[Deelux Indy 27.5 hardboots-SOLD]

Bump- 

[Any Nastar racers here?]

I used to race and pace set NASTAR back in the day, and the best tip I can suggest for running a skier's course is to enter and complete the turn early, as most rec skiers tend to complete their turns late, causing ruts in the belly of the line that are tough for a boarder to get out of.  On skis I could always "step up" the fall line if I got trapped in the rut, but no such luck on a board. The downside of a high, early line as others have said is that you make contact with the gates more often.  I can hurt and it does slow you down.  Triangle panel gates make a big difference, but not all areas use them.  

[Alloy D.O. 165]

I am impatiently waiting to get ahold of the 161 to try it.  Hopefully soon.  As far as soft boots and binding angles go, I have big feet for a little feller (size 11+ and I am just under 5'10") so this has alway been an issue.  A homemade third strap around the cuff like Burton used to offer on their Custom's years ago does help.  There seems to be more burly soft boots coming out, like Thirty-Two's Jeremy Jones model plus others, but those are shockingly expensive.  To piggyback on scottishsurfer's idea, I have used slices of 5 gallon pails as support between the liners and shells of soft boots.  A heat gun with help with adjusting the amount it wraps around to your preference.  

[Is it too late to learn? Should I start with softboots?]

I spent more than a decade teaching skiers how to snowboard in their ski boots on moderate angle boards (22-24ish waists, so 45 degree bindings).  Some picked it up quite well, but most had a much longer learning curve  due to the lack of ability to skid turns with any fluidity.  Obviously skidding turns is not the ultimate goal on an alpine board, but it is an invaluable skill.  I'm not sure what the modern school of thought is, but taking a few lessons or spending a few days on an all-mountain direction board with moderate angles (30-35?) might be worth it.  Boards like this can be picked up used cheaply, whereas hardboot stuff not so much.  I'm in my mid-50's now, and 4 decades of alpine skiing, hard boot snowboarding, telemark skiing and even tele-boarding has me in a place where a soft boot style carving board is my go to ride.  Too bad most of them are so expensive.  

[music]

Lara Hope and the Ark-Tones.  Rockabilly with some classic Patsy Cline/June Carter influences.  Saw them open for Brian Setzer a few weeks before the holidays.  Fantastic stuff.

[Burton plate bindings- SOLD]

Bindings are sold.

[AT ski boots for plates?]

My first pair of non-Alpine hard boots were Koflach's that had seen one trip up Mt. Blanc.  I was always jealous of the neon Koflach's Damien Sanders rode (and jealous of his wife also).  Funny post about the Nordica SHB's- they sent me 2 pair of those and 3 pair of the SBS's to play with back in the day.  The SBS's in a plate binding were an experience to say the least.  Thanks for all the info on AT boots y'all- I may head that direction.

[AT ski boots for plates?]

Howdy all- I was wondering if this was a possibility?  I rode race boards and plates with ski boots starting in the late 80's (Burton Safari 185 with Lange ski boots) all the way up through the early 2000's with Bomber TD1's and Raichle/DeeLux on Volkl boards and everything in between.  These days it's either softies on BX/AM boards or tele-skiing, with a bit of traditional alpine thrown in.  None of my old boots fit anymore (amazed at what I used to do to my feet for "performance", and am paying for it now) but I wouldn't mind getting back on a race board now and then.  Alpine boots always slipped a little between the bails, so I am interested to see if AT boots are any better.  Any experience with this would be appreciated.  I will not buy hard boots for a few times per year, but I could use the AT boots for some two-planking.  

[Deelux Indy 27.5 hardboots-SOLD]

Sold!

[Raichle 125 hardboots 27.5 SOLD]

SOLD. 

[Burton plate bindings- SOLD]

I have a set of grey Burton Carrier plates and a set of Burton Race plates for sale.  The Carriers are basic plates with single lever adjustments for the heel and toe blocks and they have the 3 hole discs- $25 plus shipping.  The Race plates have both the purple and grey dampening rings and come with 4 hole discs- $60 plus shipping.  PM with cell # and I can send pics.