[Swoard Extremecarver Gen3 168XH]

Very good condition, used for two seasons (lost some weight then and bought a softer board :D), properly waxed & stored in the summer.

Can take more pictures if there's any interest.

$450

[Head Stratos Pros, BTS, Dalbello Gold, Booster, intec. Modified. M26.]

Sent an e-mail.

[Gear selection for a beginner]

I second that!

I would go for the swoard, especially if you have wide open blue runs available to you. The one thats closer to 170 is probably ideal, but you could get away with the 176.

As you can see in my avatar and signature, I'm laying down my toesides.

I'm on a virus X-treme carver 169, basically the same as the swoard, but with metal.

It's only been 11 months on hard boots for me.

And those pictures are from my 3rd day on the board.

Starting with softer set-ups probably helped my learning curve, but a swoard to your flex with open runs and enough days on the season, and you'll be fine.

This sounds very convincing (as well as your pictures), thanks! :) Going to do some market research...

[Gear selection for a beginner]

qowah,

I live in SF, and drive to Sunnyvale M-F. I have some boards/bindings that may work for you, without breaking the bank. PM me if you're interested.

If you find a Coiler at a good price though, don't hesitate! I'm keeping mine!

Awesome! I've sent you a message.

[Gear selection for a beginner]

Thanks everyone, I'll probably go for a free carve board, then.

Why no Swoard? It's a pretty forgiving board for beginners, wide but grippy. Those laid down turns are for advanced riders of course, as with any board. Some people here don't like it because it doesn't do some things as well as more race oriented shapes. But I guess it's pretty expensive compared to North American offerings.

Honestly, I enjoyed watching those Swiss boarding videos, and I would certainly love to be able to perform those laid down turns someday. I even tried the push-pull technique from their website on my current freeride board and discovered I could actually carve on it, w/o laying down of course :). So, what are those things Swoard does not do well? I'm not particularly interested in racing, I'm looking more into doing complete half-circles. (It is pricey, of course, but I could reconsider my priorities if that'd result in a faster/easier learning curve.)

Perhaps, I should go and ask the same question on the extremecarving.com forum to get diverse opinions :)

[Gear selection for a beginner]

I've been riding (soft) for about two years, and recently my mind was blown away by a couple of carving videos and conversations with some hardboard folks at a nearby resort. I am dying to try it out now, and I'm going to ask for some advice, please :)

I've read all through the Carver's Almanac and some forums and spoken with people, but I still haven't decided firmly on which gear to get. I am 5'11'' tall and weigh quite too much for the height -- 210 lbs. My current plan is to buy:

• a long-ish Donek Axxess or Prior 4WD -- I'm thinking 179 cm (is it too long? Should I go with a shorter one?). (I was also thinking of a SWOARD :), but I have some doubts about it from the learning perspective -- as I said, hard board and boots are all totally new to me.)
  
• Not the stiffest boots, e.g. DeeLuxe Track 325.
  
• Some step-ins (Bomber TD2 Intec?)
  

Does this list even make sense?

While primary goal is to try carving and love it, there's an obvious secondary too, which is to spend as little cash as possible :) Would I be able to find any of the stuff on the list used (I'm guessing, used boots+bindings are a possibility, not sure about the board, though, considering its length)?

One more thing: I live in the SF Bay Area and the closest snow to me is Lake Tahoe. Am I right to assume there's no chance whatsoever to find any of the gear in offline shops? I'm okay with online/shipping, too, just wanted to check.

I would greatly appreciate any help and/or suggestions.