Cthulhufish

I wasn't terribly impressed with POWERRIDES at first. Then I tried combining them with Strapins, and I think the two together are better than the sum of the parts. Having the straps at the top and bottom of the boot upper seems to help anchor the POWERRIDE to the boot, creating more support. Boots with all the necessary support built in would be ideal of course, but I suppose an upside of using POWERRIDES and Strapins is that you can put them on to carve or leave them off for a less aggressive ride.

I'm lapping Village Express at Snowmass if anyone is around. Might stop for crepes soon. Still haven't been able to join the WhatsApp group. Have people been able to get into town alright with the weather?

Never mind, CAIC is predicting a few more inches of accumulation this morning. I'll be taking my powder board to Ajax today.

Parking allowing, I'll be heading to West Buttermilk to test run my new ZipFits.

Will anyone else be out riding tomorrow?

Good news everyone: Snow! We needed it.

Not that I think the industry will do it, but I think the best path forward is snowboard specific AT boots and plate bindings. Technically hardboots, but they're comfy, flexy hardboots. Ankle pivot, tunable spring system for shock absorption, solid steel bails for edge response, no more relying on leather or a synthetic equivalent to flex in just the right way after it's broken in a little but before it breaks in too much.

I would have loved to have found a decent let alone good video on hardboot carving when I started a few years ago. I think these things are cyclical. There is little easily accessible information on alpine boarding, so it's hard to get into alpine boarding, so there's little interest in content about alpine boarding.

I got a 4 pack of strapins and have been using them on and off for the past few weeks. My overall impression is that if you need them, you've got a boot problem. But if you've got a boot problem, they can definitely help. They can help cinch in a loose boot/worn out liner or give a little extra support to boots that are softer than you need. Not a bad thing to have around for when one pair of boots is wearing out and you haven't found a replacement set yet.

As the title says, I'm looking for softboot carving bindings that fit small boots (24MP). I keep picking bindings then finding out they don't make them small enough... I have a pair of Burton X Bases which I'm considering replacing. Thus far, the top end stiffest bindings I've found which can fit my boots are the Union Atlas FC, Ride A10, Flux XV, and Flow NX2-Carbon Fusion. Anything I'm missing? What do people like/recommend?

Caveat: I'm still getting used to my Flux. I've only had it for a week, and it's my first (soft boot) true carving board. I typically ride 152-154 all mountain and free ride boards. I went with a 152 Flux w/ 8.5-10m sidecut. I'd say the length feels right to me - for a dedicated carving board. I've taken it through moguls and it rides waaay too big for that to be any fun. It has an enormous effective edge for its length. It's my first variable sidecut board, and the 1.5m difference feels subtle to me. It's there when I deliberately lean back, but unobtrusive. I haven't worked up to carving steep groomers on it yet, but 8.5-10m feels like it would be way too tight for that. As for the core, I've never ridden a titanal board so I can't give a comparison there, but it's a lovely smooth ride compared to off the shelf boards. Kinda wishing all my boards had cores like that.

It's like thinking a cold spring day is proof summer will never arrive.

Every year won't be hotter than the last, but the average temperature is going up and up and up, and will continue to do so for a long time even if we manage to hit net zero greenhouse gas emissions. Scientists have been warning about that for decades.

First day on my new Donek Flux. 152cm x 25cm, 8.5-10m radius. Camera doesn't do the bright yellow justice. I wonder if anyone can do fluorescent dye for their top sheets... Cat tax:

Both can do anything the rider is capable of... which the board is also capable of... and limited by how hard the board makes it against how good the rider is at it.

It is fluorine free, but rotobrushing kicks up a lot of fine dust, and it's not a good idea to be inhaling a cloud of fine dust of anything.

My vote is for "suffer through hot waxing with CH4/Polar or CH5/PS5". They are awful to work with, but they get impressive results on cold, fresh snow. Rotobrushes recommended. And a respirator.

Atomic Backland Pros w/ Phantom Link Levers. I leave them buckled.

I haven't gone so far as an electric sharpener yet, but I just tried out a Race Wax snowboard roto brush set for the first time and WOW that was violent. But also the base is cleaner than I've ever gotten it on muscle power alone in a fraction of the time. Haven't thrown it at CH4/Pro Polar yet, but I'm optimistic. Also, I seem to be in need of a nice corded electric drill. The cheap off-brand one I dug out of the garage appears to have a slightly off-center chuck, and the recommended 2,500RPM for horsehair and nylon brushes was enough to vibrate some stuff off my solid wood work bench. Yikes.

As an alternative to Ruroc, I know a handful of people who swear by CP helmets now. Similar integrated visor deal, though the visors can be swapped. I've yet to try either, but what I've been told is that the CP visors seal better against the helmet, so no snow gets through. And supposedly they are glasses friendly. Again, no personal experience, just what I've been told by people who like them. Personally I just bring my goggles to a ski shop and look for something that fits, has a bright color, and has all the bells and whistles (MIPS, light weight, and a lot of adjustable vents being the main ones, but also I love Fidlock buckles).

Solid black base is best base. Here's a bit of a crazy thought: What do people think about the idea of titanal or similar damping construction for an all-terrain steeps/moguls oriented board? Extra chatter reduction sounds great, and some extra shock absorption would help with riding over bumps.

It would be nice if we could put together some sort of reference for the various board makers' various options. It can be hard to find comparisons, and the makers' sites are often sparse on details. If not for this forum I wouldn't even know Winterstick makes dedicated carving boards.

Not tuning friendly Serrated edges of course make it hard to sharpen the low points. They help with grip, but so does keeping your edges sharp. I also suspect they make edge engagement subtly less predictable but am still playing around with boards to figure that one out. 3D noses do help smooth out edge transitions. I quite like them, except that they make waxing and scraping annoying, and they make maintaining the base edge very frustrating as a base grind will not expose more edge around the contact points. Base grinding machines are made for flat boards. As someone who is finicky about my base and edges, I don't consider either a deal breaker, but close. It's the main thing keeping me from buying another Flagship at the moment despite loving how they ride. I can see why those features are on an ever increasing number of boards though. Most snowboarders don't tune their boards and don't get them shop tuned that often either.

Definitely give putting on the liner first then the boot a try.

Aren't Union bindings on the heavy side in general? I do like the newest Force for its smoothness, though I don't consider it responsive enough to be called a good binding for carving.