Jarcode
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Posts posted by Jarcode
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I'm heading up to Cypress again this Sunday. I still have not ran into a single hardbooter this entire season (but tales of Boris certainly circulate around...)
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Cypress today. The (wet) snowfall over the weekend made for some pretty good carving conditions since the temperature dropped a bit. Other folks were complaining about "icy" conditions but that Prior I bought cut through it like butter. Since the snow held up throughout the day, I went until I was exhausted... 9AM to 7PM, riding pretty aggressively too.
My legs hurt now. -
I'm going to up on Monday. Looking at the weather, the snow over this weekend should help with the otherwise terrible freeze/thaw conditions.
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10 hours ago, BlueB said:
I was on a regular freeride board, with hardboots. Makes the life a lot easier in variable conditions. I actually like riding the moguls, a lot.
I would have been doing this myself if it weren't for wanting to try out a brand new board, although I think just finding a shitty pair of softboots would honestly be better. The only hardboots I have are the Track 700s, which I love for their stiffness, but I just don't need that much leverage in slush.
Maybe if we're lucky we'll get another one of those arctic outflows... made for some incredible carving conditions and actually reduced the amount of people on the mountain. I guess most Vancouverites can't handle real cold! -
@BlueB I could have sworn I saw you on a chair with an alpine board hanging down. I was riding raven's most of the time with another instructor that rode up with me.
Long term forecast is looking better two weeks from now. I highly doubt conditions will improve by next weekend. I can tolerate ice, but skipping on top of waves of accumulated slush just isn't for me... -
We called it early today since a chair went down and the conditions were just generally sloppy and crowded. Only a couple sections of the mountain could be carved well on, everything else was just surfing on chopped-up slush.
Although, the sections I could carve on were nice, especially the area leading up to the bottom of Ravens chair. The WCRM clearly can handle my weight and riding, completely eliminating my issues with over-compressing my previous board. There's some pop to it coming out of turns, too. I think this is going to be my go-to board for most carvable conditions, the Coiler AMT I was riding before honestly feels like a noodle compared to it...
I'm going to wait out until colder weather comes in, though. I was riding with a single long-sleeve shirt on and still sweating. -
Will be heading up tomorrow all day. @BlueB if you're up, look for a 6'3" guy wearing all yellow. I'll have my new Prior WCRM 177 with me.
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8 hours ago, Neil Gendzwill said:
I also have an AMT with the XT sidecut. If memory serves it's something like 9-11-10? At any rate, yes if you get it going really fast you want a more stable board. I have a Nirvana with 12-14 sidecut that I like for going fast. Or at least, fast for me. But these days I find myself liking the AMT more, at least for what I like to do. It's more versatile and it cooks along plenty fast.
Part of the problem is that I'm chasing the feeling I had when the technique finally "clicked" for me when I was learning on the GS board. You're right about the AMT's versatility though, in fact I'm probably going to continue to rely upon it with softer bindings when riding with other softbooters who want to occasionally go off-piste. No harm in bringing two boards to the mountain to get the best of both worlds. -
17 hours ago, 1xsculler said:
I have a friend who weighs about what you do and he rocks his 165 Coiler, SL, which was built for a 150 # rider, in a wide variety of conditions.
I'm not sure what the actual sidecut is on my 165, but it's marked "XT" to distinguish it from the usual AM VSR radii. I'm also 6'3", my weight is rather distributed now... if I hadn't made an effort to get in shape before the season I would have been ~210lbs.
The 165 does make excellent, clean turns below a certain speed. It also does off-piste stuff respectably, and its tail flex makes me particularly comfortable with landing small jumps. But once I am getting it on edge at speed, I do not have nearly enough stability. I found myself longing for my GS board, especially for the first few runs of the day, despite how unforgiving that monster is. Hopefully this new Prior replaces that urge. -
Brand new 2021/22 Prior WCRM 177cm. This board is incredibly thin! With this I'm retiring the '98 Coiler Pure Race. It's a brick compared to any modern board.
With the other boards:
Been riding the 165cm Coiler (VSR AM "extra tight" sidecut) all season, I'm pretty sure I'm over the weight range for this board at 190lbs. It's still fun and extremely maneuverable, but it struggles at higher speeds. Putting a backpack on was enough to completely throw my carving off. Very good for ripping through crowded cat tracks, though!
Still pretty new to alpine. Looking back, starting off with the GS board was a very bad idea... -
Glad I purchased this! Pierre was really helpful through the whole transaction, and followed up through some absurd delays through Canada Post. I can highly recommend buying from him.
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I'll be up next weekend. I'm hoping Canada Post didn't lose my snowboard in the mail and will have it to me by then.
Decided to skip this weekend since I figured conditions would be too wet, although I'm regretting it... -
18 hours ago, BlueB said:
The trick is to have the boots that are flexy enough in forward direction, even if you had to ride them unlocked, and bindings that have lots or lateral flex. I find the F2 Carve RS and old Burtons the best.
Inward canting is ok if you ride very low angles. Flat is ok too. For more forward, I'd still use classic fwd toe, rear heel, lifts and maybe some inward canting rear, if the angle is below 30°.
I set my rear boot to have some overhang and front some underhang. On my 3800 I have the Burton Carriers at about +27/+3, or so. Sometimes I ride duck, too.
Hmm. I was planning to throw some old Burton race plates on it, haven't actually tried them yet but they look like they have a lot of play. Never liked riding with boot lean unlocked though, feels like I'm tossing the responsiveness of hardboots out the window.
