gdboytyler

I'd recommend getting a Oxygen Proton 160 SL. I've met a couple of riders that totally ripped on that board. It's the longest SL board in the Oxygen line up. I've got a Proton 156 SL that I really like. Easy to turn and holds a good edge. Stiff enough that I don't worry about folding the nose. However, the only Proton that seems readily available on Ebay and on BOL is the 149, which would be too small for you. Be warned, a good slalom board is a lot more tiring than a GS or Freecarve board.

I had a similar incident on Friday afternoon. I got stuck in a toeside carve and went off the trail. I just barely missed a snow gun. Luckily, I was able to scrub some speed before going off the trail and I still had some clearance before I would have hit any trees. I wish Dave a speedy and complete recovery.

My mission this season was to carve black diamond runs. Mission accomplished! Next season, my mission will be to get 3 feet out of the pipe:eek: Right now, I'm only getting a foot out, so I've got a ways to go. But I'll be riding a freestyle board and soft boots. I'll leave hardbooting in the pipe to Damien Sanders and Jeff Greenwood.

So here they are. I'm still amazed at the conditions for late March in So Cal! Now I wish I would have taken the camera on the mountain for some action photos/video. But at the time, the conditions just looked too good to be dicking around with a camera:D This was Sat morning. Here's Geronimo, the steepest groomed run at Bear: Here's the superpipe and part of the snowboard park:

That's about 3 seasons for me. So if my current Proton 164 GS lasts for a couple more seasons, I'll be happy with it. Even if a board is still in good condition, I'm ready to change it after 3-4 seasons anyway, just for the sake of trying something different. I've got a Burton Supermodel 161(?) that lost almost all it's camber after about 30 days of riding. Even though the board had gotten noticebly flatter, I couldn't tell the difference when riding the board.

Sat morning wasn't as good as Fri morning. But still good. No hero snow, just carvable hardpack and totally blue skies! However, the snow on the upper runs didn't get as soft as Fri afternoon. Geronimo, Silver and Showtime stayed good all day. I ran into a freestyler friend after lunch. So I stayed on the alpine board for a few more runs then switched to the freestyle board. And got talked into jibbing the VW bug. 40y/o and peer pressure still works:D I want to go Easter Sunday, but too lazy to do the drive solo again. Next weekend is also looking decent.

Yes, it can happen:D Best snow conditions I've had locally since mid January. Excellent morning session James. Glad we could finally meet up. I thought you guys were coming back after lunch. After lunch, I met up with Oldvolvosrule and his nephew and nephew's girlfriend. The snow did soften up a bit, but it was still carvable and still a lot fun. Looks like I'll be riding solo on Saturday. Maybe I'll get lucky and conditions will be close to what we had today!

Over the past couple of seasons I've bought quite a bit of snowboard equipment from BOL and EBay. I'd have to say that you can get lower prices on Ebay. My theory is that on Ebay, you have some dealers that are willing to let their gear go at a lower price because they've got volume or non-carvers who don't know the value of what they've got. On BOL, it's most likely a private party who usually doesn't want to let their gear go dirt cheap. With BOL though, you've got a bunch of people that will keep the seller honest. If somebody posts in the classifieds that a so and so board is 2003 but in reality it's 1999, somebody will probably know the difference and say so.

My pass is only good for Bear. James Pryor said he's going try to make it to Bear on Friday. I'm going to ride all day. So, if you do make it to Bear in the afternoon, keep an eye for me.

Since I'm in So Cal, I surf and skate year round. Because of all the rain/snow, snowboarding has really cut into skating and surfing. 4mb skate vid at Vans Combi-Bowl

The limp heel bail was suppose to be one of the TD1 problems that would get fixed with the TD2. Before, the heel bail on my TD2 always stood up except on powder days. Now, the heel bail is almost always limp on the rear binding, except in the living room. I'm assuming the spring has gotten weak over time and can no longer handle cold temps and gets clogged easier with snow. I've met a couple other TD2 riders that had the same problem with limp heel bails. Anybody have a good fix? I'm thinking of trying this fix that was posted on extremecarving.com: EC thread

I just found out that I get Good Friday off. So I'll be going to Bear. I will also ride on Saturday. Unless it's raining at the resort. Any other So Cal riders without any Easter holiday commitments?

JT, so did you impress everybody at "Carvers Gone Wild" with your softboot carving skills?

I say keep your current soft setup and get a good alpine setup. I've dragged 4 boards, 2 sets of bindings and 2 pairs of boots to the airport for a 3-day snowboard trip. It was 1 freestyle board, 1 GS alpine board and 2 powder boards (O-Sin and Fish). One powder board (the Fish) was for my brother to try out. So in comparision, dragging 2 complete setups to the airport would be a piece of cake. One do it all board, no matter how good it is, doesn't compare to having two (or more) good specialized boards.

