Freezer

Nice! Lots of steep groomers on the west coast, but you'd be nailed by a skier after two of those across the fall line turns!

I tell my wife that no matter how many snowboards and mountain bikes I buy, it's cheaper than racing airplanes. She agrees, and we're good.

Everything you need to know is here.

I got a Troy Lee Stage and pretty much use that full time now. I figure I have enough scars on my chin, and the Stage is so light and cool that I basically forget about it. I see more guys with full face on trail rides these days anyway. Sort of like skiing/boarding 25 years ago; people looked at you funny if you had a helmet and look where we are now.

Caption: I should look into a getting a full-face...

Heli in Valdez, Bela Coola, Chile, NZ, the Cariboos, Utah. Best but scariest was Valdez; on the other end of the spectrum was the ultra-lame Wiegele.

I'll be the contrarian here. I actually think that a lot of fine tuning of turn radius along the length of the board just ends up being a lot of noise in the turning equation. The flex of the board and importantly how that flex varies tip to tail seems to have a much greater influence on turning characteristics. Rants welcome.

Lockdown month 3 in Norcal and slowly turning the backyard into a bike park...

Skiing at Squaw Valley 1993- I saw a ski patrol guy on hardboots with his hip on the snow every turn. I said to myself “that’s what I’m going to do” and that was literally the last day I skied.

And its dumping in Tahoe!!

I've evolved over the last few years from high binding angles (65/65) to lower binding angles (55/47), which I generally like a lot more because it's more stable and better able to handle choppy/variable snow conditions. A drawback, however, seems to be a differential in power applied in heelside vs toeside turns- specifically heelside turns seem more powerful while toeside turns seem less powerful with the lower binding angles. With the higher angles I felt like I was applying pressure to the edge from the sides of my feet, and now with the lower angles it feels more like applying pressure with heels/toes, and on the toeside turn it's hard to angulate strongly to get a hard turn in. Anybody else feel like this, and if so, have you done anything to compensate? Video attached showing harder heelside vs. toeside turns.

First day on the Swoard and I like it. It’s a very neutral board to ride, great edge hold, softer flex than the Coiler ECVC. Works well carving steeper runs.

If you can't flex your rear ankle, you won't be able to bend your rear knee. If that's the case, you really ought to consider some softer boots, especially at 135lb. Boots and bindings that are so stiff you find them hard to flex can work if you get your setup dialed in for a specific set of snow conditions, but when the conditions change you'll find it physically impossible to adapt your riding to the conditions. With a softer setup you will lose some carving power in certain conditions, but you'll gain a lot in mobility, fluidity and fun IMO.

Cool- now you can retire the tin foil hat!

G forces are a function of turn radius and speed, so yes, at the same speed a smaller turn radius has higher G forces than a large turn radius. The OP had an issue with EC on 19-25 degree slopes as it is too tiring, and the problem with a larger turn radius board on slopes that steep is that the speed will become unmanageable quickly. The logical way to counter that is to make more small radius turns to limit the speed.

I have two ECVC coilers, and I love them. The graphics on your board are fantastic- wish I thought of having my 6 and 8 year old daughters design my graphics! Two comments: 1. Bend your legs. You're very upright and that's generally working because the grooming is really good, but when it gets chopped up you'll blow out your edge all the time. In addition, bending your legs will make your carving much more dynamic and you'll be able to control the turn radius much better. 2. If you're getting tired on steeper pitches, don't get a longer board, get a shorter turn radius board to limit your speed and G forces. I just got an Angrry 160 and it's fantastic for steeper pitches because you can limit the speed with tighter turns. Carve on.

I gotta say- that's a pretty revolting analogy...

I got some from Donek a few weeks ago. https://www.donek.com/product-category/accessories/parts/

I haven't had lower back pain from carving, but I've had it in spades from mountain biking, which is similar in that you use a hip hinge motion for much of what you do on both a board and a mountain bike. Partially to address the back pain, last year I started doing some mtb specific exercises/training, and it's made a huge difference. The focus on lower back pain basically involves increasing core strength to allow you to hip hinge correctly and not round your back when you get fatigued. Great ways to increase core strength are regular planks, reverse planks, side planks, deadlifts and side-to-side kettlebell swings. Start light/short and make sure you have perfect form before increasing weight/duration to avoid injury. As a motivator, I was shocked at how much difference it made in my back pain from mtb riding after a little over a month of working on core a few times a week.

My happy place for speed was about 500 knots at 40' off the deck. Back when the USAF was paying for JP4...

I just got an Angrry 160 (and I’m also 165lb) and it certainly is light and flickable. It will do cross under turns so fast you need to be careful you don’t launch yourself over the high side. I’m not sure, however, that it will be a less exhausting ride than your Donek because making more turns at lower speed can require a lot of energy. I suppose if you ride it in a more mellow manner you could end up expending less energy per unit of time, but it’s so turney and has such good edge hold that it sort of eggs you on to turn it up to 11 and put on a show. YMMV. of course...

It's a Medium flex for my 165lb. Softer flex than the Coiler for sure. I found the Swoard mounting options so maybe I'll try mounting centered but I'm a bit skeptical

I just got a new Swoard Pro2 168 to compliment the Coiler ECVC 168 I've been riding for a couple of seasons. I haven't ridden a Swoard, and in comparison to the Coiler, I noticed a few distinct differences. Namely: 1. 30mm less effective edge 2. Softer flex 3. Only 2mm taper vs. 12mm taper for the Coiler 4. Binding mounts are much more forward Based on all these differences, I'm assuming that the Swoard needs a more centered riding style, and finishes round turns more than the Coiler. I ride in Tahoe mostly so the runs are narrower and steeper than a lot of other places, so I think the Swoard should be matched to those types of runs. Those are my assumptions, but if anybody has time on a Swoard, I'd be interested in your perspective. Thanks!!

Great ideas guys! I found this 175mm ski bag online at the big A for $27.