CarvCanada

What's the deal with Madd, I'm out of the loop... When are boards available? Is that new all black texalium BX out already? For how long, and are they limited? Same prices?

Okay I'll take it, I'll email you so we can work things out, I'm not in a rush to get it.

I'm pretty much sure I'll take it, give me a day to confirm :)

Derf, I honestly don't know, it makes me sad to think about it :( I love those boards, but I guess its innevitable, as I'm slowly switching completely over to soft boots. One will be replaced by a splitboard, the other by some type of BX board like ATV or Madd, there will be quiver shifting this summer I guess...

Sierra I'd consider trading for your 168BX, I got some goods plus I live near you. Coiler 186? Donek 171?

Does it really matter if you're goofy or regular for beginners? Shouldn't they be set up in duck stance and figure it out eventually?

I am progressing towards soft as well... I like the feel better. On days in the resort, I have my 165 Prior with Cateks which carves very well on terrain up to a certain steepness. Beyond that, yes.. it will not have it to be pushed to the point of knees/face skimming ground which is achievable on moderate blue runs. I can't wait to try out an ATV... I have experimented a lot with various stances over the past 2 seasons as well, and when I do get an ATV I will indeed be with forward stance, something like 45/35. I LOVE that stance for carving. Not to say that with more neutral stances I couldn't carve aggressively... it's just especially toesides feel wrong when you have to stand tall in the apex so your knees don't get in the way of the snow and that screws up the flow. Freeriding I'll be at 24/0 though. I hope to make SES eventually, I'll be rocking in soft boots, and then we'll see if people can type general statements about soft boots :)

I'm the only snowboarder and they are telemarkers... I just don't want to be draggin them down any more than possible, I'm sure the split will do fine thanks for ideas

I think I've been sold on the split for a while now, I just really didn't know whether there exists some wide-ass and long approach skis for deep and steep... it would just eliminate the conversion. But I can see that having my heavy-ass solid board sticking 3 ft above my head would be ridiculous in the lower sections of my VT backcountry... tiiiiiight trees :) Plus I want one of those Khybers anyway :) we shall see...

Alright I am going to be doing plenty of backcountry riding in soft boots, and I can't make the 1000$ decision between a splitboard or approach skis. Here are the factors: I'm going to be riding often very light powder, making ascents of sometimes more than 20 degrees in mostly deep snow. I'd like to be able to switchback pretty easily on up to 30 degree stuff, and follow ridges of sometimes 20 degrees. I am riding about 800ft-1200ft sometimes 1500+ft of vertical, but most often just lapping the sweetest areas of 800ish ft vertical. Splitboards are obviously so much cooler, and float is going to be a huge issue. I would definately even consider riding a longer board than normal (175ish) just for the float while skinning. I really like the idea of the conveniance of approach skis with their own softboot bindings on pivots, ready to go straight off the pack. Will they float though!? They look like they don't have too much surface area on them, even the 130cm ones. Are there any that are really wide and maybe 140cm? I really haven't seen too many approach skis around, only snowshoes/splitboards. The conversion time of splitboards is a bit discouraging, especially since I ride medium vertical often with skiers. The absolute main issue is floatation though. I want to get up easily and fast through the deep and steep. Thanks for advice. by the way, thank you all that is Divine for the 40+" the past week in Northern vermont :)

sort of happened to me 3 years back, healed fast though :) Did it hurt? For some reason mine didn't hurt in the slightest bit :) just felt like a bag of warm rocks with slush... ugh! i feel safer in softboots hardboots your really have to read the terrain and anticipate fast if it's even slightly uneven when the snow is really firm

lift your toes, drop your rear knee, face the nose a bit more, level your shoulders? obviously i never seen you ride so all of these could be right practice :)

from my little experience there, with powder, don't go into the Park City area, go to Brighton/Solitude

cool, I even have Loser Anthems too :) I have seen them for the Avalanche tour and the White Light tour which were both great. i got a signed drum stick thrown at me :)