Donek Incline is a great freeride board. I rode mine (160 version)with hardboots and plates. For a couple of years, it was my hard deck. Best carving freeride board that I've tried. My other freeride boards were Burton Supermodel and Burton Aysm Air. It would my choice if I could only have one board. But once I got a good quiver, the Incline lost it's riding time. It's the jack-of-all trades board, but master of none. I think the Donek website recommends going to one of the wider versions of the Incline if you have a boot size bigger than 9.

Carving at Bear is more challenging than carving at Snow Summit. Steeper pitches at Bear and narrower runs. Now that I've gotten better, I do prefer carving at Bear. I only threw down the Euro-carves occasionally. I saved those for Geronimo and that one steep section just off the main run. Only about half of my Euro-carve attempts were successful. I'll be at Bear again on Saturday. So James, if your not busy doing family stuff during Easter weekend, lets get some runs in together. Forecast indicates more fine boilerplate for early Sat. morning. My demo board (Freecarve II 163) from Donek arrived today and I can't wait to try it out. I haven't gone fishing since elementary school. My brothers are big into fishing, but I never got into it. I'm more likely to do the surf/snowboard combo in one day.

Yeah, had a great time at Bear today. My legs were more tired than I thought. I was only good for a few runs through the park. My slalom board wore me out. Also, the superpipe was pretty hacked up on one side. I took another break and went over to Summit for a couple more runs on my GS board. We should be able to get together for another day before the end of the season. Maybe get a couple more carvers to join us. Once the snow melts or gets too slushy, I'll be surfing a lot more. My surfboard has been getting neglected this winter.

I've ridden my friends carveboard, and it was definately a lot of fun. I'd say it would be good cross-training for surfing, because riding the carveboard feels like a bottom turn on a surfboard. However, I can't say that if feels much like carving an alpine board. From the Flowlab videos, it looks like it would be great cross-training for doing skid turns on a freestyle board. But it doesn't look like an alpine carve. Now, I've seen a short video of John Gilmore and some of his turns looked exactly like the turns I've seen on slalom skateboarders (longboards). If you go with the Tierney board, you should see if they have a demo center nearby. So you could try it out before buying.

You can be a World Cup competitor, but if you're on the wrong equipment, this is what your Extremecarving will look like: http://www.studioonline.com/playvideos.asp?crypt=8E9BD04266AC5A28 But if you buy my Swoard for $1000 US + shipping, then this is what your Extremecarving will look like and you won't need World Cup caliber skills: http://www.extremecarving.com/movies/movies.html

Somebody post the photo of the pro female snowboarder riding in hardboots and a bikini. It was in the past caption contest. Then we can have a proper discussion of hard vs soft setup.

Sorry, I wouldn't call those linked, laid out turns. Couple here and there were laid out, but they were not one after the other. I suggest you get on your regular equipment, hit a steeper run and post another video. Seriously, comparing those laid out turns to the ones on the EC website, is like comparing my bottom turn to Kelly Slater's bottom turn.:p

QUOTE]Originally posted by Bordy ...Also I didn't whant to bring up the other thread about the sliders and Ong's comment about getting crap if you showed up with some... but arn't the guys at the EC web site riding with P-tex palms on there gloves? whats the difference? Also I am not riding any of the angles or cants the guys at EC say you have to and on picture is on a Madd 58 with a much smaller then 13m radius and bomberTD! ... From watching the EC videos and trying the EC technique, the snow contact is incidental. From the article I read a long time ago about the sliders, you actually want to put weight on the slider. I'm pretty sure the EC website is not trying to preach dogma, but rather give recommendations on the easiest way to be able to ride like Patrice and Jacques. Others have posted videos of linked laid out turns, following the EC technique, but none look as smooth or as fast as Patrice and Jacques. I like Bordy's competitive comments on EC. He talks smack and then posts photos to back it up and is getting ready to shoot his version of the EC video. So far the only videos I've seen of linked laid out turns (other than the EC vids) are of ROBCROBAR and PeterVu. I'd bet that Bordy can link laid out turns. But the big question is, how will it look compared to Patrice and Jacques? Now my two most anticipated movies of 2005 will be the Bordy EC vid and Star Wars Episode 3.

Here's the info you need, courtesy of Jack M.: http://www.bomberonline.com/JackM/buyers_guide/buyers_guide.htm

Your picture has "Waist>196mm", so I think the majority is correct and you posted the wrong specs.

I'm heading up to Bear/Snow Summit on Sun (3-20), unless it's raining at the resort or I get called in to work. I've got a new (to me) Oxygen Proton 156 SL that I want to try out. Any other carvers want to meet up?