John Gilmour

I knew Bishop and Zsa Zsa, loved them both, great dogs. I just lost mine this year... so I truly understand your loss. The can be exceptional beings... if only people were this good to one another.

Yes- I'm making a "YAAAAA" sound, "Yaaaaaa" at speed and passing sounds like "yeeeeearrrrrrrgh!" just so people can get an idea of the speed using the Doppler effect http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doppler_effect as pitch changes with the speed. If you know how far the camera man is away from you and you measure the shift in pitch you can use that to measure the speed. (easier just to have these.... http://www.amazon.com/Zeal-Optics-Transcend-Spherical-Polarized/dp/B003UA0F8O which I can order for people if they want a pair) or just have an iPhone or Android with a GPS app. The iPhone lens sucks the speed out of videos. (shameless pitch....for the goggles... the newest ION ones are better... but the transcend and later model z3 are sorta affordable...please ignore.. With the Z3 goggle you can monitor your speed, altitude, air temperature and receive phone call and text notices from your Android phone though a small screen in the corner of the goggles. With the integrated GPS you can find yourself and your friends on the mountain, which is perfect when you inevitably separated on a run, especially on mountains with spotty cell service. But the Z3 is just the beginning. Next year Zeal Optics is releasing the iON goggles, which builds on what they've achieved with the Z3 by adding an HD camera, with a 170-degree wide-angle lens, and an 8 megapixel still camera and shoot 1080p video... (yeah gotta get those for next season.) All of the controls for the goggles are managed through a blue tooth enabled remote that you can wear on your wrist like a watch and allows you to easily switch through all the functions. These goggles aren't cheap, however. A pair of the Z3's will cost you $550. Fortunately the price of the iON's will be less, at $400. )

Invite me to AU. Never been there. I had a "snowboard nightmare" last night. Embrace the snow. (goofing around in softies, strap bindings on a split tail powder board, an eccentric waste of time.) +1 on setting down the landing gear early.\ I have to lead my body quite a bit because the board center is weird ....the split tail has almost no tail relative to nose. I'm not sure I would call this style of carving carving so much as a Snow sliding technique... longboarders do a lot of traction breaking slides to control speed- and I am wearing slide gear for the snow. The carve is actually slightly broken and my turn radius is modulated radically throughout the turn. In the fall line my turn radius might approach 30 meters...at the finish its about 10M.

The kids from the boarding schools have the most expensive gear and train there at night...too intimidating. The hill, I guess, is so steep it seems the run is over in an instant- too scary to host any FIS event there. And bitter cold at night... better to head to the Carolinas.

it's already on my short list.... I've started telling people that I will be there this winter... any season pass deals.???. it's likely that or Vail. BTW I've heard great sight lines at speed.. but hat about pitch and length.... anything like the sword guys ride...but longer? BTW I hate flat light.. which is a deal killer for a resort... whats the percentage of flat light days.. Aspen has very little flat light IMHO....I'd stay fewer tahn 5% of the days without snow are flat light for the whole day in Aspen.. At least the sun pokes out for 2-4 hours.

Width is important as the speed is limited in part by the width.

I have to go through CO,UT,NV,AZ,NM for business. I'm looking for alternatives to Aspen Ajax Ruthies run. Good packed powder and grooming,, wide, fast with continuous steep pitch and excellent sight lines. These are resorts on my hit list (never been to these yet). Colorado SteamBoat 3,668 Telluride 3,505 Silverton 3,087 Pow Crested butte 2,787 Durango 2,029 Utah Canyons (SIA only) 3,190 Park City 3,100 Gorgoza park 3,100 Sundance 2,150 Solitude 2,047 New Mexico Taos 2,612 Angel fire 2,077 Nevada Diamond Peak 1,840 (only gets in there because there are not bigger resorts- Rode Mt. Rose ..too marrow) Arizona Arizona Snowbowl 2,300 So which resorts are wide , fast, with continous steep pitch like Ruthies Run in Aspen? I spend about 70% of my time on Ruthies and need an alternative, Sneakys (Snowmass) is not steep enough, and Javelin and Racers edge (tiehack) are too short. Thunderbowl (Aspen Highlands) has poor sight lines. Though not in my states visiting...I've always wanted to hit Sun Valley. How's that stack up?

