derm75

Is the BX still available? I might be interested. What shape is the base in? Thanks, Jeremy

I agree w/ D-Sub In your "Tale of Two Customer Services" you are comparing your positive experience with one company and someone else's poor experience with another. Poor strategy for an argument, and really one that serves no purpose, as you never ask a question or look for more information. If you want to give props to someone, give it, but not at the expense of someone you've never dealt with! p.s. I have a Prior Split.

that is what I have.

MSR Lightning Ascent are an awesome pair of snowshoes. Lightweight, great traction when you need it, climbing bar for steep ascents. I bought a pair for my Dad for X-Mas last year and a pair for myself this year. If you are looking at these for snowboard ascents the Denali ar Denali Ascents might work better with snowboard boots, and you can add the optional floatation tails to adjust for weight/ snow depth. I use my Lightning Ascents with GoreTex running shoes and gaiters, but they look like they will work with my size 11 Burton Driver boots with a little bit of trimming of the deck material to eliminate boot rub, which they explain in the instructions that come with them. But like I said the Denali's might work better 'cause they are sized to work with bigger boots if that is what you plan to do. I'm in Denver if you would like to try the Ascents out some time, and REI rents the Denali's I believe. Jeremy

Have seen the Topo Black in person, two thumbs up.

I had a Burton M6 stolen at a resort in Wisconsin about 15 years ago, wasn't locked. The thief tried to sell it at a swap meet at my local shop and I recognized it and he got busted. Insurance had already paid me for it so I kept the money and upgraded to a PJ6 that I still have in the garage. I wish I still had the M6 too.

All Boards Sports in Boulder, had 1 or 2 a couple weeks ago, not sure about specs, a little out of my price range so I didn't look too hard. http://www.allboardssports.com/

The Madd arrived in good shape just as advertised, and 4 days early! Hard to be Madd at that!

email sent.

email sent.

First of all, I'm not dissing you, I'm dissing the magazine testers. But you did say, and I quote, "The magazine will have to publish their results, but I doubt many will be surprised to find that by the end of the five-day test the STs were left in the board rack. Pretty specialist tools, those." You were talking about them testing powder boards, and my take on your comment was that ST's are too specialized for general powder riding, perhaps not what you intended. Your last post mentioned BC cat riding, which to me conjures up an image of untracked powder, which IMHO is the perfect place for a ST. You mentioned pro riders, who have been known to huck cliffs and kickers in the BC, something I am not likely to do. Perhaps that makes an ST unappealing to them. Different strokes for different folks. You seem to agree with what your preception of their opinion is, what is your BC board of choice? I labored over the choice between the Prior ST and Khyber, and in the end I chose the ST. In a perfect world I'd have both.

refried- is yours one of the new pointy nose ones or the old rounder nose? I got a Prior Swallowtail Splitboard about 2 months ago (with the round nose) and absolutely love it. The new nose is kind of a turn-off for me, the old nose never wobbled near as much as my O-Sin 4807. I have been considering getting a Pow Stick as my main resort board because of how well the split handled the groomers, but now with the longer nose and decreased effective edge, I'll probabally see if I can get one of the old ones. Future Snowboarding magazine was testing powder boards and the swallowtails got left in the rack? Specialist tools? Yeah, for POWDER wtf?!

I own both of those boards, the O-Sin 168 and the Prior Split Swallowtail 172. The O-Sin: Fun in untracked pow, makes really tight "slash" and"cutback" type turns. Carves surprisingly well at slow to medium speeds on good snow. For me this board is not much fun in variable conditions, or when the pow gets tracked out. It likes a perfectly flat canvas or that big boat nose starts flopping around. The Prior Split Swallowtail: Rocks the pow-pow, no back leg fatigue, excels at medium to large turns, but I've had no issues in the trees, it comes around as quickly as I need it to. Also a great carver, at any speed, in most conditions. I think the standard nose makes the difference there. As for torsional rigidity, if I couldn't see it I wouldn't know it was a split. The verdict: For me, the Prior wins, hands down. I'm selling my O-Sin and my Arbor A-Frame 170 and buying a Prior Pow Stick to use as my main resort board. At $1000 US, my Splitboard is just too expensive to use as my everyday resort board.

I haven't been hardbooting much this year, but I've taken my Prior Swallowtail Splitboard to the resorts a few times to access some of the hike-to terrain at Keystone and Copper and Breck, and I pretty much can't get in a liftline without someone commenting on the swallowtail or the split hardware. I need some business cards, 'cause some days I just feel anti-social and it's hard to be polite to everyone in the lift line, even though I know I'm an ambassador for a sub-speciality even smaller than hardbooters. Maybe I'll get some Bomber Splitboard bindings for it, and them people won't know which question to ask first...

I started hardbooting on '91, I think, with Scarpa plastic mountaineering boots in Burton Freestyle bindings with the highbacks removed on an M6. The next year I got some horrific green and white hardboots made by Alpina (?) maybe... I remember they had a white lugged sole, green lowers and white uppers. Used those with the freestyle bindings for part of the season and got a PJ6 and some Burton plates towards the end of the season, I think.