piusthedrcarve

75 min. - 45 min. = 30 min. Quit complain. We wait 30 minutes for a chairlift here in mid atlantic area on weekends. Kidding. Here we also noticed longer line this year than last 4-5 years.

1/22 You got that right about garbage and granular. When I got there, It was like pebble sand. Around 8-ish. Trails were in ok condition but most of base areas and on top of the chair became very icy. At 9, temp. went below freezing point and the whole garbage became chunk of ice and made the condition worse (Very bumpy, if rode on base). I rode a short titanial decambered board for last night. It did help me to enjoy the condition. Frozen bumpy surface were easily sliced and got good edge holds. The decambered made easy and fast to initiate turns than high cambered boards. I was thinking to wind down my quiver to just have few boards that I ride most but now I may keep them. Dave, hope to see you next week.

Will go up tomorrow evening again. Will ride from 5:30 til 9. se7en may join too.

Just came back from WT. Rode from 5:30 to 9 pm. This was first time riding at night. It was 34'F at 5 and dropped to 27'F at 9. Fast. I liked it. It was hard packed snow with thin layer of Ice underneath. Hip/Knee touching hard turns made deep trenches. KMC (Kids Mountain Camp) had about +120 kids that were grouped and scattered out mostly SnowPark, Sidewinder, and bunny hills. I rode probably +12 runs on SnowPark and 5-6 runs on Limelight, Homerun, and Jib Junction within 3 and 1/2 hours. That tells you how light crowd was. Now, I really like riding at night. Oh.. Upper part of SnowPark and Upper Angel Drop need lights. Kinda too dark to see. I saw few people wearing bike flashing lights. Smart. I need to wear few next time. I will be up there next Thursday night.

Cool. I will be there tomorrow night. WT's Nitetrailers (Kids lesson program) starts tomorrow, supposed to run from 5 to 8. for next 5 weeks. Since I haven't ridden at night for so long, I don't know what to expect.

:) The newbie showed up with a WC 180 deck to learn. He wasn't going anywhere with the stick. As soon as he is on this Madd, he was able to bend and progressed after. Since I found new deck (actually older) on 170 range, I thought this Madd would be happier to convert one to this madd sport. Here is a reason that I listed for sale I probably had ridden more than twenties of 170 range carving specific decks and I haven't found any deck that rode better than this one. Little nose cosmetic surgery that I did actually made it better for condition I ride. Then.... I found a deck end of last season that I've waited few years. It's 170 range one. I was sure the newly acquired one would ride better for me than this one.. so...listed for sale. Now, I rode the new deck and it's a great board as expected but this Madd was easier. Well.. I only rode a day on soft snow. so I will test it more when the condition is right.

Not available anymore. The board is loaned to a newbie for this season.

How do I delete my own post? or is the function gone?

01/10 Got there EARLY like 8:00 am, expecting first row of parking. There were already first parking full and I had to park underneath 'Fallmount' trail! Lift lines were already started and it became a zoo around 10. Spent at least 15 min. every line after that. It was the most crowded day for this season so far. Only groomed bunny hills, Snowpark, and maybe limelight. All of other trails were lightly groomed (or made flat) so that the man-made snow to be packed-powder like. Around 11, most of blue trails were tracked out and started to form small mogul. I brought a narrow width carving specific stiff board and had hard time on those trails. Finally, they opened my favorite Farside but also not properly groomed. The top half was still good to lay good turns but bottom half became mogul run after noon. On groomed slopes, the condition was as good as it can be, grippy packed powder. Personally, I don't like the condition. I prefer very hard packed or well groomed slopes at slight above freezing temperature so that I can go faster. Mugika2 showed up and rode together for few runs. My 7 yrs old son is now a Jibber. He spent few hours at Jib Junction and was able to slide on curved boxes at end of the day. I saw 2 hardbooters on SnowPark in the morning but couldn't catch them to say hi. Left around 4:30 and saw 3 separate incidents at last 30 minutes and they all were All, be careful, especially on weekend.

Yup. That was it. The Bail Block placement. Toeside turn was back and no heelside favor. Actually may need to move front foot bails toward heelside. Now really considering Red Loctite to immobilize the bail blocks once really dialed in. :). Thanks Art and all.

I decided to go up tomorrow (1/10, Saturday). I know it's going to be zoo after a good whole week of temp of teens or below. But I got a new stick and need to test newly set stance. Also, another BOL member (Mujika2) from Richmond will be there to learn/ride. We will be riding mostly SnowPark and Farside. Hope to see hardbooters tomorrow.

Dave, The kids' ski program got cancelled due to coldness. I am disappointed to miss another chance to ride but understand why they did it. I also don't want my kid on slopes when it is in single digit temperature with possible 30mph gust wind. If Loudoun county cancels schools tomorrow, I will be there around 9. If not, well.. next Thursday night.

I will confirm if I will be up there on Thursday evening. Good to hear you had time on slopes. As you read this thread, I have ridden but I haven't really ridden yet until I get on Farside or Exhibition. And with kids all the times didn't help neither. Since Goro and Andrew are busy with their newborns, regular WT crews are really down. Let's get together and make some trenches this season.

