Emdee406

That makes me sad... a friend of mine, who used to be my snowboard shop grom, is the manager. I’ll have to check on him...he was a photographer too

@daveo what’s the name of the shop? I might ask my Niseko friend to drop by, before he leaves Japan.

@TimW Did you get the 2019 El Hefes with the reversible ankle straps? It’s a great option. @bobdea you’re missing out

Thanks, will do @daveo. The hammerhead carver was actually in Kiroro. Moiwa was super empty! @xy9ine I think that when you have that wide a stance, it virtually eliminates the ability for flexion/extension, so the only option is to carve! You have to crank the board over. They are highly skilled at what they do, but I don’t think that it’s a very versatile way of riding...it allows you to do just one thing, but really, really well.

I have no words... #heaven

I, am sure like many others, had thought of these Japanese and Korean boards as super expensive. When I was over there last week, I noticed that they were the same price as virtually every other brand there, including Burton and Never Summer... I only saw one rider using a hammerhead during the week, and it was a young girl, who was carving the steeps as well as anyone in the videos...very impressive indeed.

I’ll be out free-riding on the Wednesday, and Thursday morning, teaching on the Saturday. Give me a shout if you want some local knowledge.

Let me know if you want to meet on Thursday morning... I have a new Coiler BXFR, that I haven’t really had a chance to ride yet, so I’ll be out on that anyway. If it stops snowing

Sadly Vail Corp have made sure there are no cheap deals anymore for Park City.

Hi there, I ride at Park City (I instruct there). I’m away on the Monday, but I’ll be around on the Thursday from 9 until midday. I won a staff photo comp, so have to have lunch with the CEO of the resort I’d be happy to show you some good spots beforehand though... @Pythmere might be able to ride with you on the Monday, I think he’s off... Assessment, Claimjumper, Jonesy’s, Motherlode Meadows down to Pioneer Lift , Tycoon, Prospector, Treasure Hollow, Silver Queen, Lost Prospector, and whichever of the Signature Runs are groomed Let me know.

From one of the Alloy guys...yup, $600-$700

I’ve asked...waiting for a reply. But with carbon fiber and beautifully machined aluminium involved, my first guess would be ‘lots!’

And then there’s this very expensive looking remake... http://www.hungryboarder.com/index.php?document_srl=38640574&mid=User&category=488871

Here’s a new remake of an old classic... http://www.hungryboarder.com/index.php?document_srl=38640574&mid=User&category=488871 Built by a friend of the Alloy DO’s designer, it’s an impressive looking piece of engineering...

I’ve got my new Coiler BXFR too! It arrived just before a trip to Niseko, Japan...for powder. Well, i missed the powder window, so it’s first time on snow, was on Japanese groomers! Full review in a couple of weeks (much pow in Utah), but suffice to say, Bruce excelled himself...outstanding quality and finish, tenacious grip, and built exactly as I’d asked! Differs from @tex1230‘s and @bobdea‘s boards in that it’s 27cm wide. Worth EVERY penny!

@Shred Gruumer, how did it ride for you?

I’m siding more with @Rob Stevens here... When I ride, unless it’s powder, I want to ‘work’... I enjoy the effort, and a challenge. When I go out in hards, I tend to ride a Slalom length board rather than a GS, mainly for that reason. I love short, tight, powerful dynamic carves. I’m definitely more into the Race Carve style, than the Eurocarve style, but my background is racing anyway. In soft boots, I switched to Never Summer a few years ago, and although great for teaching and cruising around, they felt a bit docile to me, with their reverse camber mid section. I now freeride on a Sims TK158X (wide), and a Yes Optimistic, boards that you need to focus, when you ride, they reward good technique. I’ve just received a wide soft boot carver from Coiler, that should allow me to be pretty aggressive, and carve hard on steeps, this ‘Asian Technical Riding’ being something I aspire to. However, I agree with @philw too, in that the super high soft boot angles, are not something I really enjoy. I usually ride 21F -9R, but will move them both double positive, on this new 27cm waist Coiler, while keeping them as flat as possible. The main factor for me, is that modern soft boot bindings are not generally designed for the highbacks to rotate enough to give me the maximum heelside support that I’d like, at angles much over 30 degrees. I recently tested the DO Alloy 161, and because of it’s narrower waist, I enjoyed it much more, with plates. That’s why I’ve had Bruce build me this ‘aircraft carrier’ for my size 8.5 feet! I’ll let you know how it rides, in due course. Technique-wise, IMHO I think that the main reason that these Asian riders can do what they do (other than their obvious skill!), is their superwide stances. Many seem to be quite short, yet they’re riding 23.6”/60cm stances. I tried it as an experiment, and it totally reduces your ability for flexion/extension input (up and down movement), and makes you totally commit to tilting the board into a carve...you basically have no choice BUT to ride in that style! It really works for what they’re trying to do, but not really for much else. Ironic really, as most people ride softs for versatility, yet here’s a stance that takes that very thing, away. But it’s SO much fun!!! i notice too that the boards actually seem pretty soft (allowing buttering tricks), almost all these videos show them riding on soft pack, or packed powder, not bulletproof ice! Even in that Gray video, on the slowmo snippets, you can see the board ‘bobble’ through a lot of the high speed carves, even on such soft snow. In fact in the ‘Gray Snowboardo’ forum, one of the guys who’s ridden them, says that they’re no good on ice, so I’m guessing they’re not very torsionally stiff either.

Damn...if I had the money spare, I’d snap that up. Perfect for me But I’ve spent it on a pow trip to Niseko

@Rob Stevens, I think it was @scottishsurfer who posted an Eno (?) video a while back, that had stances for each rider, as they took their turn in the spotlight. Eye opening... Asian technical-style carving set-ups: Front/Rear/stance width/length 42/30/60/158 39/27/60/161 42/24/60/158 60cm = 23.6”

I rode Burton Diodes... currently I’m really into Ride El Hefes, just bought my second pair. They’re going to go on the new soft boot carver that arrives in a few days from Coiler...very similar to @bobdea‘s BXFR. Mine will be: Length 158 waist 27 sidecut 8/10/9 Running length around 135 Can’t wait!

There were rumors of a Never Summer soft boot carver, a couple of years ago, when a buddy visited the factory. I’m glad it came to fruition... NS is now one of the darlings of the soft boot world, it’ll be interesting to see the public response to a ‘carving board’ from a pretender to the Burton crown. I’m sure they’ll be upping their Family Tree line even more, in response. Lib Tech too!

Awww... I’m headed to Niseko for a few days.

@daveo where in Japan do you ride?

I was fortunate to watch it slope side...tough conditions indeed.

I have raced up to WC level, and still ride in hard boots, with appropriate angles. But because I teach, I switched to riding duck, when in softs, so that I effectively demo for my goofy, visual-learning students. I do sometimes go double positive, but still keep them as flat as I can, dependent on board width. I find it helps with stability at all speeds (66mph on my Oxess), and balance on rougher or unpredictable terrain. If I go too steep on softs, I lose the support of the full high back. So far I’ve avoided the ‘butt out’ on heelside. I’m riding 21F -9R in the video, and actually raced SBX using that stance. It feels pretty natural to me, although when I Sk8 Slalom, I have both pointing forward for edge to edge quickness. I try to ride whatever board, stance etc, that suits what I want to do at the time.