Dave Pushee

My son, who works for a company that makes backpacks, asked my expert advice about a product design question - do winter sports enthusiasts value backpack features designed to securely carry a helmet. I told him I would keep my eyes open in ski area parking lots and lodges to see if I could collect a bit of insight. Then I realized I've got a handy source of people who readily offer their opinions on almost any subject. I looked up the helmet poll thread and found that 198 of 210 hardbooters wear a helmet. The poll question is: How do you carry that helmet going from car to lodge?

Last week after finishing sweep I was putting my board back in my locker and the Snow Sports Director said "you looked great out there today" (or something to that effect). He then asked if I would be interested in coaching a snowboard race team for the mountain next season. I was totally flattered, but had to explain that I had been having an abnormally good day on the hero conditions, and that I know NOTHING about racing or coaching. By the way, if anyone here is interested in a job such as this, send me email and I'll put you in touch. Location is Loon Mountain in NH.

I'm retired - lots of free time; mountain only 20 miles away and open another 26 days; plenty of snow still on the slopes; don't have to pay to ride; still too cold and roads too messy for me to want to ride bike. I'll board right to the end. I think it's more of a THUNK like you get when you shut a good solid car door. THUNKS are nice, BANGS can hurt.

As I'm retired, is Zero my income level? At least, I know that my number of work hours wasted on BOL is ZERO :D

I'm 60 now, and I'm not sure I've got any joints left that don't snap/crackle/pop at least once in a while.

That's all well and good, C5, but at the end of the day, who bought the beer?

Wow! This morning was epic carving at Loon. I expect it was the same most anywhere in Northern New England. Tomorrow should be about the same but probably colder. If this is what global warming is all about, then Al Gore deserves a big

Got a pleasant surprise this AM when I woke up to about 8 inches of fresh in my driveway (Plymouth, NH). Had a great day at Loon (although we did get have some fog and liquid snow for a while). Weather advisory for tomorrow seems to be calling for 6 to 10 inches of snow/sleet.

I had a lovely day today in about 8 inches of surprise heavy wet snow on plates on a K2 Recon 162. I use flexier plates on this board than I do on my Madd though.

Gecko, If you like those trails, I think you will really enjoy "Cruiser" on Loon's new South Peak.

Don't know what it's like now, but.... this might help. I was at Sunday River on Friday (1/4). Coverage was awesome and conditions were great. Saturday, I was at Cannon - temps still below freezing. Sunday was at Loon. Temps in mid- 30s, snow softening up. Today stayed home in Plymouth, NH. High temp was 41. About 35 now. Tomorrow is supposed to be warmer, but I don't think it will get much over 50 in ski country. I'm going back to Loon again for some spring conditions. I think temps are supposed to start back down after tomorrow.

Dunno, maybe a bit counter-rotated?

It has now reached the point that some NEWSPAPERS are habitual offenders. Our local daily had an article today about the most recent snowstorm. It reeked havoc on I93 I guess traffic really stunk

Umm, Dan, wouldn't that be a thinner liner in the 26.5? Bigger foot, same size shell, less volume taken up by liner.

Finally got a chance to hit the South Peak area at Loon today. I Cruiser. Cruiser is a long wide blue with a few drops and bends and islands to add character. The views are fantastic too. Conditions today were primo.

Took a couple of runs this afternoon. It groomed out very firm, but those fan guns added about 2 inches of silky smooth on the bottom half!

Had a marvelous day at Loon today . Took my pow/crud board and glad I did as conditions not great for carving. I expect tomorrow will be good too unless the wind is too strong. Winter has finally arrived. Open trail count growing daily. Just about every closed trail on the mountain was being poached big time today.

There are Freecycle newsgroups/forums in many different areas of the country. You need to subscribe to the closest freecycle and post a message describing what you have. If what you have is at all desireable, you will soon get several e-mails from people that want it. You then contact whoever you choose as the recipient by return email and arrange to have them pick it up. You need to post another message stating that the item is gone so that you don't continue to get queries. I freecycled a woodstove. My requirement was that whoever was going to get it had to come with a pickup truck and strong people to load it as I was not going to lift it.

+1 on Freecycle. If you have something you don't want/value that someone else could use, Freecycle works. It's like putting it out at the curb, but reaches a larger audience.

Brad, Excellent news - worthy of Thanksgiving indeed Tedy Bruschi came back strong from his stroke, we all hope Joe can do as well.

They work fine, just watch the temp. However, I don't think it would be a good idea to use the same iron on your clothes after you do the board.

Went out to walk the dog this morning and hurried back to get the camera. From Plymouth, snow was clearly visible on Moosilauke and the high peaks of Franconia Notch (Lafayette, Lincoln, Liberty and Flume). Don't know about Cannon - view blocked by local hill. - Dave

My average over the past few years has probably been around $400. Got a Madd and some TD2s late last year. Now retired, so as long as my funky smelling (where's that hold the nose "smelly") boots hold out I don't anticipate new gear this year.

Enzo, I retired last winter. Since I now have more time for boarding, I decided to do something about the commute to the mountains. Early this summer, we bought a place in Plymouth. We are up on the hill just south of town - just about a mile from the common. We are just above what apparently was once a ski area named Frontenac. The subdivision at Frontenac is pretty much in my back yard. I walk the dog there a lot - found the old (fallen apart) lift shack with a huge diesel engine, big gears and lots of rope. Take heart, there was a brief snow shower at my house this morning, and I'm pretty sure I saw snow high up in the notch when the clouds lifted a bit on Tuesday afternoon. - Dave

I spotted this on the Loon website. NEW! LOON SUNDAY RIVER & SUGARLOAF COLLEGE PASS $329 through November 30 The Loon, Sunday River & Sugarloaf College pass offers unlimited skiing and riding at Loon, Sunday River and Sugarloaf any day of the 2007-2008 winter season. Currently not available for purchase online. To purchase yours today, call 800-229-LOON(5666).