st_lupo

Instead of spamming carving central I'll post a couple of video here in the hopes of getting some critical feedback from the experts. I was lucky enough that Tanglefoot was on the chair lift a couple of times this year while I was riding below him so I've actually got pretty good footage of my riding during early season and recent footage. This is on a run that is labelled as a black, but realistically is a blue anywhere else. I can't point to anything that is really plaguing me this year as far as grip goes; the snow has been hero and I'm putting my turns pretty much where I want them. However one big issue I have is that every year my back heel gets destroyed and I develop a pretty large callous on my heel that almost goes away during the off-season. Is there anything obviously wrong about my stance that might be causing this? Also lately I've been experiencing that the board in the late-season video is really slowing down and chugging in the carves, something I'm doing wrong? Also any style pointers (yes, yes don't touch the snow)? Early season on the NFC-B 12-13ish SCR Late season on the NFC-E 10-11ish SCR

This exact thing is happening to me with the stock liners in my rc10s. I’ve been suffering through it like a brave soldier for three years but this season I’ve grown a gianormous callus on my heel that just starts screaming at me if I even look at my boots. Looks like I should start looking at aftermarket liners.

This one was yesterday with a new guy trying out hardboots For the first time yesterday: Me (pointing and waving): Hey what is that thing on your feet? Guy: ??? Me (trying to keep a straight face): Did you loose one ski? Do you need help? Guy (looking at my board): ??!???! Me: Hey! Welcome aboard. Hope you're having fun! Check out bomberonline.com for tons of great tips and maybe I'll see you back up here next weekend!

For the ADD afflicted: i = 0 while i < 10000000: Dude on the right: Duuude! Camber Camber Camber, Whoaaah Camber! Dude on the left: Hahaha Yes, camber! Dude on the right: Camber Camber Camber, holy FUCK Camber! Ed McMahon (I mean dude on the left): Hahaha Yes, camber! i += 1

**That would be the milliton, centiton, deciton, ton, and shiton of snow.

Oh dear. I didn't mean to give the impression that I was whinging about the sidecut I was just really surprised at just how different it was to my Coilers. It's beyond questioning that it is a fast, capable and a flipping fun board. I just kinda like to understand how the different design parameters work so I can make more informed decision on any future board builds... Which I am definitely not doing for at least five years or so (at least that's the story I told my wife and I'm sticking to it).

Yeah that would have been cool to meet up. Might be having a couple of additional trips to Ogden coming up in about a year's time. If you do head out thisaway make sure to drop me a line! I like Ogden, it's got a nice mix of high-desert and mountain west feel without a crazy number of people living there. Lots of good hiking too. Looks like I'm probably going to head out to either Solitude or Powder Mountain. Might try to get a second day and head to Park City, just because (unless there is a strong argument against it). I'll definitely post something to the UT board when I'm there. Thanks for all of the information guys!

That's a good point... I think it might have been a combination of a few things: 1) letting the board transition early and thus picking up more speed combined with 2)crappy cross-over transitions and probably 3)riding in the backseat. Having ridden the board a bit now, I've begun addressing those three issues and the board is staying much more planted. At least on the portions of the trails where I am pretty focused on the carving. The board has actually been exactly what I've been needing to start drilling on proper and consistent cross-under transitions, and those lessons-learned are working well on the Coilers.

Ok that this all makes sense, thanks! I was just surprised at the range of scr on a single board (especially 13/14m on an SL board). One thing is for sure is that the fun factor is high. :)

Hope this isn't spam here but I'm always skeptical to posting in the region specific forums. I'm going to be working in Ogden in the middle of March and will probably have some time on the 16th or 17th (or both) to go riding (hard-boots, on-piste carving). How are conditions now (I'll be bringing my board from Europe, it won't cost extra to take it, but is it worth the hassle)? Where is a good place to ride that isn't too far from Ogden or SLC (I'm a solid intermediate rider and tend to like steeper blues and easier blacks)? Does anybody from BOL have a possibilty to meet up on the slopes(would love to put some faces with names, and to learn some better technique)?

