Jack M

Heh, I didn't mean to sound like every student is going to or needs to get injured in a beginner lesson. I meant that they are going to find out that their own sheer awesomeness isn't enough to just strap on a snowboard and go. Once that realization happens, like Dave said they gain an instant respect for the people who can do it, regardless of equipment.

http://www.bomberonline.com//articles/cross_over.cfm Cross-through is basically cross-under for fast, GS sized turns. If you're too low to do cross-under, you do cross-through. Basically you start to rise up like the beginning of a cross-over, but only enough to complete the transition with a cross-under move. Hence, "cross-through".

completely disagree. I can think of many riders here who make it look effortless. Paul K, Eric J, GeoffV, ~tb, Arcrider, the list goes on.

:D Helmut definitely gets it done, and he is going for two-handed second base with the snow on every turn. However there is touching the snow and then there is reaching down for the snow. The mystery photos in this article are examples of an unbalanced position. Butt in the air, bent over at the waist, reaching down. No match for ice or bumps.

Thanks for the heads-up Mark. Thoughts and carves to Kimo!

A wide enough alpine board will do well in cut up powder. My board has a 21cm waist and it conquers all!! I had an absolute blast in an 18" dump last year, and I am taking it to Jackson Hole next month. It's not even an "all-mountain" alpine board per se, just a wide carving board.

I think your trail ratings are different than ours. You should start learning to carve on the easier trails. Not the baby hill, but the easy trails.

No it isn't. But if I'm low enough that the snow is right there anyway, I don't have a problem with touching it as a feeler for how far over I am. Motorcycle racers touch their knee to the pavement for similar reasons. But it is not the goal. Reaching down for the snow will put you in a bad position. <img src="http://www.jmphotocraft.com/profile/h1.jpg" width=600>

I can't imagine anyone teaching in hardboots for the primary purpose of promoting them. When I was teaching, working for Erik, I taught in hardboots for one real reason: in order to maximize my own carving time during off-hours (early morning, lunch, late pm) and that was that. The fact that I was putting hardboots in front of newbies was a nice bonus. I taught hundreds of newbies over 4 seasons and my equipment was never -never- an issue. (granted it was still visible in the Burton catalog... not sure if that matters) I disagree in a beginner lesson. Erik has it right, once the student gets their first big helping of humble pie and gets their ass handed to them by the cool softboot equipment they're on, the focus turns inward and attitudes and egos disappear real fast.

It sounds like you're ready. If you can carve your softboot snowboard and you can change edges while the board is still pointing across the hill, you're probably ready to try hardboots. Good luck!

With Madd, the sidewall color or year of vintage can't always be used to be certain of what's in the board. From the picture the inserts definitely seem to have that brass color. I can't read the red text though. If that's one of the inserts you wanted to use, you will be able to get very close to it with the other inserts and the other holes in the bindings. If you successfully mount bindings to the board and you fall in love with the board, never take those bindings off again!

Don't buy anything over the internet or out of a drug store. Go get some custom orthotics made for your feet, and use those. Expect to pay upwards of $200, and don't sweat the price. It's worth it, I wouldn't ride without mine, and I don't have foot problems.

Angles of 60 plus are fairly common, and if you ride them right it's not a problem. I'm at 58 degrees now on a 21cm wide board and I prefer it, but I used to be at 66 degrees on an 18cm wide board. It was no problem for carving, but not so good for all-mtn riding. You have to remember that at these angles turning becomes more of a side-to-side motion, and less of a "frontside/backside" motion. And forget about kicking the tail of the board around to skid turns. You will have an easier time once you figure out how to turn (carve or skid) without swiveling at the waist. Think board and body turn as one. One test is when you go for a heelside turn, does your front hand swing across the front of the board to the toeside of the board? You want to avoid this.

Your boots are probably too big. Put your naked foot in the shell without the liner, with your big toe touching the end. If you can get 2 fingers behind your heel, it's too big. The new Deeluxe Speed Model Red liners take up more volume than the black, you should get some of those if you don't want to get smaller boots. http://www.bomberonline.com/store/accessories/hpd_liner.cfm

true, but PSR isn't a far drive from there.

you should charge a fee. you're undercutting other instructors.

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/computers This was me and my 60-something neighbor to a tee.

Bah. If my choices are A) go out of business and retrain myself for a career change but with my street cred intact, or B) accept an offer on the table to sell out and pocket a wad of cash, I'm going with B every time. However I'd like to think I wouldn't have gotten to that point in the first place, and that I've made my snowboard company into a thriving enterprise.

so, uhh, what kind of liner goes in there? injected?

Tinkler?

sorry for the brief response, I'm "multitasking" in a meeting at work! cross-through is one way to get on your new edge and angulate sooner. also try the front boot cuff grab, and see how quickly you can change hands. and thank you for thanking me! :D

http://www.bomberonline.com/articles/practice_drills.cfm http://www.bomberonline.com//articles/cross_over.cfm

If anyone can do Mr. T it's Shaq.

"I destroyed the Team Tantalus 175!! It happened during normal carving. No crashes, no improper setup, bindings were tight, No user mistakes. I do ride pretty hard but it should not matter!!" I dunno, I read that as upset and implying poor construction.

Cool. I wouldn't know for sure about Intuition as I've never seen them in person. I thought I'd heard that the old gray Raichle Thermoflex became Intuition. They certainly look similar. But at any rate, I can tell you the reds seem to be the same material as the grays I still have. But yes, a good toe cap is very much required for molding. I would also strongly advise leaving your footbed in the liner during molding.