Eboot

It was one of those WTF moments when, committed to a tight turn on a narrow section, I realize I am going to run out of real estate and can’t unhook. Survivor brain takes over and the next thing I go over the handle bars and bounce hard, landing face up in a pile of snow off the edge of the trail. After lying there for a few seconds, making sure that all the critical bits are still attached / working I hear from the lift overhead; wow, I give you a 9.5 for that. I raised my hand and waved, gently.

Mixed messages today: she: that was beautiful, thank you Sitting next to he on the lift: I was watching a carver under the lifts during the week, he was getting soooo low! I don’t think it was you! ( that darn @GeoffV )

I am so much stronger in these conditions that it raises a question for me: Am I more confident knowing that the edge will hold (yes) is the speed in these conditions naturally slower on the same terrain (probably yes) Maybe a combination of both, still exploring

Finding a place to try this for the first time / practice that is not "in the eyes" is going to be interesting. I considered it whilst I had a quick hour this am but the spot was right in front of the lift line. It seems that being scared of losing an edge induces the same commitment inertia as making a fool of oneself.

Looking forward to meeting some carvers

Yes

@Beckmann AG has convinced me that there is value in sharing the 3 videos that @GeoffV took when we rode together. Finally managed to put them up on youtube, listed below for your critical review (not sure why only 1 video is embedded as a video): https://youtu.be/zw63MLnC5WY https://youtu.be/6F8g-0w48lU https://youtu.be/PYC361ymn4o

Responding from the perspective of facing my own speed fear demons at the moment. Knowing your terrain in advance removes some of the fear. Making a few faster runs on the known terrain to let your body learn that actual speed is not the enemy, this without trying to carve, just manage speed. Once these 2 factors are covered, focusing your carving on linking just a few turns before deliberately stopping and starting again. Repeat the carving efforts on the same spots until you feel comfortable adding some more linked turns before continuing. Each of the above slowly removes one of the multiple variables one faces pushing a fear barrier. The mind is a strange animal and the fear of not being in control is real, carving without shaving off speed means that one is constantly accelerating, resulting in the fear becoming a necessary feedback loop. Just my 2 cents.

Ski board? That’s what somebody said I was on last night.

Progress report: like a piece of rotten wood, discovered by scraping away flaking paint, unrecognized bad habits can be exposed by observing a small issue. @GeoffVwas able to show me that the perception of how low I was and angulation was far from the reality of the same. For the first time I was able to watch some videos of my riding and it was painful. issues; - apart form the front load and lower body requirement that Geoff pointed out for me it’s become clear that as soon as I start accelerating I abandon any technique to manage that which leads to a fear of loss of control and more speed, a self fulfilling cycle - I seldom, if ever cross back up the mountain to shed speed, exacerbating the acceleration curve. Just riding the same trail over and over tonight, that started gently and then dropped into a long, steeper section, I was able to concentrate on committing to early front loading and lower body position, aiming to get my knees, butt as close to the snow as possible, while trying to keep my upper body more vertical. I have made real progress and, although it all still runs away from me by the end, the upper section of the (gentle) steeps has become more controlled and speed contained. once I feel that I am able to complete the entire trail top to bottom with control, I will explore some possible changes to binding positioning, before moving onto the next more challenging trail. Thank you all, especially Geoff, for your input. Owning the fear and acknowledging that I still have much to learn has been hard, but necessary. Who knows, with more practice I may even regain my cool walk!

I believe that BSP is in Europe at the moment, not sure that are getting these

Spent some hours with @GeoffVthis morning. He affirmed a lot of what has been said above: board angle not steep enough weight not front loaded enough at turn inception hips not low enough I think that the biggest lessons are that I am not nearly as low in the turns as I think i am and that my weight is not forward enough, initiating the turn. This exposes an old bad habit of mine where, as I speed up, I stop carving across the slope and instead accelerate down the slope. As soon as the speed picks up and it’s not hero conditions I start washing out of the back side. Working with Geoff this became very obvious and after a while I felt like a beginner again. Thanx for all the help and time Geoff. More to come as I work with all of this.

