Tommy D

OOOH! I wore out my RT 163!!! Carve it up, you'll love it!

Had I any experience/skill in the park at all, I'd be there with you! Rock on! I'm limited to exremely low angle carving, when I'm not falling over! :D

Yup, hard to respond to that one without flaming. It almost sounds like that person is too close minded about anything that doesn't have twin-tips and soft boots. I wonder if he realizes that skiing originally started with soft boots? You could try and explain what carving is all about(emotionally/physical sensations), or why we use hard boots: More control, etc. I'd say point him to various carving web sites, but that person probably wouldn't bother reading up on it. I wonder if he can carve turns, or if he's a skidder. ( I've been using 'he' as a generic.) Either way, he seems rather disillusioned about snowboarding, and probably thinks hardboots are horribly uncomfy.

SUPER! I'm in my third year of my first home. And I still can't believe it. I've been thinking of putting a climbing wall on the back of my 2-car for a while now, mebby this spring ... Congrats!

Well, not including the two days previously spent on skis. What do you North Easterners (or anyone who rides on a lot of ice) prefer for base bevels? Right now, I have a 0/0 from the shop, but I've always used 1/1. The 0/0 felt a bit too aggressive/abrupt on the ice; I prefer a bit LESS immediate grip if I need to slide or manouver on ice. First day, new board, great snow (Stratton.) At first I was way off my game, but slowly, as the morning progressed, it came back to me. I even got a "nice carves!" from a snowboarding grom. I began the day with my boot forward lean locked in at comfy angles, but still wasn't 'feeling' it. A couple hours later it's time for breakfast (YES! Before the lunch crowds!!) The very next run I felt really good: Something had changed. Was it the scrambled eggs, or the whole wheat toast? Heh, turns out I was still in walk mode. :lol: No more locking in the forward lean for me! Now, about that BTS kit ... Well, I'm just patting myself on the back for a good first day carving! Tomorrow should be even better.

I'm aiming to be at Stratton Thursday or Friday (Maybe both!) I'll have a black mellon can and a yellow Spyder coat, grey pants. I'll keep my eyes open, but there are always carvers about!

+1 or +2 in this thread refers to agreement to the previous post, and has nothing to do with setting up the board.

+1 Agreed! :)

I don't quite understand what you are saying here ... BUT ... if you are saying you are centering your stance 3cm back from center, that will be good for a starting point. I don't remember if Volkl puts the offset at the centerholes or not; if they do, you will be slightly back from that 3cm offset. For initial setup, I don't worry too much about numbers. The real results happen on the snow with how the board feels, and it usually takes me a few runs to dial it in proper.

From the Volkl web site: All measurements in mm. Cont.-length...............1445 Length Nose...............140 Length Tail.................45 Height Nose................36 Height Tail..................5 Width Nose.................255 Width Waist................195 Width Tail...................250 Ins.quantity................16 Ins.Setback.................30 Stance (in cm) min........41 Stance (in cm) med.......49 Stance (in cm) max.......57 Radius (in m)................9.15 I think I see where some confusion might be. My RT only had 12 holes, not 16 mounting holes. No matter. With the 16 hole mounting pattern, mount the plates on the center set of holes, fore and aft. (That should position you just right.) IE- here is the hole pattern ( :::: :::: ] Mount the plates like this ( :O: :O: ] Then 'micro' adjust for stance width. Try it out for a couple runs and if it doesn't feel comfortable for your style, try using the rear set of holes. As a last resort, I would try the front holes. I will be at Stratton this weekend if you want some help with your setup.

I forgot to answer your second question on stance width... I'm 5'7", and my stance width is ~18 inches measured from the center of both plates. That puts my feet roughly shoulder-width apart. I cannot wait to hear your reaction once you start to carve the RT; I love mine! It is a rather dynamic board that enjoys to be driven, and loves to explode from one carve to the next. Build up the kinetic energy from one turn to the next and let her rip!!! For some real fun, 'leg-press' against the board as you progress through each carve! Oh, and keep those elbows tucked near your sides, and your arms forward as though your are carrying a lunch tray.

I have this same board. You are referring to the setback of the mounting holes (According to Volkl is 3cm, not inches.). Not to worry! For your initial setup, set your front and rear plates on the holes furthest back. Be sure to use a stance width/angles/etc that is comfortable for you. Always use either the rear set of holes, or the front set, do not mix them. When I got my first Volkl RT, I set my front and rear plates on the narrowest possible stance: Front foot on rearmost holes, and rear foot on forward set of holes. This was wrong, and it was very difficult to get 'centered' on the board. Depending on your riding style, this may or may not work out for you. It worked out for me because it forced me to "get forward" and weight the board properly for good carving. Psychologically, it helped me to 'attack' the tougher slopes. The front set of holes was too far forward for me, and felt very awkward. With the front set, I had to shift my weight back (And screw up my form), and I felt as though I was constantly about to fold the nose. Hopefully that helps!

Is there anyone else who thinks that forcing all the skiers through a tiny gate for ticket check is really asinine? I say remove the gate, and have the same two ticket checkers scanning passes closer to the lift, at the front of each line. Or, better still, impliment a system of automated checking and turnstiles like I saw at Big Sky, MT. Are there any other areas with this problem? How about other areas that have come up with efficient solutions to lift line bottlenecks?

