1xsculler

Wow, I had no idea so many of you would identify with how I am feeling after having just ridden in perfect conditions today. My quads double crossed me so I went home with my tail between my legs. Actually I made my last run on Quicksilver, a run I have had some success on, and I felt just a tiny bit better. I'm working damn hard to try to bury my side-walls, get my board high angle on edge (knees inches off the snow) and bend the crap out of it to tighten my turns. Every once in a while I succeed s little, I think.

Enough said.

Very interesting to learn more about all responders. I'm definitely in # 2 camp but really enjoy any conversation and any equipment that involves riding the edge on groomers OR surfing deep pow.

I'm rethinking this now that barryj and 2012Alpine1 have passed and after reading Corey's glowing remarks.. I will look for something else to sell or just let the dust settle until my wife gets over this or until she buys another trinket. Sorry to any interested parties but I will hold on to it for now. Maybe I'll find some wide open groomers at White Pass or Whistler as I haven't found any at Crystal. I rounded out my quiver with this EC thinking I may be able to break away to ATC 2018, and I may still, but it's not looking good. I'll get more bang for my buck if I trim my racing shell quiver than my board quiver anyway. She'll be more happy to know I'm working on that.

I've edited the ad to answer questions. 2012Alpine1 is the first responder, barryj the second.

Bruce built it for me last summer. Basically like new, i.e. I have ridden it twice for an hour each time. Never ground, never waxed except by Bruce. My wife found out how many boards I have and she suggested that I reduce my quiver. Nose = 26.6, Waist = 21, Tail = 25.8. I am 6' 2" tall and weigh 150 #s in my B-day suit, i.e. not much muscle, not much fat. $550 plus shipping.

I ain't no Sigi Garbner but I'm having a ball on my 163. New lime green parka, new Smith helmet and goggles, linkin' a few trenches, bringin' grins to me and my grandkids. Can't get any better!

Awesome day up here at Crystal with three of my grandkids (ages 7 to 10). Having a ball on my 163 Coiler slalom but after my last ride up the chair I will have a Skiskate as soon as possible. Already have the skateboard deck so all I need is the proper ski, i.e. probably a wide 130ish, the fittings for attaching the two (a great DIY project) and my SUP leash. I hate the thought of not spending every Mt. minute on my carving stuff but the Skiskate looks like a good diversion to impress my gandkids and give them something else to laugh about. It's all about going out as interesting to my bloodline as possible. I took up skate boarding after reading here about Dick ? but falling off on asphalt did not appeal to me so maybe snow will be more forgiving.

I do not deny global warming and even man made global warming as I have faith in our scientific community BUT my home of nearly twenty years is situated on, and about 1' above mean high tide, Horsehead Bay, WA, and in front of it is our dock built on steel pilings. Needless to say my antennae go up when I read about coastal flooding so I have done some of my own research on tides, King tides, etc. as they relate to my dock and Puget Sound history. From this research it appears that the highest high tide recorded during the past forty years was the King tide on December 17th, 2012, and that tide was 1/4" Yes, a full 0.25") higher than the previous highest tide on record, also a King Tide, about forty years ago. My seat of the pants first hand observations and my unscientific but intense interest in our tides indicate that A King Tide occurs only when the following three components line up within an hour or two of each other: 1. One of the three or four highest tides of the year, 2. extremely low barometric pressure, i.e. under 29" hg, and 3. significant storm surge. It's easy to fairly accurately judge sea water levels by observing the water level on my dock pilings and the angle of our aluminum ramp connecting the piling supported part of our dock to the floating portion when the water is flat which is most of the time. I could go into a lot more boring detail but I will sum up my feelings about sea water level as it relates to my home by saying that I am not the least bit concerned about sea water level during my life time, not that many years left, or the life times of my kids or my grandkids. My house, built in 1905, needs to be torn down by the next owner anyway so my concern is even less. One additional cheerful thought, "Don't worry so much about old age as it doesn't last that long." Take everything I state as fact with a grain of salt as it may contain "fuzzy math" or be based on "fake news."

I much prefer Sigi's carving vid to this extreme carving vid even though I expect both carvers can do both types of carving. EC must be more difficult to do.

Love your post, Jack. Ruroc: I was getting ready to order one to save my face on cold, blizzardy days when my wife intervened, "Neither I, your grandkids nor anyone else will share a chair ride with you if you wear that thing!" After way too many years of excellent service I finally ditched my beloved Heli Hansen, one-piece suit numerous years ago after I saw a homeless guy begging at a stop sign, talking on his smartphone, and wearing my exact same suit. Recumbent bicycles I know are good devices but I can't go there either. I wore Crocs for years until it became apparent they were deforming my second toe, a problem that plagued me, especially in my RC8s prior to liner surgery. At my age safety is much more important than fuel efficiency. I want every new safety innovation plus lots of steel in my ride. Minivan; not enough steel in the front end either. Poles: I noticed that eighty-six year old Dick (can't remember his last name) used them to his advantage. When trying to get back up after tettering over on a flat, for no good reason, poles would be very handy but I'm not there yet either. Remaining a happy loner as I still never see any other hardbooters carving at Crystal Mt. It's ok as I am busy working on my own with each and every turn and with each board in my quiver.

No offense but I wish I could make sense out of your posts. Please say what you mean.

Ok, now all I need is a plate AND Olympic Medal experience, only one of which is in the cards. Sigi is obviously very strong and very accomplished but I'll bet there are quite a few guys/gals on this site who cat cut up the Mt. almost as well as Sigi does. Am I wrong?

