Alaskan Rover

Give me a real strong pair of poles and arms like Atlas and I'll give it a shot....but there better be a REAL good beer or three waiting for me at the end...and a Swedish sweetie to serve it!! :);)

"What's wrong with Peeber?? Jeeze now we're going to start the beer snobbery too? The best beer is the one that is cold and in my hand. The best carve is the one you are laying down."....CarveDog. Ha ha...good point on the beer-snobbery issue. I have hoisted plenty of PBR and Schltz and Rolling Rock in my day (actually for a cheap college beer, Rolling Rock is one of my favorites!)...and you are right: the best is the cold one in hand after a good day on the mountain. I think what started it was a comment someone else made about not taking Miller Light to a microbrew convention...trying to infer softbooters as the Miller Light and hardbooters as microbrews. LOL. It's all good....it's all cool....let's all ride. :)

"Ideally, match your boot stiffness, board stiffness, and binding stiffness for powder"...Buell. Great point, Buell! It is very true that too stiff of a boot/binding combo can overpower the board...even if you have the perfect powder board. I can say that I am not too happy with quite a few of the supposedly 'expert' softboots being sold in this last couple of years. I have noticed that on the expert or competition side of things, quality has gone down, durability has gone down and price continues to go up. It seems the whole softboot industry has switched over to using vinyl...used to be just cheap beginner boots were made using that cheap-looking vinyl...now even top-level boots have gone to that sheeeet. I just did a few minutes of research and found they still do make vans jamie lynns, but they they look like absolute garbage now. Cheap vinyl outside, I think they no longer have the seperate lacing for the separate inner liner...not even sure if they even have a separate liner anymore. The original Jamie Lynns were very high-quality and made of some sort of strong composite material. The problem with that cheap vinyl is it cracks after a while at the edges. Would be nice to see a softboot that is as well made and long-lasting as a Dave Page custom leather hiking boot or at least a Fabiano!! Hell, no...their going cheap, because now most of the companies are owned by huge conglomerates run by shareholder boards that dictate that profit and P & E must be more important than quality and longevity. Engineered obsolescence has now come to the snowboard industry! Grrrrrrr... I buy lots of stuff used...but how are you supposed to find a good used pair of boarding boots that aren't already ratted out? The industry knows that is nearly impossible and thus knows they have you by the short hairs. So I hope my old Jamie Lynns last for a lot longer time, cuz they're going to need to. I'll be getting the fix-it "Goop" out pretty soon, I think.

Well, as you no doubt know, riding powder is different, in that the board tends to act more like a plane (or a submarine, at times..LOL). The light powder without a bottom becomes like air, and thus the board gets forces like lift and yaw acting upon it. To control the board in powder it takes light, minimal BUT very precise movements, as the board has really become an airfoil (or a snow-foil, I guess). Thus you need to be able to both feel these light precise movements, and INPUT those movements. That takes a medium stiff boot to input those precise "airfoil" adjustments...really stiff is not really necessary. But you don't really want to go with a soft beginner boot either, as you will have less of a dynamic control of the plane of the board. Of course, i am sort of biased, as I have been riding in these boots for a long time and I find they work as GREAT in deep powder as on hardpack. The boots I ride are Vans "Jamie Lynns'...not sure if they still make this model...but it has just the right mixture of stiffness and flexibility. If you can find a used pair somewhere, they are a great boot...at the time of my purchase, they were the best competion softboot in the business, and are super well-made....with separate inner liner with it's OWN set of laces. For playing in the pow a few days a year...truthfully ANY well made, expert-level softboot would do fine...even an intermediate model. No need to spend gazillions of bucks. Don't forget that the binding is just as important part of the foot/board interface as your boots. Stiff...highly adjustable...with good strap-padding is the the ticket here. Don't forget gaitors....gaitors are MADATORY for powder and will make your life MUCH more comfortable...unless you like having most of the Greenland snowfields in your boots. :) Gravity IS Life.

:AR15firinDano... Your assertion that softbooters are somehow less evolved than hardbooters is myopic and nauseating at best...and just plain shrouded in falsehood. Tell that to Shaun White or the umpteen other world-class softbooters out there....any one of which can out-shred you five different ways to the moon and back. The sport of boarding is wide enough for both hardbooters AND softbooters on the slopes, I see no reason why there can't be enough room on this forum also. I think perhaps it is the love of gravity that should bring us together, not what we happen to have on our feet. As to beer...I am a softbooter, and I consider myself a "Flying Dog 'SnakeDog' Ale" microbrew....Dano, you seem more like Pabst Blue Ribbon. LOL. ;) ;) It's all good....no worries. Gravity Is Life.