Back when I first started to snowboard, I could not afford to buy as many as I wanted at MSRP. So I became the first winterstick and Sims rep. on the east coast. Back then it was hard to get very many boards per year from Sims. I also put an ad for what was the first snowboard camp in Tignes Val D'Isere when I owned Jasbar (John And Steve Bogue All Retailers) sport ( a company I had to set up mostly to get a tax ID number to buy at wholesale- no one would carry the boards so it was the only way to get them). I supplied a lot of East coasters with their first boards in the early 1980's. Brian and DJ Hipona were some of my early well known customers. But before I advertised the Snowboard camp in International Snowboard Magazine, and got Tom Sims to send me a cool shot of a cliff jump to rasterize (which I think was on their 3rd issue) I asked Tom Hseih for the back issues.. I have several copies of Absolutely Radical and I think it was issue # 3 or 4 that advertised the "Prop snow plane" which sort of looked like a propeller prop of an airplane and was what I believe was the first advertised Asym. There might have been one before that, but to the best of my knowledge it was the first. It was weird looking with some bindings that didn't look that strong.

Aspen is Toast. brown everywhere..top is ok if you like hard snow I suppose that swaps for loose wet granular... according to a woman I spoke with yesterday. All boards stripped and stored. 2011-2012 pretty much the winter that never really was.... It could ahve been great if we had the skills of East Coast groomers.... but here in Aspen- they pushed it around to get coverage but had no idea how to make the snow really skiable compared to say..... Magic Mountain that would recover after a rain storm and freeze or Stratton... it was East Coast bulletproof for a large part of the year.

now thats the kind of positiveattitude this site needs and makes me psyched to contribute! Lets ride sometime.

I hear you about the slowest time in the race but no other snowboarders even dared to do it. It was so icy that I had trouble self arresting just to get to the start. tell you what- try to stuff a 168cm Rossignol judge powder board through a steep icy offset slalom in softies on thunderbowl at highlands with death cookies and lets see how anyone else on BOL would do. I think Mario could nail it... but that's about it. I would have done a lot better on just about anything else. I would have taken a 148 Burton supermodel over my deck in that course or even an old Burton Safari...

I just would like to see TT's riding... out of pure curiosity. I just don't find he adds anything to the knowledge base. Compulsive liar and freeloader...not. I just like credit for things I have done. I just think TT is some guy with single night pass at Wachusett who once in a while takes a 180cm deck to the steeps at Sugarloaf carves a few turns and thinks he can smack talk to anyone. How about we have a poll.... decide who stays or leaves this site... my feelings would not be hurt either way. It seems TT is very popular. Let people vote for it. Most people on BOL now would barely know me anyway.

Well Jack, call up Jeff yourself and ask him. Jeff never told me he has lost Kessler.. if he has it is news to me. I'm sure anyone can order a board direct from Kessler. I am not trying to fool anyone- I ordered my two Kesslers through Scott Tucker and Jeff they did not come direct from Kessler. I told Jeff I had better buy a Kessler deck if I was going to try and help him sell them. It turned out to be an expensive gamble for me, one I would undo if I could oinly because I have yet to get a replacement board. Then go and call Frank D. and ask him if he asked me to be the Virus Rep. for Aspen, and ask Ray S. who also knows about that conversation with Frank. Check the sources before you call BS on it. Don't take my word for it if it means that much to you. As for Trailer Trash, you've made putting effort into this site seem fruitless. All you seem to do is deter others with useful information from posting. Lets see some video of TT riding... the Golden child of Lynn Massachusetts. And Jack, I am surprised at your behavior which seems so uncharacteritic of you. I suppose the next thing you'll say is that my SIG is copied from Bomber instead of the other way around.

OK..... out of curiousity anyone know where I could get a set of P02 carbons? I just ordered the 155's for the GF. I would also consider regular PO2's if the price was really really cheap. After competeing ina SL race the otehr day and seeing the movement patterns of the best slalomers on skis... it really doesn't look that far off from hardboot plates. Of course going from Snowboard carving to Skiing is like fgoing from 5 star restaurants to Chiles or TGIF. I'll get free racing and gate training next season so I may as well race both as a skier and snowboarder and get double the runs for nothiung. Has anyone tried them in the gates? I'll use her PO2 155's in the slalom, but should I get 171's or the 163's for GS???

