gawdzira

I rode this past weekend with @Cuban Carving Gooding (Steve). He immediately was able to see the suck factor in my flailing and gave me some great advice on my body position. I moved my hands forward and it was generating a similar hip pinch without thinking about the hip pinch. I really like the simplicity of her hand position to generate that upper body correction. I will give that a try this weekend. I just have to be careful since my heelside turn locked in well enough to shoot me out of the end of the turn and almost sent me to the adjacent run.

Where are you starting out on the 30th? I will be there, I might need to split time getting my daughter going on her board. She is just starting out. If I can get my son off skis, he started ripping carved turns in his soft boots with a crap board last Monday (on about his 8th day on a board). Olympic has been the best place most days at Heavenly. The coverage is good and they do their best grooming there. With our current dry spell, stay on the groomed runs. The new Epic App does a great job of filtering the trail view for groomed runs.

I did the Epic Pass Tahoe Trifecta this weekend (extended). Heavenly, grooming gets cut up fast. Always head straight to Olympic for the most consistent flat grooming. Northstar, some nice wide runs but the groomers (currently) are lacking skill and so even a run of corduroy will bounce you mid transition. The best run was Castle Peak. Super wide, steep for a blue run and mild on crowds for a Sunday. Kirkwood (Monday), hands down the best of the 3 on grooming. Slower chairs but if you can have a weekday with almost no crowds, life is great. The pic was taken just before we got in line for the Solitude chair. By 11 am, the slope was not much more crowded. I barely had to look over my shoulder for people uphill. Castle Peak run at Northstar on a Sunday at almost 10am.

I took up skiing again a few years ago to teach my kids as well. On the ski boot vs. my UPZ RC12, you might as well compare apples to rocket surgery. Get the alpine boot. After I got mine I grew 3" taller, my hair came back and I was handed Martinis anytime I walked into a hotel lobby. Obviously I am kidding about the hotels, but the rest is true.

It was flat. It was hard. It was fast. On that day 3 hardbooters met at the top of Olympic and all voted Yea in favor of the Olympic Downhill run being forever a no passing zone. The votes are still being tallied on the Nay side and it is not looking good at this point. Nevertheless, it was the run of the day. Alan

..."follow my line and I will show you."

I just finished Ghost Fleet by Singer and Cole. Really engaging read. World war 4 that starts in near orbit. With the recent space ammo test by Russia, the books premise may be coming too soon.

Let's face it, Hardbooting = Crossfit. Or if you are in construction, = ICF. Yeah, I am a fanatic. Intec this B!$%#@.

I will be riding Heavenly almost every weekend this season. I could let you try out a set up. What size boots do you wear?

Teenage girl in front of me in line with her parents was staring back at my board. My wife points it out and the girl asks, "What angles are you riding?". I was a bit taken back because I did not not know off hand. I was glad she was not the bridge keeper from Life of Brian.

Thanks. That is exactly the experience for both boards. Just don't tell my daughter that the green one is the all mountain board or I will have to follow her down the bump runs.

I picked up 2 used boards last year (thank you again to 1xsculler) and it has taken until now to ride the second one. I am not sure what happened after last January but all I know is that I am 10 lbs heavier and there are teenagers living at my house. Help me understand what I bought please. Board 1, The Firefly T 164 LVD 020 RH 6.3+9 This one was my favorite board ever until I rode Board 2, The Snake in my Boot T 172 AMTC 020 RH 6.4+4 What in the flip do these hieroglyphics mean? I was a little nervous getting the 172 since my previous board for almost 20 years was a 161 Nidecker SL board. But, after 1 run, the size was easy to control and I feel great at speed on toe side, heel side I do what I can to survive. My expectations are low at age 57 with maybe 7 days a year on the snow.

We snuck up to Tahoe this week for Wed-Fri. Pretty nice although Wed. at Heavenly was pretty cold and some wind closures for the top. Kirkwood on Friday ripped. My legs are cooked.

I am in Central California and looking at getting my family to the snow in mid February for our school break. We are willing to drive a day or so to get somewhere. From a quick viewing last night on some various snow reports it seems like Bachelor in Oregon currently has the biggest base. Mammoth looks rocky, Tahoe is slush. Even Park City is showing a really small base. Where is the best spot to go on the west/west side of the Rockies right now?

I have the XC12. I am really happy with the fit. After a full day of riding my feet felt like I had been in soft boots. The adaptive spring is great and I did not miss my old "riding in walk mode" from my ancient Raichles.

If these boots had a soundtrack then it would be by WHAM. $75 plus shipping. Count on about $25 for shipping in the U.S. of A..

I generally revel in the fact that I am carving the sweetest turns on the mountain (unless I run into someone else on a carving set up).

Got it. I did not realize the Fintec heel was required. Ordered. Thanks, Alan

I have only taken 2 lessons on hard boots. One was from Martin Drayton in Park City Utah. Go there. He is a former racer.

If I push the boot forward and back in the long directions of the boot I am tight. By indexing pins do you mean the plastic wing elements on the side of the heels towards the front?

I am setting up my new(ish) gear. I got these TD3's slightly used but in very good shape. The boots are new but the Intec heels are old (2003 +/-). Is too much wiggling? Time for new heels? I compared it to my old Cateks and there is also wiggling but slightly less. I could mount up the other bindings I just bought which are F2 and check but I suspect it will be similar. Why did I just buy two new pairs of bindings you might ask? Never mind, you know why. Link to movie: https://www.dropbox.com/s/1s7l8wv1ri40l9k/intec%20movie.mp4?dl=0

At least I didn't die.

Thanks for the feedback.

I am interested in the Coiler. I currently ride (and this has been my only board I have ridden with plates and hard boots since starting in about 2002) a 161 Nidecker SL board. I am slightly nervous about adding 11 cm of board length but I could probably subtract about 2cm from that since the tail has less effective edge than my SL board. Is that much more board more difficult to ride or just a mental hurdle? P.S. I used to live just south of you in Seattle. I started snowboarding after designing and building the trade show booth for K2 snowboards in 91. I still have a small quiver of leftover b and c grade boards from producing benches for them.

I really need to get a new pair of boots (and everything). Is there a store in the Portland OR area that carries boots for a hardboot setup? Thanks, Alan