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Any old Ride binding is the best ! The ones with the full metal base plate. Get the cheapest model, otherwise you get toe risers that have to be ground completely out. Along this line of thinking, you can also locate a 3/8 inch thick HARD rubber pad and put it under your heel. The idea is "heels high, toes low". Logic behind this is that in attack position the standard binding has too much "toe attack angle" and too little "heelside attack angle". Crouch slightly (on your kitchen floor in a freeride stance) and then try to raise your heels and then your toes. Even without board on your can see that you have "too much toe power" and very little ability to transfer weight to your heels and raise your toes. Do the above mod and equalize your foot weighting on the board when you are in a slight attack crouch. Total Investment $80 + $2 for the pads. my Donek with old Ride Bindings The setup burns a nice carve Sic...

6. "The LOOPER" - this rider has the 360 carve finally nailed after all these years of trying. as a result he enjoys looping everything on the mountain. Most favorite target is the entire High School ski racing team as they stand on the hill awaiting further instructions from their coach. BTW, the 360 Loop is not considered successful unless it is a clean carve -- and the rider just continues down the hill as if space/time itself was just warped for a few seconds. 7. "The HIGH MARKER" - this is a variation of the 360 carve. the idea is to bomb a black diamond slope, do a 180 degree bottom turn and shoot back up an entirely different slope. Before momentum is lost another carving 180 is executed taking the boarder back down the hill once again. Leaves strange carving tracks on the victimized slope that noone can explain. Especially sweet if combined with another 360 carve after the high mark has been laid down. Successive runs attempt to set even higher marks so this becomes an all day "get crazy" activity. Yes, its similiar to the infamous snowmobile maneuver ... thus the name; "high marking". 6 & 7 this year. :) Be careful !! You got to really check b4 u go for it. Sic...

That's great news. I have always wanted to go to Belleayre but have NEVER made it there. And I love the other 2 NY state owned resorts (Gore and Whiteface). In fact I hope to own a house at Whiteface by next winter. And that will become my retirement home soon thereafter !! So I am interested. And I got time on my hands since I took off work for 6 months starting Monday !! yay me. So, what is the plan (before motocross season starts) Sic

anybody going up to Stowe next week ?? Sic

JT, I might "work from home" Friday (which means boarding Mt. Peter and going home every 1.5 hours to see if I have any instant messages of people looking for me! :) ) What time u had in mind for the Creek (assuming Friday is an option for u). Sic..

JT, thanks for posting. but looks like I'll be at Whiteface on Sunday. Rode yesterday at Mt. Peter. Snow was good, soft, like out of snow cone machine. Then, as usual of my habits there, my last 2 runs I don't use the lift. Just hike it for the exercise. Tough mountain when you do that. Anyway, will keep checking back. Sic

JT, Actually I just got back from Hunter a few minutes ago (fri the 25th). Bluebird day but guns were on and it was windy. Reasonably good carving conditions. Moguls on Claire's got good later in the day. I'm really into getting my 360's down. Hunter had a great spot for them. Lift line is perpendicular to lift cables. You just bomb straight into their intersectin (with wide scared eyes peering from the line) and I belt out a ripping 360 afte every run. I get a solid ripping carve for 300 degrees now and then a clean flat board carve to complete it. I get so close now to pulling that carving "3" its eating me up ! Its going to happen. My carving is excellent this year. (same burton balance and softies !! ) I'll be at Shawnee all day tomorrow morning with my brother and other family. Probably again on Sunday. Soon I will have lots of time to board. In mid February I will be taking a off work until September. Just to have fun, snowboard and ride my motocross bike. We'll get it together b4 then though. I'll post! Later wild man! Sic

Yup, those were my tracks on my Burton Balance & softies. I go to Mt. Peter a lot now. I find it so much better than MC and its so close to home (2 miles). Usually just there in the morning for 2 hours then I split for work. Bluebird days only... like today. It was a post of yours (last year) that turned me onto Mt. Peter. I learned there but going back, as per your advice, was a very pleasant surprise. Mostly I dive the trail you were doing and then do my 360's next to the lift. That was all those turns you saw. I get a solid 270 degrees in a deep carve and then I have to go almost flat board, but still carving, to complete it and pull up to the lift. Its fun ripping that place up. Its SOOOO pretty with the A+ grooming and all and the I come and wreck it. I have never seen someone else "wreck the joint" until you hit it today. I stand humbled. You ride like a god. lol I'll post here when I plan to go again. Possible friday morning, but that may be a hunter day too. we'll see. Sic

Eric, That be you (for only a few runs) on a short board Wednesday, Jan 23rd at Mt. Peter ?? Tell me it is, cause I don't want to believe someone else can ride like that in our area !! Later, Sic

Just got back from Utah after a week at Snowboard. My son and I both riding Burton Fishes (156's) out there. The board is a tree pow champion for sure. No stress on the rear leg. Only downside with that board is that you can't ride it switch in pow. Not even for 1 foot at 1 mph ! Say, as you need to back out of a tight spot you got yourself into in the trees. It will dive instantly and just crash you out. Its really poor like that. Again, pow only. As for hardpack it carves brilliantly (on packed powder groomers). Even if there is no dust on the top its cool. Even back east. Even switch. But there is a point when it will not tolerate anymore slope hardness and it becomes a real handful. Basically, the slope has to suck anyway at that point (well, suck for anything short of plates on carve deck). One day we bailed out of snowbird and rode Brighton. On those packed powder groomers its the king of the carve for sure! Nobody else on the mountain comes close. And all on a pow board. Fish rules. Sic

