BDZal

I like finding a steep hill/mountain with trees and running down as fast as I can. After hiking up, of course. Aspen forests are fun because you can swing from tree to tree (sometimes without feet touching the ground). It's kinda hard on the knees though. With the right boots you can "edge" the dirt, kinda' like skiing I guess. Okay, so I'd really like a nice mountain bike but don't have the money. Otherwise it's skateboarding, street or pool, and this year a good bit of weightlifting. I want to try more olympic-style lifts, as I've done a little bit of that and it feels great and is probably really good for snowboarding.

I'll second that about getting a quality grind. I got one done on my Donek 175 a couple of years back, very first grind on that board, and they took the base down to almost nothing. I should've inspected the edges before and after to see how much they took off, as I didn't notice until a year later when I got a core shot. Luckily Sean Martin directed me to a good shop (Edge Works), and they did a beautiful structure without taking even a noticeable amount off. Unfortunately the lifespan of the board is now a few years shorter. Stay away from Applewood Ski if you need tuning in the Denver area. The other board I took there at the same time came back so hairy it was like velcro. Base-high = convex ; edge-high = concave, correct? I might have that mixed up.

As for longitudinal stiffness affecting ice performance... I'm not so sure that the traditional wisdom is accurate in all cases. My BS 180 is longitudinally the stiffest board I've ever flexed (besides some other BS's, and I'd bet some of those Donek and Coiler custom jobs are REALLY stiff), but it also holds better on hard snow than any board I've ridden. I only weigh 135 lbs so it should be way too stiff for me on "ice" as we know it here in Colorado (it does happen occasionally!). Is a softer longitudinal flex more for control than grip? Ease of use? I do have to ride it pretty aggressively, and it took me a little while to get the strength... Perhaps this board compensates control-wise with the tail taper - i.e. with that much taper (something like 1.5 cm) you can really feel the nose hook up. It responds well to double-pumping if I need to go tighter in the middle of a turn. I'll post a full review in a couple of weeks after I ride it with a flat base for the first time. I bought it used a year ago and never got around to getting a grind until I noticed it is pretty base-high. Whoever was riding this thing before me must've been railing the s*%t out of it.