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TWM
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Posts posted by TWM
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Still got another month to go I expect. Uncrowded runs and firm morning snow make spring prime carving season.
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On 4/4/2024 at 12:17 PM, bzqa said:
I was just looking up this guy to see if he still teaches and found this: "PARK CITY, Utah — A tragic hit-and-run accident at the Canyons side of Park City Mountain (PCM) on Wednesday, February 28, has left local resident and beloved snowboard instructor Martin Drayton with multiple spine fractures, sidelining him for the remainder of the winter season." Wishing him a speedy and full recovery...
This is so troubling to read. So many carvers are getting hit these days. May Martin see a fast and complete recovery.
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One of the best and under appreciated ways to progress quickly is by simply watching and riding with great carvers. That fact, coupled with clinics, make a strong case for MCC.
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Brings back memories.
My first hip-dragging railing on an alpine hard-boot set up was in the summer of 1990; I was 16, and hooked. It was first on borrowed K2 prototypes, and then later on Nitro EFTs after they signed me up.
I remember distinctly watching from the Palmer lift as US ski team coaches turned backs to their own race lanes to rubberneck the alpine riders, the MBSEF crew especially, laying down highly angulated pencil-thin rails on the brutal salted frozen morning cords. They’d never seen such turns, and skis got side-cut soon thereafter.
There was hot debate that summer about the efficacy of asym tech. Most boards were asym. Some of us argued the opposite — that the heel side core profile, given body mechanics and boot leverage, should be shifted forward, not back.
Then, prophetically, Rossignol’s first 173 and 183 VAS prototypes showed up in July. Allegedly designed by their race ski engineer, they boasted forward-shifted profiles that landed squarely on one side of the snowboarders’ asym debate. By all accounts, these boards railed harder - with better edge hold - than anything else to date.
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2 hours ago, trailertrash said:
Those bindings would be listed for $250 on Facebook's AST.
In the comments they would be chiming in on how awesome they are and how they still rip.
They definitely do rip.
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I’ve liked most of his analyses. Here, the analysis of forward drive of the rear knee on a toe turn is specific and astute. It’s why I use considerably more rear foot heel lift in my soft vs. hard boot set up.
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15 hours ago, SunSurfer said:
@TWM The actual effect is measurable and reproducible. It's not just a "feeling". I did actual measurements with boards and different distributions of the same weight to confirm the result.
The length of board between each of the rider contact points AND the outer ends of the effective edge is essentially a lever with the riders mass acting with gravity to produce a bending force. The shorter the lever, the less force to flex the board as a whole.
That's certainly an important factor to consider in stance width. But then, why not ride a 10 inch stance?
I just went through this exercise last week on a new-to-me and quite stiff board.
A narrow stance was preventing body mechanics necessary to aggressively pressure and drive forward and laterally into the boot. And, by standing me up too tall, it limited me from getting the board higher on edge, into a deeper flex.
A wider stance changed this with body mechanics that allowed powerful leverage through the boot and stability and balance to get the board higher on edge.
So, for me, given other important variables to consider, widening my stance yielded deeper board flex.
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I want more forward lean from my Deeluxe 325s, at least on my back foot.
Is anyone modifying these boots to afford that, and if so, how? Rivets? (That’s how I used to lock boots into a desired lean position in my younger days.)
Are there other boot models or brands that offer more forward lean than the 325s?
Thanks In advance for insights.
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Fun day, fun snow. I’m slowly getting to know this old Coiler, and it’s taking everything I dish out. Toe, heel.
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On 3/4/2024 at 7:36 AM, Corey said:
The fact that other people can successfully change directions without that arm swing means it's just his personal flair.
To each their own! Not for me, but if it gets clicks then rock on.
It’s flair, but feels a bit faint hearted. I would prefer two or three hand circles presenting each new turn, like a magician or wizard.
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On 3/24/2024 at 11:35 AM, softbootsurfer said:
Nose or Tail ?
seriously, Which made the 45 slope...
