Gabe T

I’ve seen various F2 parts fail but t nuts is the most common failure. I often need to replace them either from breakage or warping. I’d say I replace at least about 3 or 4 each season. A friend of mine breaks a crap load of them too. Yeah, the wiggle test is good idea at the end of the day or when heading out to spot signs of trouble. Taking the bindings off the board for the occasional inspection is also a good idea as warping of the t nuts is usually a sign of pending breakage. (Lift off the dampening pads to inspect the t nuts.) I’ve also seen a few bail failures and experienced one myself. Have also seen a bolt failure as well as a metal base plate crack experienced by others. All F2 parts are available for replacement although I did notice that the prices for the parts seem to have gone up quite a bit in recent years. One short lived T-nut now costs about $5 CAD. $40 for cosmetic plastic disk covers? Ouch! If you wanted to build your own bindings from buying individual parts, an Intec setup would cost just under $800 CAD. : )

It would be interesting to know what the real statistics are for the industry past and present. Sales, participants, demographics etc. If these kind of stats were available, it would give us a better sense of where things are heading. Seeing the numbers around the time Burton pulled out would have been interesting too. I think the idea of growing the sport through racing was to inject some youth into the sport, thereby ensuring its longevity. For this to make sense, one would need to have a sense of past trends. (i.e. what happens to that youth demographic as you move through the timeline?) Racing participation will help the industry but relying on another niche aspect of alpine snowboarding as a primary growth strategy may not be the best from a business perspective. Even at the highest levels of racing, I get the sense there is a decline of sorts; less sponsorship dollars, fewer World Cup events, fewer Alpine Olympic events with the removal of Slalom. This could have trickle down effects to lower levels or racing in the future. The prevailing sentiment on the forum is that alpine is on the decline or is at least trending that way given that carvers are part of an aging population, at least in North America. Everyone will have their own stories and experiences at the local level, which may not be a reflection of the community at large. If I were in my own little world, I would actually think things were not so grim. As mentioned, equipment advances and choices have never been better. On some weekends, I have seen as many as 13 or 14 carvers on my hill, which is a heck of a lot more than when I started. Old and young are among them. Among the newer riders are an older couple who I knew as regular skiers and a friend’s son that wanted to get into alpine. These were examples of people getting involved solely based on having observed alpine carving at our hill and wanting to try it. This conventional method of exposure is probably not unlike how a lot of us started; you see someone doing something well that looks cool and fun .. you want to do it too. Problem is that type of exposure if very limited. Even if your riding technique is regarded as something one would strive to emulate, you have to factor in that the exposure to conversion rate is going to be very very small. A lot of things have changed in the last 25 years (including how quick and broadly information can be disseminated) but it seems like how we share and expose the sport to outsiders remains unchanged.

If they started racing 20 years ago and were still riding alpine, then they would no longer be kids today. : ) Where are they now? I just get the feeling that even if you get kids into racing, that doesn’t necessarily translate into a life long passion. I think there are many reasons kids might get into racing. Being deeply passionate about the sport may not be everyone’s motivation. Even for those who are more serious and competitive that dedicate most or all of their snow time to alpine during their racing years, I wonder how many continue to do the same once they stop racing. Do they shift gears to freeriding for pleasure or do they use that freedom as an opportunity to experience different things on the mountain? I recall seeing a story a few year back about Ross Rebagliati and I got the impression that he spent all his mountain time on skis. In the past 20 years, I’ve definitely seen a decline locally in the number of racers at the Provincial races that are usually held at my home hill. It seems that many of the clubs that once had race programs just don’t have enough interest or resources to continue with programs. There’s also been a decline in the number of local race events during the season. Like most things these days, social media plays a big part in how things become popular among youth. I was recently watching some snowboard videos from Youtube creators who frequently post frequent vlogs. There seems to be a small community of them who all know each other and guest on each others’ channels; Ryan Knapton being one. If there was a similar snowboarding Youtuber that could demonstrate and present both freestyle and alpine content, that could help with getting youth exposed to the sport. Even better if they could throw in some freestyle elements as part of their alpine carving riding. The majority of the content would still need to be softboard freestyle riding with the occasional focus on alpine as you don’t want to alienate your core audience. Even if the alpine content is enough to pique interest in a small percentage, that would help. Perhaps some kids may have the attitude of “I want to be like that guy and do it all”. At the very least, it becomes part of their consciousness so that there’s an opportunity for it to be revisited later in life. In addition to riding style and ability, you of course also need someone that has the qualities and charisma to garner a youthful audience. Might be a tall order to fulfill all these requirements!

