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I flew them last year from NYC to Salt Lake. I inquired about maximum size and they kind of looked at me like I was crazy for asking. We brought two packages of boards containing 165's and there were no extra charges. sic

Bunnies too "Peeps" layed 1,200 eggs before menopause sic

Hunter Mountain doesn't pay attention to the bean counters. This weekend will be awesome up there. sic

missed you JT! looked for your tracks all weekend. It was pretty good actually. especially Saturday and Sunday. no crowds to speak of. looked more like impending bankruptcy than a busy NYC ski area. even rode the Donek Incline both days. it carves better than my Burton Pipe board, at speed, and the big plus is that its such an uncompromising tank in the moguls that the little Mountain Creek anthills become quite challenging. So I did find some use for it after all. Personally, I think MC "south" is just short on compressor power. I was there earlier in the week when it was 8 degrees and you can count the active guns on both hands. Whereas total guns must be 50 or so. Either that or they are cheap with the energy bill. I think the former. sic

I thought it odd that the crowds were no worse than any other Sunday during the season (until after lunch). Zero lift line on Bear and only a few minutes on South. So I had a great morning. Only idiots on the hill were the Mountain Creek instructors on skis. Obviously they are used to those lame banana turns and think its carving. As a result they always cut crazy close when overtaking and don't realize how close they came to being a 98.6 degree death cookie. See you on the hill high school teacher and Inn owner! Maybe I'll ride the Alp this year. sic

snowbird is a steep, techy place with lift lines during XMAS week that will pin your ears back even by east coast standards. park city or the canyons would be best. just keep in mind that its so soft out there this time of year that you really need snow shoes just to be able to walk safely on slopes that have been just freshly groomed (warm salt lake water = lake effect snow every night). so choose a board accordingly. do rent 4-wheel drive if you plan on Powder Mountain, Brighton, Solitude, Alta, Snowbird. The front wheel drive rental cars without snow tires barely make it up (plus its illegal). sic

Awesome video, poor kid, and thank god for that deep Utah base. I was in Utah (5 resorts) for 8 days last year around XMAS and found the chair rules loose too (I'm from NY). Like noone ever put the bar down out there and when you ask they give you a weird look. I got on the lift once with 3 patrollers and waited until we were high off the ground before I requested to put it down. Again, the weird look. I told them I thought their rules were crazy loose out there. They said they think its safer without the bar down since kids don't have to fiddle with it when they get off. They said "you will get used to it". Well, I said, consider this: all over the east "its the law". And what you are probably not aware of is we get used to leaning forward into the bar to crank our front bindings down tighter for the exit ramp, then rock back and raise the bar. And let me tell you this, if I do that by mistake and there is no bar to catch me I will begin to fall out of the chair, and on my way out I will grab right and left in a blind panic and two of you are going to go out of the chair with me. sic

There are two styles through hard, steep, cutup-and-edged, icey moguls on a board: the traditional skier line and the snowboarder line. So I think the answer you get from anyone depends upon which style they have in their head the moment you ask them. And, of course, this is mostly imaginary since serious moguls are generally avoided at all times by almost all boaders. The "skier line" requires godlike skills and no special explanation here: you do what high end mogul skiers do. Shoulders squared up to the fall line, tip pointed downhill at all times with edges popping off the extreme left or right edges of a given arrangement of moguls as you traverse a DEAD STRAIGHT LINE downhill. I have seen it done once or twice over 9 years of boarding by an alpine rider and can still picture the guys run in my mind right now. Its that rare. Equipment? Longish, softish nose, big base bevels, lesser sidecut, the steeper the binding angle (more ski-like the better) is what I observed. The physical conditioning required? Truly only the turf of real supermen. The "snowboader line" is to find those "other" lines that skiers can't see: carve across the tops. Basically what you see when you look downhill is a series of disconnected bunny slopes (the tops of the death moguls). Your job is to just connect the dots as you look downhill and just survive the transition between them. The equipment? shortish, stiff nose, low base bevels, no detuning, lots of sidecut and super, super sharp edges to allow you get the nose to carve UP the side of a mogul and get you onto its top and out of harms way. Physical conditioning required? Nothing special. So best board? Probably the one that compliments style #2. Of course there is the 3rd style: the "I hate this place and now I remember why I never come here anymore". That's pretty much the style I see all the time in the moguls. sic

I got another weekend of motocross to ride so I'll be missing it. stay in touch though.... sic

nice one Stan. Hunter Mountain... that be June on your right?

don't worry. doubt you'll make 50 pulling stuff like that without a helmet. 54 years old sic