Skiing (really skating) is a more natural and efficient way to get UP a mountain or across long flats...but it is not necessarily more natural NOR more efficient than going down a mountain. To be sure, these new wide, "shaped"skis DEFINITELY have the in the backcountry when you need to do lots of traversing and is why I use randonnee equipment in the backcountry...but for strictly getting DOWN a slope, I think boarding is FAR more natural, graceful and beautiful than skiing. Sure skiing might be more efficient because you can "PUMP" those skis in co-junction with each other, and have one more "working" edge...but sheer effeciency is NOT what it's about. But from a bio-mechanical, human interface point of view...I think the natural stance you take while sliding on a floor in socks IS the natural stance...and is the snowboarding stance. What can be more natural than that. Now for heading down a slippery fall-line, in contrast, then "feet-forward" seems to become the 'natural' stance...such as in glissading or even a kid sliding down a snow-pile in boots. I think it's just a genesis kinda thing: Skiing downhill stems from glissading...and boarding stems from a surfing/skateboarding goofy/regular stance. Some of the first snowboards had ski-bindings facing totally forwards (Mono-Skis)...and THAT sure didn't turn out too well...LOL. ;) Gravity IS Life.

"I don't really define my snowboarding by the boots I use".PhilM.... Well said, PhilM!! I have only been on this forum for a couple days....but it seems that this is an online CARVING community like many have said. I think there is definitely room for both hardbooters AND softbooters out there. Like I said one time: "Gravity is non-partisan". The main thing is just to ENJOY that delicious dance with gravity....whatever you're on. As for me, I think I will always be a softbooter at heart. It's kinda like a soul thing for me. Sure, I know that hardboots and plates are more efficient for carving, and a good carving board/boot/binding combo will give you better edge control. But the fact is is that if you have a GOOD pair of softboots (not that black vinyl crap that seems popular these past couple years in the stores!!) you CAN do an awfully nice carve. I guess it's like politics. And to tell the truth, I sorta like the crossways banter. At least it's not a silly skiers vs. boarders kinda thing. Just saying. So, yes....bring on a softbooter forum!! I think it would be great. There will always be this general discussion board where we can still meet and scuffle over sillyness...LOL. :)

Yeah...I totally agree with Carve Dog....sometimes it just feels right to hug the mountain. I think Velam (forgot how to spell his name..and it doesn't show here in the reply box..hope that's close) is trying more for a stylistic thing, and I can appreciate the art in that. I used to know this old old guy back when I was a young kid on twin sticks...he had to be like 80 or something. All he liked to do were these slow, graceful mile-wide turns down the slope and then connect every third turn with a 360. It was only later that I found out that the guy was a world-class Olympic champion from 1932 Olympics. I have to admit that the guy had a certain implicit grace on those skis...and I guess he had already paid his dues. So it comes down to, I guess, "whatever floats yer boat". As to Velam's predicament....I guess sometimes you have to make sacrifices for your own personal art. And his sacrifice, it seems, would be a snowy face. Could be worse. Just watch out for those piles of chunk ice. :) Gravity IS life.

Ahh....spoken like a true skier. It's AMAZING how many closet skiers on this board...LOL. I used to be a skier to, and sometimes I can't even BELIEVE I used to mess those silly poles. But, alas, (except for my randonnee skiing and my cross-country touring...which I love)....I switched my allegiance to the grace of boarding years ago. The stocking foot, wooden floor sliding test does NOT lie. Boarding is the more natural style. :AR15firinskiers. LOL.

Well, I cannot agree in the LEAST with DiveBomber's sentiment that "you could toss softies in there" with beginners. However, even though I voted "can go either way"...I actually think it would be great to have a soft-boot forum...where softbooters can discuss various gear and techniques specific to softboot carving. While I will shortly be putting my Scarpa Denalils on a used carving board (if I can FIND a used carving board/binding set up at a good price)....I can forecast that my standard all around board and gear will still be my twin-tip fatbob and my softboots (as those Jamie Lynns are definitely NOT your ordinary softboots...they are stiff, with a well made inner separate liner...and actually work quite well for carving). I just like the availability to head back to the pipe or rails when I want or pop a McTwist off a nice natural kicker and STILL have a nice carve session directly after. I don't want to take a bunch of extra gear to the mountain. The only condition my set-up is not good for is ice...so I WILL soon looking for a used carving board to try my Scarpa Denalis on. They might not be the best boot for hardbooting, but they are what I have as my randonnee gear, so might as well stick with 'em. I don't know how many softboot carvers are on here...I hear people say 30%. If so, that's enough for a forum.

