Jack M

Thought you said those were softboots. For hardboots I'd say go for an Axxess 172, or Prior 4WD, or Coiler All-Mtn. Sean or Chris or Bruce can easily make it wider if you want. Sean will give you the details, but any Donek will handle hardboots and plates.

Check out the Donek Saber 170 GS. Pretty spot-on specs if you ask me. For softboots I think you'll appreciate the width. http://www.donek.com/saber_carve.html

wouldn't it be quicker to just walk over to your buddy and knee him in the groin?

uh, NO.

Welcome, Ballistic! Some good info here, but for the love of god, do not use ski poles.

If Shaggy will be there we will probably see some expensive belly-button dragging!

nut case!! and what is up with that RealTree camo riding gear??

Casey Stoner, elbow dragging on a motorcycle... http://www.motorcycledaily.com/2011/07/stoner-drags-elbow-at-1000-fps/

See you at ECES??

Awesome. Having been on a number of whale watches, the whale looks extremely happy and thankful at the end. I've never seen a display like that.

Michelle, take this touchy feely stuff to Off Topic, sheesh. Oh, err...

http://www.jetman.com/?p=1079 Bond. James Bond.

What? This country has never been more left.

Given that Sugarloaf can't even figure it out that leaving rock-hard ice moguls down the side of Spillway renders one third of the trail unusable, I don't have high hopes that they could grasp such logic. That said, I have been pleasantly surprised with the quality of grooming and the edgeability of the snow surface after a thaw/freeze in recent years.

I can carve and enjoy imperfect snow surfaces, but unlike certain types who like to ride old "shabby-chic" boards by choice, I do not get off on suffering. ;) Still not sure what you mean by this. Do you mean wait to groom after a snowstorm? Or just groom less often in general? If the former, man I wish Sugarloaf would get out there and groom while it's still snowing and again immediately after it stops. So often we'll get 6 inches of snow followed by a foot of wind! I wish they'd pack it down before it all gets scoured away. If the latter, um, I'm still not sure why that would be a good thing....?

Indeed Coiler and Prior must also be considered. Top-shelf boards.

Well if it's $1100 that's basically a wash. I'm not trying to say whether Donek or Virus is the better board, just that at the level of riding you've indicated you're at, you're not going to feel a difference between two premium boards like that, so you may as well save your money. I'm not trying to put you down here at all, just giving it to you straight. Now, your statements are conflicting. You say you want to get into Extreme Carving, but you also say your trails are too narrow for it. I think you should master that 12m Nidecker you already have before you go dropping 4 figures on any new board. A 12m sidecut can be carved on narrow trails, under the right feet.

I'm interested to learn what you expect to get out of a $1500 board that you will not get out of a $1000 full custom Donek?

That's just crazy talk.

Red flag. If you can't handle a 12m sidecut, you will not realize the benefits of a $1500 board. The Nidecker is a fine board, it is not holding you back. When you feel like YOU are riding better than IT, that is the time to think about an upgrade. 12m is not a long radius. The EC guys use 13m boards and longer. Extreme Carving is an expert-level maneuver. Trying to do it before you have mastered basic carving will usually result in bad habits like bending over at the waist and reaching down for the snow with your hands.

Thanks guys. You know what's weird is I've been doing this for 20 years and at 37 I feel like I'm still getting better. Must be all the new tech.

LMAO. Bruce is going to rule the Provincial racing geriatric age class!! By the way, my wife works for Pfizer. I will trade Viagra for my next custom.

I've known a handful. Hardboot carving is a pursuit of mastery. One that never really ends, but asymptotically approaches perfection. I think some people just give up on that, or they think they'll never be as good as they'd hoped. Softboot riding doesn't really demand that you spend years mastering it - you can if you want to, but as long as you can cruise around the mountain with your friends and not make them wait, it's all good. You can be terminally mediocre at it and have fun, while being terminally mediocre at hardbooting is not fun and often painful.

That is my understanding as well. Didn't realize they also made "hook" or VSR (short-long-medium) shapes before. Yeah Randy, I'm waiting for the 5DIII too. :D

oh, cool. Whether it's 12-16-14 or 11-13-12, it's still overall longer at the tail than the nose, and that's good. Wow, you've got the first Kessler VSR! Special board you got there! My take on that is here: http://www.bomberonline.com/articles/newhotness.cfm Scroll down to where it says World Cup Designs if you don't want to read the whole thing.