I have those weird cant/wedge plates that are inclined along the board itself, rather than the binding, so I think I'll just try one of those on the rear foot with a wide forward stance. My goal is to comfortably manage riding trees without having to take off the hardboots, and just swapping between two boards for the day... -
I was up at Cypress on Sunday. Made sure I was first in line for the groomed runs... with the warmer conditions, the snow held so firmly that it actually threw me off.
The mountain filled up pretty fast though. I'm thinking about putting plates on my freestyle board again so I can ride better off-piste with other softbooters, and just bringing up two boards. Might play with canting disks on that too... @BlueB you wouldn't happen to have any experience with hardbooting on freestyle boards, would you?
Still waiting on my new board from Canada Post. I'm realizing more and more the 165cm coiler only really shines for when I need to maneuver around crowded slopes. It's so awkward at higher speeds, and I can't throw my weight into it without risking washing out. Did that on a toe-side carve on ice at a pretty high speed and ended up slamming my jaw on the way down... biting my tongue. Ugh.
Seems like the warmer weather and rain is back, so I might skip out next weekend. -
Will be up at Cypress on Sunday. I'm hoping to have the 177cm WCRM I bought shipped before then, but it probably fell into some black hole in the sorting facility here.
Still trying to resist the urge to pull the old GS board off my wall. Bruce told me I was insane to ride it... -
6 hours ago, barryj said:
Ouch! To produce that much of a gash must of been quite a jolt! Glad you didn't report any broken bones and hope you don't have any bruises to match!
Yeah, what BB says is what I'd do......or a shop could do it for $100
Believe it or not, I actually held my edge and just continued through the turn. The board soaked up most of the impact, and when I looked uphill I just saw the other guy doing a cartwheel.
Perhaps it's some hidden feature of Coilers... impact dampening?
I'll probably attempt a repair myself later. I have a new board coming in this Friday anyways, wanted something better suited to my weight and closer to a GS board. -
@TimW Yeah, the core isn't exposed, but there's a very thin layer of black material exposed from under the topsheet. I figure leaving that exposed is a problem, not sure if moisture can seep through that...
It's a shame since I got this board out from storage in near-pristine condition, and I plan to keep this as my stick for crowded runs and off-piste use. Oh well, at least it was cheap. -
Thanks to an out-of-control snowboarder who snow plowed right into my board while I was doing a heel side turn, I have a fairly concerning gash in the sidewall of my 165cm Coiler AM VSR. I'm wondering if/how I should repair this (epoxy?)
It seems like all the materials are nicely adhered together still, Bruce clearly made these boards to last, I'm just concerned about moisture getting in since a substantial portion of the topsheet got chipped off.
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I might be interested. What is the waist of that board?
I'll offer 600 CAD plus shipping. -
Friday was great. Clear skies all day, only moderately cold, and very firm and fast snow. Went from opening to 7:30, and my legs weren't even cramping at the end.
I'm tempted to bring up my ancient GS board for the first few runs, as I have some spare burton race plates and canting disks. The groomers were so fast that I think I was pushing the 165cm all-mountain board to its limits (apparently "XT" on the sidewall means "extra tight sidecut"). Although, it could just be my technique too... I'm finding positioning my weight over this shorter board is more of a delicate balance.
One of my goals next season will probably be finding some metal board in between the two. Maybe @BlueB can help with pointing me in the right direction.
I'll probably be up on the 8th or 9th again. -
Will be up at Cypress again today, wearing all yellow, riding plates all day. The weather looks very nice...
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5 hours ago, charliechocolate said:
Do you wear Deeluxe Track 700s? I might have seen you around.
Yes I do! Was wearing all yellow yesterday.
2 hours ago, BlueB said:Hey, are you on our staff?
Nope! I just know some. Apparently you're the designated hardboot "guru" around here.
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Was up at Cypress on Sunday, and the mountain had nearly nobody there! I'm guessing the roads or the cold scared everyone off. The main parking lot wasn't even filled. The snow was incredible for carving, and it was clear most of the day. Got pretty cold as I pushed into the night.
Board: 165cm Coiler AM VSR. Some minor changes in my rear foot canting made a massive difference in my carving, and relieved me of leg strain while still letting me get pretty low. Spent most of the day riding with other staff off their shifts.
Still haven't ran into @BlueB yet... or any other hardbooter. I'll likely be up again next weekend. -
I may be interested in the DONEK 176 FC II without the bindings. I can also make shipping a little easier if you just ship it to Sumas, so the package doesn't have to cross the border.
Vancouver Carvers' Diaries, 2021/22
in Canada - British Columbia
Posted
The snow was incredible this morning at Cypress. Got rather soft later in the day, but was still carvable with some effort, and not too many people. Ran into @Cousin of Beagle (I think), who promptly called me "jarhead", heh.
I tried to ride my Coiler AMT again with Burton race plates, and only managed to do two runs with it before giving up and going back to the Prior. I do not understand how anyone rides with those bindings, they have far too much flex for my comfort. I don't even know if I'll end up keeping the Coiler either... feels like a noodle. It may end up in the for sale section soon, along with my old Pure Race.
On the other hand, god is the 177cm WCRM amazing for aggressive, high speed turns. The 13m sidecut is perfect, it's remarkably stiff, and eats through ice like its nothing. I think I'm in love with this board!