Jack M

Rob, whatever. Side with the anti-alpiners if you must, I will side with us. You really couldn't tell I wrote the whole thing? On April Fool's Day? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The point was to show the hypocrisy in Tom Kelley's statement about interest and participation, by comparing alpine snowboarding to other fringe sports with seemingly just as little or less interest and participation. Seriously, there are 4 Luge clubs in the US, and only TWO tracks - Lake Placid and Park City.

Thanks Helmut! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Aaaand the deal falls through (understandably). Who's next?

Bomber has demos in Silverthorne, not far from Keystone. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Late Breaking News: BomberOnline has just conducted an impromptu phone interview with an anonymous source at USSA, regarding the state of the US Alpine Snowboard Team. The transcription follows: BOL: What can you tell us about the decision to de-fund the US Alpine Snowboard Team? Anon: Well, on condition of strict anonymity, I'm here to set the record straight on this. USSA Spokesman Tom Kelly suggested the funding changes for alpine snowboarding reflected interest and participation. "The focus in snowboarding in America is very centric to halfpipe and slopestyle," he said. Obviously we know this is nonsense. How many Americans are avidly participating in Luge, 10? Bobsled? How many Short Track Speed Skating leagues do you know of? There are exactly 5 Olympic size ski jumps in the nation. Clearly "interest and participation" are not criteria for deciding a sport's Olympic worth. BOL: Did USSA believe Alpine Snowboarding wouldn't make good TV? Anon: Please. Cross-country skiing makes good TV? How many people actually watch all 27 televised disciplines of figure skating? Head-to-head snowboard racing has to be at least as exciting to watch as solo ski races against the clock. The Olympics is the place to showcase non-mainstream sports once every four years for their athletic merit, not for their ability to sell advertising. Or at least it used to be. BOL: What was the real motivation for de-funding Alpine then? Anon: While most people admire what alpine snowboarders do on the hill, other people take the elitist attitude that snowboarding in boots resembling ski boots is somehow distasteful. We've already seen evidence of this attitude when FIS and USSA banned the use of speed suits in snowboard speed events, because that's what skiers do. That was a baseless decision contrived solely on style, not safety or function. This isn't the 1990's, the skier vs snowboarder feud should be long over with. Other people simply resent people who don't snowboard like themselves, or who snowboard better than themselves, or better than they can ski. I think these attitudes have infected USSA leadership. Such obsolete and immature attitudes should have no place in deciding what is an Olympic sport and what isn't. BOL: What is going to happen to the US Alpine Snowboarding Team going forward? Anon: You have a few allies at USSA. We are fighting to get Alpine back in the budget. Clearly financial backing makes a huge difference. Look at our ex-patriot Vic Wild. The Russian team offered to support him so off he went. Who can blame him? The results speak for themselves. Before joining the Russian team Wild had stood on only one World Cup podium in his career, in 2012. The talent was there, we simply didn't have his back. That is shameful. With the financial burden of chasing his dreams off his chest, Vic was able to concentrate on the task at hand and bring home the gold. Well, bring it to Russia anyway. If Wild were still an American, Russia and USA would have tied with 11 gold medals in Sochi. Instead the score is 13 to 9. And who knows what poor Justin Reiter's life would be like now if he had enjoyed even a fraction of the support wasted on certain other US snowboarders who were practically no-shows at the Olympics.

Want a Boiler Plate? 5mm, 4-hole mounts, stock. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Ok I'll call after this meeting! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Like I said, falling leaf can be easily learned at any time after learning how to turn left and right.

Actually you said "beginner level". That can mean a few things. Anyway, pendulum or falling leaf is not snowboarding, no more than sideslipping is skiing. At advanced levels it's a self-preservation maneuver which can be learned at any time after learning how to turn left and right. I'll use it in tight trees or moguls if I have to. At the beginner level it's nothing more than a trap into which less apt beginners fall if allowed, which they then must waste time climbing out of before they can learn how to actually snowboard. In a lesson it is to be avoided, not encouraged, and duck encourages it. I suppose if one is trying to sell "snowboarding" in an hour, an instructor might identify students who simply aren't going to get it, and steer them into the falling leaf trap. This is an easy out. Then the instructor can patronize the student by telling them they learned "something" in that hour.