There are few places more beautiful than Whistler when the visibility is good, i.e. Mt. Garibaldi from Blackcomb Glacier, etc. Few ski areas in North America can give you the incredible alpine experience that Whistler can. I'll be there from Feb 20 - 24 but unless I become much more versatile on my carving equipment by then I may be spending most of my time on skis so I can go where my kids and grandkids go and be able to move around enough to help them out. To accompany and help some of my nine grandkids, ages 2 to 10, get up on those mountains to experience true alpine conditions with endless lifts, runs and lodges is really special. Everything about Whistler/Blackcomb is wonderful and very special IF the weather cooperates.

Thanks for sharing the vid. of Sigi. That is now my new favorite carving vid. IMHO, he demonstrates a real mastery of beautiful carving in a wide variety of conditions = the life long pursuit! I don't have enough B-days remaining to get there but that won't stop me from trying. I always take two boards too. Sometimes I set up each one the same; sometimes I use a slightly different set-up. I lock one to the ski stand and make a half dozen runs on each before heading back home. It makes my Mt. time a lot more interesting. The next time I go up I may choose two different boards although as I improve I'm feeling that one board is probably enough since 99% of my riding is now done on only a few of the same home area groomed slopes. Actually, as I improve, I may need the full quiver IF I ever get good enough to ride steeper, bumpier slopes. Thanks again and Happy New Year to all.

My belief : once you have a bit of the feel and can kinda, sorta carve, board, angles, cants, lifts, bindings, boots, etc. don't make all the much difference. Whatever I have now found, my speck of success, I could probably go back to my SX91 ski boots and my UP 69 board and do the same. Now the quest for carving on various terrains and snow conditions looms large. Quads of steel still required and not yet there.

No particular reason on more front lift than back and I'm still changing something every time I head back up to the Mt. My next change will be to change from 4* to 6* heel lift on the back. Corey rides 6* front, I think, and in his clinic vids it looks like it. In addition to the 3* outward cant on the front I adjusted my front RC8 cuff so it is max outward cant too. My goal in front toe lift and outward cant was to get my board to appear to be perpendicular to my leg when sticking it out straight when on the chair. I didn't want it to look like left edge (regular footed) was hanging lower than the right edge. When standing on my front foot only on the board on the snow I wanted it to feel like there was about equal pressure on both edges. I didn't like that previous feeling that my board was always angled so that it was slipping away from me to the side when I was pushing along with my back foot out.

Set-up the same on both boards. 55/50, ~19 to 20" stance width, front binding centered, rear binding back a little, front: 6* toe lift, 3* outward cant, rear: 4* heel lift, 3* inward cant, F2 Titanflex, size 28 UPZ RC8s with Deeluxe 131 (I think they're similar to what they now call HB) liners with a big slit cut on top of and through the liner at the base of my toes, i.e. huge improvement in comfort, like night and day. Next Tuesday I will take my 2017 NFCB 172 and my slalom board and I hope I can continue to slowly improve. I know that grooming, snow condition and slope steepness make a huge difference.

I had just as good of a day on my slalom 163 as on my AM 176 which is what I suspected and hoped for. It just turns a little tighter and is a little bit less stable. You can either carve or you can't and it seems to happen in an instant, following a lot of struggling, similar to when you first learned to ride a bicycle. If you can carve, you can link up turns where the tail follows the nose in a pencil line with zero skid. I'm well aware that being able to finally lay out some decent trenches on some parts of some runs doesn't mean you can do it if snow conditions or if the terrain changes. That's where the lifelong pursuit comes in. It's just a great feeling to have a little success.

I was on my 176 Coiler AM today and I had my best day yet. I actually felt like a real carver for the first time and I hope I can apply my new level of confidence to my Coiler 163 Slalom tomorrow. I am very stoked!

While I wait for Sean to respond to my inquiry can any of you fill in the details on the Donek MK? 161 only? Best suited for who or what? Can it be custom built for a particular weight rider? Are there any reasons why a Donek is any better than a similar speced. Coiler? What's the difference between a MK 161 and Rev 163 other than 2 cm and a few other specs? It's just dawning on me that MK must stand for Madd Killer.

The image is not of me. I borrowed it from the Frozenbackside gallery to illustrate what I think Corey tries to pound home in his clinics.

Is the Bomberonline store now open for business again? Can we place new orders and expect to receive stuff in a timely manner?

After repeatedly watching the two youtube vids. featuring Corey, i.e. Intermediate Carving Clinic and Carving Clinic on Steeper slopes (not the exact titles), and following his advice to load the nose of the board early in the turn I think I may be making some serious progress. On Monday, in nearly white-out bumpy conditions, I think I experienced a few turns where I did load the nose immediately after changing edges and I felt the board hook-up and come around hard early in the turn which slowed me down noticeably. The attached image shows what Corey describes about body angulation as well.

Thanks for the replies and the suggestions. It seems to me hardbooting is hardbooting and while it is just another way to get down the mountain I don't see any way a hardbooter, a softbooter and a skiier can very well ride and enjoy the same runs together and meet at the bottom of the lift. Skiers and softbooters, yes, as both enjoy the steep and the deep but hardbooting seems to be totally terrain and condition specific. I would never expect my ski buddies, with whom I have decades of skiing with, to have any interest in the slopes I am trying to become a decent carver on and I won't improve my carving if I try to do the steep and the deep with them. I am friendly with everyone on the hill and they are friendly with me...no problem but I've now been up to Crystal Mt. WA, about forty times, combining last year and nine trips this year and I've only encountered one other hardboot carver. I'd love to find just one guy on one day to try to follow down the Mt. I know I would learn a lot and I may even have a break through day. I do work on J-turns and I watch the utube vids. They are very helpful and I do become more competent with each run I make.