12/31 As expected, it was crowded. Left top half of SnowPark were set for kids race. And of course, right top half (under the lift) was not covered yet. Angel Drop and Jib Junction were nice till 10 but got too bumpy to enjoy my skinny deck after. Snow guns were operated the whole time while I was there. (9-4). Had few business calls so my times on slopes were limited. I saw few tight trenches under SnowPark but had not seen any hardbooter. I am about to sign up my kid to WT's midweek ski jr. program (Thursday 5-8 p.m.), If then, I will be up there for every Thursday till mid February, starting from coming Thursday. So, my next one will be 1/8. Hope to see hardbooter

After taking advice from Fathead, I adjusted bails location based on boot center line. It seems right. Now, I remember I switched a baseplate last season and disassembled bindings entirely and .... probably didn't ride after and put away. As your suggestion, I checked my boots and didn't notice any boot cant change or lean from previous. Thanks though Pokkis. Little frustrated because I know other way to initiate topside turn. Speed helps so rode fast. :) You know, less than 1000 vertical feet slopes on holiday weekend and with 5 years old daughter, I didn't want to spend time to adjust to dial in. Now, i think I got it by setting bail location based on boot center (thanks ExcelsiorTheFatHead). At least, the position looks familiar. Next time when I go up, I will make some detail adjustment to dial in again. Once I find it, I won't forget to mark it on the bindings (will bring white sharpie or something)

I just centered my boots on bindings. Then, Bail config is... like this. front bail in middle of bail rail and real bail all the way toward center. It seems right. Carpet testing doesn't reveal anything. I probably will be testing new config. next week. I will report it back. Thanks.

lowrider, I had set my bindings as Gilmour bias for few years and understood the concept by adjusting bails to maximize decambering center of boards. After realizing the cause & effect, I was able to ride without any bias just fine (except last 2 times). I considered to apply Gilmour bias on slopes but didn't. I wanted to hear from BOL gurus if I miss simple thing before. Thanks though, always. Happy New Year. Wow, I went through the practice when I first got UPZ boots. and kinda forgot about it. I will do that and try. Thanks! Ditto, That's why I'm asking this to old folks like you. Happy New Year, Art~ (you just got an year older today, in oriental calendar)

I use F2 Race Titanium bindings (Large), UPZ RC10 boots. Usual stance (center or half inch forward on front and center on back) Regular (left foot forward) Front binding: 63 degree, No toe lift, Cant: one cant wedge inward Rear binding: 60 degree, Heel lifted, Cant: one cant wedge inward No bias. (means distances between front bail from center and real bail from center are same) I have configured as above and sticked with probably more than 2 seasons. I would say I was dialed in. So far for this season, I rode alpine board 3 times . And all of those time, board tends to turn heelside. it's not slight favoring heelside, rather heavily. In example, to get off from lift chair, I had to put some effort to discharge straight. Otherwise, it turns heel side. When I ride, of course heelside turn favored. It was hard to initiate toe side turn. Of course, speed help... and... kinda old way (putting behind knee into inside of front leg) does the trick but that's not how I ride any more. I have other set of bindings that are configured same way and tried today. Same result.. What may could gone wrong?

Will be going up again on 31st. I know it's going to be packed but almost 10 days with kid inside of house is making me crazy. Luckly, WT started to make snow from last night. It will still be limited number of trails but will try and report it back. Solo riding starts from 1/5.

What bindings were you on the 'Gecko' plates? & What deck did you ride with?

Woo....how did I miss this 'Deal of Year'? Doug, if bindings are not sold yet, I will take them.

Well. My experience has been opposite of what you had. I had +10 new shapes/materials boards and few old 'Legendary' boards. Riding back to back to see if they are suitable for me and now I'm down to +4 old boards and just 1 new shape/materials board and few powder boards. Good thing is .. I learn more how to ride on various conditions with old sticks. Downside is ... I don't get to post one here. :)

1/22 Still same number of trails are opened. oh.. Fanciful was added but very thin. Snow condition was very good. Hard pack but not too hard. I got there 8:30 but most of first parking lot (one down below of Entrance) were already full. I thought it is going to be zoo around 10 but crowd were pretty much same. (I think it's due to rain forecast afternoon). I kinda of like few park features built on Sidewinder. That splits good amount of people between SnowPark & Sidewinder. I taught my 5 years old on SnowPark mostly and she is making good progress. She still don't like to turn her back toward fall line yet. We left around 1:30 and few drop of rain were falling. Then.. you know, whole afternoon and evening, we got a lot of rain. With few warm days ahead, Whitetail will not be in condition to enjoy riding. IMO. ThatSN2perGuy, Finally! I will try to be there on 29th but I don't know at this point. But I may go down Wintergreen for few days this season. When I do, I will post up here. BTW, there is another BOLer from Richmond who started last year. You guys should get together to come up.

Mr.E, Mine is like 4 years old and I don't see it has DWR on it. ExcelsiorTheFathead, Thanks. I searched and found this. http://www.amazon.com/Nikwax-Down-Wash-Proof-Duo-Pack/dp/B000PGS268/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top Well.. I will try this. The down sweater jacket is ... well worn and about to be thrown away. The spray can is less than a hotdog and a cup of chili at resort. I will report it back if it works. (maybe more interested if it doesn't)

I was on slopes today and wore Patagonia down jacket instead of ski jacket since it wasn't cold and was forecasted no rain. Wow, It was very comfortable and light. I would like to wear the down jacket (like this) if it is waterproof. Any solution to this?