JohnE

We're planning on riding next Wednesday - and most Wednesdays for the rest of the season.

Another perspective: I tried hardbooting for many years and I never got comfortable with it. I have since pursued soft boot carving. My buddy & I have worked on this for several years and have recently made significant improvements in our abilities. We both had custom softboot carving boards made 4 years ago. He recently grabbed his 16+ year old K2 Eldorado board and mounted some stiff modern bindings on it. It is now his favorite carving board. He's a big guy (250#+) but he can leave 4" deep trenches in fairly firm snow. So, I don't think ability to carve is so much about the board. In his case it may be more about the intention to carve, the ability and maybe boots and bindings stiff enough to carve well.

Last Friday was another great day. We have had some of the best 4 days of our snow-sliding careers since the first week of January. Friday seemed about twice as crowded as Wednesday or Thursday but not too bad overall. Riding up Ptarmigan on the first run of the morning, rising above timberline and seeing a perfect corduroy pattern all the way up Firebowl shining in the morning sun. Firebowl, Firecut, Bennet's, Turtle Creek, Deuces, and Roulette all beautifully groomed. We took multiple runs on each of them. The crowds became noticeable around 10:30 so over to #8. Chet's was very nicely groomed with very few people over there. We decided that Scrub and Face are our friends. It is so unpleasant to get back from #8 that many never venture over there. We did 6 - 8 great runs on Chet's and then down Face over to the front side. A couple of more on Firecut and Deuces and my legs were shot about 1 PM so into the lodge for a beer. Another great day. Conversely on Monday & Tuesday I met my college buddies at Vail. They were all on skis and I was on my board. Even on a non-holiday Monday the crowds SUCKED! I was constantly looking behind me fearing a straightliner. Also, they had a groom report that was completely BOGUS. Granted, these runs may have been groomed sometime in history but certainly not since Saturday night at the latest. The snow was mostly man-made and scraped off. If your not going to groom at least don't lie and say that you have. If you ever wonder what conditions the hoards have - don't. THEY SUCK!

I had an interesting experience this past weekend. We went to Loveland on Friday 2/4. They had huge swaths of wonderful groom. I really don't know what depth. I then went to Vail on Monday and Tuesday 2/7 - 2/8. They had a groom report showing a large percentage of their enormous mountain had been groomed. I looked everywhere both days and couldn't find anything that had been groomed for at least 2 days (maybe more). For those not familiar, Loveland is an old, small ski area. Vail is a huge resort. They couldn't be more different. For whatever reason they don't groom, so be it. But at least don't lie to us and say that it had been groomed. Granted that sometime in history those runs had been groomed. "Groomed" to me means that they had run a groomer down it sometime between when the lifts closed yesterday until when they opened this morning. Vail used to be known for their wonderful mid-day groom. I recall dropping onto a big, wide blue run right behind 3 groomers side-by-side around lunch time. Now no groom to be found anywhere. Maybe their $200+ walk-up tickets aren't enough to pay for grooming. What a lie. Thanks Vail.

The top photo looks like Sine and Cosine!

Looks like challenging carving conditions. Maybe better suited to more relaxed skidded turns.

Last I spoke to Sean he was running near capacity. Not sure what his leadtime is.

Bob - I was thinking that you are a Corduroy Connoisseur but it's more than that. You are a Forest Solitude Connoisseur!

Another great day yesterday. 45 minutes from the Dino lot. 9 Degrees in the parking lot. Sunny. No new snow. Very good and wide groom. Very few people. 5 runs on Ptarmigan, 2 on Deuces, and then over to #8. Chet's was well groomed and empty. A stiff wind was blowing directly down the lift on #8 that made it cold above timberline. This cold wind blew most of the other slope sliders back to the other lifts. Great carving on Chet's with. We could take the whole slope knowing that almost nobody else was around. We quit about 2PM and got about 15 runs in. An easy ride back home.

Wow - I recall that Michelle was running a restaurant or coffee shop in Pagosa? Hope she is doing well.

Bob - great to see that you are still carving up West Buttermilk. How many days per week and runs per day do you normally get in? I assume you are there near opening?

Thursday was quite nice. Easy drive up (roads were dry and not much traffic). Sunny day, cool - not cold. No wind. Groom on Firebowl / Turtle Creek was good (but a bit firm for my tastes). We did several on Ptarmigan, one on Deuces and then over to #8. Chet's was well groomed: smooth and wide. Very few others on the slope. It never got warm enough to melt so it should be good for some time. We got in about 15 runs in 4 hours. Easy drive home on dry roads.

