1xsculler

Thanks for the very inspiring videos. I don't really care much to watch EXTREME carving, stance switching (difficult as it must be) and jumping around but I do like watching good, hard core, no skid, carving on various boards as depicted on the vids. Pure, big arc carving is my goal, lofty as it may be.

I started this topic and I'm amazed how many replies it has generated. It must have hit a bit of a nerve. Practically the day after we bought our four daughters new ski equipment for Christmas they all decided they wanted to switch to boarding so I joined them, after skiing for forty years, and skipped soft booting, going straight to carving with hard boots. That made for a slow learning curve but I finally got so I could lay out a few (very few) well-linked trenches when the conditions were just right, i.e. just the right slope, snow and surface conditions. When the slope got a little steeper, the snow less than ideal and the surface a little bumpy I was unable to adapt. I went to SES 2005 and couldn't lay out a single non-skidding carve. I was really bumbed. So, after several years of no skiing or boarding mountain time I am working to get back into carving again as it fits perfectly with taking my young grandchildren up while they learn to ski. I would be bored to tears if I had to ski with them but learning to carve while they perfect their snowplow and stem turns is working very well now. My take on why the board carvers are so few and far inbetween is because it is very, very conditions specific, i.e. for most of us it requires just the right slope, snow and surface. I also think the difficulty of getting expensive hard boots to fit and be comfortable is very detrimental to carving. At this point I have no interest in skiing unless I am with a very few of the guys who I like to pound the mountain with and we can never seem to get together so learning a new skill, again, with my grandchildren is really my only interest on the mountain. I feel a little like a Yellowjacket with summer coming to an end (I'm 72) but am very excited and determined to learn to carve on moderate slopes with my grandkids on moderate slopes before I have to hang up both skis and boards. I mean who boards or skis at eighty? Maybe I'll be lucky enough to do so but it's not likely and it may not be smart even If I am able to do it.

If I remember correctly one of the most popular boards in the early 2000s was the blue Rossignal board. I think it was called the Stratos. Their race board was red and called the Throttle. After you could no longer get the blue board somebody, in Colorado associated with Bomber I think, made a board which was very similar to the blue board but the top sheet looked like light colored wood laminations. I think it was made only in a 175 length. I had a couple of them and they had a problem with delamination. The current Swoard looks like it may be related to these older boards.

Are these boards being ridden much in in the US?

Xheacox@gmail.com

I can PayPal you.

I'd like to buy your board and bindings.

There are some good topics on that site but I don't read French. Suggestions?

Thank you for weighing in mr_r. If you as a 20 # heavier guy and a much more skilled carver feel the Alp 71 is too much board for you then it and my Ultr Prime 69 certainly must be too much board for me. Their stiffness is probably holding me back more than my boots are. What brands, models and lengths of board would you recommend for me, a, once again, beginning, 72 year old, 6' 2", 150 # carver wanabe?

If I take the plunge I am leaning towards UPZ because of their DIN replaceable heels and toes. I'm thinking RC10s may be too tall and too stiff for me so I would probably start with RC8s which means I'd have to order them from Italy as Dan is sold out. I don't need super high performance boots for skiing (my SX-91s certainly don't fall into that category) as when I ski it is with my five, seven and eight year old grandchildren. I can work on my carving while they work on their snowplows and stem turns all on the same slopes and at about the same speeds. An added bonus is they love to watch grandpa do the occasional face-plant or otherwise crash and burn. I like to give them an hour ski lesson in the morning and then jump on my board for the rest of the day.

The more boot research I do on this site is reminding me of ten years ago when I abandoned various carving boots I tried and kept going back to my Solomon SX-91 Equipe, rear entry ski boots for carving and skiing. I still use them for both and because of their extreme comfort, warmth, fore and aft flexibility, excellent support and ease of on and off I may just stick with them. I'll admit I am not a great carver and maybe the SX-91s are holding me back but I am not yet convinced. If I get to the point where I'm laying out extreme carves and toe or heel over become a problem I may reconsider. I can use 55* front and 50* rear with no problem on my Ultra Prime 69 and Alp 71 but I'm not good enough to lay out radical carves either. The foot pain, loss of days on the mountain, hours in a boot fitting shop and the expense with no guaranteed path to success are becoming daunting to me. I have no intention of starting a once used, non-returnable carving boot collection or taking a $300 hit every time I finally have to abandon whatever boot won't work.. I may keep my eyes out for a used pair of UPZ RC-8s or 10s or Deeluxe 225s or 325s in MP 28 - 28.5 or watch for a year end sale on them. Any suggestions?

I may have narrowed my carving boot choice down to UPZ RC8 or RC10. If I plan on using them for skiing too, which one would be the best?

Easy in, easy out, I guess, would be the only advantage.

The ease and range of adjustability of my Cateks is exactly my reason for wanting to do this. I'm a competent DIYer and I have a drill press so it sounds like a project worth tackling. Thanks for the input. I'll let you know how it turns out once I decide on a pair of boots.

Thanks a lot for the informative comments.

Can the TD2/TD3 rear step-in mechanism be adapted to Catek OS2s?

Thank you Neil. I'l'll look at the 8s and 10s then plus the Deeluxes.

I really appreciate the replies, especially the one about using the search function. I will try to do my homework before asking you guys to reinvent the wheel on well documented subjects but thanks again as your comments answered my question for now, i.e. I don'the need to run out and buy plates immediatelyou as I have a lot more pressing carving skills to work on.

How many of you are riding with some type of plate between your board and your bindings? Which plate system is the most popular?

Advertised as the softest hard boots on the market.

Whada'ya think?

I now see that a little research on the various sites will answer most of my concerns but I still welcome your comments. I'll probably order a pair of UPZs and Deeluxes, decide for myself in my livingroom, which may be very inadequate, and return whatever seems like it won't work. I'm in SX91 Equipe ski boots now and they're fine for beginning gentle slopes but if I ever get good enough to carve on steeper stuff I doubt they would have enough forward flexibility.

Alps and Ultra Primes vs all the other boards for the same purposes, i.e. general all around carving, and the pros and cons of UPZs vs Deeluxes? I'm 6' 2'' tall and I weigh 150 #s. I'm a competitive rower who trains almost daily, year round.. I'm 72 years old and I'm trying to get my carve back (which was never all that solid in 2006) after a ten year break. I've skied since 1948. I have an Ultra Prime 69 and a couple of Alp 71s (one with a 1mm to 2mm concave base) each of which are right between my chin and my nose in length and both have 10.5 side-cut radii. I'm wondering if a little shorter board, i.e. 164, with a tighter side-cut, i.e. 9.5, might make it easier for me to carve on a little steeper slopes.

still available?

I think it's the coolest thing to do on snow but, obviously, not everyone feels that way. Why do you think that is?