lafcadio

So sorry I missed this. You guys were really ripping up Exhibition! Absolutely beautiful turns.

Carving my downhill edge... on heelside turns. Yesterday, while looking at my tracks from the lift, I couldn't help notice the significant asymmetry. Toeside turns were even and round, but heelside turns were abrupt and rushed, immediately hooking upon transiting from toeside to heelside. Tracks left from heelside turns were much shorter compared to toeside. On my next run, while thinking what about what could be different about heelside vs toeside it came to me. On toeside turns I started carving immediately on my downhill edge all the way around until the nose of board started pointing downhill. On heelside, I was not doing this. Instead, I immediately threw my weight into the turn, causing the board to hook sharply and by the time the edge was set and carving, it was already pointed downhill. On heelside turns there was virtually no point where I was carving the downhill edge. Once I realized this started focusing on correcting it, heelside turns were much smoother and my tracks more even and rounded on both sides. Carving your downhill edge is an important milestone in your carving journey, but don't neglect carving your downhill edge on both sides. It makes a huge difference.

I've found that 1000 denier Cordura reinforcements lasted about 100 days (spread over 4 years) before it finally wore through. The trick is finding someone skilled enough to perform the alterations. Many small local tailors are not skilled with performance fabrics. And those that are (e.g., https://bouldermtnrepair.com but looks like they're not longer doing repairs) charge high fees which may not make it worth the cost. If you know someone who can do the work or you can do it yourself, it might be worth it. The fabric can be purchased for a reasonable price online, but the labor can be very expensive. Shoe-Goo, Plastidip or other products that can be reapplied are definitely more cost effective, but they typically don't look as nice. Corey, about how many days do you get with Plastidip before it needs to be re-applied?

I've been in the park and have had some nice runs but I generally don't feel like I'm abusing it. Anytime I've ridden through the park there was no waiting because it was completely empty. I also enjoy hitting an occasionally feature. As long as we're not trashing it and being respectful I can't imagine it being a problem. Nobody has ever said anything to me about riding through the park. If you've ever done a Pure Boarding event or followed Joerg down the mountain, it typically includes at least one run through the park. Also bumps, pow... nothing's off limits!

Today, something didn't feel right on my rear boot. I was definitely clipped in, but transitioning out of heel side turns felt "off". I pulled over to look more closely and good thing I did. To my horror and surprise, the screws holding the rear binding had become very loose and were starting to back out. Check your equipment regularly, folks! I'm making a point of a quick inspection the night before of board, bindings, boots, helmet and other protective gear and clothing. Why the night before? Because if I find an issue, I want to sort it out without affecting my start time in the morning. Stay safe. Have fun.

I think it’s really personal preference and individual riding style. For me, I needed the additional flexibility in the binding interface to carve well and had more control, even in hard snow and ice. I tend to adjust the stiffness by how tightly I buckle my boots. In powder and soft snow I leave the top buckles very loose and sometimes leave the top buckle undone. On harder snow I tighten the buckles which stiffens up my UPZ XC boots, which are among the softer hardboots out there. It really depends on your riding style and what works for you. Btw, I didn’t even realize I didn’t like stiff bindings until I tried them. Even then I didn’t realize why I didn’t like them until I borrowed a friend’s bindings and they felt so much better.

For what it's worth, I found TD3 step-ins to be much stiffer than my Catek OS2 standards. I believe the general consensus is that most of the step-in hardboot bindings are stiffer than their standard counterparts. Most likely this is due to how the heel is locked into place (assuming Intec/Fintec) with step-ins, vs the bail holding the boot with some play for standards.

If you want to stick with Catek, I think I still have my old OS2s in storage and would let them go for a great price. These were my first hardboot bindings used for one season back in 2009-2010. PM me if interested. Given the complexities of the Catek bindings I haven't wanted to list them for sale or feel comfortable sending them to anyone who was't already familiar with them. After Catek, I switched to TD3s to try step-ins. I didn't like the step-ins because they felt too stiff. I ended up swapping parts with another carver to convert the TD3 step-ins to standards but they still felt too stiff for me. I ended up with F2s, which gave me good performance, comfort, and the flex I was looking for.

When it gets too crowded and the stupidity index of the mountain exceeds my threshold, it’s better to pack it in and call it quits for the day.

I was going to say rotate your hips more, especially on heel side. But @johnasmo said it way better. One thing I’ll add is that rotating your hips and driving your knees (and bending your knees) should cause your center of mass to get lower. For me, I imagine my body like a corkscrew and as things turn and align, everything drops lower to the board. The opposite is true as I unweight coming out of the turn to change edge.

Given the freezing rain last night and the state of my driveway I was expecting nothing but ice today. It was soft groomed, almost hero conditions. Easily the best snow I’ve been on this season! @dhamann did I see you railing turns down Pluto’s?

Glad I'm not alone here. I also follow the same routine. Thought I was cheating... sometimes I get lazy and it goes on the morning of instead of the night before.

Is this specifically for heelside turns? For toeside, I think pointing your rear knee "out" and into the turn is basically the same.

Related to: A wider board with lower angles can give you more stability and control, especially on ice and choppy snow. I don’t know why it took me until this year to learn this. It should have been obvious, right?

Hey, we listen to the say tunes!

Depends on what you mean by wide. I use these neoprene stretchy covers from YYZ Canuck. They fit my 23.8 cm wide Pure Boarding Two. They might not fit a soft boot board.

How were conditions last weekend? I’m planning on getting out tomorrow before the rain comes on Sunday.

We need another trip Ike that! Time to get the band back together.

Yikes! Conditions are unfortunately pretty bad. Big Chief and Exhibition are covered, but the primary surface is loose sugar sprinkled with rocks and pebbles. There’s a race today and I suppose the course is covered but there are visible dirt/gravel spots on Competition just outside the gates. Flying Cloud is completely bare except access paths between Chief and Competition.

Crotched was fun today. Got some good runs in today with @RCZippybefore conditions deteriorated and it got too crowded. Surprising how well the snowpack has held up. Props to the groomers and snow crew. Pluto's is open but not worth it. It's a very thin cover with plenty of bare spots. Satellite Summit was great for the first two hours. Ski Patrol was trying to talk me into Jupiter's Storm but I wasn't biting. Apparently since Vail took over it's being groomed more frequently. We'll see... next time.

Who's been out at BEast this season? How are conditions? I'm thinking about heading out tomorrow (Sunday, Jan 8). I miss Big Chief. It's been too long.

I came across this while browsing gloves on Amazon. Anyone know who this is? https://www.amazon.com/stores/page/BBB43242-5637-49C0-B11D-B9138B794EC2

I often ride like this on my rear foot, especially in softre conditions.

Curious... if you keep your top buckles loose (I do also, especially on my rear boot), what does keeping the top strap tight do for you? I'm 155 lbs and I'm trying RC10s this season, coming from Deeluxe Track 225. I like my boots to flex a lot, especially my rear boot. I'm finding the RC10s with the stock (medium?) black tongues too stiff for me. On my rear boot, I ride in walk mode, with the top two buckles very loose, and don't bother using the strap at all. At 137 lbs, what tongues do you use on the RC10s? Are you happy with the stiffness of the boots?

Hey @rjnakata, I'm also looking to soften up my UPZ RC10 boots. I'm curious how the softer tongues worked out. Did the softer tongues help?