skhil

Sorry, I don't know the story. It happened before I found this community, I don't even know the year. I heard they used very small hexagonal crest on their bolts. It was too easy to break it. Also these bindings (maybe older models) are notorious for ripping the inserts out of the boards. I'm pretty sure these problems were not the things that got them out of the business though.

Just for correctness: CATEK never made specific skwal bindings, but their bindings are small enough to fit the skwal (I seen them on 126mm wide skwal). You can find all info about them here https://www.catek.com/OS2-plate-binding.htm .

F2 bindings has 145mm width, so I won't recommend it for any board that has less than that around inserts. You can also add cateks. They are narrow enough, however they were discontinued ages ago.

@yamifumi, yes, the Skid road. The part with the wooden fence fragments on the left. I managed to get home, now I can concentrate on recovering.

Thank you for the company, @tdifan_2003! I hope to ride with you again next season. And for everybody I missed due to this unfortunate event: see you next time!

Sadly I'm out of commission for the next couple of months. A kid jumped in front of me on a catwalk. I didn't have the time to react and got into the trees back first on the full speed. I didn't break anything important. They discharged me from hospital on the same day. However it is the end of a season for me.

Got both rivets broken in a span of three days. Luckily in both cases I've just found the slipped washer at the end of the day. No carves harmed.

We also have IKON passes, and quite a few Buddy passes to share.

I'm going to be late today, on the mountain by 11. I'm on black oxess skwal. I'll try to find you.

Then I hope Sunday is not the only day you going to ride on the next week.

I plan to go to Loveland on Sunday. But I can get to Copper on this Saturday (23rd). I won't make it by the first chair though.

Hi, I'm going to join you guys on Sunday 24th.

I'm going to ride at Copper (and Loveland on Sunday 24th) on the last week of March. I know there are quite a few carvers in the area. Hope to see you all!

While I won't deny the things mentioned in this article are important it somehow neglects the problem stated in the topic. At some point speed control becomes necessary to carve. There are two ways allowing you to reduce your speed while carving. The first one is obvious: make sharper turns with the part along the fall line as short as possible. I'm pretty sure everybody does that without even thinking. The second one is to finish every turn with a little uphill climb. It's not hard to do if the slope is wide enough. Although it's not as intuitive as the first one but it's a really effective way to shave off the speed.

@RJ_ I'm going to Belleayre this weekend (both Saturday and Sunday). I'm not a coach but I do ride skwal and have some experience. You're welcome to join me on the slope. PM me if you're interested.

I think most skwallers around here are converted snowboarders, so we use snowboard carving technique. That implies wider stances and snowboard boots since the ski boots limit available stance widths dramatically. Any carving technique may be adapted onto skwal, so you can pick one that you like and try to learn it. Some information about the skwal technique may be found on skwalzone.org (in french). It's not much though. I live in NYC and I never seen any skwallers on the closest mountains. However I usually don't ride that far north.

I believe, I met you on Copper in December one year ago. If it's true you improved your style quite a bit already!

I agree, but one doesn't get born with the balance skill. People who are trying to learn are most vulnerable and may find this crutch helpful. Going to the slope with no passing rule is probably the safest option to learn carving. It's a pity it's not widely available. That's worrying me to. Almost every mirror design I've seen was too flimsy to survive wiping out. I think only exception I've seen is TriEye sport glasses, however I didn't find any winter goggles featuring a mirror like this.

There are helmet mount rear view mirrors (for cyclists). I wonder if someone tried to ride on snowboard with one.

With that argument you can also consider that a twin-tip or a splitboard are not a snowboards. I understand that historically someone might argue about that, but I doubt anyone would question it now.

Hehe, I'd like to see that. Softbooter with no hardboot or ski experience going to hardboots on a skwal would be entertaining. I'd bet they would not be successful within the implied time limit of my test. I like that. It's a real scientific approach. We don't know the answer so we need to conduct a series of experiments to find if skwal really a ski or snowboard. Do you think FIS is willing to spare a small grant to support our groundbreaking research?

Hi, I'm going to Aspen from Feb 12 to 15. Any lodging suggestions? Glenwood springs look a bit too far for everyday drive. Where are you guys going to stay?

It doesn't make it a skwal either. Alpine ski has different shape and stiffness pattern. To be fair mounting two bindings snowboard style on 2x8 also doesn't make it a snowboard. As for @Jack M's test I agree with @SunSurfer. Skilled snowboarder can make turns on skwal without instructions. I'd expect some balance issues and general uneasiness due to being unable to initiate/correct turn with ankles movement. Not that I've seen someone trying skwalling without any hardboot experience, but generally people find transition softboot->hardboot harder than alpine->skwal.

Deer Valley is ski only resort (like Alta). They do not allow snowboards (alpine included) on slopes. Not sure about grooming there, but unless you're going to bring skis with you it doesn't worth it.

Not really convincing. What's the physics behind it? Why is it bad? That's a good point. My point, you don't have to use harder tiring technique on a good snow. I don't live near the mount and I have maybe 20 days riding a year. To take most of it I need to ride 7-8 hours each day (on 6 or 7 consecutive days). EC is the most strength conserving technique I know, that makes it a good tool for me.