John Gilmour

So much new snow now, it’s been good carving. Like really the best all season 3 days ago. We got tons of snow today… zero scratch or hard snow plate right now.. it’s like mid winter conditions. if we get regular snow like this it’s pretty tough for the groomers to mess it up. I did find out that a key groomer employee we needed was fired for driving the cat down the Aspen bell drunk after a holiday party…so that’s likely a big part of it. Wish Mike Kaplan didn’t fire the guy.

Well, quite honestly, we have all been there. It’s not like we are all great at carving from the moment we stepped on a board. ‘So stick with it. However I will tell you this, sticking with the same set of movements will just get you stuck. One thing I assumed (incorrectly whiles learning to carve ) was if I just kept “leaning’ I would get low. And perhaps on perfect groom you can, but the reality is we don’t get that surface for very long. so here’s something to ponder. Imagine you have no body above your shins …. Well then if you tilt your shins towards the ground your board would carve. Actually it’s the most important thing to get right. if you keep your upper body for the most part NOT tilting, and tilt agreesively almost trying to touch your shins and knees to the snow toes ice without allowing for any lateral slide…. You will carve a very deep planted secure toe side turn. ok… so you start that turn, you feel the DEEP groove being established… once that rail is set and cutting SECURELY…. Now …. It’s okay to EC toe side. And you can then extend on the snow. Aspen snow right now is really good. 3 days of great carving, and I rode first gondola 6 -10’ of fresh pow top to bottom at ruthies today ensuring an amazing base. It’s felt like Early January most of the season, this past week feels like early February. Temps in single digits at night. Spring has not come to Aspen yet…so if you want Really good midwinter carving …it’s here. It was dangerous about 10 days ago, but the deep snowfall has fixed that.

We got a ton of snow over the past few days. So after a horrible day at Ajax - with most of it ungroomed - I decided to go to buttermilk . Surely you need some consistency of slopes for beginners . It was a real mess. March 16 with about 6 inches of fresh. What I would normally expect are a few nice groomed trails with a lot of powder left to dove in and out of - but certainly to have groomed trails . Only the connections between tiehack, buttermilk and buttermilk West were done once again . The highest speeds anyone felt comfortable with were sun 10 mph. A jarring experience , one skier with me suffered a twisted knee . I just couldn’t get over how easy it would have been to just run the groomers ina quick skim in the morning - but once again neglected . Even the ski instructors were struggling with their students sprawled all over on the slopes with at least 1 or 2 on the ground .

I shoe goo my gloves. If I use clear I tell the children on the lift that they are frozen boogers. If I use black, I put that on black gloves. I’ve got this ancient jacket that I got for 100 bucks that has all these Capel girls on it. I didn’t think it would last me 20 days but so far it has survived since 2010 and for the last two or three years it’s been used almost every single day and it’s really thin fabric but it’s slippery. Just this year the feathers started coming out of it so I found some patching material and it’s still going strong. your cheap and dirty solution is to keep a roll of helicopter, tape, and some shoe goo. You can put the helicopter tape on when the pants are dry. It’s the same stuff they used to protect the carbon fiber helicopter blades on Apache helicopters during the gulf war conflict. Then I put a little bit of sugar around the edges of the helicopter tape it’s pretty durable. I had two Teslas both suffered a lot of rock scratches in high wear areas on the paint just above the lower body, cladding, and where the car flares in the rear. As well as the falcon wing doors. Paint protection film for my car would’ve run $5000 and at least $1000 if I want to do it myself but a roll of helicopter tape was only $60. It’s great stuff at the end of the season I just peel off the helicopter tape and throw it away, which is a lot cheaper than redoing your entire car in paint protection film. , which is a lot cheaper than redoing your entire car in paint protection film So I had a little bit of this left so I patched up some insulated snow pants with some severe damage - it even survive a few wash cycles ( no dryer). Good luck .

I’d love to try that .

Ha ha who isn’t? But that’s what it would take to entice me to drive there from Aspen. If I go full epic next year I’d do clinics for free there like I do in Aspen. I’d love to do that, but typically my godson is racing in that so I devote all my time to coaching and supporting him. Trying to move him from 4th to podium .

