Slow Eddie

At least in Burlington. It's usuaslly about 10 deg colder at the base of Stowe than in BTV, so you may luck out if it doesn't warm up too much. Nice and cold today, warming up tomorrow, and chance of precip on Monday was the latest forecast.

got a number in mind for the deck alone?

Now if you all would kindly donate $10 to my Private Kessler Fund...

How about "shares" if nobody wants to pony up the full monty? 10 x $35, or 35 x $10? Maybe make it an option for a few bucks extra per person at sign-up and make the trail exclusive for donors...

http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-173-ROSSIGNOL-ALPINE-SNOW-BOARD-w-Emery-Bndgs_W0QQitemZ220192513498QQihZ012QQcategoryZ36297QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQtrksidZp1638.m118.l1247QQcmdZViewItem

Not mine: http://cgi.ebay.com/LIB-TECH-INNERCOURSE-ASYM-RACE-BOARD-REGULAR_W0QQitemZ260205708421QQihZ016QQcategoryZ21250QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem There has been a lot of chatter about old boards of late, so I thought this might be an apropos spot to mention this one. E

I live in Burlington, and 45 mins is the minimum, especially if you're going to stay at any Marriott properties downtown. The Residence/Courtyard inns in Williston chop about 15 minutes off that time in each direction, but you'll hit traffic again coming off 89 in Waterbury, up into Stowe, and then on the access road - and if it's a good snow day, there will be traffic, weekday or no.

Correct. Later-edition Burton boots have toe and heel blocks than can be mounted in a "retracted" position if your binding system does not require a heel bail (or in the case of the Physics' Speed hook option, a toe bail) I weigh in at about 230 by the time I step into my bindings. Stiffness has never been an issue with these bindings. I use the Speed Hook option, and was told by the rep when I was demo-ing prototypes that team riders didn't care for the stiffness compared to race plates. The flex inherent in the bails of race plates (which are my standard for comparison) is either partially or totally eliminated by the non-bail interfaces at the heel and toe. If you like a little flex in the binders, stick with the toe bail versus the Speed Hook. My one prerelease occured on my rear foot, at the toe, using speed hooks. It was spring, and I didn't do a good enough job of clearing ice from between the toe block of the boot sole and the toe piece of the binding. Enough packed in there to lever the toe out during a heelside turn, but not enough to prevent me from stepping in at the top of the char. Solution: a better scraping and visual inspection before entry, rather than just stomping and going. Release cables: because of the nature of the system, the more foward/upward pressure you place on the rings, the tighter they grip the posts (hence the name of the system). So the easiest way to release the cables is to rock back and weight the heel before pulling up on the handle. Never had any problems with this technique. Heels: see above; if you have big feet and low angles and ride Physics exclusively, you can retract the ledges for minimal overhang. If you want to switch between Physics and bail bindings, leave the ledges out. Hope this helps. Eddie

Bondville is close enough to the resort that you could probably hitch there if you're so inclined. You might even call the shop and see if someone can pick you up if it's not too busy (a six of a local brew - (McSorley's, Brooklyn if you want to schlepp it up) - to be consumed while not driving might grease the skids some). And check the Ride Board here before you head up, or chat up another hardbooter you see on the hill. More often than not, they're a BOLer and may be willing to hook a brother up.

I grew up in the city, Q - I know all about the hassle of trying to keep a car in Manhattan. The Startinggate, while not in Stratton's base village, is pretty close - less than 10 mins by car, I would say, but you still need a car to get there, unless there's some shuttle that runs down there that I'm not aware of. The nice thing about Surefoot is that they stand behind their mods for the life of the boots and at any location, so if you get them punched out in the city, and end up at Killington and it's not quite right, the Surefoot on the access road will make things right without charging you more. Ooh - Italia. Va Bene! Have a great trip.

The 'Gate is nice since you can actually try on a few different boots, but if your plans take you up north and you've already got boots, I recommend Inner Bootworks on the way to Stowe (take heed, ECESers). In addition to being a top-notch bootfitter, the owner fabricates custom footbeds, and when I cast patients for orthotics, he's the guy I send the molds to. I think he does casting/molding himself, as well.

Burton boots from that era had heel and toe blocks that could be mounted in 2 positions: the "standard" one, where the contact points for bail bindings protruded from under the shell, and "retracted", where the toe and/or heel blocks could be bolted towards the midpoint of the boot for improved heel/toe clearance on narrow boards/bigger feet/lower angles. Physics bindings were available with a Speed Hook option that works only with Burton boots with retractable toe ledges (AFAIK - if anyone out there has successfully modded newer boots to work with Speed Hooks, please let me know!) that was stiffer than the bail option. The heel piece has the same upper profile as Intec heels, and will retrofit any Intec-compatible boot without issue. Physics bindings are considerable stiffer than Race Plates, owing mostly to the boot-binding interface rather than the binding-board interface. Likewise, using Speed Hooks steps up the stiffness another notch compared to a front bail. The cable goes along the lateral (outside) aspect of the boot - there's a hole in the boot sole for the cable to pass through, and it's only on the lateral side (AFAIK). Hope this helps.

