bigwavedave

Rich, a skier friend reported that GR was great a couple of days ago. Should be about the same as Spirit. Spirit was pretty nice today. Coverage is still good. I only rode for 2½ hours until untracked groom was hard to find. No crowds or lift lines. It starts to get a little rough when it gets all tracked out, not that bad, I'm just nursing a knee injury that doesn't like a bumpy ride. GR might have frozen groom to start. Looks like it will be below freezing til about mid-day. It's 48° there now. Spirit doesn't open til 10am. I can get you a $10 lift ticket on my pass if you decide to come here.

Really nice snow today About 6"+ of granular on top of a harder base. Carving became slarving. It was surfy fun. Hooked up with @Leighton, a former softbooter, avid pavement longboarder and now looks to be a fully addicted hardboot carver.Rode from 10-12:45 on the express side. Only saw one patch of pink snow. Snow was fast, no sticky/sucky like I heard yesterday was. Slarve city That's Leighton's board on the right. He was making some nice tight carves. Looks like a vintage board to me, so I figured I'd post a pic for the old farts @b0ardski to reminisce about the good old days. See ya out there tomorrow!

When I want to keep my speed under control and/or be more maneuverable e.g., flat light, early season limited snow coverage, crowded hill, narrow runs. It gets the least use of the three. Sometimes I ride it just to have a giggle. It rides like a SL board; very versatile and more fun than you'd expect...and makes small midwestern resorts with short runs more interesting.

Okay...avoid the pink snow...walked up to the bottom of 4pipe this evening about closing time. Looks like full-on granular spring slush. Should be fun

I guess the original question was K vs T, as much as I don't like making those "vs" type comparisons, it is personal opinion after all. All the boards I mentioned in my post I consider to be great boards. I just stumbled upon this old thread and after looking through it, I was struck by the many opinions offered by folks who have only ridden one of the boards in question. Regarding plates, I once demoed an AF plate (on my Rev) and it worked fine, but I just didn't like the disconnect. I am fortunate to ride mostly fresh morning groom and go home when and if the going gets too rough. Since I've been riding the Thirsts I have found that I will keep riding later as they seem to go through late day chop and push piles a bit smoother than my other boards, so now I'm even less inclined to get a plate. I see no reason why one couldn't mount a plate on a Thirst, just not sure if it would be worth isolating yourself from the delicious feel of its silky smooth carve.

I know sunsurfer also has a 162 Kessler, so he is familiar with the K ride. Am I the only other one who has actually ridden both Kessler and Thirst? I've owned a 180 and two 162 Kesslers in the past. I have ridden a 168 and a 170 Kessler for a few runs. I now own 3 Thirsts: SF 162 (small), Superconductor 175 (med) and 8RW 185 (large). I have ridden these 3 boards all winter and have gradually gotten to trust that they can handle most all conditions better than anything I've ever ridden before. I have found myself ridding my very familiar home mountain terrain in ways I had not dared before. I keep waiting for the big crash, when I've pushed it too far, but it hasn't happened...yet...shouldn't even say stuff like that. With lots of time to think on the chair ride up after a run, I've been thinking about the comparison to other boards. Thirsts have the best qualities of several boards: the silky smooth carve of a Kessler, light and nimble sureness of a non-metal Oxess, the smooth & easy ride of a Coiler, the energy of a Rev and can be pushed hard and blast through crud like a 162 SG fullrace. I'm just trying to think of some of the qualities I liked about each of these other boards. Since I've been riding these Thirsts, I haven't missed them.

Been a bit under the weather, but planning to come up for some slush surfing Thurs & Fri. @khoward straight paraffin (canning) wax works well on sticky snow and slush.

Yup, signed up for a summer build spot too, after seeing Shred's new Monster which inspired me to do something I've been meaning to for a few years--replace my 20 yr old 180 Incline that has inserts pulling out and terrible base suck etc. Despite its 180cm length it has a friendly 11m scr and with a 23.5cm width it's been my favorite hardboot carver on super soft (1st day) groomers, 6" inch or more pow on top of groom or spring slush surfing. The board that would have been nice to have at MCC...and did not have with me! Anyway, that's what I told Bruce. Haven't worked out any details other than it will be around 185 or 188cm with a tight scr for the length, maybe feel like 11-12m? and a similar shape to Shred's new Monster. Bruce already has some ideas...he'll work out the details. Wonder if I should let him pick out the topsheet graphics too?

Yeah, the velcro sounds easy-peasy. Didn't know they had industrial grade velcro, cause I found the regular stuff unreliable and short lived, at least in other applications. I've been working my way through the same can of contact cement for 20+ years (and not only on stomp pads), and there's still 1/3 of a can left My stubborn Yankee frugality gene says since it works so well, that I have to use the rest of the can.

Contact cement, type used in construction to attach laminate, the stuff that has to dry for 5 min before you stick it on. Remains flexible and can be removed with some heat. Use goo-gone if needed to remove old glue and denatured alcohol to prep surface for good adhesion.