Skier here. (26 years!!!) I jumped right into hardboots. The hardest part was figuring out how to coordinate both legs while fixed to the same surface. My girlfriend started on softies, but now she rides hard , and ... well, she likes it hard. For giggles, she went back to soft for a day, and now wants nothing to do with it. (And asked me why I bothered to start her on softies. )

I just got my BOL newsletter, and what do I see? The new BTS!!! Awesome fun stuff for Christmas! :D And now for my question: There is a chart that indicates soft (yellow) springs are for "Light to medium weight riders who want the softest flexing boot." I do better with weight ranges... At 145lbs, I'm assuming I'd be a "medium". Is that correct? If that is so, that leads into my next question: Never have I had the ability to adjust the flex of my boot (Just forward lean). So, how would I determine which springs/combos are best for me (Without buying two sets of yellows and blues.) Should I go for a stiffer heelside, or toeside? EDIT: I'm sure it also depends on boot stiffness. I have the SB423, but will likely upgrade in a year or two. I have a feeling tuning the BTS will be a lot like tuning my Seismic longboarding trucks. Playing with the pre-load is easy, but swapping springs gets expensive.

Hmmm... I don't know that it would work. But it might. Rain-X works like a wax for your windshield (In fact, one form of it is a liquid wax ...) I use it all year round with wonderful results. Possibly, if you got your hands on the 'non-wax' formula (Which I prefer) you might have some success. Actually, I think it comes in a spray bottle too, and that might be the best way to apply it. Go for it if you have some Rain-X on hand, or even if it's cheaper than a "real" waterproofer, it might be worth trying.

Yeah. That happened to me last weekend: Each time the bar came down, I had to force it back up (3times!) before the goof got the message (I said nothing, but sure wanted to). Before my skis even left the launch ramp, the bar was coming down! I understood he probably wanted to protect his kids from falling out, but I guess he didn't mind knocking me out of the chair. As soon as I was settled, I pulled down the bar.

I don't think it's any less ambiguous than the rules of the road: Yielding at intersections; checking for traffic before merging; giving yourself enough room to stop or avoid a colision with the car in front of you ... Unfortunately, I've noticed that people tend to ski/ride like they drive: Totally inconsiderate(oblivious??) of other vehicles/people around them. Regardless of "Rules" or "codes", whatever happened to common curtesy or situational awareness????

I got this from the National Ski Patrol website: I wish this was printed on more napkins at more resorts... I do see it at most resorts as signage, etc, but that's not enough: The little cartoon images that went on the napkins was great, and I remember my dad and I talked about it quite a bit during our lunches while I was growing up on skis. It would be interesting to do some random polling of skiers AND snowboarders to see how many of them know the code. Do you?

I happen to love a good brick of Vermont cheddar. Can't say I've ever tried stuff from Wisconsin. *french accent* The "STINKY CHEESE!" */french accent* :) I had some Port and cheeze at a french restaurant up at Tremblant years back ... It (the cheese) stank so bad I had to pinch my nose before it reached my mouth. To this day it was the best cheese I ever had. Sorry about reinforcing the threadjack.... Back on topic: I cannot share lodging with you unless you skip the SES and head on over to Panorama. ;)

I'm 140, 5'7", and literrally rode the camber out of an RT 163. Awesome board!! This year, I bought a new Donek(To try something different, not because I don't like the Volkl), but if I were to buy a new Volkl, it would be the 168. Considering you rate yourself as an 'aggressive' carver, go with the 168; you will be able to carve all kinds of turns over a broader range of speed/stability with the longer board. The 163 was awesome at the really tight turns, but (With my skill, or lack thereof) it wasn't as good at higher-speed stuff on steeps, but only because I didn't have the skill at the time to keep up with how fast it transitioned on steeps. (Read: I could carve the steeps in big broad turns, but couldn't 'charge' the steeps with zipper lines.) Anyway, I cannot say enough about how awesome the Volkls are. Go for it!

Salomon Orange: I have a thoroughly decambered Volkl 163 if you are interested in trying it out sometime at Stratton or Okemo. A friend of mine has an identical board that still has lots of pop/camber in it, and I'm sure I can convince him to let you try that too. Let me know if you want to try it out sometime.

Keep an eye on the weather: http://www.weather.com/outlook/recreation/boatandbeach/tenday/USVT0290 Looks like rain tonight/tomorrow, and ~39F Thursday. It might be mushy, but early in the morning, it might be firm enough for some good carving.

I concurr! I was at Stratton on Saturday (Skiing), and the conditions were definitely mid-winter, including the temps. There were a LOT of carvers on the slopes, which was nice to see. Next time out, I'll probably break out the new deck, if the conditions are good, but this upcoming "heat wave" doesn't bode well.

Go for it! I started on skis 27 years ago, and go into snowboard carving about 5 years ago. I have noticed that snowboarding has helped my skiing, and skiing has helped my snowboarding. At this point, I use my skis for bumps/trees/pow, and my board for groom/icey slopes. As mentioned above, the only downside is the extra gear, and deciding wether to ski or snowboard.