Miltie

Up here with Jake for the week. Conditions today were primo in the morning with "hero groom" on most runs except Gunsmoke. Chair J4 was not running today due to low volume of people on mountain. Started snowing at about noon and there was aprox. 4 inches by the time we left at 2:30. Tomorrow should be awesome.

Hey Jack, Nice review! Thanks for taking the time and effort to do this. Lots of good info. Will be trying my new Donek Freecarve Metal 171 with Sidewinders tomorrow at June in CAL so will keep a mental note of your review. I also have a new custom Donek Metal GS 182 that Sean built for me sitting at home in Japan that has yet to be ridden so looking forward to compare the feel of the boards. Thanks again for your hard work on this and your stoke for alpine. Best regards, Tom

Neil, Looks like a nice family dude! Hope you like the Sidewinders. Work is insane as you can imagine. Still planning my March trip and probably Snowperformance in May. Will miss SNES - gomen ne!! Take care, Tom

Hey Gary, Things here are nuts right now due to workload. Which city is your son heading to in Japan? School trip? Got my kids (3 & 5) on boards now so we are doing some family trips. Have maybe 6 days so for this season. Planning on March and May trips to Mammoth/June. Have tons of vacation/sick time that must be used or it will be lost. Let me know if you will make it up in March. Take care, Tom

Heading over to Cal and going up during the week to burn up some surplus vacation days. Anybody else going to be up at Mammoth or June that week? Take care, Tom

Yo Neil, That set-up looks sick! You will dig the Sidewinders. I only have a morning on mine so far but really like them. Lay some ruts at June for me! Take care, Tom

Usually eat lunch at the resort. The local communities close to the resorts in Japan survive in the winter off of the ski/business business. The government has a special subsidized highway fee program now so I try to spend some of the money I saved on the highway fees at the resort usually on lunch or on treats for the folks in my office. Gotta do my part to keep the economy going.

Awesome video! Brought back a lot of memories from the early days. Thanks for posting! Tom :)

Hey Neil, Hope you are laying down some turns for me at June/Mammoth. Man, I miss that place! Just got my first day in here with 12 cm of new snow and used the Driver Xs. Not so familiar the Malamutes but dig the Driver X. FYI - I am 26 in Deeluxe 700T and 8.5 in Driver X with snug but comfortable fit - without thermo forming. Decent fit out of the box! Just checked the tongues on the Driver Xs and they also list them as 26.5. Take care, Tom

After more than few years in hardboots only, decided to give softboots a try again in 2007/2008 but had some boot issues. For the 2008/2009 seaon I bought some Burton Driver X boots and love them. Great product which fit pretty well right out of the box. Softboots are also much better for chasing kids around or playing in the snow. Try chasing a 5 year old and a 3 year around in hardboots. Still think my apline decks/TD3s and 700Ts are best in most conditions but when my desk jockie (sp?) body and middle-aged back can't take the afternoon chop, I sometimes pull out the soft set-up to get some additional runs and fully amortize my ticket. I usually run a varicant on the rear foot so it feels closer to my alpine set-up and run steeper 40f - 30r angles on an old Burton E-deck 163. I agree with Wavechaser that you might be missing out if you don't give it a try as I think it helps focus on the basics and in turn can only add to your enjoyment on the snow.

Hey Michelle, Make both long sleeve and short sleeve. Would order both in a heart beat. Thanks!! Tom

Hey Big Bear Locals, Heading to LA in December to take care of some paperwork. While in town looking to head up to Big Bear for a few days (12/23 to 12/25). Will have family in tow. Any recommendations on hotels/cabins for a few days? Have stayed at Northwood a few times on business so that is a consideration. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!!

Slopestar, There are about 25-30 riders in the LA / OC area that post on BOL. A few of us are also based out of OC (Huntington Beach, Santa Ana, Fountain Valley, Newport areas). I am currently on a foreign work assignment but make it back a couple times a year. If your schedule/family committments allow, you might consider to check out June Mountain. Worth the trip if you can swing it. People usually post if they are heading up. See you on the mountain! Tom

Just some thoughts..... What if we banded together by location and pooled our extra/loaner gear for those wanting to give alpine a try? Maybe we could get a thread by location in the Ride Boards titled "Need a Demo". People who want to try alpine out could post there and hopefully get hooked. My experience is that some people who see us laying trenches are interesting in trying alpine but not willing to drop the coin to buy equipment first. We need to be Ambassadors for alpine and let them try it out. Most people that are interested and try it get hooked on the control once they figure it out. If we could offer loaner equipment, casual instruction and be good PR people, then maybe we can attract a few new riders. Bordy is right. We need to attract younger riders. Most of us on this forum are older than 20. We need more King Krimsons and Arclites to keep this going. Maybe we can also support some of the high school teams with our used equipment. I know there are some high school teams in Northern Cal that have kids who want to race but lack the resources to obtain equipment. Just a thought but might help cultivate some future interest.