I can't imagine how a shield would work in the cold. Especially one that is only a single lense. Every breath would create fog ice on the inside. And if you ran into a snow gun they could build a hockey rink on your face. How would you remove it on the chairlift and scrape it off? That's a would be a lot of "squiggly" square inches to scrape while you held it in your hand. I don't get it. Maybe the snowmobilers among us can explain. sic

snowblades ROCK! wow, I had such a good time on them at Mount Snow (after someone on the company ski trip borrowed my snowboard and got lost with it leaving me with nothing but their snowblades). Oh, they don't carve worth a crap. And they don't float worth a crap either. What you do on snowblades is use them just like you would hockey skates. Rip assing around people like you are skating for a hockey goal net (better yet with a beer in your hand). In that environment they are the #1 tool because they can generate big speed on flats and you can careen around people like you are a NY ranger. So, it "all depends" on the conditions as usual. still riding at 54 sic t 2

sounds great. good luck with everything. sic

Hampton, huh... I lived in Whitehouse Station for 5 years. Its a great area to live. I used to sail my hobie catamaran on the Round Valley / Spruce Run reservoir systems all summer. Its how I "babysat" my sons when they were under 5 years old. You are also close to Shawnee. And Mountain Creek isn't far. I think one of the absolute best places to carve is Mountain creek on a sunny, windless, weekday morning. Noone is there, perfect corduroy and classical music playing in the lodges. You can't beat it. I have a season ticket there just for weekday mornings. Its virtually free ($225). Enjoy being a dad. Kids are fun and will keep you young. Soon they will want to snowboard and it will be your solemn duty as a father to bring them to Vermont every weekend. Its one of those hidden perks of being a dad. Still riding at 54 Sic t 2

yup, the Alp, Winds and mouse traps.

Had to lookup "sitski" on google to see what you were talking about. Its similar to the air chair in all concepts except one: air chair requires for and aft weighting to control altitude (basically the elevator control on an airplane). But keep in mind that you don't have to fly an air chair on its hydrofoil. When learning everyone just taxi's it. Or just planes the board itself on the surface of the water in an identical manner to the "sitski". So there is no reason not to learn directly on the air chair. (( My boats still in the water in front of my house so there is still time left in this season,,, if you have a light wetsuit )). You are so aggressive at Hunter I'm sure you'd be a star on the SkySki in no time. I'll be sure to hook up with you when I'm up at Hunter and we'll do some carves together. We can check out your setup then and I'll let you know how I think an Alpine "bomber" board would work on it. You probably met Stan or Chip up there. See you on Hellgate. Unless you got that wetsuit handy! Sic t 2

I have a gold, 2004, 160 incline for sale. Used once, put in the closet. Does not suit my style of riding. Only first day wear on it. Pretty much perfect. Didn't ride it with plates so maybe its a superstar with them on it. However, I have no further interest in the board and will never find out. $135 Sic

Tom, I ride Hunter almost every Sunday. Rarely use my carving board there as its hardly a carve friendly mountain unless your carving skills are WAY UP THERE. Usually keep that in the trunk for Mountain Creek or Stratton. But Hunter is a blast to ride all crazed out on a freestyle board. If you ride Sunday's at Hunter you know the me (the old, old guy) for sure. Usually like to rip carves as I pass through mid station on my way to the next double black mogul field. Say, I think I spoke to you once up there. Was really impressed by your agressive riding all day. It was in the spring and I told you about the "Sky Ski" (water toy) and thought maybe you could ride in it. That be you? Say, is that a regular ski you use or an Alpine board under your snow ski chair? Sic t 2

Thomas, Consider that there is absolutely no reason why you can't carve on soft boots and a freeride board. In fact you should be able to put down gorgeous arcs in the snow on any burton freeride/freestyle board with soft boots on. And in many ways its more rewarding since it takes a very deft touch to do it. Granted you can't do it on plate ice (can't bust through) nor can you get as "low" on regular groomed slopes). Which is a bit of a mute point anyway for few on hardbooters can do that for very long (get rad bomber low) before their legs turn to rubber and they are back in the lodge. Yes, there is the extreme carving style, which does not load your legs as heavily, but noone here accepts that style of riding and they put great effort into discreditting it every chance they get (even if it takes bogus board reviews to do it). Probably because of the very high skill level required to do it. So if you don't have the bucks just go back onto the slopes next month believing that "it can be done" on softboots. All you really need to do is read this article. That's all you need for now. And if you find you carve and you carve damn well, then make the investment later on because this game is definitely for you. http://www.bomberonline.com//articles/feel_the_carve.cfm Sic

120 mph this morning, down route 287 in New Jersey, in a Mercury Sable rent-a-wreck (with one of those skinny spare tires on the rear axle). Sic

The cop is a pinhead. But I like the '99 Hayabusa. Lots of potential there in stock form. http://www.sportrider.com/bikes/146_perf_nums Sic

oh no, what a terrible tragedy. I have son "up there" that I lost when he was 17. He'd be 26 now. A snowboarder too. In fact that is what brought me to the sport. 3 weeks after he died on Dec 7th, 1995 I just picked up his board and gear and wanted to give it life again. I still use the jacket and pants evey time I ride. All sun bleached and almost shreds now, but it brings me good vibes. I'll have Justin take greet Line when she arrives. Sic t 2

Sorry to be a little abrupt in that last post Jack. I'm glad to see that now you don't even see the need for the shot of nitrous to reach 200 mph. Sic

Don't ever attempt to fly an airplane. You clearly don't understand the difference between air speed and ground speed. Sic