bigwavedave

Agree with that, but .951's don't lock. They are more like BTS. Rest is good info.

Porcupine Mts today. Deceptively gorgeous groom at the top turned out to be crusty frozen groom on the rest of the hill. I didn't last long enough for the sun to soften things up in the afternoon. I asked the groomer driver where the best snow was and he said it might be better over on the west side, but it was pretty hard everywhere. The rope tow over to the west side still not running, so I did the short hike. Snow was no softer, but no one was over there and the view of the lake was pretty nice.

I'm thinking about the cant and lift. I had to get rid of even a slight outward cant when I switched from UPZ's to .951. Also felt much better with 6° heel lift rear. The M.S. apparently has about 3° less heel lift/boot ramp than UPZ. Everyone is different, but might be worth playing with. Does the set-up feel comfortable when carpet surfing? Do you have fluid motion when you flex up & down bending ankles, knees, hips ect, without restrictions?

PM'd !

Everybody dressed up like hippies today, 60's music blasting, thought I was having a flashback. Rode from before the lift started til about 3, so 6 hours, got it down to a buck an hour @Lurch , I lost count of the runs. They even ran the old quad chair just for the fun of it. The place was busy, but not bad on the hill. Lot's of folks were in the bars at the top & bottom listening to live music. It was a happnin'. So, no lift lines, but did have to watch for traffic and occasionally wait for an opening. Rode with Al in the morning and then with a ski carver, Steve, who tried to match my tracks all afternoon. Conditions were excellent everywhere on the hill Making 1st tracks before anyone's on the hill.... Decided to stay in Ironwood and head over to the Porkies tomorrow, before the warm-up. Should be nice. They had some new snow the past few days. Oh, and I took a ride in the groomer at the end of the day. I start training next week

The 1st track... ...and layin' it down...

May not look real purty-like, but it sure was fun.

Drove East into the snow globe again today, that would be da U.P. 3-4" of fresh over a soft, crunchy groom (it was warm the past week). The only ice is in the parking lot, not on the hill, as it should be! On & off lake-effect all day. Carving was great , like buttahcream frosting. Indianhead celebrates 60yrs tomorrow (Friday, Feb 28th) with $6 lift tickets and free groomer rides in the Prinoth. @khoward wanna go tomorrow? The snow is fantabulous. I plan to hit the road at 6am. Jane should come too. You guys would love it here!

Went up to see what the hill was like today. Took one run on 4pipe to find it's just a sheet of ice with some loose, whitish ice crystals strewn around on top of it. If there was any carvable groom to start, I couldn't tell, but the small patches that were untracked were hard as ice. I couldn't muster the gumption to go over to the park and look for better snow. There was a Monoski-ism a-happnin' today. Heading over to daUP tomorrow. It's snowing there!

Mark has his method of determining proper flex for your weight and makes each board individually based on what you tell him. So, there are no generic wt ranges between models. I would either tell him you want it softer or lie about your weight by 15 lbs or so. I know @Algunderfoot might be able to chime in here since he has ridden the SF made for his wife who weighs 50 lbs less than him. Never rode a Virus. I've had a few Doneks and really liked the REVs and Inclines. I know some folks find them stiff, but mine have a deeper sidecut, so maybe they flex easier. I'd say not as stiff as Donek or SG frt, but maybe a bit stiffer than Kessler and Coiler (which I find very similar). I think Thirsts feel more like the carbon Oxess. I don't know if that helps. I've had a couple of K 162's and an SG frt163 (and others), loved them, but they were more work to ride for the same amount of fun than the SF. After getting the SF, my search was over for the perfect little board.

