eastcoastcarve

So this is the first time I have been to Sun Peaks but I have to say that with the lack of snow they have had for the last little while has not hurt the carving conditions at all! They have so many Wide open runs that are amazing to carve. The grooming this week has been amazing and I have been on my Big Yellow Coiler loving life. I have only seen one other person on hardboots this week and they looked like they were still learning how to carve. The only thing the -20 temp has done has kept the big grin on my face covered with a neck warmer. Anybody out there know any local carvers that I might be able to meet up with? I only have tomorrow on snow before I head home. Cheers, John

Nice! Its been 13 years since I trained in a GS course! I like this idea for sure but not sure if I can commit to full session. looking forward to more details. Side bar it's been a long time since I kicked Gordo's ass in gates :)

Wow I haven't see those things in a long time!

In my 20+ years of riding I have warn a leash on and off at different times with varying results. Problem 1) The 3 times the toe bail came open I ripped the leash off the board. (cord, webbing and thin steel cable styles). It was always the front foot that come out and the back foot stayed in. Problem 2) The other 2 times I became detached from my board I actually broke the binding and although I still had a binding and leash attached to my leg my front foot was not attached to my board. Again back foot stayed attached. Most run away boards I have seen are the result of people horsing around (sledding on boards, pushing a friend holding a board or just dropping a board on the ground before you are ready to buckle in) and in most cases the leash is not attached at this point anyway. In all honesty I have seen more runaway Ski's in my 20 years of riding and those sucker have breaks built in.

Hey Scooby, When you eject from the front binding does it seem to be a matter of the toe bail opening up? I used to have this problem when racing gates. The gate would hit the bail and then cause it to snap open. I never had this happen when free riding but I ran a velcro power strap from an old boot under my boot and over my toe bail and this stopped the "ejections" That was also one of the main reason that I changed over to the hard boot step in system when racing, now I just like them because I am to lazy to bend over.

No prob Kaz, My wife only really started snowboarding this year also and has progressed from a very timid beginner to being able to ride all the blue runs at modest speed and even some black slowly. I to have spent a lot of days making sure she was happy. I have noticed that my legs were actually more tired going slow and fighting gravity when she was slower and only did green runs.

Today was a Nice Blue Bird start to the day then the fog/clouds came and went a few times. In the early am I saw Kaz on the chair in front of me but we never actually talked. We did however leave our signatures on the trails in the early morning. Then Ran into BlueB and Scooby for a few turns before lunch when it was getting really chopped up. Today was the first time in a long while I broke our the 184 Coiler Pure Race II

I took a look back and only had one bad picture of my board here it is. I ended up selling it to a kid that was about 110 lbs and he loved it! If I am not mistaken he was only 13 at the time and went on to win a number of provincial GS races in the east on that very board.

Today was possibly the best carving day I have had in the last 10 years (admit idly I did take 7 years away from my race boards). I was out on my Coiler 166 pure Race all day and digging trenches with hip to hip carves. Did a few runs off the lions chair first thing in the morning but found the step sections of both rainbow and Horizon quite bumpy as far as grooming goes. Switched over to Eagle chair and spent the rest of the day on Jasey Jay, upper and lower Fork and Cascade. The grooming was excellent and it was hero carving conditions for me! It took me a while to dial in my heel turn but in the end I just had to remember to pressure the nose of the board a little more as I entered the turn and drive the front heal into my turn. I was surprised that I didn't see one other person out carving today.

24 front and 21 back. I were a size 11 shoe but my 10 year old burton drivers are sized 13 (and fit perfectly, not sure about that one) so that is the lowest angle I can get to. As far as boards in general I am not to picky and figure if I set it up correctly I should be able to ride anything that is not to soft. If the board is to hard (I have not run across one yet) just ride really aggressively and it usually performs, just watch out that you don't get stuck on a rail heading toward the woods. To soft on the other side is not so much fun and you can find yourself washed out on every hard turn. I once had a Hooger Booger back in the early 90's that I think I racked up more DNF's on in half a season than I did in my entire racing career. It had a soft flex and very soft torsion I could only do well on that board if the race course had big ruts and I road them instead of my own line. I that note it was always good to follow Gtanner, He was well known for carving trenches :)

I run a fairly narrow stance so I didn't go all the way back with the back foot but I think I put the front foot all the way back. It seemed to work like a charm for me. I was at cypress all day Tuesday and till about 1:00 on Wed. I picked up the Dynastar for my less than perfect carving days and it didn't disappoint in the powder. As for it being 169 the last free ride freestyle board I had was a 166 so it didn't seem big at all. I have not really just bombed around the hill on it yet but I think If I center the binding out it would carve well on the groomers. On the one groomed section that I did try to carve hard on it I over pressed the nose and slid out twice before I remembered I would have to put way more pressure on the front foot to utilize the whole edge since the stance was set back. I have been through the Permanently closed area a number of times and understand why the powers that be don't want people in there. But if you ride in pairs, keep track of where your going, don't just launch over the blind rolls and stay out of the gully's it can be a very fun area after a dump. Judging by the amount it was tracked out in the afternoon yesterday lots of people feel the same way. I was riding close to the edge of the gully on skiers left as the snow was un tracked there and was surprised at the number of peoples tracks that got caught going down into the gully.

Today was the best day of the year for me! Almost no crowd, but that wouldn't have mattered as I spent almost the whole day in the trees. Sky chair was not open yesterday so the top was completely un tracked for the first few runs everywhere. The visibility was not good but with powder everywhere who cares. After a few runs on the actual trails spent most of the day in the OB riders left of sky chair and OB riders left of Topgun, as the day went on it was snowing enough to fill in our earlier tracks. I just picked up a Dynastar 3800 169 so that was what I was on all day!

I wish i could join but already have plans for sunday but might try to change them.

Yup I still have it and its in great condition :)

I've got a Bright 184 Coiler that I have wanted to put back on a race course for a while. With Pan suggesting a bit of gates training at Cypress I am all over this. I might even use my gym and train for a bit to get in shape. As for the no skin suit deal... what better way to show off this supper sexy body of mine :) LOL