Well...I'll stay away from the inferior aspect...but I do think boarding is more natural. I know when long-boarding first started out in Hawaii....or at least "modern" long-boarding (as the Hawaiians have been apparently doing doing it for ages)...they stood on these huge boards just purely facing forward, as if they were standing on a deck with a drink in their hands or something. It wasn't until the boards got smaller that they really began to switch to 'regular' or 'goofy' stance. I think it was then that the world opened up to the potential of short-boarding...and the sport became so much more dynamic....and then came along guys like kelly Slater and the rest is history. Same with skiing...and I was a skiier for years. But their is just a different feeling that is intrinsic to "riding" a board. Not just the angles, and gear difference...something else. Okay...get in some socks, and in those stocking feet, slide down a varnished wooden floor...and take good notice of the angle that your feet end up in. You'll almost assuredly notice that your feet will either be at goofy or regular and at somewhere between a 15/5 stance and a 30/15 stance. That just seems to be the natural stance for sliding and not even something you have to think about. Try it. The Natural Stance. :) Gravity IS Life.

PhotoDad2001 says: "I couldn't find the video segment with Farmer, but here's a nice one. If you go to 3:13. Don't blink you might miss it." GREAT video, PhotoDad!!! It just totally refreshed my mind on why I love soft-boots and free-riding!!! Not that I do 30 foot jumps and varigated 60 ft long rails and sheeet like that, do I DO love the option of being able to land fakie off a kicker when I feel like it, and STILL be able to rip when I want to rip. I AM going to put my Scarpa Denalis on a used carving board on one day soon, but I will NEVER drift away from free-ride.

I'll second that!!! Just a few hours ago I was making some pizza dough and was trying to divide 1 and 3/8 cups exactly in half and do it accurately on a measuring cup that didn't have 1/16 marks....would've been hecka easier if it had Milliliters!!!! Rhen it would be so totally simple!!

No, ShortcutToMoncton, it IS true...I just looked it up...Darren Powell still has the snowboarding speed record that he obtained at Les Arcs, France...speed through the radar trap: 125.459 mph. As far as I know, that record still stands. Incidently, the record skier speed on that same course was made in 2006 at 156 mph in 2006.

Ha ha...that's very true, SnowRider! I find that the older I get, my fear kicks in just slightly earlier than when I was a young twenty year old, thinking I would live forever. I guess I am glad it does, too...as I probably would have died years ago if it didn't! LOL. As for craziness, I guess I am about as crazy as ever. Why would I be randonnee-skinning myself up some mountain peak when I could be home reading 'Reader's Digest' by the fire if I wasn't? ;)

To: Buell: Ha ha...ha... ZINGGGGGG!!!!....LOL. Okay, point well taken, Buell. LOL!

I tend to agree with you, PhotoDad2001. On hard pack or ice...skiers would be faster...except an excellent snowboarder would be able to whip an average, semi-fast, non-race-trained skier...as I do it ALL the time. But a well-trained GS-style racer on racing skis should be able to beat an equivalent person on a board given those same hard-pack conditions. BUT, you are right...on really fairly steep, very light and deep powder bowl runs, I think boarders on a good powder board (my fatbob works really well, here) would have the advantage from a flotation aspect alone. Doesn't matter, though, really...I guess the main thing is just to enjoy whatever you're on and wherever you are.

Good picture. Well, I think angular momentum (or is it centripetal force or centifugal force...heck, I can't remember....I duck as the ghost of my old college physics professor tries to whap me on the head with hios slide-rule!!) helps keep your body from falling directly toward the mountain in a carve...so you really don't need to go deep with your hand. It's not like your going prospecting. All and all, though, if that is you in the photo, your form actually doesn't look too bad for a very low carve. So why fix what ain't broke?? I ride in soft-boots at an all-mountain stance, so I don't get down quite so low in a carve for fear of boot-drag, but I do get pretty darn low considering my set-up. I'd just get used to the snow, if I were you...you look fine. a picture's worth a thousand words. Maybe some hardbooters might have other ideas, but looks good to me! :)