First day in spring of 1988 with Koflach boots (the pink ones) with Fritchi plates on Kemper Aggressor with what seemed like no sidecut. Went to Snowbird and got humbled on the boiler-plate off the tram. Still remember butt-checking several times until I got a feel for the board. Primarily ride hardboots now but still have softies around for a change once a while and powder days.

Just received my new Donek Metal 181GS. Can't wait to get this on the snow. Thanks Sean!

Thanks Phil!! Got it. Was thinking it was related to the nose and the clothoid type side cut. Appreciate your explanation. Best regards, Tom

Just curious how owners of some of the NSR (New School Race) shapes are setting up their bindings in relation to Set Back designed into the boards. Seems as though many of the boards (SG, Kessler, F2, Donek) have more setback (50-70 mm) than the previous traditional designs and the insert packs have been shifted rearward. For years I used try to set up my boards with the bindings centered over the running surface to maintain fairly equal pressure/weight front to back. Now with the new NSR shapes it appears this may no longer apply. Anyone have any advice regarding binding placement? Centered on the insert packs or forward on the insert packs? Maybe Bordy or Phil Fell can shed some light. Thanks in advance! Tom

The best resource I have found for Japan Resorts in English is SnowJapan.com. There is a lot of info on resorts, hotels, how to get there. They also have a forum which is fairly active. You can post your plans and get input on best places. http://www.snowjapan.com/e/index.php If you will be based out of Tokyo, you might consider Yuzawa Onsen or Nozawa onsen. They may be other resorts in Nagano or Niigata areas which would be good as well, however, I am not so faimliar with those areas. Will post some Carving specific resorts later (need to find the list).

Do you know where you will be staying or boarding at this point? What month do you plan on riding? There are many good resorts here when there is snow (January through March). Some specific ones have a larger Alpine Rider population. Rental equipment may be tough especially boots. I have only seen one place with alpine rentals through the Dynaland Snowboard School in the Gifu (north of Nagoya). Would probably recommend bringing at least boots.

Fin is really becoming an international alpine binding tycoon!! Bomber products are now available through a distributor in Japan. Link below: http://www.wintertree.info/product.html Hope there are many new satisfied customers. Way to go Fin and the Bomber Crew!

John, Thanks for posting the photos. Have yet to download any from my camera. Just wanted pass on a thanks to everyone attended as I thought we had a good group. The coolest thing though was watching all of us improve over 2-3 days. Sean and Mike did a great job with the coaching which will hopefully help me break some bad habits developed over the years. Many things to focus on for next season. Lots of fun and nice to meet others who enjoy alpine riding! Thanks again!! Tom

Fin, You are my hero!! Totally cool stuff. Thanks for sharing the info on the process and the photos of the proto parts. Wish things could move this fast in my line of work!! Check your email - I sent you a link you might want to check out. Between you and Sean Martin, I can see where my gear budget for next year is going. :) Thanks for all your hard work making cool gear for us addicts! Take care, Tom

Alex, Good luck on your magazine project. Looks like you have a put a lot of effort in so far. The Alpine scene in Japan is still pretty active with a respectable following. Carve Magazine has been published every year since 2001. http://shop.mpcy.co.jp/shop/image_view.html?image=../shopimages/mpcy/010004000002.jpg Most of the content is in Japanese so for most of us it is difficult to read. Many good photos and specs on new gear. Good vibe to it and interesting even if I can't read it. This years edition included: Info on rookies Aticle on World Luxury Resorts (Mt. Hutt, NZ / Arapahoe Basin, CO , USA / Hoch-Ybring, Switzerland / Sungwoo Resort , Korea / Chapeico, Argentina) Article on younger crew riders called "The Influence of 5 Others" Sticker sheet Training articles including Yoga, exercise and Gallium Wax Tech Tips 2008 Japan Pro Tour digest Article on SG Invitational Article on Japan Snowboard Association (JSBA) Demonstrator Festival Article on Race Coaching/Training Commentaries from Top Riders Info pages for small ads (2 pages) Specs for current model Alpine Decks Gear Section (advertisements for Alpine related gear including clothing - 13 pages) Fashion section - with latest styles Article about BC Stream brand board factory Article on edging for beinnger carvers Article on previous year Carve Camp (Alpine Lessons) Shop directory for those that carry Alpine Gear Resort Summary for popular Alpine hangouts Article/Photos regaing new DVD about Alpine Legends in Japan Article about Japanese rider who spent time in LA and Carving at Mammoth Articles on Nicolas Conte, Martin Freinademetz and Gitti Koeck Gift guide Might be a good reference for ideas. Not sure if they have any copies available but could check if you wanted. Email me through Bomber if you want me to investigate further. BTW - you might be able to move some copies of your mag in Japan through shops that carry Alpine stuff. Take care, Tom

Found this on a Japanese site for a cool shop named Legna. Interesting to see SG, Kessler, f2 and Black Pearl boards lined up next to each other http://www.legna.co.jp/snow.html BTW - anyone around or visiting Tokyo might find this shop interesting. The shop is actually on the north end of Chiba Prefecture right on Tokyo bay (close to Ikea). They have a nice alpine gear selection and a lot of backcountry stuff including swallow tails. The owner is super nice and has always taken good care of me.