I'm so going to Hannaford's right now.

I'm glad no one bought my Crazy Banana on the 'Bay a while back. I wonder if PTC can tune it...

Do any of your inside sources know if the Physics system is going to be resurrected?

You want a high-performance backcountry setup? It's all about randonnee. True freeheeling on the way up: no springs to fight against when you're touring. Top out, rip the skins, lock and load, and you've got fixed-heel power and precision on the way down. Plus, The lightest AT rigs weigh in quite a bit less than tele setups that provide comparable power. AT boots are step-in crampon compatible. You can even use the boots on your Prior ATV Splitboard, complete with Bomber Splitboard bindings! That being said, there is a look and feel to good telemark technique that cannot be achieved with alpine gear, a connection to the roots of skiing that is appealing to some (especially if you ski with a lurk), and the ego of mastering a once-fringe wintersport is appealing to others. On the touring side, not having to flip levers to go from tour mode to turn mode might be appealing for folks traveling in rolling terrain, but if that's the case, a good pair of backcountry XC skis are the tool for the job, anyway. IMHO, of course.

I assume that when you're talking about the heel pieces, you're referring to the parts that attach to the baseplate of the binding and stay fixed to the deck (the "receiver" to most Intec users), versus the part that bolts into the heel of the boot and incorporates the cable release mechanism (which is what most BOL users mean when the refer to the heel piece). Anyway, it sounds like you've got receivers from two different model years. I have used the same pair of heels with both types of receivers and noticed no discernable difference in retention or release between the two. You may need to alter the distance between the toe and heel blocks by a notch to accomodate for the difference in post height, but I'm not positive. Hope this helps. Eddie

Hey, if there was equipment readily available to me in the late 80's that would let me carve as well as I could on my skis, I wouldn't have waited 10 years, either. Think about where your own carving careers might be without the Internet, for example. Toiling about alone on your local hill, trying to chase down the rare other hardbooter just so you could watch him ride, sourcing gear over tho phone and often from other countries, walking to school 8 miles in the snow, uphill both ways - technology has not only resurrected hardboot snowboarding, but has strengthened the hardboot community as well.

You should check out the My First Day Forum on oldsnowboards.com. More than a few hardbooters chiming in from back in the day. 10 years for me between the Performer and the Rush - 1986/96.

1. Burton Performer Elite 150 2. Sims Blade 1610 3. Crazy Banana Rush 168 4. Burton FP 5.7-180s 5. Sims Premium 167 6. Nidecker Tornado GS 168 7. Volkl Renntiger SL 163 8. Burton FP 7.3-190s 9. Burton Speed 7.8 Prototype 10. Burton FP Custom, Race Stock (~8.4-184s) 11. Burton E-Deck 63 Wow, that was longer than I thought. Still have the Performer and the Crazy B, but they don't get on the snow. Of the others, the Blade was stolen, the 5.7 was sold to Erik Beckmann, the Premium is on permanent loan, the Tornado is my everyday ride, the Volkl was eBay'd to someone in OH, the 7.3 was eBay'd to a gal in CO, the 7.8 was eBay'd to bobdea (and I think I saw a photo of it under Skully at a WTC), the custom FP is my weekday morning deck, and the E deck is the rock/powder/tree/riding with softbooters deck. Bindings? The Performer, Blade, and Crazy B all came with bindings; Burton Carbon Race Plates on the 5.7, and Burton Physics with Speed hooks on everything else. As for boots, it was all about the Sorel Caribous with ski boot bladders with the Performer and Blade, Reactors with the Crazy B and 5.7, and Winds with all the rest. Oh, and my turn-offs are rude park monkeys and snobbier-than thou skiers, and my favorite color is blue.

First board I ever owned was a Performer Elite 150 - black with red pinstripes and white lettering, and black Darth Vaders with the Fastex "clips" and Salomon leash. First alpine board was a Crazy Banana Rush 168, as posted on Bryan's site. Still have them both.

Anybody try/use Reliable Racing's Carver Pro glove? Next time I'm down in Glens Falls I'm going to try 'em on for size.

Especially if your guy has a soft arch, customs or even Superfeet will keep the arch from collapsing and keep your toe-heel length from increasing too much in weightbearing (in addition, of course, to all that mumbo-jumbo about increasing response, minimizing foot roll, yadda yadda yadda ;) ). Might mean he can squeeze into a more readily-available shell size. Hope this helps. Eddie

She's a beaut! Any coiler orderers thinking of slapping a round tail on their FC/RC/PR sticks? Is that even an option?

Doing a search for "Burton Physics" will turn up a few discussions here as well. I'm a big fan.