Well, I don't think you necessarily have to touch the snow with your hand as you extend out (even though that is exactly what I do). I think you could have your hand just inches above the snow, and still have the same feeling. I think just having your arm out during the carve just inches above the snow, would have the same beneficial effect to angular momentum and MAY even be more efficient. Try having your hand just inches above the snow next time you extend your arm out......or just get used to the snow. Like I said in another post..."snow is good food!" :o

That's exactly right, Sinecure. I never thought about the lift factor you would get at high-speeds if you went down the slope with your butt on the board and bindings at 90 degrees. I was thinking purely of aggregate air resistance and stupidly forgot about other physics factors such lift generated by the pressure differential at the board tip. You'd start yawing right and left and NEVER would make it to those 120 + speeds, I guess. Oh well, it was simply an exercise in thought anyway. For me, even though, I DO love high-speed and invariably find myself giving chase in high-speed fashion, I love the FLUIDITY and grace of boarding even more. If I was just purely into speed, I would probably still be on racing skis....but I switched over and have never looked back.:) Gravity IS life.

Yep...back to that age-old question again. I am sure that question has been kicked around since the first boarders lived in caves and had to ditch wooly mammoths on their way down the slopes...maybe the question even goes back to the paleozoic era. Who's faster...snowboarder or skier??? Skier or snowboarder???....that question spins around and around in my head and sometimes has even more import than whether Brad is going to get back together with Jennifer. I guess it's an obvious question to ask...as there does seem to be a gear-polarity on the slopes and steeps. As for me, my background is in ski racing...but I switched over to boarding years ago because of love. Oh, I loved racing and skiing, don't get me wrong...it's just that after that initial 5 days of butt-aching, tortured vileness was over, I began to love boarding even more. I loved the innate poetry of it. But, still that question of which is ultimately, potentially, faster has always roosted on shoulder...squaking into my ear every now and then when some high-speed racer flashes by in perfect GS form. In these instances, I almost ALWAYS give chase...hard for me not to...mpossible actually. About as hard as telling a greyhound NOT to chase that metal rabbit. The chase was ingrained in me by umpteen race coaches and dare i say, my own desire. Sometimes I end up winning, sometimes I end up losing, but I almost always give chase. I think pure physics and dynamics of form gives the advantage to the ski racer at ultimate race speeds. It is hard to argue with the advantage that that extra set of edges gives you. Plus the not small advantage of being able to skate where possible to pick up additional momentum...and do a very low tuck at other times. while boarding in my own GS form that I naturally adopt, I have surprised quite a few GS racer-style folks flashing by in their GS form...not so much by passing them, but at least by staying right behind them, and then sometimes passing them when the crud comes up. Mind you I am talking about all-out GS circuit racers enjoying a run OFF the gates or post-race and NOT your average rec skiers. But still, I think physics and dynamics must win this one and given the same high-speed course and same weight ski-racer versus hardboot board racer logistics and same course conditions,and same top-notch ability for their respective sport, my race experience would tell me that the ski-racer would definitly have the the physics advantage, and thus the speed advantage. At top-level, it would be close, I think, but I think the ski-racer would still get to the bottom first in the above race. I think, however, for ULTIMATE high-speed SPEED TRIALS (Steve McKinney-type stuff) there is one way the boarder would definitely beat all. But it would be a one-way trip: Change the bindingings on the the board so that both face 90 degree forwards. Then you sit butt on the board (need a 220 cm board!!), back flat on board, luge-style, luge-helmut for aerodynamics, speed suit etc, at the top of the super steep trial course...(and since it would be a one-way trip anyway, you might as well pick a 60 degree slope!!) and 1, 2, 3, GO!!!...controlling your direction down the slope with body-movements, luge-style. I don't think any speed skier would be able to keep up with that suicide sled. But like i said, it would be a one-way trip, because I don't think you'd be able to pull-out at those speeds lying butt-flat to the board! If a skier can go 156mph (!!!!WTF!!) in a tuck...how fast can you go lying on a board luge-style (the knees would be the highest thing above the snow)???? 180mph??? More?? If I was ever diagnosed with cancer and had like 1 week to live and die a horrid, drug-ridden death in some hospital, I think I would have them instead haul my guerney from that hospice, helicopter me up to the top of a speed-trial course, put me in those bindings and give me a push, so that I can have one last dance with gravity...and hope that I didn't just skid out into a snow pile 60 feet down the run. ;) Gravity IS life.

