Jack M

I hope you meant to say bamboo perpendicular to the direction of the board, not the fall line. Facing the fall line is bad because it is, well, not really possible on toeside, and on heelside it would cause you to open up and "sit" on the turn while letting the board rotate underneath you. Not good. Sliding, skidding, or pushing a board around is another discussion, but carves start with the ankles and toes and move up the chain from there. As long as your body alignment/position is good, your hands don't even need to be part of the equation. The guys in these videos are good carvers, but they are just using their hands to be stylish. They would probably deny that, but when you get right down to it it's true. They could do everything they're doing without waving their hands around. Of course for learning good body position, it is helpful to keep your hands in front of you where you can see them at all times while carving.

you are correct sir. 4500 lbs, for the 4wd version.

This is incorrect. You will not find any accomplished alpine instructor or race coach who will agree with this.

Don't Jeeps have bad reliability? We just got a Honda Pilot, it's great. According to Consumer Reports it gets better mileage than most full size minivans, except the Honda Odyssey, which gets 1mpg better. Seats 8, or fold the 3rd row seat down for lots of cargo room and seating for 5. "Realtime" 4WD is FWD until you need more traction. 3.5L V6 runs on 3 cylinders while cruising. Comes with tow bar, just add a hitch. The Mazda CX9 got better driving reviews, but the Honda will have better resale value. If you can wait maybe a month, Ford just revealed the 2011 Explorer, looks nice. It's now unibody, instead of body-on-frame.

Hardly "many". I agree with Buell, I think you are projecting a few negative experiences onto the rest of the group, and are stereotyping us as softboot haters. That's wrong. Now, if someone comes here and incessantly nags that you can carve well on softies, that is just asking for trouble.

Gear hate is an interesting thing. I can understand where it comes from - you might think someone makes strange or poor choices in the gear they use, therefore they must have different interests or values than you, or they're ignorant, or worse, stupid. It is an easy leap to go from thinking someone is stupid to hating them, but hopefully most people grow out of that as they become upstanding adults. I'm guilty of thinking that owning a three-wheeled motorized vehicle is a stupid decision, but I stop short of hating these people and I'm not going to go infiltrate their internet forums just to mess with them. We have just dealt with another hardboot hater who has been posting under at least 3 different aliases. What the hell is wrong with these people? What complete losers.

The official ECES only happens every other year on the even years, but that's not to say that some other eastern session named something else can't spring up. I'm always up for Sugarloaf. No I won't organize it. ;)

your tax dollars at work.

I'm morbidly curious to see that "carve howto" article.

What do you mean "and Kessler"? Was Hansjurg there? Or did you carry a board around the course? need pics man!

Awesome, thanks!

For Apex? The price is on their site. $1100. I'm out.

Mike was an early inspiration of mine, it was an incredible thrill to meet him at SES05. Get well soon!! A photo I snapped at SES05 of Mike Jacoby and Chris Karol:

Sure, it can be done. But a lot of people including me simply will not put their kids in a 2 door for safety concerns. If my car is on its roof or side or sinking or one side of it is smashed closed, I want maximum quick egress options. But more to the point, once your kids are old enough to have friends and a sense of a little independence, you will be carting them and their friends all over creation to all kinds of activities. Sports, school, play dates, day camp, day care, birthday parties, movies, outings, weekend trips, and on and on. If you have two kids, having seats for 4 kids means not having to take two cars, and it means you can carpool with other families, saving each other unnecessary trips. That cannot be understated. Don't forget the front seat is not an option until they reach a minimum weight; in Maine, 100 pounds. Our kids are 5 and 8 and the 5 year old isn't quite to the point of wanting to have a friend along very often, but when she is the Outback will be too small. When I was a kid we used to pile in the "way back" of the Malibu station wagon, but those days are long gone. So, I'm confident the statement "most Americans don't need more than a 2 door commuter car" is false. Now, personally I'd be willing to have a family truckster in the garage and commute on a motorcycle or scooter, but it's not usually feasible because usually I have to do drop-off or pick-up on my way to/from work. My moto hasn't been out of the garage yet this year. :(

most americans don't have kids? interesting.

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Welcome to the forum, and glad to have you back.

LMAO, you owe me one keyboard!!!

Grad school immediately after college is just more college. You still don't really know why you're there. Take at least a year off. Work. Ride. Live. Pay rent. Feed yourself. Pay bills. Balance a checkbook. Pay taxes. The fact that you want to go to grad school somewhere in ski country tells me your head won't be in school. I was a B-C student in college. I graduated, worked for 3 years, and then went to grad school and got A's and B's.

Don't even start with Maine, guy. We aim to please... you aim too, please.

pretty sure that was Brushie, and I don't think he won that race.

Yes! Big time Burton A-team freestyle guy no less! No comment on the slalom "technique" page, but hey, it's better than nothing!

ok, is it just me or does helmet + sunglasses = DORK? and Dan, I can't understand how that stat isn't valid...?

lol, good one. the lakers deserved it this time. classic series, nice come-from behind win last night. oh, but it's still 17-16, biatch.

SBS, I highly recommend you forget about carrying the torch for photodad, right now.