bigwavedave

If you stop the video you can see his board goes over the panel inside the stubby. Easy for gate keeper to confirm by looking for a track going inside the stubby. The hard part is catching it in the first place especially since the panel didn't break away. I think if the track isn't clearly inside or over the stubby, I'ld give the benefit of the doubt to the rider, as it would likely not be an advantage to touch the gate with your board and would be difficult to verify. Fastest rider still wins.

The logical argument to put forth is for division of snowboarding into 2 disciplines, just like skiing does. It's really different skill sets that few, if any, cross between to compete at the top level: 1. Alpine (boarderX, PGS/PSL) 2. Freestyle (slopestyle, halfpipe). Skiing has 5 separate disciplines: 1. alpine (downhill, super G, GS & SL) 2. freestyle (moguls, aerials, and now pipe, slopestyle & cross) 3. x-country (classic, skate, biathlon) 4. ski jumping 5. nordic combined There are separate quotas for each. With all snowboarding lumped altogether, USSA can distribute the quota favoring freestyle. I think the IOC (international olympic committee) and maybe FIS defines the catagories.

Interesting...Diamond Hill, probably one of the first ski areas I skied at in the early 60's. Just rope tows and t-bars at that time. Later, spent a lot of time at Pine Top. A neighbor was one of the owners and my Dad supplied the snowmaking equipment, so I had a pass for several years--late 60's. We were members of RISKI (Rhode Island ski) club which had an old lodge in North Conway. Cranmore and Wild Cat were popular back then--1960's. Lived in Hancock, near Middlebury Bowl early 70's and made one trip to Madd River glen, one of the most challenging places I'ld ever been. All I remember is a run that was entirely moguls the size of Volkswagon bugs.

Some of the nicest snow ever! Especially the early morning groom, somewhere between "Colorado soft" and "Minnesota firm",with a palpable plushness and the soft flutter sound of the board cutting across the corduroy. Rode from 9-3:30 with one coffee break. Never waited more than a minute for a lift and almost always managed to pick a run without traffic for edge to edge carving. We've now got Russ doing the board changing game on his new skinny sticks. And what dedication, after driving 17 hours back from Montana yesterday, he came out to "patrol". It was great riding with everyone today! Think we rode every run but Gandy, which looked wind scoured. Sky Hooker was particularly nice today. At least I've got the right kind of board in the photo above.

The Wall Street Journal article today. Great perspective, somebody there gets it. http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304914204579398622552209610 Wouldn't it be interesting if Putin and Obama had one of those friendly bets about whose country wins more medals, you know where they send us vodka and caviar or we send them Bourbon and french fries? As it stands now we're behind Russia by 2 gold medals.

Bomber sidewinders 4th place in women's psl.

Cold war rivalries live on. In the past when Russian athletes or performers defected to the US and thrived, achieving wealth and celebrity in the process, we embraced the opportunity to take credit for their success. It's a chance to show the world that "our" country's way of doing things is better than "yours". Vic Wild's 2 golds is unprecedented in snowboarding and amazing and couldn't have been a better story for our sport!

Looks like Russ might need a shovel to get back into Duluth. I'm thinking of coming up again on Sunday after this blows by.

So, here we are, on a forum for hardboot carvers who seem to be equally divided on the preferred footware for powder...that's interesting. At a recent gathering of hardboot carvers in Aspen, that happened to have epic snowfall, many skilled hardboot carvers were observed donning soft boots to ride their powder boards off into the wilds of Aspen's mountains...very interesting. Some were rumored not to have slipped their feet inside a plastic-buckled shell during the entire week! I've almost exclusively ridden hardboots and carving sticks, never liked soft set-up (not on Minnesota firm), but always suspected they would be good in deep powder. So, to see for myself, I ask the question and advice of those who prefer a soft set-up for powder, "What boot/binding set-ups are preferred amongst our carving brethren--for powder?" I have a powder board suitable for either set-up. I'm gonna guess stiffer soft boots like Burton Driver or Solomon Malamutes? Bindings? All I remember are the plastic parts that break or fall off, and straps that hurt your feet. If no one actually answers this, maybe I'll start a different thread.

Yea, I still think MikeT's comments ring true--hardboots great in deep untracked powder (what Philw and splitboarders are riding in), but challenging for balance in deep, uneven tracked out powder. Also, agree skis are inherently much easier and versatile in all conditions having poles and the ability to transfer weight from one ski to the other. For the super soft groom on the following days, I did have more fun carving (with hardboots) on an old 180 Donek incline than on a modern carve-specific board. So I agree that the board choice can make a big difference there. So what soft boots do knowledgeable carving folks recommend for powder?

Michelle's got it right--alpine snowboarding needs to finalize the divorce from the freeestylers. We can still be friends, but it just isn't working out. Nordic skiing begat alpine skiing begat freestyle skiing--all have separate Olympic quotas, few or no athletes compete in both. It's time surf inspired alpine snowboarding got a divorce from skateboard inspired halfpipe/slopestyle and let the bastard stepchild boardercross decide who they want to live with to keep the quotas balanced. Apparently this is a IOC rule that needs to be changed, not USSA or USOC, and since they just added two new events, PSL and slopestyle it seems a valid argument to separate the quotas as in skiing. Just watched Ligity do a huge victory lay down carve at the bottom of the GS! Just like an alpine snowboarder! Scott Hamilton needs to take a pill.

White Salmon, Columbia River? Another windsurfer hooked on the g-force of a planing jibe!?

