John Gilmour

Did you ever take Cipro? causes tendon ruptures and muscle tears.

Well, I have another board that would fit the bill for you. 163 titanal and carbon BX right in your SCR range. Optional riser plates. Insane edge hold. I need more of a powder nose with all the snow in Aspen (6” yesterday ) this is just Korean style. I’ll give you a great deal on a a board with more edge hold than anything else in its size range . And I’ll toss in a lesson should you ever get out west ( which you should - anyone who didn’t take advantage of frontier airlines, unlimited usage from the East Coast needs to have their head examined ) that in combo with IKON IMHO with gas prices as they are now …

45/33 21 inch stance with 31” inseam, moderate Gilmour bias Union Forged Carbons front heel cup all the way extended out and rear heel cup all the way in to give more toe overhang . About an extra 1/4” more bias from binding discs . front high back full upright - rear highback two clicks forward . Both maximally rotated parallel to the edge of the board . rear toe ramp mid hole forward , front toe ramp all the way back .

Because of our body mechanics if both leans were set the same … you would not be able to exert equal pressure along the heel edge for the same amount of board tilt. The back foot would require real contorting of the body to try to equalize heel edge pressure. More forward lean on the rear can help equalize the edge pressure front to back and this subsequently reduces chatter on your heel edge and prevents washout on the heelside , it also can prevent spin out So even if you’re riding lower stance angle in soft boots- you’ll notice if you angulate towards the heelside that your front soft boot Will engage the high back much earlier than your rear soft boot if your forward lean is equal. When I first started snowboarding I just assumed you wanted more front lean to help with early hillside engagement so your COM wouldn’t end up too far away from the heel edge. But pretty soon I noticed that spin out would occur shortly after crossing the fall line . More rear forward lean helps to fix that.

I have Nordica TR-9 a stiffer version like the Rachel SB 121. Way to heavy. Some touring boots either seem to be MUSH without progressive flex like The older Dynafit tour Lite Extreme, or abruptly stopping in flex like a brick wall. I'd like a boot where the flex could be adjusted for skiing and snowboarding . In 1985 with Wade Shimoda (I taught him to ride in 1984) I help advise him to design a Simultaneous releasable snowboard binding. Back then boards were getting longer and longer and we thought back then that people would get injured with boards over 175 cm. Now even though I like the flex pattern a Union Split binding would give - I get nervous about it not being able to release in an emergency. For riding I prefer no release but want that option to release manually in an avalanche . Id like to be able to pull a single ripcord and inflate the AVI bag and release the board.... with a. tether and detachable so it wouldn't drag you but you could find it and it wouldn't end up as a runaway snowboard 2000 vertical feet away from you, or flying off a cliff. And having the right boot is something we need. Does anyone know of any good suggestions for a boot that has a convertible flex pattern for snowboarding ... hot knifing works but you can't go back easily For a EE width 27.0 mondo which favor snowboarding more than Skiing ? Some of the boots are painfully too narrow and don't have enough cuff padding and hence cut aggressively into my leg when I load up the boot. Thank you for your valuable input there .

