knightscape

The PDF above is indeed what I was referring to. I'm still looking forward to playing with dialing in a new stance, it's my boots that are necessitating the change. This weekend had too many moving parts so I spent sunday on my skis again. I used to ride at 65° flat front and 60° very slightly inward on rear with max heel height on a Burton uni cant. The TD3's having the toe lift up front is really interesting to me and I can't wait to actually give it a go. On the board I'm setting up now it looks like I can dial it back to more like 60° and 55°. I also have to carefully listen to my knees these days, so it'll be a process for sure.

Well I got out on my Ultra Prime a couple weeks ago and quickly found that my stance was not happy with my new AT boots on the Burton plates, it felt ok carpetboarding in the livingroom but wasn't working on the hill, rear knee was just not in the right place. Got in a few runs and went back to my skis since I'd forgotten my tools like a chump. Did some reading on the modern stances with outward rear cant, I've always ridden with my knees tucked fairly close but I think it's time to start changing that. Seems like teh differnece in surfing stances between drop knee and big wave riding. Set up some TD3 Sidewinders I bought from OddJob on my Alp and I'll be giving that a go this weekend and I'll have my tools this time for tweaking. I am definitely on the prowl for some board specific boots now though, I'm pretty sure even when I get the stance right the flex in these boots isn't going to be what I need, my old ski boots were very different with a dialable forward lean and different flex. I always liked being a 1 boot guy, but I think those days are done.

Haha, I know the carver's almanac, I was on there back when the information was fresh and it's how I stumbled back here the other day I was looking up info on Bomber and Catek to see if I could find old stuff for sale on ebay. Here's my Catek sticker from 1999, I was hoping the bindings lasted as well as the sticker. Came from a board shop in Tupper Lake, NY that sold F2s. I think he closed when the local hill Big Tupper closed.

When you say new bails, you mean NOS Burtons or are the Carve Company or F2 bails compatible with the old Burtons? I went though a few years ago, always the rear. I've been getting nervous for the ones I've had on so long, having a spare would be great.

Hi OddJob, if these are still available, I'm interested in one set.

This is all great feedback, thanks for the welcome! If dedicated boots make your hair grow back in, sign me up! I've also been looking for a skull cap for under my helmet, gets a little frosty up there these days, haha! I think I'm going pull out my old Ultra Prime this weekend while my kids are in ski school, and try out my touring boots on them to see how that goes. I'm definitely going to move towards some TD3's, I think my knees like the idea of the sidewinders with the damped lateral flex. Being the only plates that will mount up on a 3 hole makes that research easy I guess so I can just pick up a 4x4 disk separate for when the time comes for a new board. I'm definitely interested in the idea of the stepins. It looks that most of the heels are convertable to step ins these days? Any recommendations for a boot for a non race oriented, all mountain rider? I do like to head off into the trees when it gets deep which is what I originally bought that Alp for. The Deeluxe Ground Controls and 325s both caught my eye as specifically saying they are more recreation/comfort oriented. Seems like the Upz and Mountain Slopes are oriented more for blasting gates? I have two knees that I try to be careful with, it took me a lot of years of glucosamine to put them back together, so some flex is good for me, I've been loving skiing on AT boots since I move over to those last year since they move a little more surfy than traditional alpine boots.

Hey folks, new member, been carving since the 90s, never raced. Never occurred to me to look for an internet community for carving since I thought we had just mostly died out. People in the lift lines always say stuff like "Oh I've seen one of you over at Sugarloaf" (Maine), like I'm some kind of notable weirdo. Blew my mind when I stumbled onto the site here today. Bear with me, this may ramble, I'm super excited to learn you all exist, and I have a lot of catching up to do with the gear. I've been mostly riding the same board since 2000, a Burton Ultra Prime 162 with the same Burton Race Plates I had back then with regular DIN ski boots. I've been riding it fairly conservatively so as not to destroy it and keeping it well tuned. Only ride it on good days, never on anything icy or at all sketchy, that sort of thing. I picked up a stiff soft boot freeride board as my primary for a few years and I'm now actually back on skis primarily to help my kids learn to ski. I get out the carving tools maybe once or twice a winter. Discovering that not only is carving alive and well, but that Bomber is still in business, holy wow. Back in the day I always wanted a set of Trench Diggers but could never afford them and thought they had closed like Catek (did it actually go under and get revived?). On my wall is an old Burton Alp I've ridden three times. It's a 171 and I was never heavy enough to really ride it, that's no longer an issue (lol, kids...) and I was thinking about mounting up a new set of bindings on it to finally bring it out to give it the life it deserved. A few questions: I've never had purpose built carving boots, I was always happy enough with alpine ski boots, should I rethink that now? I know boot tech has changed with the bindings but I still don't really know much about how, if there's a wiki somewhere, I'd love to see it. Modern bindings all seem built around shorter BSLs, my current AT boots are 327mm BSL (28.5 mondo). I haven't actually ridden my new boots on my old boards yet (I've also got an Oxygen Krypton asymmetric with Burton Plates for full 1996 sillies), but the Burton Plates adjusted to take them with room to spare. With that, do I have it wrong about modern bindings or can I keep riding my longer sole alpine ski boots in a new set? I was always the type of rider who liked to change between board to skis in the middle of the day once the corduroy was used up. Of all the new bindings out there, do I still want TDs because I always lusted after them or is there something that would be better suited for a mid 40s guy that still charges but doesn't go quite as hard as he used to but could now choose to afford them? The Burton Plates have always done pretty well by me with the adjustable circle cant disk in rear it looks like the F2's and SGs aren't shockingly different from that old design, minus the reliance on the disk. I'm still amazed you folks all exist. Sorry for the ramble, like I said, I'm just really excited to know you're all out there.