It was not a NASTAR race , we used the NASTAR timing software and hardware as such can only post to their website... no one was pulling out singles to pay for their runs. I raced against Cowboy...certainly one of the slowest skiers in the leaugue and beat him on both runs..though the timing on my second run does not reflect it. I wasn't about to bother to complain. I beat him by several seconds on both runs. We kicked back at teh BBQ which I dj'ed and I told him to get on a snowboard. he must be about 65 years old or more. It was a really difficult course... if I had to pay to enter... I wouldn't have bothered.

yes it isn't the highest time... that would go to cowboy the other guy I was racing.....lol... but it is what you could expect for pushing a powder baord through ice. I'll likely win every race next year..as I will probably be the only snowboarder to race those cousrses. I might have an advantage as I run the race timing... I'm going to try and recruit other riders. Not easy... I'm not even sure we posted a snowboard result.... but as I am the only rider all I have to do is make the course which was not easy- the other snowboarders didn't even bother to enter. I was ready to drop out too as it was pure ice and very offset- we had a really bad injury too hospitalized a guy (a good skier too) . I figured..I race for free since I work for them... so why not just go for it.

the 168 BX was ordered in Jan. of 2010 through Catek. Jeff Caron made me the Aspen rep. for Catek about 4 years ago. I turned screws for Catek at SES before with Bola. Jeff regularly shipped me product to distribute. I have ridden Cateks for a long time. I rode the early prototypes too..Jeff gave me a set prior to a Utah based SIA show- he said he was going to be selling these as a replacement for the CAT binding... I rode the crap out of them at Brighton UT. and Jeff asked me how they rode..i said fantastic... he asked if anything on them broke..and I said no. he said "Great now I can send them to Fawcett". I was the unwitting demolition tester. Jeff gave me a set, and later another set after I punched my disc all the way through a Madd 170 and bent the disc like a potato chip. He has always been good to me. I met Jeff in the early 1980's when he rode with the Flite Crew Jerry Morse (G-wood) Steve Darra and others. I was the first SIMS Rep. and Winterstick rep. on the East Coast and never got anything formal declaring me a rep. other than dealer price sheets and dealer cost. When you are a small company- its different than if you were a rep. say for Rossignol or Oakley where there are many formalities and contracts to sign. I don't blame people for being skeptical... but that is how it is and I have nothing to gain from associating myself with Catek at this point. A few years ago Catek announced on their site that they were the designated USA distributor for Kessler. Though Aspen is amazing for carving, there aren't many hardbooters in residency here- just a bunch of Pure Carve guys at Buttermilk, and Jim C. I almost never see hardbooters on AJAX save for Ray S. and when SES or the WCS is in town. For my first two seasons full time here- I only saw about 10-20 hardbooters on Ajax when SES or WCS was not going on. I don't carve buttermilk as much- greatly preferring the steeps of Aspen- Back of Bell, Aztec, Ruthies, Copper etc... Pretty much when the principal designer and owner of a company asks me to be their rep. verbally- I don't demand a written document saying so unless a lot of money is at stake- which in the realm of alpine carving... isn't the case. As for Catek, CMC was recently with Jeff boxing up orders- he was trying to get step in kits for Ray S. so ....as long as there is inventory I assume they are still shipping....albeit...likely slowly.

looks like late april in Aspen... we got some snow hitting us now.,..but it might be too little too late.

http://www.catek.com/Kessler-snowboards.htm I spoke to Kessler Cust. service a few weeks ago- they wanted me to go through Jeff about my Kessler warranty board. So I have no reason to think they have dropped him.

Actually the question is...does anyone really believe what you post? Do any of your posts have any merit whatsoever... or enhance the knowledge base? http://www.bomberonline.com/VBulletin/search.php?searchid=27141 pretty much worthless drivel..... The East coast has produced a lot of snowboarding greats who have contributed to this sport (Jake Burton Carpenter, The Coughlans, Mark Heingartner, Will Garrow (carving exposure in Warren Miller flicks) , E. Beckman, PSR (taught at least 20,000 to ride) ) ...sorry to say, you aren't great and have about as much credibility as a guy with $90 in his bank account trying to tell the Federal Reserve Chairman how to manage the money supply. When I say I don't know about a board- it means I have not ridden it or flexed it- I don't claim to know a product unless I have physically checked it out. Specs change quickly with many manufacturers- sometimes in season - so I do not claim to know a product unless I have actually ridden it... or perhaps in some cases with conventional materials and construction techniques- flexed it. You seem to think you know a lot about things- but as far as I can tell you are merely a deluded backwoods dopehead with no girlfriend or money for a social life---> who spends his time trolling websites in a vain effort to bolster his standing..... and no one is listening. When I think of you I think of the character portrayed by Christian Bale in "The Fighter"...just minus any talent. Do you ever travel beyond a 40 mile radius? There are many janitorial jobs available in Denver's front range and even you could afford a $347 season pass- expand your horizons. Your life would be far better than living in Lynn. I lived in Massachusetts for 22 years... Lynn sucked 50 years ago and still sucks today and will suck for the next 3 decades- a place where generations of abusive shoe makers high on glue acted deranged enough to affect the upbringing of kids for generations to come. Seriously- get outta there and go somewhere with a future.