I ride both. But over the year lack of comfortable fitting and flexing hard boots has pushed me into softboots more. Besides I feel I can look and feel performance oriented enough in both so I just went for comfort. What I really would prefer is what I have advocated for ...forever...in snowboarding.---> A proper flexing ultra lightweight touring style boot.... plate bindings with very forgiving flex in the footplate but rigid bails. A higher performance firm flexing wider free carving type of board with minimal speed robbing magenetraction. and an advanced modern nose shape. And I would like it to split. as well as allow for high angled carving. Try to Match your set up in terms of Compliance to the surface. If its bullet proof - you should be in hard boots a firm plate binding, and at least a medium to firmer flexing hard boot and a stiffer board - because you need depth cutting power. If it isn't hard to cut deep.... you don't need a hard boot set up if your skill level is there. Here are my caveats. A hard boot set up requires precise stance adjustments to get it to perform because the entire boot binding system is stiffer with a smaller "circle of balance available- it is more focused. A soft boot set up initially carves well toeside... but dialing in your heel side carves takes very careful adjustments to really get down. The system is very compliant - so works well so long as the snow is soft enough to penetrate easily and leave a carve. Ironically because the soft boot set up is so forgiving... it can be tricky to optimize your stance. IMHO you end up making a TON of adjustments to truly dial in your soft bondings. But its also worth it. At Aspen Ajax, most days soft boots are adequate. There are perhaps just 20 mornings a year where I wish I was in hard boots for the first hour or two. We rarely have wind stripped slopes ...unlike say Mammoth or sometimes the front range. On the East Coast, you'll want hard boots more often than not. As far as angles are concerned... I am likely the exception in that I like 45 degrees for my front foot on a Jones Hovercraft with Union Carbons. My back foot is also really angled. Admittedly I'd probably have a nicer ride in the cheaper Union Force which are more damp. But when the snow demands more cutting power and isn't choppy I like the added pressuring the Carbons afford - but I wholeheartedly admit those days are few. The carbon is just for show. In hardboots I'm typically around 58 front to 55 front and about 10 -14 degrees less in the rear. I use Gilmour Bias on both set ups and rely on getting that precisely correct more heavily in softboots set ups as there is less leverage overall available in soft set ups. I am not a versatile rider, I do not ride switch much - just when messing around but certainly not a performance switch rider, I am not a park rat, I just enjoy leaving a set of lines at higher speeds and deeper trenches to relive/savour on my lift ride back up . The issue is the faster and deeper you cut, the less time you spend on the hill and the more time you spend with your ass on the lift...so you may as well try to relive the ride. Sometimes I bring both sets of gear ... and often I stash gear if Im going to ride both. You pull more G's on Hardboots - and there's the draw. The average snowboarder does not relate well to hardbooters, skiers relate better to hardbooters than softbooters. More G's is more tiring , but you build great legs and torso. Personally I don't see much of a reason for softboots because we could make a higher performance, lighter, warmer set up if we embraced and enhanced a ski touring type boot. Plus if I ever made one- I would put a boot dial in to convert it to a more firm lateral flex for split uphill. I'd also make ASYM true articulating cuffs . And IMHO if you did it right,,,, softboots would go away and just persist in Parks. Because you would get more all mountain performance from a lightweight mid height hard shelled boot with a medium flex, I mean WHO would not like a pair of snowboard boots that weigh LESS than a single softboot and a lighter more versatile binding system? Plus maybe the ability to swap cuffs and tongues and clip into a Firmer Alpine carving board? So JohnE- seeing you are in Colorado , give soft boots a go. And get a Hardbooter set up for the days when the front range has stripped the hill of loose snow. If you come out to Aspen- drop me a PM.

Your Rotary motion occurring too large in the turn (if at all) . Rear shoulder not involved (probably not helping at all) to help soon enough. Conservation of angular momentum , means if you rotate your rear shoulder into the turn Rear hand palm down shoulder up,and rotating into the turn , your trunk will rotate into the turn (like a long handle screwdriver with tons of cutting ability and torque) and NOT overload the snow at the fall line. The wide track is a result of late or no rotation into the direction of the turn. Your body is going one way ( straight DOWN the hill ) and the sidecut the other way in a circular path ACROSS the hill . Your body must follow the path (ideally LEAD not follow in a latent fashion )the intended path of the sidecut . At times I intentionally mess with this to draw out turns IN THE FALL LINE , but if I want to carve clean clean you must work with the sidecut”s directional arc, not against it.

I , for sure, would constantly “binding out” heel side on that.

I do want to try new soft boot bindings as my Unions are falling apart after a few seasons . I just put some high angle carving up on Startchasing Instagram . Sadly the best shots were all blown higher up on copper - this is the flatter area at the bottom so I could not extend the carve much by more than say. An extra 15 feet as opposed to nearly 49-70 feet on say Ruthie’s . Still it’s fun to see some higher edge angle in soft boots .