This happened to me a few years ago when I happened to be carving in softboots. I did my usual shoulder check before starting down the run and noticed a couple of people standing behind me. One of them said something like “go ahead, we just came to watch”. One of them had seen me earlier and brought a friend to check it out. Finished the run, then got high fives from them. : ) They were both skiers as well. Just this past weekend, the Provincial championships were being held at my home hill. I did some runs under the chair that included some 180 switch transitions. A few runs later, a teenage racer walked over from the starting gate area as I got off the chair. He had a smile on his face and told me how cool it looked.: )

In case you were wondering, this was a reference to photo finish tie with 2 winners. if this were the Olympics, would that mean no Silver? Btw, this was first of back to back events. There was another race the following day. Burns lost to JJA but made it to semis the next day. What happened to Ester this season? Is she skiing most of the time? Just saw she did win another ski race earlier in season. Also won PGS race this season but looks like not entered in most events?

Looks like a good time. Collision at 6:54. Tsk tsk! Looks like folks were fine but that looked totally avoidable. What brand of boards were people riding?

Wondering how cold temps affect battery life in the more recent models. Watched some reviews about the 8. Seemed like improved stabilization over the 7 but no ability to change the lens cover if scratched or damaged on the 8 was a common complaint.

I saw a video about the recommended fitting method of heating the boot shell instead of the liner. My only experience with customizing liners has been with Deeluxe thermos. I’ve got some hotspots (navicular bone, base of small toe) that were addressed through heat molding only; no need to punch out shells. Will the Zipfit method transfer enough heat to the inside of the liner to have the same effect? Can the molding process happen more than once (e.g. if one decides to change boot shell models)

My experience has been the similar sentiment with the article. Once my technique was refined, I found myself to be much more confident with my heel side turns. The body angulates more naturally in that position and it’s the side that feels more powerful when edging. It also feels safer when you happen to lose grip; a bit a hip slide if you’re already low and you can pop back up and continue if you’re carrying enough speed. Nothing worse than the dreaded toe side chatter on ice when you’re going Mach 10! The differences are most noticeable for me when conditions demand fast transitions into high edge angles (fast conditions, steeps, ice). I was reflecting on this after reading some recent threads and I think part of this can be attributed to the heel lift in my boots that I’ve always been dealing with. Perhaps time to look seriously into other boot/liner options!

What does 6,6, 7,7 in US size represent? Were they supposed to be .5? Why does cm column have duplicate values? Typos?

Similar failure happened to me many years ago I make it a point to always remove my liner now. Even on cold days, I am sometimes surprised at the snow that manages to get inside the boot. It must get in there through the gaps that get created when the boot flexes.

Curious if you take out the liner regularly for drying out boots?

I’ve always wondered why they were included as standard. Don’t all intec compatible boots already have t nuts built in? I think only some very early model boots e.g. Raichle 123 would need them for installation.

YYZ Canuck sells FA clothing.

No and no. There is a photo in the second link showing the snowboarder without the foliage hiding the feet. I had visited the site before but completely missed seeing the carver. It was among several figures in a sculpture garden. Most of them were clustered together but the snowboarder was situated lower along the stairs doing its own thing.

He was not my first choice at a guess. I was actually thinking about its debut at the Olympics in Nagano. Goggle shape and smaller head/helmet profile seem to be similar to Canadian team at the time. JJA was there too (damn he’s old!), but he’d need 3 more Olympics before winning the gold.

It was a nice surprise when I came across this sculpture earlier this summer. I'm not sure when it was created or who it was modeled after but you can take your best guesses. A somewhat obvious candidate did come to mind for me. The sculpture was done by late Canadian artist William Lishman. Some links about the artist and sculpture location: http://williamlishman.com/blog/ https://urbantoronto.ca/news/2016/02/bridgepoint-hospital-unites-healthcare-arts

Yes, this was referred to as the Contra which I believe was a name johnasmo came up with. I wouldn’t necessarily say that you can’t push it or ride it aggressively but it does have a different feel from what I’m used to. I still feel a bit more comfortable with being able to make subtle fore/aft weight shifts as needed when riding low with high edge angles. There are certain playful features I like in a board that don’t seem as compatible with having to ride so centered ...initiating a jump turn with a bit of a nose slide, flipping/pivoting the board 180, getting some pop by loading up the tail at the end of a turn. Not sure if this was something related to setup, but I also got the feeling of being too locked in at times when my weight strayed from being centered while I was low in a turn; when weight got too far back, it took a bit more effort getting back over to the opposite edge. Keep in mind that I didn’t spend that much time on the board and didn’t experiment with any tweaks in terms of setup. Sometimes it does take more time in different conditions to discover all its characteristics. This was also an early version of the board so I’m sure it will only get better with subsequent iterations.