So just recently since 12 March we got a bunch of snow. So we went riding some of the powder and of course I’m waiting for some of the grooming to kick in. That way I can kick into high gear. Well, we were supposed to get 40° temperatures today so I figured why not do the low altitude buttermilk first because they usually groom the entire mountain, and then it’s gonna get really icy after today so that when we can kind of cross Buttermilk off the list and just do the high altitude sections of the other mountains that won’t have lower altitude freeze thaw. I parked a Buttermilk West and I was kind of surprised, because only half of the trail underneath the lower part of the chairlift was groomed, and it was pretty choppy. Then I ran into Softbootsailor who is carving very nicely underneath the top half of that chair lift. Those conditions were very good. Pitch was mellow and the trail not very wide for western trails- but he had chosen the best of the limited terrain that was groomed . …so I get pretty excited seeing that nice tiny trail and thought maybe I can actually ride some good groom on some steeper terrain . The connecting trail between buttermilk Easton buttermilk west was groomed. Then from the main chair. It seemed like only the top section, and then one trail down to the bottom was actually groomed. The bottom was very scratchy and could have been done a lot better- kinda dangerous for Buttermilk- I thought . The bottom was very icy and funneled people together sorta tight. I avoided a blind side collision from another Snowboarder turn actually turned that negative into a positive by giving him a couple pointers on how to ride better he was a 16-year-old 220 pounds and wasn’t used to checking over his shoulder he could’ve flattened one of the 35 pound kids on the slope. But the way conditions were he didn’t have much maneuverability on the ice as a novice- Lowe intermediate from Texas- and he was on pretty good brand, new gear, a directional board and still he was having trouble. So we went over to the Tiehack side, and again it was really only one trail from the top that was groomed to the bottom of Tiehack lift.…and it wasn’t that seamless overlapping grooming that we’ve come to know and love from Buttermilk, there were ridgelines all over it from the grooming, and only some sections were really good. I was kind of blown away because I was really expecting fantastic conditions. Now, granted, last night was a Monday night, probably a lot of the grooming staff had the day off, but to get three trails for your lift ticket price seems a bit stingy. Joey Waltemath, she’s the operations manager at buttermilk . X games is long gone… not sure what she is overseeing right now. I couldn’t find the job description for Aspen Ski Company, but I imagine the job descriptions are pretty similar between different ski mountains. Here’s the mountain description for Homewood. And since I worked in Buttermilk during X games running sleds , at one point, I do recognize quite a few of these job descriptions mentioned as being part of her job as head of operations. Duties and Responsibilities • Responsible for the overall Mountain Operations including the following departments; Lift Operations, Lift Maintenance, Snowmaking, Grooming, Terrain Parks, Trail Maintenance, Weddings, and Special Events. • Oversee the management and administration of operations to produce an exceptional guest and employee experience. • Develop and maintain company policies and procedures regarding guidelines established by regulatory agencies and best practices in the ski resort industry. Assist and produce direct reports with budgetary responsibilities as necessary. • Assist direct reports with the development of budgets, goals and objectives to improve the performance of each operation. • Attend and actively participate in all senior team, leadership meetings, operational meetings, and required company functions. • Communicate information to all Mountain Operations staff to ensure the proper distribution of resort activities and general information. • Responsible to oversee and participate in the hiring and training for all employees to ensure a professional on mountain team is developed. • Evaluate performance of all staff members regularly, including disciplinary action as needed. • Complete proper paperwork and reporting as required by operations, human resources and legal regulations are done in a timely and accurate manner. • Ensure the ski lifts are being maintained and operated in accordance with the rules and regulations of CPTSB, ANSI regulations. • Plan the necessary inventory to be ordered and stocked with the necessary supplies to maintain all equipment for the resort. • Oversee the scheduling of snowmaking production to ensure a successful winter skiing experience. Track all water usage for billing process. Monitor electrical usage to control overall expenses for the company. • Coordinate and oversee the grooming schedule to ensure a quality guest experience on the mountain. • Responsible to ensure all drivers are licensed and all vehicles are maintained in accordance with the DOT rules . (for instance Joey had me do a license for snowmobiles ) I willsee if I can find out the other Directors of Mountain Operations for the other three mountains of aspen,, and their emails so if your experience is not the Aspen brand experience you paid for and expected as a “brand” is a promise of quality - you can email your comments about your experience and past expectations to them and CC the new Aspen CEO and CC your comments here . Then you can monitor in real time Aspens improvement. Let’s see if we can keep the comments to known riders with more than 10 years if Aspen carving . Of course anyone coming from the East Coast for the first time would probably think, well at least it’s as good as the East Coast and sunny. But what we really want is that type of groom style that’s practically hero snow all the time. For years we have relied on Aspen weather and grooming quality to host a number of snowboard carving events . the Aspen Expression session the World carving session Bromada and more. As I gather Emails hopefully we can help Aspen regain their place for reliable bluebird carving days - seamless grooming , and consistent grooming quality from top to bottom . I don’t know how many of you read this if you don’t ride Aspen. But if you are having trouble with the grooming quality going down at your favorite mountain locally, I’d encourage you to start a similar thread listing your mountain. Good trail maintenance helps reduce a lot of accidents, and with so many people on this forum being over 50 years old we heal a lot slower. Probably a lot of us are over 60 years old.

