Comapedrosa

Conversation behind me in the lift line at Squaw: Dude 1: “what’s that thing?” Dude 2: “oh man, that’s a monoski. Have you seen how much he has tilted his bindings” Dude 3: “if it’s to do that, you might as well use actual real skis!” I thought that was a hopeless situation and simply moved on. From the dude who actually used a monoski (once).

Still between the Superconductor and a Kessler Alpine 168 for my next addition. Any thoughts would be much appreciated.

Enjoying every bit of this conversation!

Merci!

Where do you even buy a new Kessler from the US?

the green arrow? You’re too kind! By all means, let us know!!!

Hi, I’m already thinking about my next acquisition for *next* season. The boards on my shortlist are the Sperconductor and the 168 - both seem to earn glowing reviews from all you sages and super athletes. How should I think about this trade off? As for more infor about me: my quiver includes a Donek Monster, a Coiler Stubby v2, and an older Swoard... I’ve been carving since 1991, but still suck at it :-). Live on the West Coast now and am looking for something that makes the medium carve as easy as possible for me (not slalom nor giant). I like the liveliness of the Monster, but also the stability and steadfast hold of Coiler... Thx so much for you thoughts!

Barryj, tell us more. What's so unique about the Kessler vs. our usual MKs and Proteuses? That Moss is rad! - especially for all the snow we keep getting

Just wow, awesome discussion - and examples. Thx guys!!

This might be neither here nor there, but I was surprised at how far back the inserts are on the Proteus compared to immunotherapy boards (and in line with that, the apex of the sidecut seems to be further back). Yes, this topic is forcing me to improve, and I love it! Ha ha! Some solace here :-)

BTW, now that I’m in NorCal, I’m going to try to get over my pride and find some help! Looking for a master class in Squaw or Northstar during ski week...

OMG, that article is great but I read it years ago ‘til I was blue in the face. And I re-read it end-to-end before posting... Got it and agree - I don’t think I could radically move off the back toes anyway. Yes, I’m with you. Deliberate practice beats any technicality. I’m just a slow learner - but not giving up hope and still working on it (since 1991)...

Very unfortunately it’s way too early :-). Isn’t that what we all do: chat on forums while stuck in the office unable to ride? Thx! Spent a night learning Adobe Illustrator to create that top sheet

Oh man, last person you should listen to is me. I’m more confused than you. All I know is that I didn’t cut through ice on my toe side :-) I asked Sean to do it - he sent it somewhere and charged me extra for it. Said it was the best on the planet and that that’s what the top champions use (thought it would be (just) good enough for me). He guaranteed it would be ready to hit the slopes, which it was (very fast and sharp indeed)

This is an awesome dissection of the body movement. No doubt it’s a combo of my miserable technique and my setup. I have clearly been working on the “separate zee knees”/majority? approach, but will now give a good try to throwing my front knee into the toe side turn. In line with that it also seems to make sense to get rid of my Gilmour bias and center the boots. Barryj, SunSurfer, Workshop7, Jim, does that make sense? Board’s not too narrow and I really don’t think I’m booting out (though those are obvious hypotheses and great suggestions). Also the board was tuned and has sharp 1/2 degree edges.

What an awesome conversation. Thank you all for your many inputs! This will clearly give me a few hours of good tweaking and carpet riding :-) Regarding the last comment about “training”, I recall the feeling in 1991 when I switched to snowboarding: we were all figuring it out and “instruction” just didn’t make any sense...

SunSurfer... that is a good reminder - so for me that should translate into less Gilmour bias, right? I.e. center the front boot more so the toes get closer to the edge, yes?

Lurch, thank you for the link - will start doing some math. in the meantime: I’ve gotten used to pressing only my back toe for the toe-side carve... in theory, do I get more hold on ice with the back toes closer to the edge or with a slight under-hang? How do I plant that knife into the ice??

Good point, but the Coiler is 21cm, and I really don't have significant overhang (didn't measure, but I bet I can tilt the board 80 degrees on a flat surface).

Got to spend 4 days at Park City with my AWESOME new Proteus 170 cm. Conditions were far from ideal, with basically solid ice under a thin layer of scraped-up crystals... but I noticed that my edge hold on the heel side was magic, while I would literally wipe out on the toe side. It could be the ice of course, but then why the difference between heel and toe-side? I'm no carving god like many here, but have been doing this for a while - losing edge hold like this is a first. Plus the Proteus should be like a knife! This does not happen on my Coiler Subby v2 with the exact same setup and boots. Just in case, here are more details about my setup: Donek Proteus 170cm, 20cm waist, 11m radius, 50cm stance (centered)(yes, short for my 6ft height), F2 Ti bindings with the classic small front toe and larger back heel lifts, 55/50 angles, some Gilmour bias, UPZ boots. I don't think this is a turn initiation issue. I turn and carve fine, it's just that mid-turn (on ice) the edge loses hold and skids away from under my feet - not very trust inspiring and as a result I committed much less than on my heel side. Also, when not on ice, the issue was practically gone. Any help would be much appreciated as I need to fix this :-)

It’s back in fashion :-)

Received new Donek Proteus today, so couldn’t resist plastering the picture all over. Can’t wait to try it next week in Park City!!

It has arrived!!!

New Proteus...

I will make it out! Here’s a piece of the top sheet I sent Sean...