Nice to see someone who is also pretty deep into getting performance out of his bindings . The binding boot interface and amount of “compliance “ a term taken from phono (vinyl records) needles and tone arms tells you how to match the system compliance for instance a steel boot and steel binding would have no compliance with the snow , and a Catek would have more, F2 race titanium , more, old burton race plates (too much - some used those with flexon comps to try and induce more compliance . softboot carving is more Compliant but the issue is you want progressively less give as you flex more . Some boots don’t have progressive compliance (like the bricks old K2 clicker) some were too compliant (like a standard burton hale). IMHO the older Union Carbons I use are not compliant enough and do like chalk until it starts getting piles of loose snow atop, then my carving gets more limited. I would rather ride a slightly narrower all mountain directional with a powder nose than the 156 Jones hovercraft spoon - but we get a lot of fresh Aspen snow on a regular basis and for much of this month a plate binding set up would have overloaded the snow. I would be the first to admit I have a weird riding style that requires most of your settings to be optimized to work properly and for that reason I don’t always tell people to ride with the stance I use unless they have rotatable high backs, movable heel cups ( not mini discs) and movable foot Ramps . Honestly if you take away my favored stance , I won’t be able , at my age, to ride better than Joe Schmoe . I need the ability to load the board for my riding style . On the bright side , in terms of fun factor I give up some powder performance but gain versatility and comfort, provided the snow isn’t bulletproof like so much of East Coast conditions in Spring freeze thaw. (Hard boots required ) This morning Aspen was rock hard ( no snow off of skiers tails) until 10:30 so I just cook breakfast and start later. What is your email . I’ll send you a video clip shot by an Aussie. I tried several other takes at higher speed on steeper terrain but this is the only one that has me in frame . I would love to make a franken binding , but it’s easier when people ask to just say - go buy XYZ. ( Union force ) . The Union buckles springs fail and also drag - causing less than ideal strap placement . Reversing the strap is good but it makes it a bit harder to clip in and out . IMHO no one has made a truly good ankle strap yet , and few boots do anything like varying foam thickness and material thickness to offer progressive compliance .

Great review lots of valuable info here. What is the torsional comparison of the high back on both bindings and does the footplate heel assembly allow for movement of the heel cup ?( I would assume no movement) also how thick is the distance from the rear of the boot to the outer band of the heel cup of the binding and is it smooth ?( like on say a Union force) to allow for extreme edge angle carving without “bindinging out”? Burton traditionally is a huge offender here for reference as to what is way too large a distance . I saw some earlier Now bindings , one previous vendor said there was no overlap between sizes so a foot size(s) suffered without a good fit somewhere in the 9.5-10.5 range . what’s your boot size on your drivers and binging size of the review sample? btw I also use booster straps and love the additional control .

I could - and probably should start my season earlier . But I’m working on getting a winter travel trailer to tow for an all out IKON wander carver set up. I think conditions should be pretty good for early season .

Back in 1983 When teaching snowboarding at Magic Mountain VT and we needed A high strong nervous student to relax We would hand them an oil can of fosters lager. We called that “the fosters challenge“. You had to finish the beer before you got to the top of the 1500’ vert. Lift. That Fosters slowed down jerky reactions just enough and gave enough carbonated courage for them to be a little more aggressive with their snowboarding while simultaneously being relaxed and less frustrated if they fell, because they could blame it on the booze and just laugh it off. Worked every time. That’s how we taught Michael Capalettti of Madd snowboards and his wife Stephanie ( she wore a full impact suit and laughed hysterically every time she fell. Apparently fosters works even better on Koreans).

It’s like midwinter in Aspen , getting snow at night pretty regularly . Very good carving, though sunnier skies would be welcome . It’s usually a melt out freeze thaw by now, but it’s been cold and being overcast much of the day has preserved the snow. I can only think of a few times in previous years after March 15 when it hasn’t been mashed potatoes by 2pm. It’s certainly more like winter skiing than spring skiing , Ajax tavern was a chilly late lunch yesterday. I haven’t been able to break out any spring skiing wear and my feet have been cold like mid February. I’ll probably leave Aspen this year without experiencing slush or a pond skimming contest .

We got a ton of snow . Monday was some pretty good fluffy stuff like Aspen used to get in the 1989s very cushiony. it didn’t firm up much today as temps have been cool, it’s staying like winter 25 degrees this morning . This late the snow is typically hard in the morning, but now it’s like February snow! Usually I have to wait for Ruthie s run to get sun to soften in March, but today it was perfect at open. snowed all afternoon and tonight. don’t miss this.

