ShakeNBake

My 5 year-old seems to be interested in learning how to ride, so I am looking at a 7-10 day trip for Jan or Feb of 2024. Steamboat is towards the top of the list as I want to get in 3-5 days of snowcat boarding on top of the resort days, but I have not been to many places outside Oregon, so I don't have much of a knowledge base. My wife is not interested in hitting the slopes, but my in-laws will likely ski every other day or so, so there needs to be non mountain activities and good dining options. Ski in ski out is nice but not a must and I don't want to leave North America as I hate long flights (just got back from Niseko and it wore me out). Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks, Mike C

Getting excited for Niseko next week and Montucky next month. The Burton Deep Daze 3D is for Nieseko (and hopefully some powder at Montucky) and the Donek Freecarve Special Construction is my first carving board since I quit riding in the 90's. Both are virgins and I am real curious to see how a rocker board rides, as it is my first one.

Thanks for all the info. It looks like a DIY project. It might be time to ditch the step ons and soft boots except for my powder board.

My Burton Asym Air had circular discs that went between my bindings and the board and canted towards the middle of the board for a more natural (to me) stance. My cant discs do not work with Burton's current binding hole pattern and I was wondering if someone made a cant plate/disc that would work with my step on bindings and Burton board? I know I can get plate bindings that have cant built in, but I was looking for something for my step ons.

I am super out of the loop on gear, after 30 year break, and I have always ridden with cant plates or canted bindings on both my soft and hard boot boards. Does anyone make cant plates that will work with my board and bindings? Thanks, Mike C

I just got an email that my Donek Freecarve Special Construction is in production and should be headed my way soon. It is still snowing on Mt Hood, so it looks like I will get to try out the new board soon.

Keenan, Small world, as I went to West Linn high in the late 80's. Sigi's transitions are amazing, he sure knows how to unweight a board. Thanks for all of the videos, it is good to see that hardboots are not dead. Mike C

All good stuff, thank you. I would post up a review of the board when I ride it, but I don't know enough to comment. Hopefully that will change next season when I get some days on the mountain.

Thanks again for all the info and vids. I can't wait for my new board to show up, especially as it is cold and snowing on Mt. Hood right now.

Thanks for the info and keep it coming. Too bad at 22 I did not have the foresight to write down my angles so 30 years later I could use them. I noticed at the mountain that I am the only one skating with my back foot in front as I was so used to having my feet pointed forward that I always skated that way. The crazy thing is I have yet to see a single hardbooter on the mountain, as back in the day I think 2 or 3 of us 10 instructors rode plates as did a number of my friends. Watching 90% of the snowboarders skid turns is also weird as it does not seem like most are making any carved turns or even trying- powder and carving are what snowboarding has always been about for me. Time to get my carve back. Mike C

I have been out of the snowboarding and hardboot game since 1992 when I got a full time job and quit teaching snowboarding and quit riding (took up bicycle road racing). I am getting back into it and bought a Burton Hometown Hero with step on bindings, which is a great setup, but I miss the feel of the hard boots and asymetrical Burton carving board I used to ride. I can carve OK on the Hometown, but it feels awkward with the slack binding angles and soft boots. I ordered a Donek Freecarve 171 Special Construction and Deeluxe connector bindings with Track 325 boots. The board should be arriving in a few weeks and I am looking for advice on setting it up, as I have never ridden an nonasym carving board and have not ridden in hard boots in a long, long, long time. I am 6'2 and have size 27 (Mondo) boots. I used to ride with cant plates but I don't think I had (I can't remember) toe or heel lifts. I never intend to run gates, but would like to be able to do fully laid out carves like I used to do. Since I live in Oregon, I can extend out my season through early summer to get it dialed in as Timberline is generally open most of the summer, so I have some time to figure it out before next season. Any suggestions on binding angles and anything else would be greatly appreciated. Mike C