She: hey we were watching you carving from the lift - you really rock! me: (beaming) thank you! she: (frowning) no not you, him, pointing to @GeoffV

I am transitioning my 12 year old daughter to hard boots. She was in a lesson yesterday with forward stance on her soft board and boots and the instructor immediately wanted that to be changed to duck.

Thank you all for your responses. Much to work with in the next week. I don’t expect icy conditions to improve here much so I should be able to provide some feedback soon.

Thank you PM sent

Thanx Geoff - pm’d you

In better conditions I generally don’t have an issue holding a hard, or gentle, backside edge. Today there was a thin layer of “powder” over ice on several sections of the slope and, despite concentrating, found my backside edge losing hold and slipping on my turns. I guess it takes difficult conditions to highlight weaknesses some times. I was riding a 160 Angrry with good edges, 65/59 ish angles. Working on this issue I found that only by aggressively weighting the nose at the start of the turn and then staying low through the turn while trying to get my butt as close to the snow as possible did the edge hold improve through the turn. This requires a commitment that can feel daunting to me, knowing that there is ice below the board. ‘I have searched through the forum for advice on ice carving technique but did not find anything that talks to my problem specifically. I do remember reading an article by @Beckmann AGthat mentioned this. Is there some general wisdom / advice about carving technique for riding icy conditions in NE, especially wrt. backside?

We are starting to explore some options. Open to feedback about resorts and possible rental recommendations / opportunities. resort requirements: Don’t want to travel much more than 2 hours from Harvard MA (about 2.5 hours from Boston) carving friendly family friendly easy walk to nearest lift rental requirements: 2+ bedrooms, 2+ baths fireplace If there were still some interesting options for 20-21 season, may consider those as well

Just got back, this morning was great again Met @bc1 for the first time and bumped into @bsp again, 3 carvers together, a first in the USA for me!

Have just seen this post. I have been out a couple of times, was out yesterday and it was awesome. Blue helmet - yes, black jacket, lime UPZs. Met and rode with BSP yesterday May try and make first lift tomorrow before the rains come.

Rumor has it that there is more than 1000 in a case of treehouse - sounds like a deal to me

Some great books referenced above! Over the last years I have been reading mostly science fiction and fantasy, craving escapism more than intellectual input. Patrick Rothfuss: The Name of the Wind is a relatively unknown fantasy book and author of note. Beware the 3rd book in the trilogy has still not been released, many years after it was expected Vernor Vinge is an excellent SF author. A fire upon the deep is a good start. Roald Dahl, better known for children’s books, also has a very quirky set of adult short stories, each with a unique dark twist and great reading.

I cleared this topic with Jack before posting. Over the last months my company has developed an online app that allows a user to order a shipping label and or a pickup for Fedex or UPS. No need to have to leave home and stand in a line at the store for this. The app is not yet in its final state but to catch the season and to start marketing we launched a beta version on Friday. Over the next few weeks we will update this to a final first release form. In a near future release we will be enabling the ability to add a promo code which, in the case of Alpine Snow Boarder, could result in a commission to the forum for each order completed, another revenue stream for the forum. If you decide to try the app any user feedback will be greatly appreciated. Note: - shipping is currently limited to the USA due to payment provider constraints, cross US - Canada border shipping currently being explored. https://www.sendium.com

Went to Wachusett today (Sunday) for the first time this season. Admittedly we received a good amount of snow yesterday so I suppose I should not have been surprised, but I was really disappointed and disillusioned. There was a crowd, lots of youngsters not wearing masks in lines, line compressed not spaced, singles line permitted, almost no visible attempt to manage the risk of being in the mountain. It felt like there was no crisis at all. Earlier I had heard of the mountain’s approach to making being there safe but I saw little of that in reality. I am not sure that I want to repeat that and am going to have to assess when the mountain feels like it is safe to be on it. Hoping that my season’s expectations are not going to be for nought! Wondering if this is something mountain management can actually control or if this laissez faire attitude ultimately results in the mountain having to close doors to protect customers.