Here you JT. Doubt I'll ride the Creek this year at all unless I hear some raving reports about positive changes there. I got so sick of north trail being permanently confiscated for park purposes and/or those unannounced "quarantines" of good south peak carving slope for the ski teams that I just walked away from MC entirely. If I have 1 hour I got to Mt. Peter. If I have a day I go to Shawnee or Hunter. If I have a weekend its Gore & Whiteface. And if I have a week its Salt Lake City on my Fish. But I will remember to post up if here is a chance we can ride some trail together. Later! Sic

JT. Emergency: You are needed in the main forum. Everyone their seems to think its hard to carve 360's on hardboots. lol Wish I had a movie of you right now doing it on softies! I'm a Mt. Peter guy, on bluebird weekday mornings now. Last week at Snowbird Utah on my Burton Fish. Talk about Ptex rips. Ride on, Sic

JT & Eric, RE: a little heads up for you NY carvers .... Hunter is a freebee tomorrow with any season pass: http://www.huntermtn.com/event_anymountain.html Won't be a carving day (warm weather). Bring your moguls board (or soft, tight radius carver). Every trail is open in a big way. I'll be there with my son and daughter doing it all. Sic

I'll be up north somewhere because conditions are epic north of Hunter and Windham. Can't miss out on it. Thought about you last weekend at Gore. Rode my Burton Fish (pow board) for the first time since I bought it last year. Figured there was some powder to at least test it out. Surprise, surprise, is that thing ever quick "edge to edge". Stomps my 160 Incline in that regard. Carves up a storm on the groomers too. And in moguls, its "top dog" for sure. Hard, soft, doesn't matter. It romps and stomps. Fantastic board. My son and I fought over it all weekend !! We kept wondering to ourselves why people label this board a handful on hardpack. If you were there we could have had some 360's, in softboots, on a Fish !! Showed them all a thing or two about "fishing". lol Sic

JT, Thanks for the heads up. If I got it will be to Hunter. Bought a Burton Fish the end of last season and I want to put it in deep POW !! Ken...

A "must try once" is also Tuxedo Ridge (former Sterling Forest). Their lift has a new cable and at least it runs at a decent speed now. Not nearly as much money (infrastructure investment) has been put into Tuxedo as compared to Mt. Peter recently but it does have ONE carving run. It has excellent terrain detail to pump: once you clear the relatively flat area at the top. It also has an excellent runout at the bottom, great for ripping circles in full view of the lodge windows. That always helps !! Monday thru Thursday is only $10. I was there last Sunday. Only like 15 people on the hill for the first 1.5 hours. And half of them were ski patrol. http://www.skituxedoridge.com This year I'm going to be at Mt. Peter before work on weekday mornings, Hunter for daytrips and Gore-Whiteface for entire weekend trips. And that's pretty much it for me for the rest of this year. Sic

Eric, I gave Mount Peter a try this morning, based on comments you made in another thread. Its only 5 minutes from my house so commuting was the easy part. Pleasantly surprised. Grooming was super. Facilities are nicely upgraded. New lift is great. Managed to get in some turns, go home, shower, commute 40 minutes and be into work at noon. Can't be that. Thanks for the heads up on this one. And I was the ONLY ONE on the mountain for the first hour !! The Old Man

Hey, JT. Whiteface !! good for you. I'm stuck here at work. Probably be at Hunter or Gore this weekend. Later, Sic

I'll keep that Whiteface 2/1 -2/4 long weekend in mind. If the weather is reasonable I think I can make that happen. Won't be boarding this weekend as the weather is a definitely a real skunker. But it will be perfect for the YZ450 on Sunday. Not my preference, this time of year, but what can you do but adapt. Will be in touch. Sic

Hey JT !! (& Maciek if you still remember me from the MC slalom classes....) I was at Hunter on Thursday (12/28) and Sunday (12/31). Had a great time both days. Thursday was more carveable but Sunday had way better mogul riding (and great sugar snow riding between the snowpack edge and the fence/trees). Both days were great. Actually, probably better than if it had been normal weather conditions as the depressing conditions kept tons of people away. Wicked fast that man made snow ! You won't see me at the Creek this year. Did not buy a season ticket. I just had enough of that place. I mean, I can deal with South but I can't deal with the best slopes constantly being closed for the ski teams every weekend. So, no MC for me this year especially since that new building on the Vernon slopes looks like a real crowd maker. So they can stuff their lift ticket (and their priority parking fees) up their snowgun. Hunter, Gore and Whiteface. I have frequent skiers at all 3. Gore is a great carving mountain. Only place I ride my flows or winds. The old guy

You did not get the most imporant point in Jack's article (actually from the Hurt report way back when). The helmet is only designed to save you from, literally, a gravity fall. This is roughly equivalent to standing on a chair and passing out and falling over backwards and striking your head. That stone wall impact would be a speed impact. You would be soooo dead. Sic

All full face helmets are basically the same. I'd avoid buying one at Wal-Mart but that's about it. Differences are just the weight, comfort and "pretty paint thing". make sure it fits quite snug. "snug" has an added benefit too. chances are the exterior shell is one dimension so a "medium" will have a thicker foam liner than a "large". now there is one major difference you need to be aware of: buy a highly visible color so you do not get run over. this is no small deal. if you get run over on a bike chances are the "cell phone talking", inattentive Lincoln Navigator driver (with mild eye cataracts) probably never saw you when they made a left turn right in front of you. Be seen or be a road pizza ! Sic

looks to be from around 1995, give or take a year.

Eric, I take exception to one thing: softbooters don't need "toilet paper". remember, we can sit on a mogul. You can't !! Sic