Jack M

Loon has the best full service <i>resort</i> experience in that area. Cannon is rather old-timey (which is cool if you want that), and Sunapee is more of a "ski area", not quite a resort. Although I haven't been to Waterville Valley in a while, I think the trail layout and skill level is better at Loon for family skiing. There is some tough stuff for you there too. The only downside to Loon is that there are 2.5 base areas, so it is possible to get separated. Just keep the kids in sight and tell them to stop at any intersection and you'll be fine.

yeah, do it! :D You'll notice the price has been lowered... now's your chance... the stars are aligned...

ski in/out is key with kids. You'll see. :) Keep an eye on ECES news, it may end up being the last week of February. You won't find better rates anywhere.

Nice! What an ideal way to ski-bum. May I ask what level of experience they require? And do they provide the camera? Just curious... as a semi-pro photog myself.

Cannon's grooming can't touch Loon or Sunapee. Only reason I didn't say Sunapee was the OP requested ski in/ski out accomodations. AFAIK, Sunapee doesn't have it, right?

Loon.

Hi Ernie, very sorry I didn't get back to you. I just found your email and it came on June 20, which is the day we left for a week's vacation in Jamaica. I guess your message got buried while I was gone. You didn't mention the board though. It's the 180, per the title of the thread. Specs are in the OP. It's a 2005, before they started making multiple stiffnesses. Between 2005 and 2008, I weighed 170 to 180, and it worked great for aggressive carving. I did not ride it in the 2008/2009 season.

We will probably get one trail on one day, but at Sugarloaf it's almost unnecessary during the midweek, and you can really relax. The place is all but empty. We'll see.

Last time I was at Okemo was '96, but I distinctly remember being struck by how narrow the trails were. Also it's no more challenging than Stratton so I don't really see the point of bothering to go there too.....?

born-again virgin, eh?

still available.

We've reviewed Stowe's bid. They're out of the running for this year. I wasn't very impressed with the grooming anyway. Stratton and Sugarloaf's prices are very close, so we're evaluating other criteria now.

Would you like to see alpine snowboard demos and possibly other equipment at ECES 2010? PLEASE ONLY VOTE IF YOU ARE SERIOUSLY THINKING OF ATTENDING. Also only vote yes if you would be willing and able to purchase/order a board after demo'ing it. No joyriders.

omg, totally! and ya know, even though I was only 13 at the time, I knew the shot of the chick folding the gum into her mouth was hot for some reason, and now I know why!

We're reviewing bids from Sugarloaf and Stratton and figuring out what to do about demos. People want demos, right?

Catek Freeride.

I would now call that "running length". I guess. Hmm, I would estimate more like 20cm shorter if nose and tail are both new-school decambered. Yeah. When the board is carving the edge penetrates down into the snow, so a lot more of it is actually being "effective" than what the running length would suggest. This is why traditional noses don't work as well. Too abrupt. They have made similar copy-paste errors before. We'll probably see a corrected specs sheet shortly.

2 points to that. 1, I don't think the specs page of those boards is totally accurate. They still list the taper as 4mm, which is what the traditional WCRs used to have. I would really think 4mm would be impossible with a 2m difference in nose/tail sidecut radius. 2, We can't measure "effective edge" in the traditional way anymore where "effective edge" was the same thing as "running length". A board with a decambered nose would measure as having much less effective edge by the old method. I can assure you during an actual carve the edge is engaged with the snow almost all the way up the nose - probably right up to the "corner" where the outline of the nose turns back to the center. So in fact I would expect to see a decambered nose board to have even more "effective edge" than a traditional board because the nose is so blunt. I'm pretty confident these Priors have the decambered nose. The question I have about the FLC is that the verbage implies this is a recreational board that can also be used for gates instead of the other way around. I would have thought that this new "Kessler-style" shape would be used on their flagship race machine, but the WCR doesn't have it. Which board does Prior recommend for serious racing? And is the construction of the FLC watered down at all compared to the WCR?

how bout a shot of the tiny engine? isn't it a single or 2 cylinder? Shred told me that the BMW "Roundel" logo is an abstract representation of what a two blade airplane propeller looks like at speed. It's a reference to BMW's previous business as a military aircraft manufacturer before they were bannished from that industry as part of the WWII peace treaty.

B2 is more like a schtubby... This is more like a Kessler shape. Hmm... looks like my Kessler vs. North America review just got more interesting.

What, did Sugarloaf install a moat when I wasn't looking?

It's not the crowds that are the problem it's that the resort does not have to be aggressive with pricing to fill beds. We could get better rates a different week. We'll see though. Would that mean Team 32 would be in the house? That would be a significant consideration!

Tell me about it! We're waiting for bids from Sugarloaf, Stratton and Stowe to determine where it will be. Best bid wins. In order to get the best rates, we're going to have to be flexible with our dates. There is a Canadian school vacation during the 1st week of March, so that probably won't be the best week. Probably looking at either the last week of Feb or 2nd week of March. We won't go later than that.

too bad this girl wasn't with you... <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZ6_2VqSHBw&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZ6_2VqSHBw&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object> I like that KTM 690. You might also check out the BMW F650GS or the 800.

how about just forget making snowboards altogether... just make a plate that mounts to two skis...