Hilux

Who said hardbooters couldn't fly!? Playing in the park in the spring slush :D

I'm heading to Tremblant hopefully next week, specific date to be determined. Ian and Tabby are heading up this week but not sure of day. Slim chance I might join them this week but have to verify schedule with work etc.

I'm all better from the trip but my aching joints are getting me again...and it didn't help a few weeks back when I slipped up on a heelside and ended up in the woods (Ian found me though!). Fortunately the "tree" that stopped me was only 3-4" but it still hurt. Was out last night and conditions were epic and my body held up okay. Raining most the afternoon here today though...full downpour. Heading to Mont Tremblant Sunday and they are at higher elevation so conditions will hopefully be firmer.

Just for comparisons sake, check out the video in the thread link below too (sorry couldn't embed) where softbooters are ripping it up, full on carving but their body positions look different (to my eye) than the video Rob posted. I don't know what my point is other than they might be set up differently and/or the boards were designed for carving. There's hardboot footage mixed in too. http://www.bomberonline.com/VBulletin/showthread.php?42200-Ogasaka-snowboards-2014-2015-(japan)&p=420280#post420280 Screen shot from vid

Heading to Edelweiss but might not stay long as I'm not feeling 100%. Still going to try though as it looks like this is the last night in the negative temps for the next few days...or until next season :( Perhaps I'll see some of you there...

Edelweiss is...fun...I always had a better time there compared to fortune. The muppets usually stick to "rock star" or whatever the heck it's called because it's got all the kickers. Tremblant - April: Totally in. Give me a date to work with and I'll book it off. I might be heading up there this weekend too.....huh, huh....wait.....oh, sorry just had to clean up the bit of vomit that just came up. More to hang out with a friend that has a condo so I'm going to try getting out super early before it gets stupid and to avoid straightlining volunteers carrying skis talking on a cell phone (not kidding). It's been a long 2 weeks of not carving! P.S. I'm a no-go the next couple days...but potentially Wed or Thu night.

I can't fathom the idea of no ice. That doesn't exist in my reality :( Rob's got great style, super smooth.

I was just on the Edelweiss website and a red banner across top indicated they are extending their night skiing until next Saturday March 29! Haven't been out for 2 weeks and need a fix! http://www.skiedelweiss.com/

Not too sure if the boots are doing this to you or it's unrelated. I have that pain fairly consistently but varying degrees but was also due to a previous injury but do a few things to keep it at bay...keep reading. For me it was partially setup too where I had too much forward lean and heel lift (I have UPZ's too) that was contracting my muscles too much for too long. That helped a bit but I was still getting similar pain you are describing. Anyway, I was initially just having acute knee pain with peripheral hip flexor tightness. Went to an amazing sports physio and he said my IT was super tight, giving me the knee pain and as a result was tightening up muscles in hip flexors and lower back, pelvis (transverse abdominis muscles). Told me to get a foam roller for my IT and to "roll it out". You essentially do a sideways plank (but not really) and you roll on the side of your leg. It was soooo painful at first for about a week, but I got over that hump and was golden. I made it a habit to do it in the mornings and at night and bam, knee pain gone, hip flexor pain reduced and associated back muscles and glut relaxed. Don't skimp, get the high density one (not the pool noodle quality one) if you are going this route approx $40. The trick is to really relax your leg while doing this and let your body weight and roller do the work. I'm not kidding that this has been the most effective exercise aside from regular stretching before and after carving. I won't bother going out if I can't get on the roller beforehand, I always come back in rough shape. I would suggest if this persists to go to a physio and figure out what's up. I went to a few sessions so they could work on the affected areas and that helps speed up the process. Hope this helps a litle.

For sure, Mike and his setup seems smoother and better able to absorb the irregularities in the terrain. It also seems like he's extending a little more through the turns. Get these guys on HBs and something with more than 8m sidecut for sure...but I can still appreciate they are carving on a SB setup and duck on top of that. Just curious, have they tried HBs? edit: just saw post above, yes they have. Diesel HiLux...my dream:1luvu: Lucky for Canadians we can still import diesel right-hand drive vehicles of a certain vintage. Looked into importing one from Japan but the prices they're asking for 15yr old truck are ridonculous...you can buy a 4th gen tacoma for same price, but it's not a HiLux.

Indeed they are carving. It appears the imbalance is maybe related to their speed?...yup just watched it again and it looks like their boards are wavering quite a bit. They are going too fast for their smaller sidecuts...that and the boards might be too soft (compared to our purpose built rigs) and simply might not have been designed to perform such a task with grace. And they are charging hard! All criticism aside, kudos to them for focusing on a carving program rather than just the park/jibbing elements of soft boot riding (or whatever else is involved in soft boot lessons...how to create push piles and moguls etc ;)) Perhaps they will gather more interest from soft booters this way and for those who really catch on and love it, well, the next step is hardboots :D Oh, and love the tune selection. As a banjo player it's nice to hear some appalachian folk albeit being paired with a sport usually known for other genres of music.

Soft boots are funny

Thanks Jack! I'm a Pentaxian so quite limited to lenses...especially that are weather resistant at a decent price. I've been checking out a Pentax DA* 60-250 F4 but it's pricey. I'm at the point I'll be switching systems completely or taking the plunge with that lens as it fits the bill for what I mostly shoot in the winter/summer and it would be hard parting with the K5. That's an amazing price though for that Canon an exactly what I'm looking for for focal length, and weight...as much as I'd like to have a 2.8. Perhaps I'll take this to the OT thread. P.S sorry to hear about your card issues. BJ was showing me his camera with the dual slots....would be nice having that redundancy and something I'm considering for next body. The pics you managed to save are super crisp though!

Yum...

Similar situation here. Went from skiing straight into hard booting. Except I started in hardboots for the first few times out, then tried soft boots and didn't like it at all. Never looked back. I went a couple seasons in ski boots (90 flex freeride/all mtn boot) then finally took the leap and bought used hard boots knowing I wanted to be on an alpine board from then on. Big positive change came from getting hard boots but it was still totally worth it to initially try it in ski boots despite it being a little difficult. Don't let that discourage you though!

Annie, voici une sequence de photos pour votre transition heelside. Ca c'est bon form aussi avec vos epaules et tete qui "look into the turn" :D

No problem! I quite enjoy taking pics for others to see themselves and other riders. It's a great learning tool too. Hopefully I'll have a little more photography experience for next ECES (or other east coast events) so I'll have more keepers :D

I'll put them up somewhere soon and provide the link! Are you looking for yourself? If so, what's your getup?

I believe that's CMC. It's funny I ended up with this one group. I got split up from another group where I promised to take pics so ended up riding riding solo until I met up with this other bunch. I had no idea who I was riding with. Then we hit this super narrow east coast ice cut and he proceeds to lay it out turn for turn. Just rippin it, and cranking these tight radius turns and managed to stay so low and compressed. I couldn't believe it, quite amazing to watch.

Pureboarding

Lafcadio, low and compressed! YYZ in action

More day 2.