It’s beyond only a few ice riders that I know . Certainly Jack M. and Beckmann would have a field day on the ice . But the Loaf gets that on occasion . When it iced up in VT it just made the skiers move so slowly cautiously and reduced the chances of them coming into your path . LCI company is great no matter what the conditions . I can’t afford any of Aspen anprès scene anymore except for the awesome museum parties where my turtles are on the list . **** - I’m not even in the list - they are .

Wondering if the restaurant at the top of Centennial still has the Fresh chocolate strawberry giveaway for free at 2:30 everyday. hopefully that survived Covid .

I have done binding clinics in Boston for both hard and soft boots , California hardboot only , Colorado hard and soft boots , etc. people have have been very happy with the results and seeing their plateaued riding improving along with their confidence at higher G forces and ability to ride more aggressively confidently on steeper terrain. I miss Beavercreek and it’s fantastic snow So I’d like to come out and have an excuse to go ride there. We would do the clinic in the evening . Sometimes there are coffee shops that work well for this, over hotel, that rooms, or sometimes a person’s house. just trying to gauge if there’s any interest I’m in it for passes . * soft-boot and hardboot set ups dialed in . Oddly softboot set ups are slightly harder because you really have to nail it since you have less leverage and have to get the high backs and stance set back just right . .

Carbin Marvin come on out to Aspen ! There’s more ungroomed slopes here than groomed so by all means come and give it a shot . Spent the morning with a cute skier that I was riding with last week. I hadn’t heard from her in 5 days and this past Monday she was in the park at Buttermilk because it was the only good stuff there . Flat light . A skier cut her off and she ended up behind a snowboarder that had cut in front of her . As she was the downhill skier she avoided him even though he really cut into her path blond hard and suddenly - so she went off the trail because the edges were ungroomed . she woke up in the ER. Helmet distorted stitches in her neck - almost broke her law hitting the tree, hematoma on her right knee, and sprained left ankle (in hardboots no less). Ribs bruised badly and 2 knocked out of place . She was so out of it she was looking at the ER tech and couldn’t see half of the techs face . So I get a text from her and she was sulking . I brought her some Arnica and she was like “don”t be shocked I have no make up and I’m really banged up”. She looked like she had picked a fight with MS-13. Come on over Marvin it’s a total party here. Lots of morphine , fentanyl, dilaudid, Available after your last run. I will swap to Beaver Creek next year . Every year it has gotten worse , and when it gets to the point that a good day at Killington beats the best days at Aspen … it’s time to re-evaluate my risk profile . Guys - I’m not kidding . It only hurts me to say this because I certainly won’t get more fun people to ride with if I tell people to go elsewhere . Car in Marvin , people will believe you - if you come to Aspen we will go ride ice together - I’ll do it in softies on a Powder board . At least you and I won’t get hurt .

