Steve Prokopiw

Not sure I count as cool,but I am used to fog and riding by sonar.Would love to attend.

I haven't actually completed a book,let alone a trilogy,since our first was born 3 1/2 years ago; or a chapter without falling asleep since our second a year and a half ago.I do,however remember the last science fiction trilogy I read leading up to that point.It was by Kim Stanley Robinson and the books were titled Red Mars,Green Mars,and Blue Mars respectively.Obviously about colonizing Mars and very interesting with a lot of basis in current fact and theory with some great key characters through the whole trilogy.I would read it again.Maybe in 17 years or so.

Our history is full of assasinations and attempts thereof,a civil war,riots between factions that were generally made up of people from opposing parties,abortion clinic shootings...one can only imagine the amount of shooting that might take place if one party tried to actually take away assult rifles and handguns as gun control,while there are certainly exceptions to towing the party line,tends to be lobbied for and against along party lines.Every country,even ours, has it's extremists.

Amen to that,although I do ride rails and jumps on my hardboots.The higher the intensity on the board the higher the pain was my experience on softboots even back in the day when I was constantly making my softies stiffer and adding a third strap to my bindings then I found Flexon comps and a set of Miller randonee bindings to modify to hold them and never looked back.All in the name of comfort.

Ironically,no.Most of the potatos we eat in North Idaho come from other states.

Agreed to both,and would add that this all makes our calories less nutritious and our population less healthy ,fatter and more cranky. I'm gonna finish my fries now...

I'm back in this to say I am not convinced about the walk mode being so bad.Sometimes I ride with it and sometimes I don't based on conditions.I have been riding that way for alot of years and until this year averaged over 100 days a season since 93/94 in Raichles (before that UPS and Flexons)in walk mode most of the time.I am more convinced by well over 1200 days spent mostly in walk mode doing all kinds of terrain and manuevers. I do however,choose a stiffer setting when the terrain ,board,and tasks call for it (ie racing; but not always for freecarving)and I intend to get BTS for next season mainly for the purpose of taking my boot performance and riding to the next level.

Mike,it looks like my timing is about a week off.Maureen has to go to Toronto with our boys for a week starting next Tuesday as her mom is having surgery to remove cancer.So, Maureen has to work this weekend to make up for the lost time and that means me taking care of our boys then.I think since I will be on my own the weekend of the 19th I may try to come down then even though the gathering won't be happening then. If anything changes before this weekend I'll let you know.

I have always prefered hardboots in bumps as the support and energy return of the boots as well as the forward angles approximate the advantages skiers have in the bumps. I used to ride asyms and even a Skwal in bumps quite alot and loved it. I tend to think and move from the feet up and from the hips down in bumps.Corny as it sounds;I draw the analogy to Irish dancing;If your arms are all over the place,you are probably over rotating and wasting alot of energy.Having the arms fairly low and in control with some muscle tension (as opposed to floppy like most)will keep them available for using when really needed for balance movements or corrections.Having a countered upper to lower body position is not a bad thing depending on how you arrive in that position.Counter rotating as a result of initiating with mostly upper body movements,particularly the arms, can lead to playing catchup from turn to turn,working needlessly hard the whole run, and never really developing a rhythm.IMHO

Amen to that.I have a love/hate thing with ebay...Great when the seller is honest and crappy when they're not.As long as we are all honest on this site it should be a great place to do our trading. ps I got great service and a great deal from hardbooter.com at the beginning of the season.

Cool! Like the tunes!

I have a 96 neon that sounds like it will fall apart at any minute and has 238,000 miles I know of because the speedo works intermitently now.It used to be my wife's car but I decided it was not safe anymore and finally talked her into a new car so our kids will live long happy lives.The neon is like an old dog with hip displaysia that will not die.

Is the carve fest in May or June or both?

I would agree with Jack on all but the Corona as skunky beers are a taste I never aquired.But nothing beats being on the lake on a hot day with a cold Corona and lime.

Our sometimes solution;drive throughs.

I once worked for a little tuning shop in Avon,Co called Carl's World Class Sports.Carl only drank beer out of cans and for his renowned ski tunes(people shipped their skis to him from far and wide) refused to even accepts tips of bottled beer.He drank stuff like Milwaukee's best and on special occassions,BUD.It was during my tenure there that I developed my taste for dark beers and microbrews as I got to take home the stuff he didn't want.

I kind of miss this time of year at Vail (taught there from 92 to 04).But at Copper from 87 to 91 this time of year was just plain lonely.Like ralann's suggestion, brings to mind High Plains Drifter.Cool but lonely.

Since laywers quite literally run the country,personal responsibility will never rule and that is why some adaptability to safety on the part of the resorts seems inevitable. As for my part on behalf of the safety of my kids;my intent is to teach them to respect the different and difficult aspects of extreme sports without instilling the fear that comes with overprotectiveness.Kids will do what other kids do and will still try things when they're scared, but if they lack the confidence and skill necessary to properly execute the task at hand they stand a better chance of getting badly hurt.

