Kurt Swanson

Truly amazing that the only site I can find for reasonable discourse on this pandemic has been a snowboarding forum. Thank you all for giving your opinions and perspectives on this disease and keeping politics out of it for the most part. I've learned quite a bit from you about the pandemic. Of course, I've learned a lot here about carving as well, so maybe I shouldn't be so surprised...

Crystal Mountain (Michigan) de-commissioned their "Cheers" chairlift 2 seasons ago. They were trying to sell them for around $600 a piece and not getting many takers. If they still have some, you may be able to negotiate a sweet deal....

Although I'm a fairly cautious person, I realize when I do take risks they are calculated risks. But those risks typically affect only me. Due to the pandemic, I'm of the mindset now that my choices can have disastrous effects on others as well. Yes I'm an "8" talking to a "2". My wife now says she will postpone her trip to Colorado until early May. Still probably way too soon...

Since so many of you are located all around this country (USA) and the world for that matter I was wondering about your perspective on travel right now. Sister-in-law of mine is planning to fly from Colorado next week to visit her kids and mom here in Michigan. She then is planning on driving north to stay with us for a few days. My wife (her sister) thinks it would be a great idea to fly or drive back to Colorado with her for a few days, since flights are so cheap now. I have strong opinions against this trip, but I'm curious to here your opinions.

Was supposed to fly out to Denver this Wednesday. We had to cancel all our reservations. Since my wife's sister lives near Denver we were not out the cost of lodging. My wife is very close to her sister, so she suggested we do two trips to Colorado next season, one in December, one in March. That takes some of the sting out of this...

A skier with a very serious look on his face approached me and said, "a small child fell into one of your trenches". Sensing that he was one of my brothers-in-sarcasm I asked if the child was still in there and if we should haul him out with some rope....

Keeping my hands and elbows in closer to my body. I've finally broken my habit of "steering" with my arms. The result is that I'm now carving on hills that were previously to steep for me to handle. A HUGE breakthrough for me!

Loved your story. One of my favorite aspects of snowboarding and skiing is how many generations it connects. Grandma and grandpa riding with their kids and grand-kids. Everyone having an equally good time.

How does Sigi Grabner use the Red Bull logo on his boards? No copyright infringement? Is there a connection between him and that energy drink company?

TD2’s with steel intec receivers, yellow e-rings. 3 & 6 degree cants. $200 plus shipping. SOLD.

That made me think of the WKRP In Cincinnati Thanksgiving episode with the "turkey-drop" from a helicopter. (turkeys can't fly). Oh, the humanity! Glad no one was hurt in your episode Pat....

And that title could be "So weed is legal in Michigan now..."

So, I'm finishing a run at my local hill and a very young woman ahead of me in the lift line says "Oh you're The Beautiful One who has been "paint-brushing" the hill with your hands!" She totally caught me off-guard with that comment, I mean how do you respond to that? The best part though, was the fact that my wife and two good friends were standing next to me when she said it. So I was called The Beautiful One the rest of the day.

Thanks, Martin. I'll check that out. I'm hoping to send as much equipment out as possible so wrapping boards in cardboard isn't practical.

I'm hoping to ship two boards and maybe some clothing. The rest I can just check in at the airport.

...instead of letting the airlines handle it. Just wondering if any of you have done a ski trip where you sent your equipment ahead of you using UPS, FedEx, etc. I have family in the Denver area so that would be perfect place to have it sent. Would I still be able to use my canvas board bag or would I have to purchase a hard shell case like Sportube? It's getting to be a bigger hassle to fly with boots, boards and a weeks worth of clothing and I'm wondering about alternatives.

pm sent.

Finally selling my Donek Axxess to make room for another board. A great all-mountain board, perfect for a beginner. Board is in great shape with the expected wear for a board this age. Asking price is $150 plus shipping. thanks for looking.

Good for you Frank. I know what it's like to bonk 70 miles into a ride and still have 10 miles to go. Those kids will remember your generosity and hopefully pass it on.

The hill I ride near me is only about 400' vertical. I'm very conscious about who is riding ahead of, or more importantly, who is coming behind me. The run I'm usually on has a chairlift right next to it so I can give it a quick scan and evaluate whether the next rider is a wannabe ski racer or not. A couple of seasons ago there was no one downhill from me and no one at the top or even getting off the lift. So the coast is clear, right? I start down using only the left half of the hill and on my second turn I see a skier flying down the middle of the run. I'm heading across the fall line towards him, so I start my toeside turn sooner than expected. As I'm turning he clips the exposed bottom of my board and proceeds to tumble all the way down to the bottom. I stopped to watch and then proceeded down to where he was. After asking if he was okay, he said he was and of course offered no apology or explanation. I guess I was still in a little shock, because I should've been screaming at him for hitting the ONLY other rider on the hill. Thankfully I wasn't hurt and my board didn't even suffer a scratch, but I certainly avoided that doofus for the rest of the day....

Not in the lift line, but in the line for TSA screening at Salt Lake City airport one of the screeners asked me "what is that in your backpack?". I knew exactly what caused her confusion without even looking. I told her they were the bindings from my snowboard, which I had removed to save weight in my board bag. I had enough common sense that day to not mention the name "Bomber"....

Thanks, that was one of the things I noticed as well. I usually ride at Crystal Mountain, but was at Caberfae last weekend.

My last day of carving was this past weekend. (Northern Mich.) It seems like every year I learn one thing that inches my progress forward. I frequently reach for the snow with my inside hand causing me to break at the waist and lose edge control on the board. I usually make a conscious effort to raise my hand or elbow. What I learned this year is if I take my outside hand and drive it through the turn and down a bit, my inside hand automatically stays off the snow. This also results in me facing the nose of the board and not counter-rotating. This also helps with angulation and keeping the board way up on edge. So one small action completely changed how I ride. Of course now I have to wait until next year to really dial it in....

As far as growth goes, I don't think alpine will ever get much more popular than it is already. There just aren't that many of us goofballs out there. But honestly, if it wasn't for the Bomber forum and this one, I never would have gotten a decent used board with bindings, tons of carving advice and hundreds videos to watch. I would suggest our little online community has done as much as anything else to promote this sport. I've been a member of a few other forums and none of them are as friendly and as helpful as this one. Where would your riding level be at today if it wasn't for the people on this site?

I've been thinking the same thing for years. Most of the snowboards I see look like they were designed for kids. Just toys...