As to bOardski's question of why AT/randonnee boots are so much lighter than snowboard hardboots. It's basically market-driven. For a ski mountaineering kit, net weight of your gear is of primary concern. Above 10,000 feet, every extra ounce starts to feel like an extra pound. After a long ascent, every bit of your energy is used to summit...and sometimes, to a climbers peril, there becomes an energy deficit...that's how people die up there...not just altitude sickness...they just plain run out of the energy to go on. What ever boots you wear (even if you're wearing bedroom slippers) begin toi feel concrete blocks. To combat net over-weight...the boot companies make certain and definite choices...phooeey...that's not the right word, but can't think of it right now (too much aggregate altitude sickness...LOL). Anyway...the climbing/randonnee boot makers strive for lightness over some features or additional strength...plus uphill flexibility for these boots is more important than downhill stability. If you can't get uphill...you don't go downhill. Snowboard hardboots, on the other hand, are predominately used in lift-accessible slopes...and thus uphill weight is not the dominate issue. Thus, they strive more for downhill stability...with thicker plastic than the randonnee and features more focused on the downhill aspect. With randonnee gear, you give up some (not very much, mind you) downhill stability for less weight and more uphill climbing flexibility. With all that said...if you had a limited budget and liked to do some remote alpine climbing AND hardbooting at ski areas...I would actually get a really decent pair of climbing/randonnee plastic shell boots...as they can be used for BOTH. I have a pair of Scarpa Denalis that I use with randonnee skis...I have yet to use them on a board...but am going to soon give it a try. Sure, Scarpa Denalis are damned expensive....but so are good conventional snowboarding hardboots. You cannot use the convential snowboard hardboots for climbing (if you value your life!), but the randonee/climbing boots ARE dual-purpose. Even if you don't climb...you may like the nice lug vibram soles and extra flexibility for getting around the ski lodge and parking lot...and if you DO want to get into backcountry randonnee...you ALREADY have one of the most important pieces of equipment...your boots. :)

Man....you guys are TOO into numbers and angles and gizmos....!! Just get on your board and RIDE. save the physics for the classroom. ;) The mountain is waioting. Gravity IS life.

Ummm....it seems a little freaky to carve a full 360 on the same carve, but I don't see why it wouldn't work, as your carving edge wouldn't really change throughout the 360 and if you have enough speed, you would have already garnered enough momentum to keep propeling you through the turn. What I am wondering is on that last 30 degrees of arc, would the angular momentum and centripetal force be working with you or against you...heck if I know. I guess try it and find. If you eat snow, no biggie...snow is good food! :)

When I end my sojourn in flatland and head back home to Alaska, there are some peaks that I would just love to re-visit. The thing about Alaska peaks is that due to the rather dry air, there is a lot of sublimation going on...and this makes for some excrutiatingly HARD surface crust. What appears to be decent snow while scoping it out with binocs, turns out to be super-smooth but ultra hard sheet of inpenatrable top crust at 45 degrees of slope. As many of you already know, 1200 feet of 45 degree hard crust is an almost certain deathwish...and I would never attempt the descent in my softboot/FatBob setup. The only gear I would use for those sublimated peaks is what I have always used before on the steep hard stuff...my old pair of 208cm Volkl P10's and my Lange X9R racing boots and those damned poles. That set-up has never let me down on the Alaskan remote steeps (yes, even though they ARE skis!!). Unfortunately, I can only use this set-up when I am able to bum a heli-ride or a snowcat up...as they are strictly downhill gear. For true remote peaks, I have a full set of alpine Randonee skiing gear...and even though this gear allows me to climb and skin myself up a route, I don't trust the randonnee skis/boots quite as much as my heavy Volkl P10s/Langes for steep crusty descents. So here is my question: My randonnee boots are a really decent pair of Scarpa Denali plastic shell mountaineering boots...they sorta look like Raichle Flexons but with vibram soles. I use these with my randonnee skis and they work well with my sherpa snowshoes. I would love to try those 45 degree crusts with a carving board, so am wondering if my randonnee/mountaineering boots would work well as a hard-boot set up on a carving board....that way, I could put the board on my back and climb and snowshoe (Sherpa snowshoes have built-in crampons) my way up the route and board down on the carving board (with the Sherpas on my back). My only qualm with it would be that the Scarpa Denalis don't come up the shin nearly as high as my Lange racing boots...but maybe with the different angle of carving board versus skiing, this isn't quite as important. Any ideas???<!-- / message --> <!-- controls -->