Jeez, that sounds like some crash Speedy recovery Jim

Thanks Allen. Too bad the camera doesn't pick up the satisfying sound the board makes slicing through the corduroy. All you need is a camera on the end of each pole and you could record in 3d Just for you man! It may look relaxed, but it's really concentration on not crashing with a 5' pole! I don't think he makes any with titanal, but you won't miss it because they perform as well or better than any metal board I've ridden and with a lighter, more nimble feel. You should talk to Mark about width, he may have an upper limit. He made mine about 20.5 cm in the waist so I could ride the angles that I like with 28 upz's, roughly 60°F & 55°R.

Thanks D, and I know, it does look like a lot of board out there, but my bindings are mounted where Mark indicated the centered stance to be and I haven't felt the need to play around with it. I can't imagine it riding any better! I find myself riding this board long after the cord is gone and the push piles and ruts are everywhere (well after I would normally call it a day). It just seems to eat it up. Maybe something to do with having all that board out in front? Definitely nice in pow under 6 inches and maybe up to a foot over groom, but anything more and I'm more comfortable on a softer, wider set-up. At Turner, there were plenty of folks (Mark being one) who were content riding their carving set-ups everywhere! I found it challenging

compilation of clips from 1st tracks with the 185 8rw at Spirit in 2019...before the lift starts running, holding a 5' pole with a gopro stuck on the end...not the best way to do a warm-up run, but it captures the mood of having acres of fresh corduroy to yourself.

Giant's Ridge looks busy on the webcam today, must be spring break? Same at Lutsen and BigSnow, and it's snowing pretty good there in the U.P. on the backside of the storm. Lake Superior is still mostly frozen over, but that should change soon, then maybe the lake effect will turn back on when cold air returns. Spirit remains closed today due to the meltdown.

Mine has a 13-14m...so, unless you asked for tighter?...but, yes, if you apply the pressure and tip it up on edge she will come around surprisingly tight! When I asked Bruce to make me a board with "race-board performance", but with a near radial sidecut, he said he'd been wanting to tweak the NSR design, and had loved riding a 13-14 scr at SES, so was enthusiastic about the idea. He liked it so much on the test ride that he immediately built a copy for himself! I can't take credit for the design, except maybe the inspiration for Bruce to design something a little different. Fortunately, he thought the idea made sense. I had no input other than basic dimensions (approx length and side cut, and width). One of my favorite boards--you can drive it or just ride it, so it's comfortable to be on it all day.

First run at 11:30 with the polecam (lifts start at noon Monday). A nice soft groom like you'd expect the day after a few inches of snow. For some reason it was hard and bumpy over on the Gandy side ('cept in the park), so we went back over to the Express side and the crowds weren't bad. Mild temps and not a cloud in the sky blue sky. Rode all 3 carving sticks today, stayed til 4:30 when the sun-softened snow started to set up as temps dropped. Russ, Ken and Don all on the hill today! Rain and warm temps for the rest of the week

After a satisfying day of carving up Indianhead yesterday, I was going to take the day off, but morning sun lured me out for a few turns at Spirit. Rode for 1½ hours as the sun gradually disappeared behind ever thickening clouds of the approaching storm and more and more people arrived at the hill. Over the past few weeks we've experienced one of the best stretches of stellar carving days in years! Today was no exception, everything from Gandy to DoubleJaw (BlueRuin & CinderSnapper had races). A peek at the weather forecast for later next week foreshadows a break in this stretch....but the next few days should be fun, I'm thinking Monday

Russ and I drove over to Indianhead this morning and rode from 9-1:30. We hooked up with Al for several runs. Snow was very nice making for deep trenches and we trenched the place up pretty good. Had so much fun I forgot to take pics of our best work! The first of our many tracks...

Another beautiful day of carving Russ and I left our mark on Gandy Dancer. Saw Ken later from the chair as I was leaving. Off to Indianhead tomorrow...

I think I have 5 pairs of sidewinders, everything from early prototypes to the last version Fin made. I have 1 pair of F2-like bindings (labeled "Head") for my soft set-up, though I checked both boxes. If you lump all Bomber bindings together like F2-like bindings are, then the tally looks different. There are a lot of F2 style bindings of varying quality out there like Blax and the first plate bindings I had which were labeled RadAir, all metal and I broke a bail on those. Are Snow Pros in the F2-like category? I had several pairs of those in the past, similar design to F2, but seemed more substantial. Racers typically replace their bindings (as well as everything else) each season, but like Neil says they put way more stress on equipment than a recreational carver does.

I plan to be at Spirit Thursday. Probably go over to BigSnow on Friday. Spirit has races on the calendar for F-S-S, so Blue Ruin and/or Gandy may be off limits.

Snow flurries in BigSnow country M-T-W and then a couple of days of rare sunshine. Thinking of heading over on Friday.

The only apparent reason that Spirit was open today was for the USASA slopestyle comp. It was just me and them for the first hour or so. "Winter sports enthusiasts" (as Russ would say) have apparently lost their 'thusiasm for subzero temps (or they're seeking protection from the wind in the forest). The place was empty. Intense late winter sun reminds one that spring is near. Brisk NW winds began to blow at about 11am about the same time as others started arriving and I called it a day. Even fiery snowflakes on the Superconductor couldn't soften the extra cold and firm snow...

Spirit website updated info for half price tickets at GR M-Th with a Spirit pass...~$25