GoofyFoot

I am going to echo what Snowboardfast said and expand upon the "why." I am both a ski and SB instructor at a local resort and enjoy riding my carving gear the best so I often pack three boot bags when I head off to the mountain. Also, note that in Eastern Canada, we rarely experience powder conditions which is why I am not going to comment on a boot/board set-up for soft snow. You need a hard boot for the greater G-forces that a carving board produces - the hard shell gives you better control (when fitted properly! I am sure you have seen lots of advice on that elsewhere on Bomber...). While it is possible to use a ski boot in a "regular" bail plate binding, typically ski boots are too stiff in that they do not allow you enough forward lean. I know this from painful personal experience when I started out and tried to economize as well. I HAVE seen some riders in ski boots that they have extensively customized by gradually cutting away at the internal flanges behind the boot tongue to soften up the boot overall. One must have patience, know what they are doing and be prepared to ruin a pair of ski boots in the process! My advice to you is the same as Snowboardfast; buy a dedicated pair of carving boots on your snowboard and use a second pair of ski boots when you want to ski. Switch boots while you are buying your son a hot chocolate in the chalet!!! Moreover, with a dedicated carving boot, you can go with a step-in binding, which in my neighbourhood, is the preferred set-up for the recreational hard boot rider. FYI, the flip side of this equation DOES NOT work (at least for the Raichle and Deeluxe boots I have owned so you will have to take Keiran's advice about changeable units on UPZ boots). You cannot ski in carving boots because the shape of the heel and toe pieces do not fit into the DIN standard receivers of ski bindings (unfortunately). I hope this helps. -Brian

Graham, Congrads on getting that homey board to fly! Email sent regarding extra parts. Now you know why Chris and I love our step-ins ;). Cheers, Brian

Gonna be there with my freeriding son (as long as he does not wimp out when I tell him how cold it is going to be tomorrow night). I hope to see some other carvers there! -Brian

Now that is a quotable quote! And before you think I am a bigger football fan than sliding-on-snow fan (I am not); I gotta say that I will be doing both on Sunday, ridin' my board during the day and watching for wardrobe malfunctions by night :rolleyes:.

Hi Graham, I am at CF every Sat AM and quite often on Sun. I typically ride my Volkl carving board from opening until about 10 AM (as Tabby noted that when the crowds pick up - and I change into soft boots for teaching purposes...) so if you ever manage to get there earlier, lemme know and I will make some turns with you... Cheers, Brian

Hi Ian et al, Next Sun, I anticipate being comfortably installed in front of the big screen TV in the evening after a couple Sun AM lessons, but iffn you guys & gals catch Mt Blanc later in the season, count me in. -Brian

I am in for a Sunday at Mt Blanc later in the season.

Hey Chris, Let me know when you are going! I have been to Nfld many times, just never made it up to the penninsula to ride Marble Mtn. This is definitely on my bucket list! Moreover, now that I am dating a Newfie, I have one less excuse for not getting there :). Cheers, Brian

All I can tell ya is that over the past weekend CF had the best conditions I have seen there in a decade. I went skiing on Fri (lessons for my GF), freeriding on Sat (giving lessons to the public) and hardbooting on Sun (play time!). There was an inch or two of well groomed packed powder, no icy spots and sunshine for most of the weekend. I was in seventh heaven laying trenches all over the place!

Yep, and it is not just the racers! Preceeding the actual races, the course is open to the general public and almost every year one or two hot shoes over cook a corner and add their names to the list of potential Darwin Award winners. I used to roadrace at the club level in Atlantic Canada when I was much younger and I love watching IOM vid. To visit is definately on my bucket list!

Ride On Ernie! Great story! I hope I get to see it at Tremblant one of these days :D. Brian

Hi folks, I plan to be in the Duncan lift line (on the North Side) at 8:25 Sunday morning. I like to ride the runs early while the cord is in good shape then head home to Ottawa early in the afternoon once the crowds arrive and the boilerplate comes out. Anyone else riding MT this WE? Brian PS I saw the FIS race from the chair a couple of weekends ago through the fog. It sure was neat watching some good riders smoking down the face of McCullough!

Did anyone else watch The Rick Mercier Report on CBC Tue nite? There was an hilarious piece on the Canadian Ski Patrol – at Camp Fortune <ST1:p</ST1:pno less! First Rick Mercer got to mutilate a training dummy, then he was the guineau pig as he was lowered from a stopped lift (the old double blue chair on Pineault), to demonstrate an emergency evacuation, while everyone else watched from the quad chair that runs parallel. I was splitting my gut laughing because since normally Rick Mercer gets all the good punch lines the Ski Partrollers had some fun with him - on the descent they jerked him hard to a stop about six feet off the ground, then let him hang there for a minute like a fish outta water! <O:p</O:p Geoff, were you part of that crowd of scheming blue jackets … or did you even know that the RMR was shooting at Fortune this year??? <O:p</O:p Cheers, <O:p</O:p Brian

Sure, when they sprinkle some fairy dust on Vorlage to make that mole hill grow into a mountian and the double chairs expand into triples and quads :D.