Which Steigermeister? A google search turns up interesting results. I guess it depends a lot on your snow conditions and the condition of the board in it's current state. As long as the base is more or less true I've never bothered with base grinds. I just take advantage of the wet-snow suction to slow me down on steeper trails during late season, but even then how much of the base is even touching the snow? I've also never had to set a base edge angle on any of my boards (I've got one F2 and 2 Coilers that worked great brand-new, and my Kessler works fine in it's current condition), but on my daughter's skis I always set a .5 degree base edge at the start of the season. Side edges I use a fixed file guide and diamond stones to deburr and maintain sharpness on the full effective edge. It hasn't been icy this year so I'm touching up maybe once every 10 trips to the hill. I'll bet the Montucky boys will chime in on this...

So I wrote Kessler about the 162 that I've been riding this year to see if they could decipher some of the numbers on it. I got an impressive amount of information about the board from Mr. Kessler himself, including one really surprising stat. The board is custom; medium stiffness, 1513mm eff. edge, 21mm taper (stock is 18 I think), but the thing that kinda has me scratching my head is the scr. The stock 162SL has from 7 to 12m, mine has 7-13-14-9. So this board has both the tightest and the largest scr of any of my boards! I'm not even going to pretend that I appreciate all of the nuances between the different radii chosen for the scr and how that has to coincide with the decamber etc, but in my gut I thought that the difference in blended radii quite surprisingly large. For reference, my NFCE has 10-12-11. There is no doubt, on back to back runs the Kessler is turning way inside the NFCE (when putting about the same amount of hurt on both boards) and the Kessler will also top out at a higher speed. So my questions: 1)Is this an SL board, a racey board or a more free-carve board? 2)What would be the design purpose of such a large variance in scr on the board and what unique handlng qualities might that scr choice give the board? 3)How to best take advantage of that scr profile? (ie how to use the scr to my advantage to get the board to get airborn reliably and controllably at each turn transition) 4)Compared to a stock 162SL how different is this board (a shared length and that's it?)? (I realize that Mr. Kessler himself is the most qualified to answer these questions, but since this isn't going to lead to an immediate purchase of a new Kessler I'd prefer not to waste his time.). Thanks for any insight!

Ondrej, where are you at in Norway? We've got a small gang of carvers in Kongsberg with a small stash of boards. I'm actually heading up to the local in a few minutes. One of the guys here has a Kessler 174(?!?) that he is selling. Same guy also rides an SG full race and really tears it up.

Expecially if they are on the run at the same time as the Thiokol

Hate to resurrect this thread but in case anybody was in danger of getting complacent late in the season... Thursday was awesome weather and it was my wife's birthday so I took a half day off and we went up to the local. I was having a blast on the SL board and only taking up about 1/3 of the width of the trail. I got to sneak a look up hill every 4 or so turns and there was nobody above me on the hill except a group of 4 older gents that were just larking about. I had just dropped down onto a steep section in the middle of a toe side turn and began transitioning to heel side. As my head and shoulders came into about the 10 o'clock position I heard and felt a little *click* on the front of my board. I looked back over toward the front of the board and saw a pretty burly guy (who had just ridden over my board) barreling towards the edge of the trail practically sitting on the backs of his skis. It ended in a serious yard-sale. I pushed on over and collected his skis and was prepared to engage him in a lively discussion about the finer points of skivett regler (the Norwegian version of the skier code), but he was in a really bad way. I called ski patrol and tried talking with the guy to evaluate how he was holding out, but he was obviously concussed and was going to need some stitches. SP got the guy and picked up on the concussion pretty quickly. They sent him off to the hospital for observation. My Kessler got hacked pretty good a couple centimeters in front of my front boot, and while it was already pretty bad for him, a fraction of a second and the whole thing could have been a complete catastrophe for everybody. Still feeling kinda weird about the whole thing today. I sent the following picture to Kessler to hear their evaluation of the condition of the board, but not sure if I'll hear anything back. Does anybody here have a gut feeling on the board? Kinda worried about the sharp notch carved into the metal sheet if this will prematurely fatigue and crack/delam. I got the guy's contact info from one of his buddies in case the board is a total write off, but given his current condition I'd just prefer to leave him alone if the damage is purely cosmetic. Stay vigilant, check-six!