Yes, there were a couple of distinct designs he worked on this past season. They are not on the website. If you’re in line for a board, you may find out more about them. They are like those items at a Chinese restaurant that are only known to regulars or those that can read the Chinese menu : ) He did spend some time working on some new stuff including a line of high performance boards. (Actually these were the Sick Day protos/demos that Bruce sent to MCC) I believe one of the main changes had to do with a design change in the core profiles. I spent quite a bit of time riding a Nirvana version of this board. This was my preferred ride for fast firm conditions. Great ice performance and when things start to get a bit choppy, it still cut through nicely with plenty of stability. It definitely had a bit of a Wow factor when riding in more challenging conditions. It’s a rewarding board for those who like to ride aggressively; a bit more of a demanding ride. A friend of mine got one early last season and loved it. (Nirvana V4 was on the topsheet so that may or may not be the official name for it) I think Bruce may have sold only one or two other versions of this board last season. He also dabbled in a design that has sidecut/design features similar to the Thirst line of boards with his usual metal construction. After trying it out, I felt many of the same characteristics that I had read about from the Thirst board reviews: In particular the feeling of having to ride centered and being able to edge confidently without having to get too low. It was very easy to ride. Almost too easy! Once you get it on edge the board just goes and locks in nicely; it doesn’t seem to need or want any additional power/push from the rider. I can definitely see the allure of a ride like that but I’d say my personal preference is for a board that is a bit more dynamic; I still like getting that response from the board when I give it that extra push and like the ability to pressure the nose at times. Bruce seemed to really enjoy it. It’s one of those boards that you can ride all day without feeling it too much in yours legs.

It could be argued that carving on an alpine snowboard setup has a lot more similarities to skiing than it does with a conventional duck stance setup on a soft boot board. As I became a more proficient skier I began to notice this more and more.

The hill around here closed at the end of March so I'm done for the season. Most of the footage in this video was actually shot over a year ago in 2018. This was a version of a Nirvana Energy dubbed the 'Nuclear' Energy at the time. One of the characteristics of the design is a fairly large differential in sidecut between the nose and tail. I think 10 at the front and 14 at the rear if I recall correctly. The original thought behind the design/name was that it was going to provide some additional pop. That intended feature was actually not that noticeable. Yes, you could still get some pop out of it but I wouldn't say it was significantly more than some other Coiler designs. Nevertheless, I found the board to be a lot of fun and actually spent quite a bit of time on it this past season. I found it very versatile and playful. It could handle faster bigger turns yet was nimble when things got crowded. This T4 design performed well in firm choppy conditions, yet it was also a preferred board when the snow conditions were on the slow side; very easy to initiate at slower speeds. I also found it fun in soft fresh bumpy snow in terms of being able to feather a slide using my lower body.

I know that he has built high camber versions of some of his models. Like Lowrider mentioned, there are other factors involved to get the desired effect you’re seeking. There are probably suitable options even without the higher camber.

Looks nice! What sort of topsheet material is used? Is that a graphic print on plastic top? It almost has a textured look to it. When you refer to bent up and chipping metal is that from lift chair dings?

Glad to hear you’re looking into joining the community! I started skiing around your age and I definitely think that experience along with your boarding experience will help. No pressure, but I’d expect the same. : ) Just this past week, I had the experience of helping out a newbie get her first taste on an alpine board. She has skied for a few years and more recently took up snowboarding as well. After expressing some interest in trying it, she was on a setup within a week! (I often hear comments from people wanting to try but most never follow through with it) Bruce was kind enough to loan her his wife’s equipment to try out. We’re into the spring conditions these days but the quietness of the hill made it ideal to learn and get a feel for the equipment. I had seen that she was pretty competent on skis and board so was pretty confident she could pick it up. Took a couple of short runs accompanied with some tips and that was pretty much enough to get her going on her own. I met up later to check on her progress and she was already carving linked turns. : ) I was a bit surprised when I found out later that she had only been snowboarding for less than a year! Confident that she will be pursuing it further and getting her own equipment. Would be happy to help you out if you’re ever at Mount St. Louis.

My early impressions from riding T4 designs was that they generally had better edge hold and were able to power through choppier crumbly conditions more effectively; cut through nicely without getting bounced around as much. The other difference is that it had a slightly harsher feel compared to T3. However, it should be noted that other design features of the board will also impact its ride characteristics. Although the T4 designs had provided some of the best edge hold I’ve experienced on a Coiler, I have recently felt comparable edge hold on a recently built T3 design.