Dan

DW3, welcome! If you post a greeting in the main Carving Community forum, you will get all kinds of info on gear and links to instructional resources. My quick $0.02: you will spend the most on boots and it's hard to get around that. Ski boots are not a good option (some people will disagree with me on this, but the flex pattern is really not what is needed for snowboard carving). You need to figure out your mondo size, which is your foot length in centimeters - I think there is a "how to" somewhere on this site. There is probably a mondo size printed in your soft snowboard boots somewhere - probably a number from 25 to 30 or so, it's the same as Japanese boot sizing, different from Euro sizes. Anyway, once you have your mondo size, you can post in "looking to buy" for some used boots, but there is a pretty good chance you'll have to get new boots, which you can get from yyzcanuck.com or blue-tomato.com or upzboots.com. There are two companies making hardboard snowboard boots now, Raichle and UPZ. Performance-wise, both are fine, but there are some differences in the boot shape so depending on your foot shape one might work better than the other. Use search to find some discussions on this. UPZ has shorter soles for the same size foot, so if you have very large feet (mondo 29 cm or greater), UPZ might work better because you get more options for angles without having overhang. Overhang on an alpine board is a non-starter. Boards and bindings are cheaper and easier to come by and you can expect lots of advice from people if you post on the main forum. You could find a used board+bindings for $200 total if you shop carefully. Post your height / weight on the main forum and people will give recommendations. Personally, I started out with hardboots and plates on the freeride board I already owned, and a few days of that eased the transition when I started riding a dedicated carving board. Definitely happy to hook up on the mountain some time, but I think Keenan would be the go-to guy for lessons if you can talk him into it :-)

Riding plates on a powder day with a local buddy: I was on a 4807, he was on a 3800 with a matching topsheet. Guy in the liftline takes a long look at our boards, looks up and says "Are those your personal boards?" LOL - well, we didn't check them out from the snowboard museum if that's what you're thinking...

Having seen Keenan ride, I would be pretty stoked to get some lessons from him!

One description I've seen here before for what you're trying to do is "ribbon candy" turns. That candy is probably a little exaggerated, but it should give you an idea of the turn shape you want: rather than ending the turn and transitioning to the other edge while you're still pointed downhill, hold the turn until you're headed across the hill, or even slightly uphill, and then transition to the other edge.

LOL, I know the feeling! Unfortunately indifferently pounding keyboards pays way better than, say, teaching snowboarding to groms. Those Jucy vans are cool, I saw one at Yosemite recently (they are having a dry warm winter, will be hell for their snowpack, but it's great for hiking) and was curious, so thanks for posting the link. Loving all the pics of vans, keep 'em coming!

I'm using Express VPN and it's much easier - I think their monthly subscription is $12 or so, but setup couldn't be easier - just download their software and you're in. Far superior to the NBC coverage, especially if you're interested in hockey or curling (I'm not, lol).

Also a fan of r/vandwellers :) Just hoping that it's a passing fad so I can get one on the cheap in a few years when I'm actually ready. The teardrop camper we got last year is a start, but I think a van will fare better on the backroads and be easier for boondocking and in inclement weather. The teardrop galley is hard to beat though.

Nice pics, looks like a good setup. I should do something like that in my wagon, but it would need to come out pretty often to get the dog in the back. As it is, I have a few long scraps of softshell fabric that I loosely wrap the boards in to keep bindings apart and protect the inside of the car. Not nearly as well put together as your setup.

Pat, I am using Express VPN (monthly fee required) to change my location to Canada and watching the CBC coverage, which I'm pretty sure will stream alpine snowboarding live, has no commercials, and is generally less irritating than the NBC coverage. Looks like the finals will start around 7 p.m. Pacific / 10 p.m. Eastern, that beats waiting around for NBC to dole out a few crappy crumbs of coverage.

So, which is it? 1) Ester is an unusually talented athlete, Bo Jackson on snow, who can learn two separate disciplines at a WC/Olympic level, or 2) Cross-training ski and alpine snowboard has reproducible benefits for both disciplines? Think we'll see any other skiers cross-training alpine snowboard?

