Dave Pushee

Oops, I voted "No, Never", because most of my boards don't have a stomp pad. Then I remembered that one board does, so I probably use the pad a few times each year. Normally, I just slide my rear foot back and and brace it against the rear binding.

Based on expected cost of ECES, I think $250 comes closest. It would be closer to #100, but I'm taking the wife.

Adding to Enzo's report: Tonight, they were pulling the chairs off the Kanc Quad and by now have probably fired up the guns on Northstar.

Fin is clearly going faster than most others on the trail (I think the skier in white on the opposite side of the trail was going faster at least some of the time). Perhaps Fin was "speeding", but he was clearly in control and stayed well away from all other sliders and so did not present a direct danger to others. Mountain management is in kind of a no-win situation. Families with small kids clamor for a trail where they won't be intimidated by faster traffic and don't hesitate to let management know that someone buzzed them. I don't think any of the beginners on the trail would have felt threatened by Fin because he was never close to any of them. One person moving faster than the prevailing flow isn't a really a safety issue, but a pack of 6 to 10 skiers or riders flying through a bunch of beginners is a threat. So the question is, how can the mountain keep things from getting out of control?

Hmm, try working on "Bomber" with her. That might be easier for her to pick up.

Bobby, did you get it yet? Comments? Any thoughts for improvements?

Either that, or you are the fat-cat who paid over 3Gs

I've been waiting too long for this. I'll be there.

Bobby, Have a look at these Camelbak possibilities - they seem to be the lowest profile winter specific options: http://www.camelbak.com/sports-recreation/hydration-packs/2010-zoid.aspx http://www.camelbak.com/sports-recreation/hydration-packs/2010-scorpion.aspx I haven't seen these in person, so I'm not sure of exact dimensions. I do know someone I could ask though. I have a contact at Camelbak. If you or anyone else has suggestions for ways that they could improve on low-profile designs to wear under a coat for lift served boarding, discuss and I'll forward. There are also some other low profile packs that are not winter specific. - Dave

Rule number 1: Put only (clean) water in the Camelbak (well, Vodka might be OK too). Energy drinks are hard to clean out and really WANT to go bad. My wife says empty and rinse after each use. Rinse with HOT water and be sure to rinse through the hose and bite-valve too. I'm kind of lax about the every use bit - I'll go a few days without cleaning and haven't had problems. If you have any doubts, mix up a bleach solutioin to rinse with. After rinsing, air it out as much as possible. The freezer idea mentioned earlier should work too. FYI, If you have problems with the tube or valve freezing up, try to drain back the hose after each drink (hold the tube up high and squeeze the bite-valve - water should drain back into resevoir. No water in tube, nor freeze.

Oh, I almost forgot. I had a couple of front foot releases while riding the chairlift Toe clip snagged on foot rest or something. Thank god for leash! Thosed didn't hurt anything but what little dignity I have.

I've released probably six or more times. I think it was mostly rear foot. 2 or maybe 3 times was breaking bails on Burton race plates. Another source of release was TD1 bail popping loose after a landing. Solved that by switching to Intec. None of these resulted in anything remotely like an injury. It was a pain in the *ss getting down safely to the bottom after the broken bails though. I'm not a particularly aggressive rider and never did any cartwheeling. When something feels squirrely, my first inclination is to drop on my hip, control the board, and slide to a stop.

I'm with Ursle, I stick mostly with midweek unless some of my friends who are not yet retired drag me out on a weekend. Probably 60 days +/- 10 Tis good to be retired.

First time at lift-served area was 50 years ago. Snowboards were not common then :D Switched to Telemarks for a few seasons around 1983. I needed something to slow me down to the pace of my pre-school kids. Kids got bigger, and around 1990 my oldest asked to try snowboarding. That got my interest up too. Soon, I was boarding in the AM and when I got too tired, switched back to skiing for the PM. My Ski to Board ratio got ever smaller until skiing just faded away around 10 years ago. I was at Sugarloaf for a day last season and blew out an Intec cable after a couple of runs. No way to replace/repair that day, so I had to rent either a snowboard or skis. I decided to give the skis a shot. I remembered what to do with them, but all my memories and techniques were pre-shaped ski era. The first few turns were pretty scary, but after a couple of runs I was much more comfortable. But I'm still sticking with the board.