I dunno , I’m at the beach right now. But ask me tomorrow after I drive there. Friends say the snow is good now.

O okOne thing I’ve done since the very beginning of Teaching snowboarding this to tell people to try to divide the trail up into five lanes and stay out of lane one & lane five. One reason for this is if for some reason something goes wrong at least you’ve got a 20% buffer before you’re in the trees. The other reason is that if some person does try to pass you, he’s got 20% of the width of the trail on either side to try to squeeze past you and if you should happen to overshoot your turn by 10%, he still got 10% to go past you without hitting you, he doesn’t have to time his turn exactly to your turn to squeeze by, this is snowboarding not Frogger. and if you happen to overshoot your turn by even more,Leaving just 3% space between you and the trees and he tries to be an idiot and still squeeze by, at least you won’t be the one in the trees. There’s a false sense of confidence when they are only one or two people are on a slightly narrow trail ....people travel at a higher rate of speed thinking they’ve got lots of room It’s just a single person to avoid, and all takes is bad timing. Because skiers typically don’t make really wide finish turns they don’t realize how fast we come across the trail. They don’t understand that the best thing to do is to be going the exact opposite way across the trail on a seemingly collision course, aiming for a space about 3 feet after the tail of our snowboards. That’s really the only safe spot. Because you can’t reappear in that spot ever again, and you can’t possibly turn around quickly enough to hit him before he well down the hill. ... but instead most people try to get a “good” ( not) 29 feet away ...distance from you, there’s no sort of aiming at a spot behind your tail whatsoever. And inevitably at some point the timing is wrong and . that 20 feet is eaten up in less than 1 second . And as you come across you don’t have weight down hill - so you can not make an instant slalom turn. I got hit at Killington - end of the day . Only 1 skier hundreds of yards up hill. He could have waited 20 seconds he straight lined and was too tired to even turn slightly. But he hit me from above as I was heelsiding ( gunfighter) on a Layle Gregory Hammer 154 recovering from an injury. He was going 35-40 mph I was doing 10-15 mph . 3:50 pm. Trail was 60 feet wide - no one else on it. I was hooking turns methodically in the middle three lanes . Very predictable. I got jolted slammed my shoulder into him . Skier but through this tongue , broke his nose, and broke his arm both bones like a noodle - blood everywhere. He spun through the air like a unstuffed doll. Total yard sale . I normally would have been Wtf? But felt sorry for the tired skinny weary guy who should have nit taken a last run so tired. he was apologetic- and I walked him to ski patrol.

I also learned that there is an ideal boot tightness to look for in regards to the inner boot, and overtightening the inner boot can lead to liner deformation and less evenly distributed pressure from the outerboot and that leads to more foot movement not less and warmer feet. And premature inner boot failure if your inner boot laces. i learned that striving to paralel your shins super Early to the snow prior to,pressure ,toe side results in less ankle overload more ROM for the ankle and better bleed of speed. i learned how to coach people without so much cortex and more instinct survival working for them as opposed to,against them.

Jan 25 my car was in an accident. It's Feb 21 and Costco car insurance .....American Family insurance "Connect" hasn't even begun the repairs thus wiping out most of my season as the repair will take at least 3 weeks. I have been off snow since Jan 22 Tomorrow I replace one Banff Carado 2018 solar lithium ion battery adventure van ( for sale $49k never used the stove or bathroom 11k miles) with a brand new 2921 Thor Sequence 20a that has Gel cells , solar, and all batteries and water inside for colder temps. Super nice looking and bigger . So Aspen in a few days If that works. I've spent $950 in gas and $1800 in rentals in the last month alone. No more ICE cars after this is done. i have more room, but it's less comfortable over all.