Yeah looking back at how I wrote that, it was definitely before my first coffee. Apologize for the bombastic tone, but at heart I still stand behind the core of it. Speed control while carving is such a fundamental skill and I think that demon deserves to be taken head-on, early. I think that what I disagreed with most was the sentence: "Skidding at some point is essential for speed control, no matter how much you complete the turn." At best this lacks nuance and should be caveated as a strategy related to beginners and not presented as a blanket statement. But even then, skidding is a crutch and is just delaying the inevitable, while potentially developing an idiosyncrasy that will need to be addressed in the future. There are lots of folks hardbooting with a lot of styles but given the (arguably) most common stereotype of the ideal freecarving form, I would suggest that controlling your speed into the first turn, truly completing the turns, deep angulation, fore/aft weight balance (ie augering in the nose just a tad), and riding on slopes within your capabilities are the essential skills to speed control. (It's a lot of details to sweat at the start, but this is a sport for nerds). Having said that, it is fine to skid if you need to. #1 be safe! , #2 develop style and push yourself hard to get better. Actually #1 Have fun, #2 be safe, #3 style etc blah blah.

Came to this thread expecting to read about DJ whatshisface and hear about all of the newest sickest drops. uuns uuns uuns uuns

Yeah, what Buell said.If you are riding on a slope within your ability and you don't start your first turn with outrageous speed, you shouldn't have to skid. Ever. (We're talking free carving here). At a certain point you are going to start thinking "gosh darn this slope is too slow when I am riding full C carves I need a steeper slope". Then comes "Gosh darn my mountain is too slow, I need a faster board.". Then comes "Fire and tarnation my bank account is too empty to buy all the boards I want, I need to start selling blood on the weekends"... and on and on...

Due to excellent snow conditions and a record number of tourists, our local hill had to get creative with it's spillover parking...

Yesterday half the local hill was roped off due to a GS race. This left one of the arguably best carving runs on the hill inaccessible unless you were willing to take a t-bar lift and hoof it a bit (ie nobody was touching it). I was riding with a fellow hardbooter who wasn't scared of a little work and a war commenced, right under the lifts; EC (Swoard) vs. Bomber (Coiler) style.

The rubber pads are nothing special but those are just for waxing/base repair. Being able to put the board into those slots and holding it up on edge makes it a lot easier to work the edge. The board is really locked in and it is easier to apply consistent pressure on the exposed edge. When I'm tuning, I'm only working the side edge (not the base) so I use gummy stone to knock off the burr.

Ohio, where at? I used to live in Xenia when I was a little nipper. The whole Scandinavian question was just because of your handle. Mord makes for an interesting translation into Swedish or Norwegian. :)

When you really get the board on edge you can turn inside that radius. But yeah, if you don’t want to skid, then you control your speed by the completeness of the turns (and by the tightening the turn radius; getting the board really up on edge). Another hint for beginners is that when you are starting your run, make your initial carve at a lower speed than you would normally turn-in at. Once you loose control of your speed you’ve really gotta work hard to slow down again unless you want to skid. Mord... you aren’t based in Norway (or Scandinavia) by any chance?

Sitting in the “ski prep” room... What the hell, throw in a gummi stone (removes the thin flap of metal that develops when filing the side edge and its an eraser for rust) and a spring clamp. ...And leather gloves... ...Blood rusts edges.

Oh forgot one surprisingly important tool: a sidewall cutter. Its a lot easier to set/maintain your side edge if you’re only working the steel alone. If you are prepping a new board you pretty much need one of these. It needs a slow and steady pull to avoid hacking up the sidewall. PS: this is assuming that you already have a good set of vises. I’m using the swix t-bar 500.