lafcadio

Eric, it was a pleasure getting to meet you. I wish we were able to catch you earlier and take some runs together. You were laying some serious trenches and contributing to the utter destruction of Exhibition much to the chagrin of the non-carving skiers and snowboarders. Hey, it's not a proper carving session if we don't hear complaints about what we're doing to the hill and we did not disappoint! Regarding your technique and things to look at for improvement: 1. Toeside turns look fantastic! Your mass is stacked over the edge and you're making clean carved arcs. 2. Concentrate on looking WAY up into the turns, especially on heelside turns ("look up to hook up") 3. On heelside turns your lower and upper body (knees, hips, torso, and shoulders) are out of position for a heelside turn and still mostly facing the toeside direction. This causes your butt to stick out on heelside turns and is typical of a snowboarder with many years of soft boot riding experience. This can also be seen on heelside turns in the video you posted in the "Critique my riding" thread. To combat this try the following when starting a heelside turn: Turn your head towards heelside and look into the direction of your turn. Drop the hip by "corksrewing down" rotating hips towards heelside edge of the board. You will need to significantly bend your back knee more than you already are. This will cause your belt buckle to turn towards the nose of your board and your mass to be lower to the heelside edge. Concentrate on placing more weight (up to 75% on mild green, more on steeper pitches) on the front heel. Torso and shoulders must follow the hips. For regular rider making heelside turn to left, your right arm MUST be in front of you. Extend your right arm and touch your right hand to your left knee, left boot, or board ahead of your front binding. Look even further up into the turn. Your goggles should be visible to someone following you (or taking a photo) from behind. The last point is important for safety and technique. When watching a video of yourself taken from someone following you with a camera, you should always catch a glimpse of your goggles on turns. If not, you're not looking far enough into the turn. On toeside turns you should easily have a clear view of the hill above you. If someone is following with a camera, you should see them. If it's too much to do at once, just start by looking farther into the turn. Then add the boot grab. Keep at it and I look forward to getting the chance to ride with you again!

Today was EPIC! Beast was in prime form. Thanks Bobby, Jim, Eric, and Robin for coming out. Bobby, I told you Hemlock was calling your name!

Thanks, everyone! I was looking for something that I could quickly share with a newbie who is interested in trying hardboots. Lots of good options here. And I agree, simply measuring the length of the foot from heel to longest toe in centimeters is easy enough.

Bobby, you gotta make it back for Saturday. Hemlock is calling your name!

Me too for this Saturday! Sorry, @jtslalom. I won't be able to make it to Jiminy. So much carving and so little time.

No. It's not. Saturday? Maybe. Keep us updated. Now I actually have options. Just great!

Beth, welcome to the dark side! Look for Robin (@Armtron2000 on this forum). He teaches at Berkshire East and is out often. I do have some Pure Boarding demo equipment I can lend out. Most important will be getting your correct boot size. Do you know what your ski boot size is in modo point? I'll be around again next weekend (Sunday) and can bring a hardboot setup for you try and give some pointers if you would like. Contact me through the forum (either private message or post in the Berkshire East thread) to confirm. Cheers, Michael Happy Birthday, Mark! We all miss you. The Beast is not the same without you. Can't wait to ride with you again. More snow is on the way this week. Next weekend should be spectacular! Just sayin.

Bomber used to have an article showing exactly how to measure your feet for determining correct hardboot size. Can anyone point me to a good reference that can be shared with a first timer to get their correct modo point size? There doesn't appear to be anything in the Tech Articles here: http://alpinesnowboarder.com/tech-articles/ Carver's Almanac doesn't really give enough details (especially for a newbie): http://www.alpinecarving.com/bootfitting.html#size

I need to get me some!

I'm really sorry I can't make it out tomorrow. I WILL definitely be out there on Sunday. Bobby, I expect to see you too! Anyone else coming out to Beast this weekend? Me too!

David, are you coming this weekend??? I will definitely be out Sunday. Most likely heading to Crotched in NH on Saturday.

Jimmy, it was wonderful to carve with you again. You have an amazing aggressive, yet fluid style. I love that. Please keep us updated when you plan a trip to Jiminy Peak!

Second year in a row this has happened. Bummer. Thanks everyone for coming out! Especially to those to those who I haven’t seen in years.

From Stratton Twitter feed: https://twitter.com/StrattonResort/status/1099090576866230273

I’m not aware of any discount this year.

If they were size 25, I would grab them! Those are nice boots and a great price!

So jealous!! I expect a full report.

If anyone is interested in trying some equipment, I have a selection of boards I could lend out for the event: Pure Boarding TWO sizes 152, 158, 164 Coiler Nirvana Energy 174 Kessler Custom 171 (old and beat up, but fun) I do not want to cart extra boards to the mountain if I do not need to. So please let me know by FRIDAY if I should bring any of these. My boards and I will be riding Saturday and Sunday. Looking forward to some RALLY TIME!!!

How was it???

You'll want to avoid being hit. Especially from your videographer. Difficult to tell from the video, but some of those shots looked dangerously close. Make sure you and everyone you're riding with is communicating. You don't want to be on the injured list and you definitely don't want to get there by being taken out by a riding buddy.

I was out yesterday and it was one of the best days this season! Coverage is good. Even Upper Flying Cloud is groomed! I took one warm-up run down Chief, and then immediately hit Comp top to bottom. The sun wasn't even on the hill yet and I got four runs in before the race team started setting up gates.

So that means you're on for this weekend, right??!

It's on my calendar. I'll be there Saturday and Sunday, February 23 & 24. RALLY TIME!

For Massachusetts, it's gotta be Berkshire East. It's a super carve-friendly mountain and very un-New England-like: with a generous selection of wide, steep, and groomed trails... and never crowded.

Agreed. I just don't get the love for Killington.