And that’s why I wanna check out Beaver Creek groom again . Maybe come down and do a binding clinic in exchange for 2 passes .

Well my personal favorite is chalk . But for the median level carver I see more of them getting in early morning groom good stuff and sometimes calling it quits just when the chalk starts getting good . However I’d like to see anyone carve the junk I was on today . I watched on of the better snappy laid over carving skiers just eat it in front of me without him I would have hit it too. I took to hardboots and when everyone else was in soft boots (early 80s) because of increased control on harder snow because in the 1980s in New England we mostly had surface gap gun artificial snow and there were not that many “snow cannons “ yet . I probably should have tried to video the conditions but if I dropped my phone e it would have taken off.

I Watched the Vid. Get your ass down low first for heelside. Pretty much it is getting your shins low to the snow for toeside and ass verylow to the snow for heelside. Biggest mistake I see with skiers and snowboarders make is tilting into the turn and then trying to get low. You will find it much easier to drop you body first and tilt and brace rather than trying to retract while your COM is far away from the edge. Definitely on heelside get low first then tilt aggressively. You need a lot more rotation heelside too than toeside. On heelside bring your rear elbow bent at more than 90 degrees snd pretend you are balancing a cup of waitron it at the joint then in your heel side turn try to spill the water out of that imaginary cup one towards your heelside. its amazing how this locks out some joints to make them work together properly.

Well I don't yell at people who get air on my carving runs so long as they don't land on anyone, me in particular. I won't trench near any "take off or landing area"- typically I'll carve lighter and on the edges well out of harms way. Definitely Not in the center. When you look a park with almost zero utilization... you may as well carve it- especially late in the day as the OP said.. (cuz your carve won't sit there for 6 hours as opposed to doing it in the last hour of the day). but.. If the park is really busy I figure that's what they paid to do with their lift ticket and I'll give them their own dedicated space. Skiers and boarders tend to give me dedicated carving space when I carve so I return the favor. Use good judgement, don't be that DICK that annoys and snakes the kid who has been waiting to drop for 6 min. and trench their landing or worse makes them eat it to avoid landing on you. There's this instagram vide with this moron skier cutting directly into a landing zone and getting clocked uggh. My experience is the kids dig a bit of laid over stuff- particularly if you hit a jump or two as well. I like to hit a small jump (skiers right) in Snowmass' park and then after a few feet (as not to trench a landing) when it would look impossible to get far enough over in time- do a massive fully laid over heel side arc (looking uphill first) - pop up ,line up, and hit the next jump (also sucks out a lot of speed) . If you make things that look impossible, become possible...that tends to get props from the park rats.

Glad to hear you both weren't hurt. Sometimes people get tunnel vision like the skier above. You never know if he has scratched up pair of goggles.... or is skiing with macular degeneration. I treat everyone like they can't see me. And try to make sure no one has the possibility to overtake me while I'm riding- ie BIG gaps. But this year I got closed out by a bunch of 6 mediocre skiers that had bunched up (they started out 1 by 1 ) and tweaked my ankle to avoid them. The product of Ikon Saturdays at Aspen.

Ah,how can that be ??, you ask... well that's the Aspen Paradox. Aspen gets most of its snow, like 80% , at night . We typically have a disproportionate amount of bluebird powder days as a result and almost no wind. (not this year though- many cloudy flat light days in a row and no huge dumps either) Also if a day starts out as cloudy typically the sun pokes out quite BRIGHTLY for a few hours before the lifts close. Making it feel like you had a sunny day even if the forecast was partly cloudy. This hasn't been the case this year , which should have made it easier for groomers to make a good surface.