Barry, Definitely some of the easiest boards to ride. You can ride them hard, like Carvin in the above vid, but you can also just put your hands behind your back and cruise by simply leaning over into your turns, and anything in between. They are super smooth and forgiving of less than perfect form. I love that next to last turn in @Carvin' Marvin's video. Definitely one of those moments where the board says, "I got this one". I think the Super that Carvin is riding is the same one I first demoed. It was super flexy, yet performed well. My custom Thirsts are stiffer than that demo board. Still easy to ride. I kinda wish I asked Mark to make one of them really flexy (like that demo) for easier riding on ice. I'm still nursing a couple of old injuries, yet put in ten, 5 hour days in the past 2 weeks. I'm 66 yrs old and should know better. The SF162 is the best little board I've ever ridden. I have ridden it more this year at my local hill just because we've had more icy and flat light conditions where I wanted to keep speed down and be more maneuverable. It's super versatile---surprisingly steady doing large radius high speed turns when you want, and willing to change it up in an instant to make a tight turn with full edge engagement. It also comes out to ride narrow runs or when it gets crowded. My favorite ride though is the 8rw, in good conditions with grippy snow, good visibility, and enough room to make turns (it doesn't require as much as you'd think for a 185). That's only because I'm not comfortable cranking hard turns on ice. I'll just get going too fast for my comfort, and if there's poor visibility, my knees don't like surprises. I spent several full days on this board recently on great snow--it's so smooth! Those are my favorite days. The Super 175, or even the XC 171 might be the most versatile as a "one board quiver". If I only got one, I'd get a Super. Two? Then I'd get the 8rw and the (SF162)? more likely the 171XC. But there's the conundrum. Luckily Mark anticipated this and offers a one year multi-board discount. Just start with the SF162 and start saving for the the next one.

2006 Burton Fish 160 (real wood topsheet w/ blue sidewalls) $275 plus shipping N 31.6 W 25.8 T 28.6 scr 8.24 stance 20" 3" back 3cm taper I bought this several years ago, new, in plastic, never ridden. I rode it a handful of times including at the 1st MCC powder "carving" event where it was waist deep in the trees. It worked fine with soft (Raichle 313) hardboots and flexy Carve rs bindings, but it's likely best suited for softboots. A board for deep powder, trees or anywhere there's fresh snow. Super turny and surfy, with lots of taper so the nose will never sink. Not as fun on the groomers back to the lift. ...or you could hang it on the wall of your chalet... More pics here... https://duluth.craigslist.org/spo/d/duluth-burton-fish-160cm-powder/7694470079.html

Yeah, probably a near impossible request for our board builders--a little board that does everything. There may be something in the works....

Friday, Feb 21, 2020 I was surprised I couldn't find a thread for the Porkies. It's been a couple of years since I've been here. Stayed at IH last night to make a trip over to the Porkies today. Really, really nice snow. They only have natural snow. There was about 4" fresh on the sides of the groomed runs as well as trails left un-groomed, and of course lots of back-country tree stuff. There were plenty of acres groomed for carving. Temps got up to about 40° this afternoon. It's kind of small, but I really like this place! Fun trails, not too busy (no line for the one chair lift) and stunning views of Lake Superior! They are trying to get funding to add a second chair where there used to be one years ago. As it is now, you have to use a rope tow at the top that takes you over to the trails formerly served by the old chair. The rope tow wasn't going today, but one could walk. My legs were too shot to ride for very long, never mind exploring. They are only open F-S-S-M, so Friday is a good day to show up if there has been new snow over the previous few days. A turny carving board that likes some powder would be ideal here. The SF was up to the job, but I'm thinking I'd like a wider one with a powder nose for deeper, softer snow.... Most of the runs have a steep section at the top.... ...and a gradual runoff into the flats....

There's so many different little things and you can really only focus on one or two at a time. One thing that I discovered, maybe in the past few years, not sure if I learned it somewhere, but it's the feeling or sensation that I'm feeding the board into the turn. Sort of like feeding a dollar bill into a vending machine, you start and then it takes off. When I do it, it seems to smooth out the whole turn. That, combined with the old weighting and un-weighting, ie, coming down with some weight to initiate decambering the board as you feed it into the turn. ***edit*** went for a ride after writing this and paid attention to what I was doing while "feeding" the board into the turn. Seems it may be the same thing Jack described as pressuring the forward cuff going into a turn. Also when riding steeps--angulate, getting low and reaching for the board with the outside hand.