My wife and I both have signed our paperwork and licenses as organ donors.I just hope I'm actually all the way dead when they yank em out. Waiting lists are very very long,but if more people actually did take the time(a few seconds at license renewal time) to do it, the lists would be much shorter and more people that deserve a new lease on life would get it.

The most popular and usable green to blue run on our mountain is on the way to the cutoff to the park.I will not take my kids anywhere near that run when the jibbers are out in force.I actually like riding the park but my two little boys definitely have me noticing things more these days. Man,I'm getting old...old enough to watch my kids grow up I guess;not to mention outlive me.

Not sure if you're talking to me but if you are you've missed the point of my reply to carvedog's post entirely.Manufacturers of carving boards are in a very different realm and definitely NOT subject to the logic of my point about marketing to kids.

Not trying to convince you of anything.Merely stating my opinion like everyone else.;and my opinion on the board manufacturers is that they don't entice babies with candy ,rather consenting adults with passion for what we do ;and the limits a new rider can reach and then pass are far more gradually and patiently worked up to by adults on carving boards,who are more likely to take advice and instruction,and on mostly easy terrain at that.Also,the equipment (marketed to adults and with limited exposure at best)is by no means easy access at possibly thousands$ for new and hundreds$ for used.Not even close to the same logic.

Or by my post? :) My risk taking at 42,for many reasons, involves more calculation now than it did in my early twenties and most definitely than in my teens. Yes this guy is 23 and he screwed up.My point is more about the younger riders and how impressionable they are.Nothing signed by someone under 18 is legally concrete and the drinking age is 21.Not that those things work especially well,but they are examples what society has deemed as being capable of making informed and responsible decisions.I am the last person deserving to judge others on the subject of responsibility, and yes,again, this guy is 23. But I think that at the same time resorts are telling people to make their own decisions,they are also putting great effort into enticing young people into more and more hazardous activites and providing easy access to those activities which are only performed with reasonable safety by a very small percentage of the people participating in them.All to generate more revenue.

There ought to be a comparison study on the odds of poor treatment in both systems .My wife has two relatives in remission from cancer after having been treated in Toronto.Meanwhile our youngest ,born in Idaho at Kootenai Memorial,was sent home too weak (complicated story made as short as possible here) after birth and nearly died due to emergency level complications that were rather basic in nature.It was not treated as an emegency by either our local doc (to his credit,he did at least make us an appointment to go to the city that day)or the one in the 50 mile away "city'' in which Nathan was born. That night we were being prepared for his possible death while were demanding he be flight for lifed to Sacred heart.They finally relented as they were not capable of proper treatment .The difference was mind blowing both in competence and confidence levels and how we as the parents were treated.Nathan then spent nine days in ICU at Sacred Heart to whom we owe our deep gratitude for saving our miracle baby.Contrary to what one might think from my latest post on the subject of litigation against resorts ,we did not opt to sue for what was very clearly negligence and a lack of competence on the part of the city doc and his staff.Oh,I forgot to mention;that doc put an oxygen mask on Nathan as was turning blue,and forgot to turn on the canister for over two minutes.My wife noticed it was not turned on. This little story can be interpreted in different ways;A;yes,we have choices in the US;B;That only helps if one knows and has access to what the choices are. I have received both good and horrible care here in different states,(broken bones in four of them).I suspect that the odds are similar in both countries and that you had better be able to afford it if you expect to have choices here.People who can afford it tend to have very different views from those who can't.Hence the reason many travel from the states to far away countries for otherwise unaffordable treatment.

I'm with Bumpyride and needanswer .They seem to be living in the real world.This is now a world in which understanding that the extreme marketing that goes into extreme sports in order to get to the target group so that resorts can profit from their patronage involves accountability on both sides.A world in which adaptation not only to market demands,but to sustainability are key ingredients to profitability and in turn,PLACES FOR US TO CARVE. Some here also seem to have no recollection of what it was like to be a teenager (or twentysomething with the mindset of a teen)and to what they may have responded when being marketed to themselves.I was a jackass in my teens and well into my twenties, but even during my worst bouts of self loathing I can't believe I deserved to die for it.Anyone here think tobacco marketing to teens was a good idea? If resorts are going to head toward a certain demographic they should then be at least partially responsible for making what is already a fun and thus, dangerous activity less apt to mame or kill.Few resorts would head in such a risky direction if they did not need or want the revenue. I worked at a resort that regularly closed access to the biggest features to be used just for certain training and competitions.Maybe that's in the future for other resorts.Heck, if someone then busts the closure and gets hurt,I guess I'd have to be on the natural selection side since personal responsibility does have to start somewhere.Otherwise,much of the current trend in feature design and operation is just like putting potentially poisonous candy in front of babies. In a perfect world we would have no need for forcing resorts or any other business into accountability and therefore no use for litigation lawyers.This is about as realistic a notion as much of what I've read here.