This isn't the only regular/goofy test you do, is it? It's pretty random and unreliable. If the beginner has never skateboarded or surfed, then the best test is to ask them which way they would run and slide across a slippery floor in their socks. I respectfully completely disagree. Backwards shouldn't enter into a beginner lesson, unless you are teaching falling leaf, which I abhor.

This does not matter. Then yes, you are regular. Snowboard regular. With which foot do you prefer to kick a football (soccer ball to us Americans)? May I guess your right foot? What does that say about your theory? I think some people could force themselves to learn to snowboard with the opposite stance*. I think probably most people can't. I remember trying a snowboard that was set up regular, before I realized I was goofy. I couldn't do a damn thing. When I finally tried a board set up goofy, I learned quickly. * About that "opposite stance"... once I tried setting up my freeride snowboard at about +5 and -5 degree binding angles. It was very easy to ride fakie this way, and switch back and forth. Then I tried setting it up with my usual angles (36/24) but regular. I couldn't ride it like that at all. I also saw a friend try to ride an alpine board set up with the opposite stance and high binding angles typical for alpine. He couldn't ride that way either. I think this is another pitfall of the current lazy trend for rental shops and instructors to set up beginners with a neutral duck stance. For those beginners who arrive to the lesson not knowing whether they are regular or goofy, it is too easy for them to feel "okay" snowboarding the wrong way, and not speak up. If the board is set up with a forward facing stance, it will become apparent that something is very wrong.

Wow. Gotta hand it to those guys! But this will sure not be FIS legal.

I did. I ran I think 36/24 to avoid boot-out. But I'm weird on softboots.

Duck might make day 1 easier, but it makes intermediate and advanced turning/carving more difficult, for most people, in my observation.

Disclaimer: I have a lot of respect for Rob and Beckman and pretty much everyone in this thread not snowboarding with ski poles. ;) ;) Believe it. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. Of course it works better for some people's bodies. Some people skateboard better mongo too. The vast majority of snowboarders I see where I ride frankly suck at turning. They also ride wide duck stances. There is no more grace, no dance. Nobody of this generation will ever ride as well as Craig Kelly or Terje Haakonsen, because their stances are all wrong. Also: Oh please! Agreed, but in the turns in the video in question, the outcome is certain. Well, it is simply a matter of mechanics that your balance will be worse when you are all bent over at the waist. This is true in every sport that requires standing.

Ah yes, The Norm!

There are two things I really hate - people intolerant of other people's opinions, and duck stance. ( )Heelside, ok fine. Toeside, sorry, it's not helping them or anybody else. They will be smoked in any objective measurement of their technique (a.k.a. a boardercross or banked slalom) by people riding correctly. At the Sugarloaf Banked slalom the fastest guys (Seth Wescott, Ross Powers, Alex Tuttle) were all arching their back on toeside and keeping their carcass over their board, not bent over to the side. Beckman, LOL - eyewash station. I guess at the end of the day if this increases interest in carving then I am all for it. Astonishingly, Snowboarding is in decline right now. I think the biggest reason is that scant few softbooters make it look good. Kids start on skis because it's easier, then they get good at it, then they don't want to go back to being a beginner again on a snowboard. And why would they? There's so few softbooters on the mountain that make anyone point and say "I want to do THAT". Duck stance and stupid-wide stances are to blame. I guess these guys are probably advertising snowboarding better than most softbooters.

Haha, sorry! I just wanted it to move. But it looks like it's not, so what do you think, $595? The kit sells for $675 on backcountry dot com.

Easy! Tossup between a Coiler Stubby 171, Donek Proteus 175, Prior FLC 173.

Gotta run but there are some articles in my links below to help get into the sport. Welcome and good luck!

The need for self-arrest tells me you were on terrain above your ability. Spend some time getting to know your sidecut on the gentler slopes. Master them before worrying about equipment or advanced technique. Wax on, wax off. Hilarious thread title by the way.

25.4cm

Come on, who wants a DEAL on a $900 splitty?

updated, thank you!!!