Tabby, Let us know how much fun Vorlage was today ;). I suspect the groomers had their hands full breaking up the freezing rain "snow". I may be convinced to go to MT the following Sunday as well. Brian

To add to what my worthy peers have already touted: NCSC: One more benefit of the $25 mbrshp fee is that they run a bus to Mt Tremblant every Wed for $90. This gets you a lift ticket and a comfy ride on a luxury cruiser bus. I did this for years and I always appreciated, at the end of the day, that someone else was driving me home while I was having a cold one at the back of the bus! Moreover, the Club Executive has convinced the Sutterman bros to hold CF Appreciation days on Fridays alternating at MSM & CF for active and retired military mbrs. I fall into the latter category (Damn it! I must be old!!!) and drove to MSM last Fri where I skied for free! This Fri is CF's turn if anyone fits the bill. Costco/MT tickets. I am a mbr and had a look at their passes last WE - $65 (plus tx, I presume). However, in addition to a lift ticket, you receive a $10 lunch voucher as well, thus $55 & tx is a reasonably cheap MT tix (the NCS Club sold pre-season tx for $52 for this season (in the fall of 2011) - yet another reason to join) versus the ~$90 full pop iffn you show up at MT's ticket wicket. T-66 and Club Max Discounts. Since MT started selling their T-66 limited season's passes, I have bought one every year. It is a great deal if you pay attention to the T-66 days. I always get about a dozen days out of my ~$350 pass. That's about $30/day at Tremblant! I love it!!! As mentioned by Paul, I need to try out that T-66 pass to get if I can get discounts elsewhere! Did I forget anything? That Alzheimer’s is just around the corner; I know it... BRP

Hi folks, I will likely pass on Cascades tomorrow as the temp is falling back to about -20. I am playing hooky on Friday to be at Camp Fortune. And I am definately going to Tremblant on Sunday (T-66 day) when the mercury is going to be hanging around zero. My standard MT routine is to arrive early at the North Side for opening and leave early when the traffic gets busy. I have room for 1-3 more people. Call or text me at 613-552-0034, or reply here, if interested. Brian

Nitros, "St-So" = Saint Sauveur??? - Brian

Hi Yannick, Ernie a raison, mais, personalment, j'adore mes CATEK SI. J'en ai trois fixe CATEK!!! Si vous aimerez changez les bails, allez dans le section "Want to Buy" et postez un note comme "looking to swap my CATEK OS1 SI heel piece for a regular bail," parce que j'imagine qu'il y a assez du monde comme moi qui a acheté les CATEK "regulier" et ensuite a acheté les pieces "step-in." Malheurement, j'ai recentement vendu un paire de CATEK short (j'ai des "long") avec les bails que vous cherchez :(. L'autre chose, c'est simplement de vous habituer de vos CATEK SI. Go ride, my friend! :) Cheers, Brian

Have you tried using some high-grade epoxy to reglue the inserts back into the Kessler? That is a far cheaper option!

Chris & I laid down some big trenches at Mont Cascades last night. I wish I could say "deep trenches" but snow (?) conditions were classic Eastern Canada powder. :rolleyes: There was a JP sighting (Tabby's newbie carver workmate) as well as a couple non-listers in hard boots. Cascade has their main runs open but are still blowing snow, even on all the main runs, which made cruising at speed a little more challenging as we negotiated the substantial Wed nite Hot 89.9 crowds as well as the "mini snow storms" down the Promenade! On the bright side, given the size of the piles of artificial snow accumulating, it should be good for the WE. <fingers crossed> For tomorrow, I will be at MSM with Tara if anyone else feels like playing hookey given that there is a serious dusting of snow coming in the next 24 hrs. Saturday, I will be at CF on my freeride board with my instructor suit on! - Brian

Yep. I'm in. What time are you going to be there?

Just a quick note to let all you local carvers know that MT now has all the main runs open (although they are still blowing lots of snow to get the parks built). The most entertaining view from the chair was watching a Nor-Am PGS SB event on McCullough. It was great fun watching the up-and-comers fly down the run in the fog! However, pse note that only the top of the mtn was fogged in. Most of the mtn was in bright sunshine for most of both days so we all had an awesome time!