Derf you like Matthew Good Band!?!? That came out of nowhere! I haven't met many people who like them, but they are easily my favorite band in the world and I listen to a lot of music. Did you go to the concerts these past years? I have plenty of bootlegs if you like! They are great live, they put a sort of new spin on the old post-grungish Beautiful Midnight/Audio Of Being stuff making it more classic rock/country/bluesish it's quite good

somehow i can't see listening to anything with lyrics while riding... for a carving video there are quite a lot that come to mind, but i would stick with electronic music or at least no vocals, it's too distracting from the rhythm and flow of the carving my list would be 1-Eutow by Autechre 2-Everything is Alive by Beef Terminal www.beefterminal.com local Toronto artist, you can stream off the site.. such hard hitting beats and cool melodic background :) 3- Chromakey Dreamcoat - Boards of Canada also noteworthy is the solo off of Precious by Depeche Mode :)

I agree with Massif though, there is only maybe 2 trails that are perfect for carving, and you gota get lucky with weather it seems. Beautifuuuuul place though, more for freeriding and bumps... I guess more of a skiers mountain... it's just a beautiful place with not all that much riding, but it's got a great feel to it. Mont Grands Fonds is a close place to Massif which is small, but has great great carving trails.

Linus, I think what you experienced was basically the Christmas rush, and maybe bad luck with weather? All my Sainte Anne experiences have been epic in regards to carving... not much freeriding going on there. Every time I've been to Sainte Anne though, I found that between 8-10 I had the mountain to myself, and usually night riding is completely empty. The North Side is indeed not extremely wide, but I find the south side to be way more than wide enough (with nobody on the mountain). With my board that has a sidecut of about 11m, you can definately crank turns out completely across the fall line with plenty of room to spare Have to agree with the girls and cold though :)

Oldsnowboards have you ever been to Salty Peaks shop in Salt Lake City? It's a great shop with loads of beautiful boards, many of them pretty rare like swallowtails, big mtn boards, plenty of everything, and the ceiling is completely lined with classic snowboards, I'm sure many of them are very rare. It's a good shop :)

Derf pretty much summed it up. Mont Sainte Anne is a carving mountain. It is not as pretty as Massif, but for carving, it means business. I'm partial to l'Express and Pichard, which is pretty much where i learned how to carve steeps. If the mountain is empty, l'Express can be downright epic, as well as a lot of the south side trails. Some of them are very wide and very steep. Pichard is a fun cruiser with some steeper sections as well as wide open mellow sections that carry speed well. If there are people on the mountain, the north is where it's at, especially the some of the trails that are sort of difficult to get to where you have to head a bit down the south side on I think La Familiale? and then hang a left onto these winding blue trails that lead to North side. the whole mountain is pretty sweet for carving Le Chemin du Roy = bad bad bad :)

there is a LOT of powder at jay peak now. off piste it's ridiculously deep. the base of firmer snow is a bit thin though, you never hit the bottom or rocks, but if you ride over a river, or a loose bush, it collapses and it's time to swim :) I checked out Big Jay, it looks tempting but kinda dangerous now, big cliffs not filled in, some lines are definately good, but are limited right now. i don't know, maybe 3 feet more powder and some warmer, less windy weather for a bit will make it good i'l be picking up some collapsable poles and some new snowshoes this year

I'm not sure if I described it well, the screws are tight on the toeblock, the spacing is where the bail meets the boot (black plastic meets red plastic) like the black toeblock is flexing away from the boot a bit

scheiisse! i forgot about that, maybe i'll go tonight, it will be good! new cateks? nice, bling bling :)

I think the good options we have in montreal for carving, are bromont on weeknights (there's 2 days it's swarmed though, i forget which, i think friday and wednesday?) and olympia, and st-sauveur on like, monday nights Derf, on many weekends I will be taking the jay bus (it's 10$) to jay and getting into the backcountry (you gotta take the tram though) come join us if you have snowshoes :)

I went again today and it wasn't so good :( oh well, good use for the rock board. Also, I set off my first ever sluff, yay! It left a path of rocks and leaves :( (east of the new stairs they built that climb up to just east of the lookout) hardboots all day long, i just think it needs to be totally uncrowded, that's the main factor. with crowds, the icy bumps start showing up especially at st-sauveur/avila and it gets too rough The only mountain near montreal that i've been able to really push it all day long (not just 8:30-10:00 then time to practice riding switch, slow :( ), during the weekend at "high season", is Mt. Ellen in vermont, it's perfect for carving, 2600ft of vertical, cheap, really friendly, and I think all the skiers flood Mad River Glen instead or something, ther's nobody there This season it's time to get into the backcountry on weekends! :)