It’s the tail.
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On 1/21/2024 at 3:01 PM, dredman said:
Not sure where to put this, but here are a few clips of Eirik Stout and I at Red Lodge MT today. May or may not be worth watching..
I just watched the euro trip video. It’s remarkable to see how that new orange Donek wraps into the second half of a turn; from the apex to the end, it seems to flex deep into the rail but with no sign of folding, obviously damp, steady, and stable. Looks like it allows one to control speed beautifully.
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24 minutes ago, dredman said:
So you have been riding a steep Zinal groomer all morning (the one you see in all of the Swoard videos). You stop and have a great pizza, soda and lots of water, ready to finish the afternoon!
You ride the longest poma lift you have ever been on, it even has a 30 degree turn in it. Take a cat track around the mountain to get back to the same black diamond groomer you have been riding all morning. Only your 10+ friends you have been riding with all morning at the top of the run. Carver B. and Chester F. drop in and get about 1/2 way down, I look around, no one else is dropping in, I get nods and drop in. I am not worried about getting hit from behind at all. Only our group at top of hill, very little traffic on that run all morning, so I am not doing my usual look up hill frequently (it was only our group I saw we I dropped in). Next thing I know Paul K is over the top. of me, I am very broken up feeling and wondering what the heck happened.
I later hear that after I was about 10 turns in, a random skier that lacked skills but had tons of confidence, came past our group and started straight lining down the hill and collided with me.
I had just transition from a toe side turn to a heel side when the collision happened. I shot off to the right side of the run into the un-groomed, and the skier slid to the bottom of the slope. Ski patrol responded to both of us, got us packaged up and separately loaded into two waiting rescue helicopters. I spent the next 24 hours in a Swiss Hospital.
9 broken ribs, multiple fractures of my right scapula and minor head trauma with loss of consciousness for 5-10 minutes. I am a little over 5 weeks from the incident and the ribs have finally quit being horrible, my shoulder is healing nicely and no head issues. It feels like I should have no long term repercussions.
I am very fortunate to have been wearing a high quality helmet, to have been surrounded by such amazing friends and experienced high quality Swiss care.
Check your 6 even when you are 100% confident that no one is a thread behind you.
Very sorry to read this. It’s what we all fear. Glad you’re on the mend and that it wasn’t worse.
Tell us — which helmet?
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6 hours ago, b0ardski said:
Thanks Dave for the no passing rule at MCC! It truly is an amazing comfort to be able to "let it flow" w/out ever having to take focus away from my turns to look for OBLIVIOTS!! my new favorite word
(Rewriting a post I that I somehow adeptly deleted)….
I plan to attend MCC next season if for no reason other than to enjoy carving absent constant worry of being hit from uphill. Many other reasons to go, of course, but carving in a no pass environment is a big deal for me.
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6 hours ago, b0ardski said:2 hours ago, barryj said:
Well after being on and off the AIL list for the last 2 years from a drunk skier taking me out and 2 surgeries later my solution is to go when it's less likely to be busy.
I go out in the middle of the storm for the pow but also because hardly anybody else is crazy enough to be out driving in the storm much less on the mtn. in it!
So night skiing is my haven this season......... last night I might have seen 5 people total on the lift and less on the runs....All Night!
I never checked my 6 once!!
It was marvelous!!
I usually ride 9 - 11 for this precise reason; fewer people, better odds of not getting hit. This time of year, with firmer morning snow and fewer people, is particularly good.
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For me, a wider stance feels like a more stable and controlled means of bending the board; a wider stance, with deeper knee bend, affords more fore / aft leverage from the (hard) boot over the board, and more stance stability to drive turns and angulate more aggressively.
For me, a relatively narrow stance — while it places more weight closer to the board’s center — stands me up too tall, compromising the body mechanics that allow me to exert leverage over the board. And so, for me, narrower stances make boards feel stiffer.
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Getting to know a Free Carve I recently picked up.