I've been watching the olympics on CBC -- so much better than the American broadcasters -- but they seemed hilariously clueless about the whole thing when Ester won. One commentator said "She will be competing in parallel snowboard next week". LOL, parallel snowboard, WTF? I'm actually a little miffed that a former World Cup skier doesn't know the names of the snowboard race events...

Hey Al, I haven't been there since New Year's, but they are doing better than Hood thanks to colder temperatures. I would think it's probably worthwhile bringing your board, but maybe check back the week before. In general, I think coverage should be fine. I assume that you guys have the same weather patterns as us, which often bring heavy storms in March, so I would expect more base in early March than they have now, and possibly powder days.

Pretty much what everyone else said: need a board for the conditions that day. Also...nostalgia! I don't ride the Proton GS that I learned to carve on anymore, but I can't bear to let it go... My daily drivers: -Prior 4WD: for mixed conditions, which we get a lot of in the PNW, or powder days after it's been ridden out -Thirst Superconductor: carving board, replaced my Coiler Mini Monster (which I'm keeping out of nostalgia) -Original Sin 3800: for 2-6" of fresh -Original Sin 4807: for more than six inches of fresh But I have a bunch of other stuff in the basement: an old Arbor Munoz that was my first freeride board, an Oxygen F-67 that my wife might ride one day, etc. etc. Technically, I could let any of that stuff go, but I always imagine that one day I'll want it, and so there it sits...

I missed men's slopestyle, but watched women's slopestyle, and I strongly felt that when the athletes used sideways skidding to control their speed in the rail portion of the course, it really detracted from the event. Am I just too carve-centric? I would have guessed that you would lose style points for throwing an ugly skid before jumping onto a rail. Why not a series of carved turns...? Just sayin'

Yeah, not to pile on, but that may be the worst article I've ever seen in the NYT; if the writer had a point, they managed to conceal it very effectively. Blows my mind that they thought it was worth publishing.

Jeeze, this guy needs to figure out his priorities!

Other things equal, your SL board will blow out of a carve at a lower speed than a board with a bigger sidecut - it's not too surprising to me that you're doing candy ribbon turns rather than parentheses: ( ) ( I think this comes down to personal style and what you enjoy! I usually prefer the candy ribbon turns myself - I like to keep my speeds moderate in my old age ;-) Big mean GS boards that will hold a high speed carve can definitely be fun, but definitely demand some running room.

That Deuce guy posted here a few times, I told him politely that it didn't look like the rider in the video was carving and asked about demo opportunities for a hard booter. He was open to it, but I don't think that anyone from Bomber ever managed to hook up with him.

Darn, looks like I'm late to the game for that 6 degree cant plate, but I'll take it if Yooperluke passes. PM sent.

Just chiming in on the Thirst bandwagon. If you want something poppy and turny, I think you will really enjoy a Thirst, and as Keenan said, the price point is very attractive vs. the other boards you mentioned. I have two days in on my new Thirst - it's a Superconductor (175 cm freecarver), and it definitely fits the bill. It's grippy like my metal Monster, but with the pop of a glass board - a very sweet ride. I believe that Mark has a couple of orders in the queue ahead of you at the moment, but you should definitely at least have a chat with him. If you can make it to Oregon, I would be willing to entertain a demo ride too...

Allow me to present my brand spanking new Thirst Snowboards 7.1 Semiconductor. 175 cm length, 20 cm waist, topsheet by Rafaella Vaz. It took me a long time to figure out just what I wanted, but both Thirst and Rafaella did great work and the wait was worth it! the topsheet has an iridescent quality that's hard to capture in a photo, but it really looks great. Looking forward to its maiden voyage tomorrow.

OK, we will be on Musical Chairs around 8:30 a.m. tomorrow (Thursday), and in the lodge at 9 picking up tickets. Come find us!

Yeah, what's up with that??

Hi guys, I need to report that I suck and am welshing on my WTF attendance. After a lot of review of your guys' photos and videos, I've decided I'm not worthy to ride with you guys, so have to give it a pass. Haha, just kidding. Truth is that I failed to clean my plate well enough at work and I can't be away those dates. Kram tells me I have the wrong priorities - I agree...hopefully things will have changed by next season. Have fun and I will look forward to the rub in threads.

Kram is right! I'm working on it...