J0hn

I dealt with this exact same issue for 2-3 years. I caught my toeside edge in some bumps and got catapulted forward. After that the fear was always in the back of my mind even though I KNEW the edge would hold me. I did everything I could think of to MAKE myself dive into the toeside turn, but I just couldn't get myself to commit. What finally worked for me was doing laps on an empty green slope. I wasn't even thinking about my turns, just riding. At one point I realized that I was staying low in my transition from heel to toe and there was no hesitation at all. Previously I had been over thinking it and tensed up whenever I got to a toeside transition. But the green slope was so gradual, I naturally fell into proper technique without the fear because I wasn't thinking about it. Good luck.

Classic. But just looking at those binding angles makes my knees hurt.

I agree with charliechocolate and crucible; do strength training and interval training. Also work on your mobility. I wouldn't worry about trying to duplicate the motion of snowboarding. If you're strong and flexible, you can focus on technique once you're on the snow. Crossfit has done wonders for me.

What kind of race has softies (duck?) taking a podium spot against hardbooters? I can see it in BX, but in gates? That's impressive!

My experience has been that the depth of the snow makes no difference. As the previous post states, it's the wetter (warm) snow that can be sticky. Try putting a couple pieces of electrical tape over the bolt holes on the toe piece before you head out. I read this suggestion here on BOL. It's made a big difference for me. Snow on your heel will prevent engagement as well. Install a stomp pad you can scrape against, or just scrape your heel on the heel receiver.

Not exactly in the lift line, but a couple of days ago I was at Solitude in Utah and stopped for a breather about halfway down. A skier comes up behind me a says "I love the way you turn, I figure 8'd you the whole way down!", then he gave me a fist bump. I guess skiers and snowboarders are getting along now :p

I had the same symptoms. The problem was that the cable housing would rise up out of the hole in the boot sole when you'd pull the cable. And the liner would push it sideways to it would hang up on the edge of the hole rather than dropping back in. This would prevent the cable from releasing fully and the pins would only go half way out. Make sense? The solution was to duct tape the cable housing against the side of the boot shell so the housing could not rise up when pulling on the cable. Problem solved. Good luck with it.

My gut reaction was, one tug and you're going over the bars. But it looks like it works in the video. I suspect it would not work as well on east coast ice though. Hmm, skiers already think snowboarders scape all of the snow off the mountain. I wonder what they're going to say about this?

Haha, best post of the thread!

No, sorry. It was Friday Jan 25. Solitude does seem to have a decent number of carvers though.

I was at Solitude in Utah last week. I take a break to catch my breath and a woman in her 60's skies up to me. I'm expecting some nasty remark about going too fast or making trenches in the snow. Instead she says something like "wow, you're really good; just beautiful to watch", and she skies off. Made my day. Later the same day a liftie asks about my "bomber board". I explained that the bindings are made by Bomber, but the board is a Donek, and I proceeded to show her the logo. Then she says "I've seen a few other guys up here on bomber boards too...". Umm, OK, have a nice day.

You crack me up Shred. Just remember, if you go too wide, your balls may drag on the ground. I'm about 6'1" and width is 20.5". But my preference changes some depending on the board. I've had two Doneks and found my preferred stance matched the middle of the inserts in both cases, even though they were different. So apparently Sean knows what he's doing :D

I thought about it, but never followed through as I sold the board and bindings. But I remember thinking it would be easy to drill out the slot in the heel receiver and the red "ice breaker" bar, and use the original TD1 screws. The other thing you'll have to do is put a small spacer under the steel heel receiver to raise it. If you compare the original TD1 receiver to the steel TD3 receiver, it's taller. I don't see any reason this wouldn't work, but I cannot endorse it. Maybe Fin or someone else can chime in.

Let's see, metal, two rubber dampening layers...I approve!

So stock 20cm waist was just too wide? Had to go 1mm narrower? Can you comment on why you chose that VSR range? It seems like that would be too large of a spread, especially starting at 9m.

Very cool, but I'm surprised you didn't get tossed out for a stunt like that.

Just got back from a week in SLC. I tried the electrical tape trick and it worked like a charm! I still had issues with icing on my heel, especially after going inside and warming the boot. But I had no issues with icing on the toe block. Thanks for the suggestion. I love this simple, low tech solution to the problem. Electrical tape is cheap, and comes off easily if you need to work on your bindings. I will keep electrical tape with my tools from now on.

Hey Martin Nice meeting you too. It was great having four carvers together. That's probably the biggest posse I've ridden with in awhile. I'm heading over tomorrow (Friday) for our last day. Maybe we'll see you. For anyone wondering, the snow is great. John

From skiutah.com Alta 14" Brighton 10" Park City 5" Snowbird 14" Solitude 9"

NICE! I hope this pans out. I'm headed there at the end of the month. So far, this has been the worst season I've ever seen for the Rockies.

Canyon Sports sells discounted tickets to all of the resorts. Several locations. http://www.canyonsports.com

If theft is that common, I'd be inclined to set up a sting. If one person gets arrested, I bet it would stop real quick. I recently had a new mountain bike stolen from the back of my friend's car, so I'm a little sensitive about this right now. I've been using a retractable cable lock for years. I know the cable can be cut, but it makes the board much harder to take then the one next to yours.

Did anyone happen to catch an episode of "Invention USA" on the history channel? Fellow hardbooter Garrett Lisi is co-hosting this new show. He and his fellow host review new inventions and discuss their merit, deciding whether or not to invest in them. There aren't as many cool gadgets or explosions as Mythbusters, but a pretty cool show none the less. And he was sporting a "Donek" T-shirt as in the "Through the Wormhole" episode. With a paycheck from the History channel, I suspect Garrett will be able to live in a deluxe model van now.

I bought some UPZ boots last year and prefer them to Raichle. I'm not saying it is a better boot necessarily, but UPZ fit my foot shape better. The Bomber store carries Head boots. You might give those a shot as well.

I'm not sure how cheap is cheap, but I know Canyon Sports sells discounted passes to all of the Utah resorts. There are a few locations. http://www.canyonsports.com Just curious, how do you get a discounted PC pass from Costco? How much are they?