That's a lot of taper... I won the snowboard division Aspen Town Race SL today... on the Rossi Judge powder board on bullet proof ice man made. I did, however miss my Madd 158 at several heart stopping sections of the course which was very tight and offset... I took one look and thought...Hmm I'll DSQ by gate 3. But made it.

You are in Jackson right? Can I paypal you? She has a size 7 foot... will she need to remount?also...are these 12.5 radius or the newer 10.5M ?

never rode the ride just the BX series 166, 168 and PGS 185. I sent two decks back..the first one arrived damaged because of poor packing when it was shipped to Catek...they missed the damage before they sent it to me- I sent them photos before I mounted it... there was a strip of the top sheet peeled up. The second board ..I got one 1/2 run down Ruthies in Aspen and ripped the rear binding right out of the inserts- which also showed ripping damage in the top sheet. too bad because it was the fastest board I had ever ridden... and it wasn't a carving deck. (I also had some insane prototype Poland wax on it). Since Catek is the USA importer and I am the Aspen rep.. by default I am also a Kessler rep. Yes... odd isn't it? As I also am part owner of Madd. It would seem like a conflict of interest...a company owner of a competing product repp'ing another. But if you knew me.. you would know it is not. I give fair reviews on everything. I just love all great products. So if that isn't enough conflict of interest- Frank D. of Virus asked me two seasons ago to be the Virus rep. and I only rode two of his boards, an asym... which I really thought was impressive...and a UFC freecarver..that frankly...blew my mind with its versatility. I ride with Ray S. ...when we are both intact...poor Ray was out with back issues.. I am finally back on track. Frank is absolutely a snow sports genius. Maybe I should just open a shop in Aspen... we need some real cutting edge gear here. as for me..... I am riding crap. tomorrow is a SL race... I have two perfectly good Madd 158's and have no hard boots to use them. I only have step in Cateks so I can't use them even if I find boots. I am considering waking up early and renting a hardboot pure carve set up at buttermilk- and using the boots and bindings with my Madd... sad...I can't even use Cateks which I would love for the Icy morning conditions. As a Catek rep. I have been steadily giving away my parts of my personal bindings to keep other Catek enthusiasts using theirs... which reminds me I have to send some step in parts to Ray S. So I'll race with the worst possible SL set up... a powder Rossi Judge with a huge sidecut and softies with Unions that at this point have stripped heel cups that move back and forth every time I turn- even the ankle straps ahve rotted away and have been replaced with cut up beach sandal strips.. I won't get any practice..or warm up....or even get to slip the course because the rest of the time I am the race timer...and the DJ at the end of the day. Maybe if people see me show up with a Madd 158 as a bluff...they won't enter. I'll just bolt out of the race shack and throw down a run . I'll probably win on junk anyhow. As for Jeff Caron....well he is buried in emotional divorce stress/custody battle and a home renovation (I have always had respect for Jeff and hate seeing him fall apart like this)- so I am trying to deal with Kessler directly. In the end I'll offer Kessler a few hundred bucks more to upgrade me to a custom deck (which for me would be better) so at least their material cost is covered (which for them is also better)..that way they don't have to eat any cost for a defective deck. (it's the way I would like customers to be with me). I was out with a back injury for SES (struck by a chairlift) and missed it had to get traction, acupuncture, massage, chiropractic etc..- then I had a foot injury immediately there after -smashed my seismoid bones in my foot-I'm still injured..and should not even be on snow according to the Doc... but I am going to load up on Vicodin...and just do it. For a season to go by and never race (if you are race support you can race for free)...well that''s just silly..... it's only for a few turns and less than a minute anyhow. With the busted ankle, sprained ankles, and torn calf and soleus last year I could not turn left...same thing this year with the left foot ..it might be "turf toe" so I am not an Ambi-turner....I can only turn right...Derek Zoolander can identify with this....but it is an extreme handicap for slalom.

I'd like to buy the 155cms if they haven't seen much use...what would you like for them? Think of a fair price and add $75 to remove any sellers remorse.

Good for you. I am the Aspen rep. and sent mine back to Catek 3 seasons ago...and still have yet to get a replacement. But I am very interested in The Ride... for me... it seems like a bit too much taper ...what were your impressions?