I just spoke to some of my Aspen local friends and Aspen is now completely open No more restaurant closures, Andno more restaurant closures, And they got about 2 feet of snow in the last week or so

I had deluxxe , and UPZ . They don’t work well for me I kinda liked the Northwave fit of the lower foot but they were Too high . These are problems I have had, we can easily determine others have not had issues or they wouldn’t spend most of their time in hardboots . I like hardboots that work well for me and allow me to toss myself all Over the hill without feeling like I’m wearing clumps of inflexible plastic . I feel a comfort fit with intuition liners but not a performance fit because of the foam density and I “bottom out” their liners. I thought the dual density liners were better ... but still my foot is as not held well enough. It just comes down to generations of soft boots vs hardboots . The hardboots don’t change every year and refine the fit and foam durometers. I like the weight of the touring boots but the liners are so thin. There is not enough material “squish travel” to prevent bottoming out the liner onto the hard plastic . I really Want a near touring weight (split boarding) hardboot about 15- 20% taller with progressive flex , and a liner I can’t bottom out . I’m sure Beckman could put me into something I truly like # total boot genius.

If a picture is worth a thousand words... instruction is worth a lot more. I’m taking Dredmans. Montucky as being BETTER THAN XGAMES. Hope to teach some of you there

When I started as the first East coast Sims rep, there was nothing that even remotely resembled a modern day soft boot. I rode in L.L. bean boots as a rep for the first season. Burton sold moon boots that were worse than using a construction boot. Quickly I found Sorels were only good for keeping your feet warm, and since bindings did not have high backs the Sorel was useless for a heelside carve on ice. So Tom Sims told me he was using a Koflach Valluga Lite randonee ski boot. I immediately became a dealer for those and was the ONLY person on the east coast pushing hardboots telling people you could actually turn well heelside in our typical frozen granular conditions . I was the first person I saw to use hard boots on ththe East Coast. A few people years later used ski boots , but the trend then was rear entry ski boots which worked terribly in snowboard bindings and needed modification to even fit them. My boot evolution 1. LL bean bone spur city. 2. Koflach Valluga lite Red (tried Sorels F that) 3. Koflach Albona (Damian Saunders boot) Yellow 4. Nordica TR-9 (cousin of SBH) still have and use a pair 5. Raichle 700s rode for 6 runs and sold them. 6. Airwalk , awlful 7. Solomon Malamute awful but used them for 2 seasons but mostly rode hard boots 8. Burton Andy Warhol bought 7 pairs. 9 . Burton SLX bad design , returned them after 2 days. 10. 2018 32 Binary Boa with booster straps, my current boot. I'm on pair 5. Softboots weren't capable of good perfomance of carving for the average snowboarder until the last few years. Now stiffer than average softboots are so comfortable and warm, and capable of good performance carving it itmis not icy, that I don't miss my hardboots as much. A pair of Nordica TR-10 are currently in the mail back to me, I'm going to try and mod them. Most of today's plastic shell boots suitable for splitboarding do not have enough padding in the inner liner and I find myself bottoming out the liner into the unforgiving plastic with forceful riding ....I would go back to hardboots full time if: 1. If The liners had beefy padding 2. If The liners dried out faster and did not stink (current 32 brand softboots have this miracle anti-microbial liner and so do many socks) but hardboots liners used to rot because thy nare vet dried fast enough ven when removing them to dry...mostly b abuse the plastic shells did not breathe. 3. If the weight were kept down to be about 1/2 of softboots (this is easy) 4. If heel rentention was as good as current good quality softboots . 5. If thy were as easy to put on and remove 6. If they had a truly good walk mode. Current good performance carving softboots also suck for walking. 7. If they had progressive flex and I didn't get shin bruising from hitting plastic that SUDDENLY HITS A STOP and won't bend anymore. 8. If the inner liner had proper lacing that was thick enough to not cut through the liner and instead distributed clamping force 9. If they had replaceable low cost liners. 10. If The fit were as advanced as quality Softboots.

Holy crap! The whole mountain reserved...I never knew. Amazing. Aspen is so empty it's almost like the Mountain is reserved . But to truly have place to have for yourself is awesome,.

I would make a series of videos on how to do this if I could avoid editing and them. I should be sleeping instead of posting at 4:30 am because I have to work ripping around on snowmobiles for ESPN tomorrow and that requires good sleep.