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2 hours ago, Jonny said:
Head on a swivel ALL the time. Ride early in the morning or late in the day. Ride steeper terrain - no one straightlines serious pitch. Never be going across the hill below a knoll or drop off - you're invisible. Ride REALLY aggressively rather than defensively - big deep carves at the highest speeds you're comfortable with - my experience (I'm kind of large) has been that people stay away for the most part. Riding in a nice, contained, predictable rhythm really should work but doesn't - there's always some fool trying to fit where there's no room. Random aggression and a sense of ownership works better in my experience
That’s been my strategy. I’m of course eyes out and very careful, but once underway it’s fast, large radius, deep carves wherein the inertia of my 6’3” 225 lb frame has always prevailed against wrongful intruders from uphill. Rules are rules, and physics are physics.
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Honestly, I rarely see instructors who can even carve, let alone carve well enough to teach it or understand the basics of carving body mechanics.
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1 hour ago, slopestar said:
Why not dedicate a no passing run like our friends at Turner (during Montucky event).
A no passing dedicated carving run is an idea I’ve had.
I’ve also recently seen pictures of huge orange signs at ski areas that say “no straight lining.” It’s now become a broader problem that carvers have been acutely aware of for some time. I think a general crack down is good.
It’s so bad where I ride, with both congestion and out of control beginners, that it often takes minutes of waiting for traffic gaps.
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3 hours ago, softbootsurfer said:
Thought I would share...
the Union "Force" binding with a Bolted High back and an added Leather top strap...
How does it perform on heel turns? Improved leverage toward the heel edge?
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I was hit from behind by a straight liner just after the apex of my 3rd heel turn of the season. What a start. The collision ejected the guilty party off the run and into shallow snow, dirt and rocks. They broke some of their equipment but no bones. It was a situation entirely of their own making.
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1 hour ago, Deuxdiesel said:
The equipment today, both hard and soft, is utterly amazing. I rode my Volkl 168 GS yesterday for the first time in 8 years (maybe more) and was stunned at how "meh" is was. We are living in great snowboard times now.
I had the same quality of equipment revelation a few weeks ago on my Gen two Furberg.
It came after bombing out of a long steep section of powder bumps and trees - where it's so floaty and utterly effortless to maneuver - and exiting at speed onto a groomer and a fast, long radius heel rail linking to tired-legged 30 or 40 mph run-wide rails down to the lift.
Everything is so dialed that I just forget the equipment is even there.
I remarked to my riding partner at the bottom of the brilliance of a board could be so maneuverable off-piste and also so hyper stable at speed on rail (thanks 18m radius sidecut), and I remarked about how well sorted was my boot and binding interface - minimalist, functional, strong, light, comfortable.
We've been riding together since the mid-1980s; it was a fun moment to reflect on the chair about how far things had come. With half-century in the rearview, we high-five after each day shredding that we're still able to get after it so hard.
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My sense is that it was a broader shift, of which Burton was part.
I always felt like X-Games was the catalyst — it kicked alpine to the curb, but, more importantly, brought massive infusions of corporate cash that focused snowboarding and snowboard designs around glorified gymnastics (freestyle) and the throngs of beginners who naturally followed.
I believe the first Winter X-Games was broadcast on ABC in 1997.
X-Games defined the sport for the masses who were then, for two decades, sold cargo ships worth of crappy Chinese twin tips that, aside from graphics, were indistinguishable from one another and worthless for railing turns or riding powder without the abhorrent and still common rear-leg bias.
It was IMHO the dark age for snowboarding, at least in the US, that we’ve only recently begun to emerge from.
(This is to be read this in a breathy old man voice punctuated by occasional mucus retching.)
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Should we all just start straight lining? Is getting smoked by the general public from behind the new norm?
in Carving Central
Posted · Edited by TWM
A novice, out of control straight-lining skier came within inches of hitting me from behind today. We were a fraction of a second from total mayhem.
Also, I ordered a new carving jacket today.