What he said (mostly). Jack, when was the last time you were at Loon? If the half base area is Camp 3 then you need to add one more. There is a base area at the bottom of the South Peak area now. The worst place for getting disconnected from your party has got to be Sunday River. I took a Boy Scout Troop there 10 or so years ago. It was about an hour after lifts closed when our missing 2 boys came back via ski patrol snowmobile. It was dumping snow and we had to drive in a whiteout from there over to the base lodge at Wildcat where we were to spend the night. I vowed that I would never take another group of scouts there! Mind you, I like SR but not when I'm responsible for keeping track of other people's kids.

But the logo doesn't show well on it - perhaps a change in the logo color and/or placement.

OK, I've got to admit that I'm biased toward Loon. I volunteer there as an Ambassador. If you go, let me know when and I'll give you a mountain tour. I'll be sure to take you and the kids down Lower Bear Claw and point out some of the Beech trees that were climbed by Black Bears. To be fair, snowmaking and grooming are good at both Sunapee and Loon. They are both about the same drive time from the Manchester airport. I think Loon has more lodging choices. Loon has ski-in/ski-out options as well as shuttle served lodging. I'm not sure about the Sunapee setting as far as lodging goes. - Dave

I almost voted for "must have", but downgraded to "nice to have" because I realized that having demos just means I'll probably decide I need a new board.

No specific data for you, but... A rock board is usually a good call for Jay especially early and late season. Bring lots of layers so you can adjust to the conditions of the day. It is often windy at Jay, especially on the upper third of the Flying Freezer. Don't forget to bring a few handwarmers and toe warmers just in case. Edit: The Stateside lifts (especially the Jet) are more protected from the wind than the tram and the Freezer (Flyer).

Congratulations to the Bordy family! Man, that's an awesome mohawk he's sporting in that pic. I go away for a couple of weeks and there is a rash of hardboot birth announcements. That shows that BOL members know how to plan things so as to not impact the carving season (at least in the Norther Hemi).

Hmm, when I joined bomberonline, I was 56 with 2 kids in college. Now, I'm retired, living closer to the ski areas, and enjoying the monthly Social Security payments that are ultimately provided by most of the members of this forum. Thanks folks, keep it up please.

How about a conspiracy theory. I wonder what would have happened if Lance had said to his old friend George (Hincapie) "George, if you and your boys stage a breakaway when we get to the tricky crosswinds, I'll help by kicking in some horsepower"?

The team time trial should be interesting. Internal Astana rivalries should not play a part there, and I would think the team should do very well indeed. After that, who knows.

I bought our first Subaru Outback in 1995. It kind of worked out that I bought another one about every 2 years. Never traded one in - the went from me to wife to kids. Newest (number 6) is a 2005 turbo. My oldest boy junked the 95 in January after it reached 250,000 miles. By this time, it was getting rusty, and you needed to "use the force" to shift (you really couldn't feel the pattern). 3 have been retired, but they all asted well past 150,000. The 1997 and 1999 had head gasket problems at the end. Youngest son is driving the 2001, and it is still doing well at about 135,000. Wife has 2004 with 120,000 on it. Just had to replace a wheel bearing a couple of weeks ago. If you are looking for 250HP, you are probably talking turbo. I have a bit over 60,000 on the 2005. Only real problem so far was leaking power steering seal (replaced under warranty).

The inside shutoff for that pipe should be set up with the ability to drain the pipe (from shutoff to outside faucet). Even if you insulate around the pipe, it still might freeze. If there is no water in the pipe, nothing to freeze. When you are done using the outside tap in the fall, make it a habit to close the shutoff, open the tap, and drain the pipe (from the inside drain).