Jack M

Anything is possible on good snow. And hold your damn phone the right way when taking video!! And almost any technique and almost any equipment works on good snow. Got an eyeful of this last year at MCC where former world cup racers were giving clinics on 1990s gear, and killing it all over the mountain. I think this thread is about having fun, not racing technique, so no need to say who's having fun more correctly. (yes I have been guilty of this) In racing, we can see the correct technique and equipment in plain sight. However sometimes a good racer will lay down an extremecarve in an emergency.

Rob's clip: https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-2T7WLjR/0/a68765fc/1280/i-2T7WLjR-1280.mp4

And in the hardboot world too.

This article assumes flex/stiffness is sufficient to keep the board carving according to carve radius = sidecut radius * cosine(edge angle) http://alpinesnowboarder.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Physics-of-a-Snowboard-Carved-Turn.pdf So the stiffness of the board doesn't enter into the math there in that article. If the stiffness of the board does not allow it to bend enough, or allows it to bend too much, then part of the board will be skidding. That trail is legit steep. One of the steepest at Sugarloaf if not the steepest. Only doable when conditions are good. I've seen Dave do it and it is a sight to behold. I think it doesn't even get close. Probably 75-80 tops.

If you're not following him, do you even like carving? He pretty regularly posts freecarving videos on his race gear. Here's a nice one on his 195cm GS Virus. I'm jealous of slopes like this that allow you to let a true GS board run. https://www.instagram.com/p/CnkIBwwq6BP/

the board never goes to 90 while carving.

Again, awesome carving, thanks for sharing. Softer/deeper groom makes boards turn shorter. I'll never forget when I went to Jackson Hole and only brought my 14m Coiler Stubby 170. I figured 14m would be just right. Could have easily enjoyed the heck out of my NSR 185 at the time. I think it was 13-19m vsr. 15.5m on softboots on eastcoast hardpack would melt your thighs.

That is the worst. I tell these people you have to know how to snowboard in order to use an alpine snowboard. And if you're one of the few who learns how to snowboard on an alpine snowboard with hardboots, you can jump right on a "normal" snowboard with softboots and you'll know how to use that too. Because it's all snowboarding. And/or I'll point out FIS/Olympic snowboard racing.

I love how when people don't know what it is, they just make up stuff.

I guess my wife and I will have to switch to hard mode! We'll have to do away with her technique of guessing completely different words on the first two tries.

My dad starts with adieu and I do better than him most days. MIT did a study and found SALET is the optimum first word. I wasn’t far off with steal.

Here are the specs: 163cm long 20.5cm waist 9-11.5-10.5m blended VSR sidecut Titanal layers Q-Iso Carbon Fiber layers - "quasi isotropic" - fibers running at 0, 60, -60 degrees. Extra torsional reinforcement between the bindings Rubber damping layers Vertically laminated wood core The result is a stiff board, but also a very torsionally stiff board. The idea here came from testing a lot of suspension plates. I felt for me the biggest benefit of a plate was reducing (but not eliminating) my ability to twist the board with my feet. Edge hold goes out the window when the edge angle of the front half of the board is different than the back. Makes sense, right? Building this into the board between the feet is really working well. And then the additional torsional stiffness of the whole board from the combination of Titanal and Q-Iso CF is further improving edge hold. I feel like I can feel the edge biting further out towards the tip and tail, and the board not twisting out of shape. Yesterday afternoon I was actually enjoying myself on conditions I normally wouldn't, when I would have already headed for apres. On many turns I saw icy conditions ahead and thought this isn't going to go well, and then it would. This is a great board for early season, icy conditions, crowded days, narrow trails. Also, like the 170, the sidecut radii are not simply butted together end to end, they are blended. This creates a sidecut that feels like a smooth continuous curve, and has a big "sweet spot". Turn size is tight but not excessively so. I can ride this board all day. Great job Winterstick!

For the first time in my life, I was called a “stiffbooter” in the lift line. Then a few days later it happened again. Another day I got, “oh from a distance I thought you were snowboarding.”

Loaf. We got about a foot of snow before the light rain and freeze. Make no mistake, any ungroomed terrain is still unrideable, and groomed trails are very firm. But this is the tool for the job. The hyper torsional stiffness is really working for me.

Quick review, more later. This board is a hockey skate. Actually went back up for one more run at 1:45pm on MLK Sunday because I was having so much fun.

Gotcha. Yeah, it boggles the mind. People are dumb. They think the line they are skiing is "their line", and that they have a right to pass you at any cost. Even if you're the downhill person, if your carves enter their line ahead of them you've committed an offense. During Christmas vacation week a skier saw me coming then started down hill just as I approached. Of course they were that special kind of intermediate whose downhill progress perfectly matches mine. And in another incident, I got full-on snowed while sitting on the side of the trail.

Looks like you had a buddy holding the pole, yes? And what did that skier yell?

In grad school in about 2005 my professor said how object oriented programming was supposed to help fix the programmer problem but instead it made it worse. I asked, what's the programmer problem? He said you know, the fact that you have to pay a human being to write code. I was dumbstruck at the time, lol.

I'm thinking it was shot on one of them thar new fangled 360 cameras, which capture the whole sphere of space around it, and then you "point the camera" at your desired subject after the fact on the computer or app. Great riding! Definitely softboot carving worth watching. Agreed. I think it's a style thing. What was yelled at about 2 minutes? I think I can guess but I want to make sure.

If Sugarloaf is an option I would try to book a private with Kirby. Call ahead, he is not full time anymore so an appointment would be needed. You can also try these drills in softboots on your own: http://alpinesnowboarder.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Carving-Practice-Drills.pdf

Why, are you planning on using it with an Allflex mount plate? The Proto has a tighter sidecut to offset the fact that such a plate limits board flex. The WC is the one to get if you’re not going to plate it.

Umm, those aren't really going to move you forward. They are also flat. You're still going to have to find or make lifts that don't have cant... and I don't think you can find them anymore. I'd cancel that transaction if you can. Unfortunately this isn't a cheap sport. At some point you're going to have to open your wallet if you want to progress. F2 Race Titanium (with an extra lift kit) are the cheapest new option, and sometimes they show up in the classifieds here.

Just to be clear, "cant" means tilting the binding left or right. "Lift" means tilting the binding forward or back. You should try toe lift and heel lift and no cant at first. Then decide if you want to add cant back into the equation later. Good luck!

Kessler bindings are F2 bindings.

Yes definitely. I wish F2 would stop installing those inward cant shims at the factory and just put them in the box.