Proof that financial support of athletes and monetary rewards for winning are a "performance enhancing substance" and clearly should be banned from international competition!:rolleyes:

Mike, I think maybe you summed up the difference well. In my limited powder experience and almost exclusive hardboot riding for 20 years, untracked powder was great in hardboots, but I found the deep, tracked up powder conditions in Aspen challenging and exhausting in hardboots. That said, I'ld love to hear what folks recommend for good soft boots and bindings for powder? I might just have to give the soft set up a another try for the occasional pow encounter. I've gotten along without softies all these years as they are far from the best tool for riding on "Minnesota firm". I already have the board, a Nomad. John, it was great hanging out with you. If you haven't seen it, you might find softbootsailor's post today interesting, relating his experience seeing a skier get caught in a Highlands Bowl avalanche 30 years ago.

Great article, thanks for posting. He really got it right. Maybe this story will snowball, especially if both Justin and Vic get on the podium. The U.S. is the only country whose government doesn't provide support for their athletes, forcing our athletes to beg for the limited funding out there. I guess we're still trying to prove that capitalism is better than the other isms, cause long gone is the day of the well-to-do amateur taking time away from their normal life and paying their own way to the games. Mimi won't say this, but I will; There was a quota of a maximum of 24 athletes from the U.S. for all of the snowboarding events. The IOC ruled that Shawn White, who qualified for 2 events, would count as 2 athletes, essentially elbowing Mimi out, as she was the next in line of qualified athletes. Then, when White decided to drop out of slopestyle, the IOC ruled it too late for a substitution.

Got out for a couple of hours today. Sneaked in a run down Sissorbill before it got roped off for Nastar. Met up with the posse, Ken and Jim and Marlys, near perfect groom, near zero temps, warming with intermittent patches of sunlight and flakes of snow sparkling in the air. Very nice! My knees did ok, but felt a little vulnerable and I could feel some pain on bumps, so I quit early. By the time I got home my knees felt better than they did before riding today! Maybe my season isn't over! Ken, looks like you should have fun tomorrow with some new snow.

Thinking of giving it a go on Sunday. Anyone planning to be out?

Started skiing in the late 50's. Never saw a ski with a sidecut like a alpine snowboard nor a skier hold a carved edge for more than a second or two until shaped skis began appearing on the slopes in the early nineties. Alpine snowboarding definitely deserves credit for making the carved turn a religious experience, not just a technique, and yes, inspired by surfing. If you read the article on the history of shaped skis (from ski magazine), they readily give credit to alpine snowboarding. If you think about it, large radius carving boards were a natural evolution that followed in the tracks of snow grooming technological advances. The opposite happened in the nordic ski world, where as trails became groomed and tracked, skis lost all sidecut and skate skiing was born.

History of the shaped ski: http://skiinghistory.org/history/evolution-ski-shape Basically, inspired by snowboard shapes and hardboot carvers, ski manufacturers started playing with increased sidecut. Elan produced a line of "shaped" skis in the early 1990's, which didn't catch on until Bode Miller started winning races on them.

Modern race slalom boards are very versatile for a variety of conditions and become available for 1/2 price at the end of the season from racers who typically sell them after one season. SG, Kessler or Rev, 162-3 for bigger rider or 157 for smaller.

Had he done so before the U.S. team submitted their list of competitors to the IOC, the next highest ranked snowboard competitor, an alpine snowboard racer, would have gone. After the submission deadline, they were constrained to substituting an athlete within the same discipline, but since qualifiers in Sochi were already in progress, it was too late. Only 20 women, 30 men competing in Olympic slopestyle. Likely 2-3 times as many athletes will compete in alpine PGS, PSL.

Thanks Ken, as I heal, it is becoming apparent that I must have hyperextended both knees, mainly the right (rear), as there is lots of posterior knee tenderness , also likely damage to right lateral meniscus (anterior portion) as there's point tenderness, but not much swelling--a good sign. Funny you should mention fibula fracture, since the crash, I've had some mild soreness on both legs at the level of the boot cuff and as I passed over the left fibula with a vibrating massager, it nearly sent me through the roof--possibly not a good sign! Thanks Bob. By cant mechanism, are you talking about the BTS forward lean adjustment? Everything appears okay there. I think it would be pretty evident if the shaft bolt was broken, right? I'm starting to think that maybe I just went into a soft spot (the snow was very inconsistent), the board stopped and I kept going. It kind of fits with my injuries. The ping may have just been coincidental. Don't think I didn't notice your trolling for a new carving stick while I was gone. Will we not soon see you ducking in and out the patrol room to access your stash? On the subject of riding multiple boards, the 2 boards I rode the most at SES were my Nirvana and your 180 Delrossi/incline. As I suspected, the Delrossi was great in the soft Colorado groom, even with several inches of fresh on top. It provided more float than the Nirvana so was more stable in the variable soft snow. I could have ridden it the whole time, except for the deep pow day.

Got home from SES early this morning. Had a bad crash on Wed and sprained my knee. Going from a heel-side, fast with lots of pressure in fairly soft, trenched-up snow, and as I was transitioning to a toe-side I heard a metallic "ping" as my board suddenly went all squirrelly. My first thought was a broken bail as I went head over heel several times with some rotation thrown in. Funny how it seems like it happens in slow motion. I can remember each tug and pull on different tissues and thinking, "oh, this isn't gonna be good". I came to a stop sitting, both feet still connected to the board, all shook up, but no apparent equipment damage, no obvious broken body parts, but a very unstable and painful knee. End of trip! The metallic "ping"? BTS spring? or did I hit something, maybe a ski pole groomed into the snow under the chair?

Think I'll explore Ajax/Aspen as I can just walk a few blocks to the lift. Had trouble finding my car this morning! A day made for the Nomad!

Suggestions where to go?