I have been coming to Aspen since the very first day Snowmass opened. Dec. 17, 1967. Bamboo poles and all. If you go back to the 1980's there used to be signs that said "please fill in your hole" because the snow was so fluffy if you wiped out you left a dent in the slopes. Not anymore those days are long gone . I remember taking off my snowboard in 1987 and trying to walk and sinking in to my shins on the packed powder.- on the trail! There was not so much of an advantage to riding alpine gear, and many days the snow would be a bit soft for alpine gear ..trenching too deeply. aspen was softbooters dream. Now... Snow grooming quality has steadily decreased year after year. Sure it's ridable, but not amazing as it once was. The snow is really EAST COAST hard. Like what you would expect at Killington, in VT , on a mediocre day at 2:30 pm on a Saturday. In fact I would bet that Killington had quite a few days with better grooming than Aspen this season- despite the heat wave, the rain etc. And IMHO Killington is one of the worst of New England's larger areas for Grooming. Typically Stratton, Mt. Snow, Loon, and Gunstock all do much better. It's not the worst. Hunter Mountain is ready dangerous for snow surface. And Ive experienced really bad snow at Crotched Mountain ... sooo bad. But that's after a melt down RAIN AND cold snap. But for the West ????? AND NO RAIN, NO MELT DOWN?? What's fogging on Aspen? Mike Kaplan Aspen CEO is splitting on us. Or maybe he already left. https://www.aspentimes.com/news/kaplan-announces-he-will-step-down-as-leader-of-aspen-skiing-co/ Alpine carving practically "requires" good surface to really really enjoy yourself. This season at Aspen I can expect to catch jackhammers at high speeds on most days. And that's while riding a much more forgiving soft boot set up1 Buttermilk used to be the Mecca for old pro surfer carvers. I have always enjoyed Aspen, its 350 days of sun (not so this year) and its amazing snow management made it a perennial favorite. The World Carving group, expression session, bromada- we all came here to carve. However, as a FIRM warning to people on this site who really want to experience excellent snow- you won't find it in Aspen any longer. My suggestion for your epic snow adventure is to go to Vail Beaver Creek. The lift lines won't be as bad as Vail, but the snow quality is several magnitudes better than what has been in steady decline at Aspen. I posted something similar last year. Just look at the FIS race we had last week and see how many PRO FIS racers had issues. Prinoth who can lay down some excellent cord was in charge of the final grooming product, but Aspen obviously didn't give them much to work with. Lots of racers were having issues through "straw pile" . Racers eventually adapted to find different lines, and there were some really weird late race upsets. Like Jarod Goldberg getting 6th from 56th. Two ties from team USA for 13th late in the game. That should never happen. Typically courses degrade and after 30-40 racers you will have difficultly cracking into the top 10-15 spots. I'm not even sure I could consider a professionally injected FIS course to have any comparison to Aspens base snow..... but those Prinoth guys seem to make a good product both for top competitions and recreationally (Montucky) if they have enough time with it. It's been a really good snow year for Aspen, with no rain. its been plenty cold. Yet all four Mountains Highlands, Ajax, Buttermilk, Snowmass GROOMING has been lackluster. Probably Buttermilk has suffered the least but still is considerably off its buttery mark. There really is no reason to pay Aspen's exorbitant restaurant costs, sky high hotel costs, difficulty to get here with expensive flights, and their $224 daily lift ticket rate for weekends and holidays UNLESS the SNOW is STELLAR. Breckenridge and the front range win for Snowbunnies, Aspen's cougars are legendary if that's what you're after. Night life has eclipsed all the other resorts ...but again $$$$. Lots of very business savvy over 40 women with no kids looking for the private Jet guys with more $$$ (who ironically could care less about the income of the women they date) are here. So those women seem to be forever single. And since most carvers are older men- maybe that's a plus? Vail Beaver Creek has aggressive and frankly belligerent on snow staff- I was almost run into the trees once by their on snow staff- on purpose. food isn't very good either. And their parking is true pain, but the snow is at least heavenly. So what have been your thoughts about the snow this year at your resorts compared to Aspen? I interviewed a few grooming staff and they blamed it on the tillers used which crush the air out of the snow as opposed to the Big round rollers they used to use. I rode a sheet of ice with pebbles in it today that was really steep and I had maybe 2-3 degree margin for error side slipping the entire 800+ vertical feet. A friend of mine fell and was knocked out. because of the grooming and was quadriplegic paralyzed for 15 minutes at Snowmass and was taken to the hospital . Doctors said he needed mandatory spinal surgery. Only his Apple Watch auto dialed 911 and saved him. Seems to be fewer ski patrol around. I managed to get him the care he needed to fix his 2 vertebrae and put his ribs back in place. So he is now improving. But I don't want any of my friends from this site to experience what he went through. Maybe you get lucky and have a few great days. we are getting 18" of snow in the next 3 days so maybe we will have a few good days sprinkled in. But if you are an older carver and can't afford an injury and possible surgery I'd wait for the grooming to turn around. We probably lost a few good groomers with tons of experience to retirement. Frankly any good east coast groomer worth his salt could make Aspen snow amazing. It practically snows every 3rd day. But still its super awful! I can ride a variety of crap conditions, after all I rode hard boots on the East coast for decades. But it's been really bad here. I hurt my back a few weeks ago m(bette now) when it looked fresh groom but it was just a skim job over irregular frozen plate underneath. I can make it look to others on the lift like its good conditions, by slicing through icy stuff and leaving a trench that has some staying power most of the time , but some of this stuff.... I can't put a dent in it. You have been warned.