Well the video looks pretty slick but I wonder how they will work in widespread practice? Several companies have tried true step-in binding systems before and most have abandoned them.

My buddy & I both ride identical setups: Flow Talon boots with Flow NX2-CX Fusion bindings. He is on his 3rd generation of this setup. I am on my 2nd generation. For a stiff softboot setup I don't think you can do any better. The Talons are very comfortable and the heel hold down is the best ever. They are rated 10/10 on their stiffness scale. I had some initial issues with boot overhang and contacted Flow about this. They responded quickly and with knowledge. The bindings are shipped with the highback attached in the front position. They had me move it to the rear position (about 1/4" to the rear) and this solved the overhang issue. The get in / get out function of the Flows works great - very quick and easy. The bindings are very stiff. I have an older pair of K2 Cinch bindings and the Flows work better. For softboot carving I don't think there is a better boot / binding combo.

Looks like Arne is out for the season after the surgery on his shoulder on 1/14. Heal well and completely!

Sorry to hear that you are done for the season Arne. The pain sounds pretty bad. Watch out for those opioids. Take plenty of laxatives with them.

Thursday was one of the best days on the slopes EVER! About 40 minutes Dino lot to Loveland. Temp on arrival was about 30 degrees. No new snow for a week. Crowds were light at mostly older skiers. They tend to be experienced, aware and unlikely to overtake us. Groom was phenomenal. Each run got better and better as we found how hard we could push it. We got a total of 13 runs in mostly on Firebowl/Turtlecreek, Roulette, Bennets and Deuces. We started at 9AM and my legs gave out a bit after noon. We were pretty much on edge on on the lift. No lift lines and very little time on the side of a run. We had a number of runs where we would catch sight of the slope below us (empty) and a quick glance behind us (also empty) and then took the whole width of the run wall-to-wall. We both agreed that we had never experienced groom that was the perfect balance of grip and durability. My heart rate hit 167 (probably sometime after the apex of a carve). I spoke to a co-worker who skied Winter Park on Wednesday and he agreed that the groom there was perfect as well. Wow!

This is similar to an earlier thread that I posted: Every board will decline in it's performance as it is ridden over time. It starts out with the right (?) amount of camber and stiffness and eventually wears out. It should be a slow decline so we may not notice. A bit like tires on a car. They start out great and wear out slowly so we become accustomed to the slow decline. It isn't until we get new tires that we notice how bad the old ones have become. Is there a similar effect in snowboards? I'm not talking about someone breaking a board or getting a new one because they couldn't resist. How do we know without buying a new version of our old board?

Friday was OK. Snow was probably better on Thursday but not sure if we could get there. As it was we left the Dino lot at 6:40. Traffic moved OK until about 4 miles from the tunnel and then traffic just stopped. Roads were dry. We were stopped for about 1/2 hour. Then traffic started moving. Never found out why. We were on the lift when they opened at 9AM. Groom was pretty good but lots of ridges. Weather was nice. Crowds were light early but then picked up. They opened #4 around 10AM and Scrub was tracked out by about 10:30. I got tired and we quit at noon. We got about 12 runs in. Pretty good day - not great.

Ya - but when you try to ditch him - you can't!

Bob - I recall riding the Buttermilk lift with you several times. But I did get the vibe that you prefer to ride alone. If you enjoy riding alone, you never have to make arrangements with others!

I ride with the same buddy all the time. We are very familiar with how each other rides. In 15 years we have only collided once and it was pretty uneventful. I feel safer with him ahead of me or behind me because it cuts the direction that someone can can collide with either one of us by about half.

What is your ideal number of riding partners?

Thursday 12/30 was my first day up. Not a great day: traffic pretty slow going up, the winds had all lifts closed but Chet's and #2. Not very windy below timberline. Crowds & lift lines. Snow conditions were pretty good but on the soft side. We had a few good carving runs but the hassle/fun factor just wasn't there. If this was a typical day of snowboarding, I wouldn't be a snowboarder.

Up for my first day of the season on 12/29. Not a great day. I'd estimate my score as about 14. Crappy traffic driving up, weather was so-so, crowds were bigger than ideal, conditions were OK, drive home was pretty easy. I should probably modify the scoring scheme. I realize that getting in some really good carving runs can make up for a bunch of other less-than-ideal circumstances. It wasn't a horrible day - just not much fun. Maybe one of the worst days in memory - short of getting injured. I feel that if we don't acknowledge bad and mediocre days, we can't really appreciate great days.