bigwavedave

My last 2 metal boards, one Donek and one Coiler, were each based off their race construction with the only difference being a near single radius sidecut. Although they have their distinct personalities, they both have less decamber in the tail than the nose and the tail feels stiffer than the nose, so I experience the same as you describe above, which reminded me of what I observed in photos I took while judging at the local NorAm races─racers being propelled off the tail of the board into the next turn.

Maybe this will freshen things up. I'm thinking Spirit on Tuesday─clearing skies after the snow─could be good. Looks like icy mix towards Indianhead─not so good.

I haven't said anyone was right or wrong, just that the term decamber as Donek and Coiler use it makes sense to me, and explained why. Just don't push me off the chair because you disagree. To call a board "rockered" just seems misleading to me, since the main component of the flex profile of most skis and boards is still camber. On a related subject, does any one know if Kessler is credited as starting the use of rocker (or decambering) in the ends of boards and skis?

Haven't they called that upturn, rise or shovel in the past? The ski industry (Volant?) used the word decambered to describe their first fully rockered skis with reverse sidecut (is there a word for that?) I suspect it was a ski marketing decision to describe the removal a bit of camber from the skis ends as adding rocker because it sounds new compared to decambered, which just sounds like readjusting something old─which it kinda is. Of course, in ski lingo, either term is technically correct to describe what they're doing. This thread started by asking what Donek (and Coiler) meant by the term decamber in referring to how they've tweaked the traditional camber flex profile. I think of it as pre-decambering to make it easy for old guys to keep ridding. The term decamber made sense to me probably because I'm an old codger who has been decambering his cambered skis (and now boards) since the days of leather boots and wood skis with cable bindings. And, yes I have purposely used lots of extra and inappropriate pre-fixes in this post just for Bryan's entertainment. Emojis added to lighten the tone

Yup, flat light to start, sun came out just before noon. Lots of people! Talked to one lady on the chair who came with 400 kids!! Found a couple of places to carve turns with little traffic, #7 and something about as long (6 turns and you're done) on the other side of the BX course. Saw some pretty good riding in the races and most of these kids are carving nice turns when practicing off the course.

Contact Russ (rwmaron) if you go to Spirit. He has a pile of comp tickets available to visiting carvers.

Yeah!!! Thanks for the pics, I'll be out there tomorrow.

Can't make it tomorrow, but will be there Saturday, ridding in the morning and helping with a boarder cross race from 2-4.

Intermittent light snow all day, overcast, but not flat light. Snow was soft and moist, causing our 2-3" deep trenches to compact making us curse our hardened trenches on subsequent runs. Though, the first several laps on each run were sweet. Rode from 9:30-2:30. Same crew, but shuffled the deck from the other day... Learned something interesting from boarder-patroler Don today...said he lived in Nepal many years ago and recalled seeing in a shop, the skis ridden by "the man who skied Everest" (or survived trying). https://youtu.be/j-8DLUc5iJg

Heading up tomorrow, Thursday.

Everything was purrrrfect (the sound made by a Coiler slicing through corduroy)─bright sun , warming temps crept above zero, no wind and NO body there─literally 10 people riding the express chair for the first 2 hours. Rode with Rich and later Ken─9:30-2:30─when clouds started moving in with after-schoolers. Many laps on everything from Bindle Stiff to Juggler Joe. BS had the best snow for a change (2" deep trenches), everything else a little firmer (1" trenches). Never got over to Gandy chair or Blue Ruin. Sky Hooker still cluttered with skate-boardy features on the right half.

ATC is the Bomber carve fest at Aspen formerly known as SES, the inspiration for MES. Feb 6-12.

Thinking of coming up tomorrow, providing Spirit opens in the morning. Otherwise back to Wild for ½ price Tuesday. Indianhead is reporting almost 2ft of snow in the past week. Still not 100% open, but should be good conditions now, so let's watch for a sunny day in the forecast for either Thurs or next Tues. Hopefully Al will post an update after this weekend. Looking at Spirit website for opening times for tomorrow (not posted yet), I found that they are planning to open Timber Cruiser and Juggler Joe to fat bikes on Sundays, in addition to the bike trails─explains the rollers at the bottom of JJ.

Probably won't make it this year. Maybe see some of you at ATC. Anyone going this year?

I'm not an English major, but... My point was that "rocker", a term I'm guessing came from the curved piece on the bottom of a rocking chair, and later used as a sort of slang description for the underwater fore and aft profile of a boat's keel and later for surfboards and now deep powder skis and boards, conjures the image of a long continuous convex curve. Since camber has been incorporated in ski and board design forever, I still like decambered for a description of the removal of camber from a section of a ski or board that traditionally has had camber. Rocker just sounds cooler and I think that's why the ski industry likes to use it. How about those punk-rockered boards though.

"Rocker" implies no camber at all, short-hand term for rocking-chair─the curved pieces that the chair rocks on. I like "decamber" for this purpose, as it more specifically (and economically) describes the partially reversed camber of a cambered ski or board. And, as Mario and Phil say, it works in consort with the de-cambering that happens when we carve.

So I decided to have Sean build me a new 164 Incline with the newer flex pattern (decambered nose, less in the tail), a little narrower waist (23.5cm), and a 9-10m scr. Got to ride it all day in some fresh snow over soft groom and had a blast. Carves feel smoother, I suspect due to the decamber. There is still enough camber under foot to give a little air in the transitions from edge to edge when I put the energy into decambering the board. With the tight side cut it can have a very slalom-like feel. Really fun board, carves like a demon. I have always ridden hard boots and narrow "race" boards, so this is a revelation for me to find a wider board for softer snow conditions that carves this good. Riding hard boots in "relax" mode.

Man, that was fun today! A couple of inches of new snow over a nice soft groom. Surfy carving Rode for 4½ hrs til the after-schoolers started arriving and by then the legs were saying "enough". Russ, looking for trouble... Looking down on the chair, I realized each of these boards were mine at some time...at least I recycle... bigwavedave, khoward, rwmaron and boarder-patroller Don. Missing, jolson

...and it continues to snow...Russ and I are planning an Indianhead day trip next Thursday or the following Tuesday...watching weather forecast for the best day. Look forward for a report from you after the weekend! Have fun!

Thinking about coming up tomorrow to play in some fresh snow before the frigid holiday weekend.

Oh, almost forgot, the headless rider on the appropriately named Ego Ally.

Another great day for making tracks at Wild Mt.

Out for ½ price Tuesday again today. Very few people around due to subzero temps and again some of the best snow. Only one chair operating for the first 2 hours as there was only about 4 people there. Lots of snow making. I got to have first tracks several times as more chair lifts fired up. Everything from hardpack to soft fluff. Ego Ally, typical Minnesota firm Expressway, Aspen-like plush Sunshine, fluffy baby pow

The perfect trifecta... ...subzero temps with a bit o' wind, day of the "big game", and skiers consolidated way over on Gandy for a race! Russ and I pretty much had the express side of Spirit to ourselves for the first 3 hours─literally there was only about six other people riding the lift most of the morning. Snow was firm (hard), you did not want to put your hand on it, but good for carving, although "trenches" were a mere 1" deep─kept us on our toes. Some of our work after a few hours... Spirit is still making snow. Good base on the hill now and still some runs not quite open yet. We had perfect blue sky all day, but you could see the lake effect snows out over the lake to the east and flowing down over da U.P.─the cloud bank several hundred feet high on the horizon in the photo below...

Awesome!...and beautiful! Love your videos. The over-the-shoulder shot is a nice variation in perspective.