CarvCanada

hehe, I'd like to go to La Soleil... but the chair is always closed and when it's open, I'm afraid to go on it! That thing is going to die soon, and knowing Intrawest, it really could be while it's loaded with people!

oh man, Tremblant's been hurting pretty bad up until mid-Feb, but I went up on March 5th when they got another decent (15cm) snowfall. of course it was a sunday so the cow heard was there, and it bumped up with little tourist moguls so I headed to the trees the last 2 weeks (on weekdays) have been for the most part perfect cord, blue skies and -15 to -5 degrees! I can't stand Tremblant early season, but weekdays in mid-Feb to mid-March are sooo sweet there where do you usually head? I usually hit the Edge in the morning, then after my legs are spent, I hit Sissy Schuss the rest of the day. With nice speedy snow, you can take quite good advantage of the little natural kickers on that trail :)

what soft boots and bindings do you use? with size 29cm, you're definately going to need high angles on the axis' 21.5 waist to get no boot-out. some people use soft boots and bindings, but they use the stiffest "soft" equipment out there and at very high angles (a size 29 will be like, 65/60 to get no boot-out, maybe even higher) if your equipment is stiff and supportive, you can set it up with a bit of boot--out just to try the axis out and get a feel for it (without aggressive carving)

There definately needs to be an in depth article on boot fitting (mainly how to buy the right size) I think quite a few shops put you in a boot that is 1 or 2 sizes (cm) too large, so you feel comfortable immidiately walking around. but the right boots will be a bit uncomfortable after a minute in fresh boots. My first pair were probably a bit too big, but luckily I outgrew their softish flex quickly and my new UPZ's are PERFECT (thanks Ray!) I wear size 10.5 shoes, but my feet measure 26.0 and I have size 26.0 w/ 25.0 Thermo liners, which is like size 7.5!

hehe those pics are great too. Larry Ledingham looks like he has some style!

just got it really a good magazine, and some nice coverage

uh oh now we have the metric system in there as well! :)

haha that webcam is so fun to watch it's like watching an ant war love the 2 second frame rate, you can just pick out the rare dude at the top trying to bomb the whole run, and pick out which snow plowing clown he's going to most likely hit :)

"The interesting about these is that'll the same board will work goofy or regular since it's a twin tip..." hehe that's funny to think about, although wouldn't the wrong side have a tighter radius? I think they're making them without any radial setback on either side, just having the heelside have a tighter radius I'd bet if they designed a board with radial setback, snowboarders in the park wouldn't like it since switch would be awkward

it seems here in Montreal that the subscribers get it first... all I can find in magazine stores is #5 oh well, we've been getting some awesome snow in the mountains since Sunday morning and it should go till Wed :)

Hey Derf! I rode it with soft boots and pretty stiff soft bindings. I would think hardboots wouldn't go well with it, and would destroy the flow? Also my hardboots on the incline's 24cm waist would end up with angles of like 20 degrees (I have size 8 boots), which I'm sure wouldn't work so well. Maybe if you have large feet it would work well, but I'll be putting soft boots on mine

just got back from a powder day at Tremblant, 10cm, had to bring my FCII171 (left my freeride stick at my girlfriend's house, forecast said it wouldn't snow) Untouched powder on trails and in the trees is fun on a carving board, but after it's chopped up, even being aggressive and sucking the bumps with your knees/extending big in the apexes, and using huge rotation to get your turns around doesn't cut it compared to a freerid eboard. the chop just becomes a chore after a few hours of even weekday traffic i got a chance to ride a Donek freeride board a while ago (in the 3 feet jay got a month ago :) ) and it was so smooth. It felt really solid, stiff and responsive through the steeps, trees and powder, and it blew through chop, absorbed it like it wasn't there (like a soft freeride board, but it was stiff) near the bottom of every run, we always headed to a wide groomed green with lots of knolls and rollers, and the Donek felt kind of like an alpine board on the groom. I could get really low with full confidence, really pop the tail off the knolls, and put a lot into the turns. It had a different flow from the locked in feel of my alpine board, but there's no comparison in ungroomed new snow and in the trees. I'll need to get one next season :) (with softboots, for sure)

already!? didn't think it was out till late March I'll get it first thing in the morning!! :)

that's the only way I could keep a flow, otherwise, punishing chatter. after a line like that, my legs were burning. can't wait for next riding day!!!!!