Ahhh, back at IH again today! They've been making snow during this cold spell. A couple of big piles stashed at the top of the hill, for later. Wish Spirit Mt would do that, and cover some of that ice! A few more inches of lake-effect since Sunday. Snow is nice with a little better coverage on the steeps. Sundance had a firm, yet plush groom for 2-4" deep trenches Started out below zero and bright sun all day! Crossing into the Eastern time zone tomorrow to the Porcupine Mountains on the shore of Lake Superior. They're reporting 7" of lake-effect snow at the Porkies in the past 24 hrs, 16" in the past 7 days.

Oh yeah, we did, it's the main reason we go (we're retirees after all), but first we have to get the cost-per-run down to a dollar or less (not sure if that's an old man thing, or the expression of frugal-Yankee genealogy). I wasn't counting, but I think we got our 40 runs in. ...and it was good

Russ & I back up to GR again today. 4-5" of new snow since yesterday and still coming down. Soft groom, no sign of ice, even some fluff on top of the groom. Blustery, cold, snow-nados at the top, and gradually clearing skies. No traffic or lines. GR and Indianhead have had the best grooming the past few years. 1st tracks on Grenoble...after noon...

2001 180 Donek Incline with hoverboard option

Rode from 9-3. This is from the last run of the day. @bobble kept falling over on toeside turns coming into this steep section at the bottom....and then he sprung right back up!!! But seriously.... He makes a lay-down carve look smooth and effortless, and uses them sparingly as an occasional flourish when the impulse strikes to lay one down. There were holiday crowds, but not too bad. Never a long lift line and great snow! Hooked up with Al and Beth, and saw 1 or 2 other hardbooters. Set out from Duluth in the dark and arrived back in the dark. A long, but memorable day

I would love to see a picture, or better yet video of someone riding one. @BLOODTYPEZX10R ?

Met up with @bobble this morning for 2nd chair (we let the 10 year old kid grab the first one). Overcast to start and then some snow showers and then sun. It started to get crowded after about an hour or so requiring avoidance maneuvers. We ran into Jolsen. Turns out he's the mystery carver I've seen a couple of times this year. Finally went over to the Gandy side which was full of races on a sheet of ice covered by 1" of granular (Gandy & BlueRuin), spotted Trent taking photos of the racing and then we did several runs on the park groom before quitting around noon. Once the surface groom gets carved and scraped you get down to the ice base on most of your carves SkyHooker was not carvable, especially with traffic. We're headed over to Indianhead tomorrow Hoping for a sunny day. Might be holiday crowds, but not as bad as today and the snow should be perfect!

Boardski's board? How was it? A metal Razor, maybe that's why you couldn't feel that Spirit ice base? I felt sorry for the college racers on Gandy and BlueRuin last weekend. They were really struggling just to make it through that icy course. Ha! Just saw this...-39°F in Cotton this morning!

Apparently this was out of the batch going to MCC. I managed to slip it out the back of a UPS truck as it was passing through Duluth. Inspired by Shred's "new, improved Monster". 185 Contra All Terrain (for powder surfing, soft snow carving, spring slush slashing), when a carving stick is too stiff & narrow. 23 waist, 29.5 Nose, 28.3 Tail 11m scr with the Thirst inspired Contra sidecut geometry Bruce said it was "stupid easy" to ride, so I said, "sounds like my kind of board". Got to ride it for a couple of days inda U.P. in soft-ish conditions. Not so soft that a carving stick wouldn't have been fine, but I got a feel for it in 4-6" of pow and on some soft groom with baby pow (1-2"). Turns out it's also stupid fun to ride and pretty smooth once the soft stuff gets chopped up. Plus, it's nice to ride with more relaxed binding angles for a change. Nice to use different muscles with more heel/toe action. 50° front and 45° rear and very slight inward cant.