I hope this helps- it’s not a criticism. IMHO I find that the straps that come stock on most of the hard boots and soft boots that secure the tongue to your shin do an ok job. if the job is just to close the inner liner. Exterior steaks try to do the job but tend to not really help. Essentially when you drive fore and aft in toeside to heelside turns and vice versa , the front and rear of the lower leg can lose contact with the liner . This slop imho significantly lessens response time to transmitting force through your boots through the bindings to the board. On less than ideal surfaces … undulating chatter during a turn can mean your leg in not er I rely pressuring the boot at all times. Actual brand of Booster straps have some tough elastic that ensures constant contact . A strap without stretch can not ensure that . So your strap dies not perform like a booster strap because it has no true range of elasticity. Let me see if I can find an actual booster strap video so it can be seen more closely.

I have always used them in both feet. I tend to cinch them down fairly tight. I don’t super crank on my inner liners because if you do that you’re going to deform the inner liner and you’re only going to point contact along several parts of the inner liner so I make those inner liners pretty snug. Then I tighten the outer boot with the Boa really tight . doing it this way, and not over tightening the inner liner helps keep circulation in my feet, and I get a better fit throughout and better resistance to internal rotation of my foot because I am using the outer boot to really crush on the inner liner, distributing the pressure really evenly, then of course you do your straps and then you have to typically titan just a little bit the outer boot liner. , then of course you do your straps and then you have to typically tighten just a little bit, the outer boot liner After a run or two I may tighten up the inner liner just a smidge but again not over tighten - your boots will last longer this way too. the booster strap I also crank in prettty hard to help the outer boot where it doesn’t have the help of the straps of the binding . in a sense you are emulating a 3 or 4 buckle hardboot . Otherwise soft boots can feel like hardboots that have the top buckle too loose. the booster strap essentially brcomez your “ top buckle” . . Most hardboot riders like their rear boot very secure . Riding with only the front booster strap would do the opposite , so try to use both . I hope that helps . BTW IMHO I really don’t like soft boot carving nearly as much without booster straps .

I’m a huge booster strap proponent on soft boots and hard boots. Do it only around the boots. the booster strap helps to give more support higher up and keep your shin in proper tongue contact to prevent slopping around during edge transitions and reduce shin bang. I use heavy duty Velcro to keep the booster strap from wandering up.

