lafcadio

Cool videos! What bindings are you using? They seem to offer quite a bit of flex. On some of the more laid over carves, it looks like you're booting out on both toe and heel side. Do you notice this at all when you ride or is it not really as bad as it looks (especially on toe side)?

I'm planning on coming out on Saturday and may go up to Stratton on Sunday. I'm also interested in conditions. I heard it may even snow this week. Oh my! Crowded? Crowded at Berkshire East is when you have to share a ride up the Exhibition quad with someone you've never met before. :D

I'm no expert, but I like to keep weight/pressure evenly distributed on both feet during the carve for typical groomed run carving conditions. This also allows me to have a more relaxed ride and doesn't tire out my quads as quickly. I'm curious what others think about this?

Yeah, I'd like to know also. Looks like 2-4 inches in the forecast for tonight and tomorrow...

Thanks for the review! I was looking at ones of these and wondering about it. The one I saw also came with a 12V DC car adapter. Does the model you bought include this? Do you think there could be issues with using this bag (especially on the hot setting) with heat moldable liners?

I may be there this Sunday. Still trying to decide on where to go this weekend.

Sources tell me that conditions at Taos are amazing. They're reporting over 42 inches of base and snowfall regularly over the past several weeks. Oh... and in case you missed it, for the last few seasons snowboards are finally welcome at Taos: http://travel.nytimes.com/2009/01/16/travel/escapes/16ski.html

Ever have one of those days when everything just clicked? Or finally figure something out that's been eluding you all season? I'd like to hear about what new skills you've acquired while riding today, or what new tips or tricks you picked up. What worked for you? For me, today was one of the best carving days I've had yet. The conditions certainly helped. My board loves the hardpack! Eats that $hit up. Today, I figured out how to get that transition from heelside to toeside smooth. Instead of carving a "flattened out" C on toeside with the board immediately hooking downhill, I had nice round, even half circle tracks, and was carving my downhill edge. What did it for me was getting my body low to the board on the edge transition and letting the edge engage slowly, while keeping my body in position stacked over the edge. Then, extending my legs through turn, and getting the board really high on edge. Wow... I'm still smiling thinking about it! :) Oh... and this was mostly due to the great advice I've received from people here on BOL (thanks dingbat!). So tell me, what made your day?

+1 on that! carvedog, you hit the bullseye! All last season I was plagued with tired quads, even at the end of the season. I felt like I couldn't make much more than 4 turns without stopping to rest my legs. Today, I had a major breakthrough with starting edge transitions really low with knees deeply bent (thanks for the great advice, digbat), then extending through the turn, and getting a ton of angulation in the process. I don't think I ever had the board higher on edge, or completed so many turns. And my legs kept right on going... well at least until 3 PM! :o Ahh... it flet so good.

Thanks for the find. That's so beautiful. I always find myself searching again and again for that one great video I saw of a great heel side or whatever. It would be nice if there were a page of "best of" videos for demonstrating different techniques and styles. I could imagine something to compliment the Bomber Tech Articles... all these wonderful articles by Jack and others could be even more useful if augmented by some nice video collections.

Maybe I missed it in an earlier post, but can't the pins for the Raichle/Deeluxe boots be used? Bomber stocks these and the BTS is made to fit them. http://www.bomberonline.com/store/boots/parts_pins.cfm

It's difficult to tell without seeing you ride, but two things you said stuck out to me, mostly because I also suffer form this problem from time to time: 1. getting locked into a carve and not able to come out of it 2. burying the nose and getting "thrown over the handle bars" Both of these issues could be caused by having too much weight forward on the board. You may be bending forward at the waist or your whole body may be leaning forward too much. To counter, try concentrating on keeping your weight centered fore to aft on the board. This is especially important towards the end of a turn, where you definitely do not want too much weight forward. If this is the problem, you'll notice it more in softer snow than in hard. In hard packed conditions (hero snow) you'll be able to get away with many bad habits without realizing it. Then you get into soft snow or otherwise less than ideal conditions and and the bad habits come back to haunt you. In fact, soft snow can be good to work out the kinks in your technique. Good luck and keep at it!

Deadly is right. I made it as far as Greenfield before getting stuck behind a long line of cars sliding down Route 2. At this point I think I'm going to cut my losses and try again another day. Stay safe everyone.

I'll definitely be out on Saturday, and if conditions are good, I'll be back for Sunday too.

Looks like my New Years plans have been officially canceled as of today, so as long as there's snow and Exhibition has its groom on, I'll be there. Mark, don't let us down! (No pressure.)

I don't remember whether it was waxed (I think it was?), but I do recall that Sean typically does not ship boards with edges tuned. Base and side edges will be at a right angles and it's up to the rider to have the optimal angles set based on riding style, conditions, etc. This is a Good Thing, because it gives you more options without sacrificing edge metal. I'm not sure if you can request specific edge angles for custom boards. I'm sure a quick email to Sean would give you the answer.

I always make sure that my toe and heel are both at the edge of the board (similar to Fuego test). I once found after setting up my bindings carelessly, my foot was shifted more toward toeside and I had all kinds of problems until I realized it and corrected the setup.

Hmm... I've already made plans for Stowe. But 2 of the 4 of us have already backed out and one is now complaining about a knee injury so is iffy. If the whole thing falls apart and the Beast gets some snow, I might change my plans. I'll post again and let you know. The real question: what are conditions like???

Are those TD3 Sidewinders? Looking through the rest of the photos, it looks like Bomber bindings show up more than a couple of times.

Look for me regularly after the 1st of the year. I plan on spending a lot of time on the hill compared to last year. Mark, are you running the Rally again this year? Any word on dates?

+1! I find that when sitting down to take a break it's better to sit on my hip rather than my butt. Making contact with my hip is much closer to correct body position for a heelside carve. If I'm having a bad day, sometimes I like to go back to basics and work on body position by sitting on the snow with my forward hip, my body rotated into the turn as if I'm in a heelside carve.

Speaking of which, how are conditions at Sugarloaf? I'm looking for somewhere in New England that has decent snow for New Years weekend.

Mitch, I'm definitely going and planning to be there all week. Maybe we could drive up together? I haven't made any lodging arrangements yet.

Check out Mike de Santis in Framingham, MA: http://www.skimd.com/ He does mail order, too. I can't recommend Mike highly enough. You'll note he has a special package for alpine carving/race boards.

+1 on thin socks. I've been using ultra thin sock liners and my cold feet problems have gone away. Those made from synthetics, wool, or silk seem to work best. http://www.rei.com/category/4501316