) on edge. However in off-piste the forward facing body position is less than ideal and harder to adapt to conditions you face off-piste. Riding moderate angles will allow you to move forward to be aggressive, but gives ability to adapt to changing conditions faced in off-piste riding. More traditional heelside/toe-side control will be more versatile here over the right/left calf feel of high angles. High stance angles on a wide board will feel slow edge to edge (unless you have giant feet) given how far your toe/heel is from the edges. Also you'll loose alot of edge feel. The bigger problem here is more high stance angles on the wide board. Not high stance angles in off-piste.

Skidders will skid regardless of the gear. Those who wish to learn to ski and not skid can learn to carve a turn much faster and easier than back in 1984. Those who already know how to turn, even a crude carve (said terminal intermediates), can do it much more dynamically than before. I've watch world cup ski racing for since I was a kid. Those are the top skiers in the sport and always will be. Those guys and girls could make a 2x4 turn in a clean arch I'm sure. But look at how different the courses are now-a-days, especially slalom courses. Even the classic courses that haven't changed much in the past 3-40 years...look at the lines that those top athletes can get away with. It's remarkable.

All I know is shaped skis have made me want to learn to downhill ski (the only skis I've ever been on are cross-country an tele-mark gear). 25 years after I started snowboarding I plan on learning to ski next year, it looks like too much fun. I'll never stop riding alpine gear but have zero interest in snowboards that aren't alpine anymore. Skis will most likely become my preferred off-piste and no pristine groomer gear.

More like peak of saturation. Think of how many board makers had alpine gear in their lines back then. I'd argue that now-a-days, given how specialized and custom alpine is, that it's more marketable to those un-interested in mainstream snowboard trends. I have a feeling that marketability is relative though. I'll assume that the money involved in alpine then vs. now is around the same. We just have better gear now then we did then, with fewer (but more gear savvy) riders who spend more on gear than your average snowboarder.

High stance angles on a wider all-mountain alpine board like the Axxess will be a touch iffy. Lower angles, respectively between 50 and 60*, will allow you to adapt to many different types of terrain, snow conditions and turn types. Lower angles (around 45*) will be yet more versatile and a good middle ground between forward facing alpine and sideways facing board-sports. Sure you can skid turns and do jump turns with 70-80 degree angles, but it's not that fun. All mountain alpine boards are meant to be a compromise between aggressiveness of a proper alpine deck and the versatility of a all mountain board. Not to mention, high angles on a wide board will make the thing feel really slow edge to edge and take away any "feel" you have of the edge, given how far your heel/toe will actually be from the edge. It isn't impossible to get a wide waisted board on edge with high stance angles, but there are more effective ways to do it.

Maybe this was true 17 years ago when hardboots where at their peak. I used to be "that guy", the soft boot rider who tried to carve like a proper alpine rider. I had been riding exclusevly hardboots since about 87 and in 1993 decided to move away from them for softies and become the bastard son of Andy Coglhan and Craig Kelly (with a little Peter Bauer thrown in too boot). The little I still raced I wore my hardboots but for 90% of my riding I was on normal boards or asym race decks with 45+ angles in 2 or 3 strap softies. At the time the new-found jib kids with their 21"+ stances (just starting their take over of snowboarding) looked at me like a kook and the alpine guys I raced with looked at me as a bigger kook. I never owned a Burton Asym Air, but I tried to make softies work like hardboots...that was non-conformist back then. Now-a-days in snowboarding... anyone who rides gear made to actually turn and carve (not flop around and skid like most mainstream gear is now) is a non-conformist. These people are us as the alpine guys, freeriders, BX riders and big-mountain guys riding hard or soft boots. Basically we like to turn and not skid. That distinction alone is enough to make us non-conformists in the face of what snowboarding is in 2009. Especially given that 95% of the boards, bindings, boots sold in snowboard shops now are almost useless for carving a turn and properly weighting a board through a carve.

Great angle! Wonderful video. It's interesting to see how the board interacts with the snow and how that differs from how you see it in your mind or from a standard angle. It reminds me of some of the onboard angles you see of MotoGP riders, especially while cornering.