Come out to Aspen, wide open terrain with good snow and I can will give you the confidence and neuromapping to take those skills back East. Slopestar ( soft boot carving deep edging and trenching) and CMC (carving for icy snow) both emulate different riding styles that I taught them. You can ask them how I helped. Slopestar has really been killing it- had a great time riding with him this year. That video with the slow toe side, it’s hard to go that slow as an intermediate and carve that deep, better to learn with a bit more speed then learn to slow it down. ‘my advice…get low first …then worry about edging …..is a lot easier than edging first and trying to get low. Here’s your virtual coaching from the stills. Heelside is your better turn of the two.. you are looking into the turn which is great and your leg positioning relative to each leg is actually quite good. However your hips and butt are way too high off the snow for a good heelside. Finding your balance along the centerline tip to tail of the board first and getting low prior to tipping will help. Then you can do it at the same time once you fix the issue to edging to much and too early for your hip height off the snow. Toes side…that really needs work . Your center of mass is way too far away from the edge of the board for your speed and inclination. You are leaning into that turn (bad) rather than edging into that turn. Try focusing on not leaning your body into the when initiating but trying to drive your shins and knees down towards the snow first. It will at first feel awkward until you feel the edge powerfully cut. Much easier to show you on FaceTime when you are clipped in in your living room . 949-416-6194 Aspen has become a DJ Mecca with great slopes. Like Vegas with a skiing problem. You won’t be disappointed.

If you get to aspen this season look me up. I’ll dial you in . Nothing wrong with what you have initially . I find mid level riders benefit a lot from better gear. Though some upper guys can make almost Anything work. But those upper level guys got the skills to make riding Anything look good from years of riding great gear first. 347-263-7238. I can put you on some gear that would just make your head explode. Stuff that most people don’t even know exists. ‘With insightful instruction you can learn more in 3 days in Colorado than 5 years of 40 day+ seasons trying to figure it out on your own. . Then you can bring those skills back to the East coast. ‘Your ikon pass gets you 5-7 days at Aspen. We have had a lot of snow this year so we won’t melt out as quickly. Next year buy the Frontier Airline “Go Wild” pass with unlimited flying and hit all Ikon CO . You can be on the hill Riding with LCI (The Loveland carving crew) faster than driving anywhere decent from NJ. CHeap tickets.com ‘will start having those super cheap rentals once again for rental cars.

IMHO it makes zero difference where the center line is on any boot. What matters is where is the curve of your actual heel and where are your toes. If you had x-ray vision and could look inside your boots. think of it this way... Do you really want your heel to lift when on edge or would you prefer your heel to be directly over the edge? Imagine if you could ride with unlimited heel inset or offset? If your heel was unlimited "inset"..ie inbound heel then as you made a heel side turn your heel would lift into the air. With unlimited offset you heel would prevent the edge from engaging as it dug into the snow early and levered and unset the edge. So IMHO the best is when your heel is low AND you have the ability to lower your COM. Having the ability to lower your COM and maintain a close relationship ion the rear curve of your own heel with the edge is a huge part of making clean carve. Also while simple and fast as a right angle square is to determine overhang... it isn't the end all choice. Sometimes with a tiny bit more overhang... you now can get the true heel (not the boot heel) over the edge and that gives you more cutting power... That trench now gives you more room before boot out. Obs on ice you are not likely going to rail at 89 degrees. Same goes for minor toe overhang on the rear foot for toeside. You IMHO can not afford as much heel overhang because you have less edge forward of the heel so the actual trench created isn't as deep as say the trench depth further back on your rear toe for your toe edge. So What I do is .... just adjust for decent Gilmour bias...then slowly adjust outwards until boot out and back off a bit. same for the toe. Look at Any other board sport... check the centering of the feet , are top surfers centered ? Nope never. Are top skateboarders, nope never. should top snowboarders be centered nope never, not unless they want to limit their ability to carve to be average. Board sports are inherently asymmetrical except for mono skis , and Riding turner Summer Skis dead parallel (which I was good at and still noticed offset parallel was far superior ) . Since our left and a right turns are not identical we should not be centered. We should adjust to balance out out Biomechanical differences to select for the best combinations of variables to allow for the most balance, rotation, edging and power during strong inclination. This applies pretty equally to both hard and soft boots. Most soft boot riders would carve better if they weren't totally flat (I'm guilty here as Im riding flat for convenience) , and most hardboot riders benefit from some sort of cant and lift compensation if for no other reason than to compensate for less than optimally designed hard boots that force more can't and lift... but again even a perfectly designed hardboot would still result in a rider needing some can't and lift (but likely a bit less and obtaining optimal balance .

I would love to Dj the roller disco!