BDZal

The olympic skier is Thomas Vonn running the super g in Salt Lake, so 2002 technology if it matters. I think that speed skis may be stiffer in the middle for a reason. It's not always the plate. The older ones I believe had a more even flex. My '07 Atomic super gs have practically no camber, a low rise tip and are stiffer in the middle. They have the black plastic plate which has a lot of flex to it and is very damp. It's very similar in material and design to the risers on the Vist plate (the only snowboard plate I've seen). I don't know what the sidecut geometry is.

I saw some of the freeride skis today. They looked really nice. They are very springy. There is some thick carbon in the middle portion of the ski, and the flex felt solid in the middle (especially around the toe area) combined with some early tip and tail rise. Bola has a demo at All Boards.

I'd suggest a lot of hip work, including various single leg exercises like lunges and one-leg deadlifts, and a good bit of hip flexor work. I know all the stuff that goes around about hip flexors usually needing stretching and what-not, but I have gotten some good results from working them. Really, a good variety of hip exercises is probably needed. The hips are your real movement core.... the abs and midsection are primary stabilizers for the spine, but are also good at taking up the slack when it comes to muscular imbalances. With all of the twisting we do at the midsection, it definitely makes a lot of sense to train the heck out of your midsection. There's a guy who writes training articles who also trains a good number of baseball players, and he contends that a major purpose of the abs is to resist rotation of the spine. Sounds like something we could benefit from a lot (also watch out for oblique imbalances between heelside/toeside). But don't neglect the hips. If your hips are out of whack, which they most likely are from alpine snowboarding, then you should address them as well. Switch your bindings around to the opposite stance sometimes. That would probably help more than anything, especially if you've been snowboarding for a long time.

You could try some single-leg exercises. Step-ups, rearward lunges, etc. I don't know - most of my knee pain has come from muscular hip asymmetry (and compensating for a shoulder injury). But it'd be hard to go wrong with some single-leg work if you can do it. Also, try switching stances (as in goofy vs. regular) sometimes. Riding in the same stance every time out has some long-term effects - it will twist you around a fair bit. Not good for you... I'm not saying that it's the cause of your knee problems, but it could be a contributor. I haven't snowboarded in 3 or 4 years, and I still have issues from it. I've thought about picking it back up just so I could ride in an opposite stance.

I used to ride an older Lisa Kosglow 175, one of the ones with taper and an 18.5 cm waist. I'm not sure what the flex was, but it was softer than the one you're looking at. I weighed about 135 at the time. It was a perfect flex until I put on a few pounds and got stronger. That board was a lot of fun. The combination of length and sidecut is great.

I was riding at Vail once, on my way to Ouzo in Game Creek Bowl, when I discovered that I was dragging about 15 feet of rope from my rear boot, with sign attached. I'm not sure how long it was there, and don't remember picking it up. I can't remember what the sign said, but I don't think it was a boundary or closed sign. Nevertheless, I'm glad I noticed it before a patroller spotted me.

You should probably see a doctor first. My hip adductors were really tight in my rear leg from snowboarding. This can definitely cause back pain. Romanian deadlifts and hanging leg raises (done properly, pelvis and leg raises) help for strengthening, assuming you can do them without problems. Higher-rep abdominal work is also important (as in more than the 5 or 10 reps you can do of the leg raises, if that).

The Donek Wide and Never Summer Titan would be good. Both are stiff in the longer lengths. Do a search on this website. The Donek is more piste-oriented, but it is light. The Never Summer would have a damper feel to it. My brother had a Yukon a few years back, and I think it was a bit burlier than the Timeless.

I have noticed that coming out of a turn, boards with more taper will tend to release their energy in a more horizontal direction than boards with no taper. In other words, a board with no taper will launch you further up into the air.

The original Bombers were canted inward...

I've found that taper makes a huge difference. In the open powder, a race board with substantial taper can be an excellent ride. However, the longer, stiffer boards can be very difficult to ride in the trees.

Super G skis are a lot of fun (the second picture is GS). I once had to do an emergency maneuver on mine to avoid a little girl on a merging trail, and they turned like slalom skis.

The plastic pieces that hold the files on my Skisharp broke due to tightening them too much. Otherwise it was a good tool. I think I prefer doing side and base edges separately, but the results were good.

Here's the ice blue. Personally I'd get the Olympic construction.

I have some 26.5 Raichle 224s that you can have for the price of shipping. They might be too small (26 shell) but if you put an Intuition liner in then they would probably be perfect. They are in good shape. One buckle is a little loose but should stay put, and a spoiler is missing from one boot (I may be able to find it). I used them for one season, about 35 days.