The last ten or so days I've been out, I've had a breakthrough with riding steeps, I'm so addicted now!! I used to be able to get really solid and low on wide greens and easy blues, and for a long time I stayed like that, having loads of fun double arm carving with lots of rotation and popping air out of carves, but any real pitch (maybe over 12-15degrees?) to a run and I would see it as uncarveable, and just "scarve" it with lots of rotation. I would mainly just focus on style on wide greens and blues Oh man at Sugarbush last week it all clicked on the steeps! The sensation of carving them is like nothing else! I started by just drifting a heelside, and then at low speed dive into a toeside and get high on edge really quick. On the steeps, you're at 80 or so degrees relative to the slope in a fraction of the time it takes to get that low on greens and not-so steep blues. The carves are very short radius, and at the apex there's SO much pressure! I needed to take a break after 2 hours, which has never happened to me before. Eventually I got the flow, you draw the carves out until your rising slightly up the fall line, then dive straight into the next carve, getting up high on edge right away. At first there's not too much edge pressure, but as you swing around and across the fall line it builds ridiculously fast, then you have to pop away and dive downhill into the next one, so fun! Heelside is really hard to trust at first. At first, my toesides seemed perfect, but my heelsides were non-existant. On the transition to heelside I'd get out of the flow, face the fall line (counter rotate) and bend at the waist, and the board would PUNISH and chatter. It's the most rewarding sensation I've ever had to get a solid heelside on the steeps, then dive into a toeside.

Mt Ellen is great! Nice steeps, perfect (extremely) windpacked snow in the morning, which lasted all day long below around 2000ft vertical (the rest was BLASTED off by sometimes powerful enough wind to blow you up the mountain, is this normal for the Bush?), and the light hits the whole mountain really nicely until around 2:00. I really like it and I'm addicted to the steeps there (usually took Rim Run, bombed through the mid-summit down to Cruiser, then bombed through the 1/3 level flats to crackerjack) The people were so nice and outgoing there! Is it usually completely uncrowded? It has a nice layout for traffic regulation, but even at the base there were no lift lines at all all day long. Maybe all the Bauwstinahs :) had their weekend last Presidents day? beautiful place, I'm addicted

Will they really care? I mean, how many copies are being made? They're mostly bought from people who were there as a souvenir, and it's pretty much non-profit isn't it? I doubt they'd start sending their lawyers, you should just put the tracks on and not worry about it :) who's gonna care (or notice) my votes for tunes: Boards of Canada-1969 Prodigy- Narayan

School canceled over 12 inches? Damn you! I've never had school cancelled over snow, I think it's a Quebec thing, cause in Ontario they call in the army :) [that happy face should have a tongue sticking out]

it's nice to have light equipment, you can throw it around easier, it feels less like a guided missile, or boat, or Mercedes, and more like a Ferrari, you can snap it around (in and out of carves, and in slides)

why so? Do you like'em? hehe, "Prodigy, BEFORE Outgunned" I agree :) , although some of that stuff is pretty cool to listen to, just not often

265 mm to be used with hard boots? I've seen hard boots used in duck stance on a freeride board and the guy was ripping (in the bumps, didn't see him carve). I'd bet they'd work decently at 30/25 which is around what you'll be running to get 0 overhang and 0 underhang according to your foot size (6'4" i'm guesing large :) ) but better than malamutes? It sounds like the board is pretty solid (I used to carve on a Salomon as well) so hardboots will probably help the board to edge hard into the hardpack The only thing to do is to try it out; it's much better to have stiff boots and super stiff bindings on a soft board, than to have soft boots and soft bindings on a super stiff board :)

music that would go really well with carving - definately Prodigy (!!!) and Boards of Canada (more mellow) Prodigy- climbatize, narayan boards of canada - 1969 (realy good)

cool

weird... i've seen a guy carving at jay (with poles), very odd looking They seem to say it's more versatile than an alpine carving set-up in that you can go through the woods and moguls easily because of the freedom of movement of your CM, but it's almost like a skwal set-up, with 0 freedom for your CM? Looks easy to fold the nose (you can fall forward completely with your board unflexed! Imagine a nose fold!)

What is the theory behind teleboards? What is different between "regular" alpine technique and teleboard technique, and where (and how, and why) does the tele action come in? Why are the boards different shapes? I'm assuming the boots are the same?