bumpyride

I'm currently wrapping up the season at Big Sky. Should be home sometime around the 20th, if we don't decide to stay and do a little hiking. I may be down to Portland shortly, Board would be for my son, so I'll check back with you soon. Thanks Bryan, and I'm still looking for that elusive 156. May be buying the one from Italy.

Hey Bryan, What do you want for the 166 coil?

This is what I had done to my knee, if anyone is in the market for a partial. This works for a medial, a patella femoral, a lateral, or a patella femoral in conjunction with a medial or patella femoral (they can currently do 2 compartments and save all ligaments. My bad (now good) knee can touch my buttocks when fully flexed. I can work on my knees for hours a day. It does get a little sore once in a while, but only till the next morning. Can do 25K worth of moguls during the day and have no problem. I am not running any more, but biking, climbing, hiking, and hardbooting with bootpacking. This might make someone a bit squeamish, but you should see what they do for the other procedures. BTW, I was off pain pills in 1 day, and walking 3 miles plus in a week. Feel free to ask any questions.

3/29/2015. We went out today, not expecting to have much fun, BUT, the afternoon was pretty fabulous. Lot's of runs in. Morning chop, but the afternoon had some of the best rides of the year. There are bare patches, but avoidable. Overall a very good day.

Today a darling little 9 or 10 year old girl on skis, slides all the way over the slope to me and says, " That is sooo cool". Much rather have a compliment from someone so young than pretty much anyone, especially when it's to a 65 year old hardbooter.

Check back with me. It was 70 degrees yesterday and things are looking pretty marginal if no new snow. Right now, prepare for base damage. This is the worst year in 20 (as has been told to me by several locals).

I ride Raichle 122's and 123's in the walk mode for most everything, but they're especially good in off-piste and powder. Can find them on ebay occasionally.

I'm a light weight and using steep angles 66 x 42 with a 26.5 boot. Don't like the extra torque from a wider board. Found I can use a softer narrow board in fairly deep powder. I have an O'sin 4807 for the deeper stuff, but like to have more control for spring back country..

Same comments on the Splitboard Thread. Old K2 hardboots for original clicker. The clicker bindings weigh nothing and are incredibly strong. Have them on my approach skis (Free Heel) and on my all mountain carver. Wish they would bring these back. Good Alpine Climbing boots too.

This is what I would hope K2 would bring back (although it was never released in the US). I was lucky enough to find the samples at a Ski Swap in Seattle. The old Clicker bindings are plenty strong and weigh almost nothing. Have them on my K2 approach skis with free heel and also on my all mountain board. Wish I could find an alpine split board with a max waist of 20.

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=902708979779662&fref=nf Only half joking on this. Nothing like a blinking light to get someone's attention.

Look both ways before crossing the street. Mom told me and I've never been hit. Most of that I credit to not being on the street for any length of time if possible (off piste).

Hope to run into you guys. Looks like Monday night is going to be a good snow night. I'll probably be at Beehive Basin tomorrow to catch some fresh (was up there today, and there was a good 8" of very light powder. Conditions this last weekend have been a little marginal, so I've bagged it. Tuesday, I'll be riding, but mostly off piste.

How much are they going for? Thanks for clearing this up guys. Didn't exactly know what it was all about. Other websites offer chicklets for good behavior and felt I was being left out.

As I look at everyone's profile, it looks like I'm one of the very few, if not the only one that has "0 WARNING POINTS". How do I get some and what are they? Is it fair? I've been good, and promise to be good in the future.

Big Sky is back to normal. Couple inches pretty much every day. Loads of fun. Screaming through the off-piste.

Season's passes are about $1100 in the spring. Daily passes are $103.

Feel free to PM. There are full seasons rentals available at Cedar Creek, but you will have to book early in the year. I can help out with you finding something as a fellow member of the board has most of that info.

First off, I am always in hardboots, and almost always off-piste. I use an old Burton Ultra-prime for days that are less than 2 or 3 " of fresh, up to 5", and especially if conditions are somewhat scraped off. The Ultra has the ability to hold an edge fairly well on the groomers, but excels when you're hitting bumps, steeps, or chutes. The board has a lot of pop to help you get over crud or cut through the crud. I also use very flexible hardboots, Raichle 3 buckle (123 or 122). These give me a great deal of latitude when I hit something hard and they act as shock absorbers. Also use flexible bindings, as I find these to be dampening chatter and as a plus, are easier on the boards. (F2 sport intecs). My angles are different from most of the riders on Bomber. 66 front and 45 rear. I find that these are the most natural angles when sliding down a slippery slope with shoes or boots. Also I find these angles give me much better leverage to effect quick and powerful directional changes when you don't have much reaction time. These angles are not the best for hard carving, but are great for threading through the bumps. You will find that if you use steeper angles on a board, that the torque will increase dramatically. The steeper the angles that you have, will necessitate a narrower board. I bought a half dozen Ultra-primes when they were discontinued. I found a board that works well for off piste and after 200 days plus the first one folded coming off a headwall and landing in a trench. I have over 200 days on the one I'm currently using. The boards are tough and well suited to what you are looking to do. You should be able to find one over in Europe for not much money, and it will give you a taste of what you might be looking for without breaking the bank (which is really not a factor in buying this board because it works).

Sorry, this is the first time that I've checked back on this ride board. I've never been here before the first of Feb. to ski. We rent out our condo till the first of Feb. We come out during the summer and then finish off the ski season here, so I can only rely on what friends tell us about the early season. I guess it was spotty during Thanksgiving with only a couple of runs open. It snowed during Christmas and so it was decent. The upper mountain was spotty and not worth doing the Gondola. Currently the conditions are pretty decent. The groomers are fine to very good. The Glades are very good to even better. They have cut in 4 new glades this year and 2 are Blue Runs. Fun and fast without overwhelming bumps. Can thread your way down them at a pretty good clip. The other 2 glades that have opened are Blue to Black depending on where you are on the run, but tons of fun. There's several good, wide carving runs, about 14 or 15 that I can think of. The great thing about Big Sky is the lack of crowds, so you can almost always get on the groomers without a traffic jam. Lift lines are next to non-existent. The off piste is spectacular. Lots of really steep and lots of great bump runs, and we have snow! As far as I know there's only 2 of us hardbooters that are on the mountain. I occasionally see 1 or 2 every couple of weeks. I obviously get questions, but can't seem to get anyone to follow through with trying it out. If you're looking at renting, try VRBO and type in Big Sky Montana, Cedar Creek. That's where the affordable condos are. 2 Bedroom, 2 Full Bath, Full Kitchens, Ski In, but Ski out is a long block to the shuttle that runs every couple of minutes, or wait for the shuttle at the edge of the property. My wife and I walk every day. It takes about 4 minutes from out door. Should be able to find something for about $150 a night, that isn't on Christmas or Presidents day or the last week of the season. This is a nice complex and well maintained. As for me, you can contact me, and I'll show you around, but I am usually off piste and still in Hardboots and Plates. I like bumps.

Still Looking. Have seen some go on Ebay from Germany and Italy, but they don't want to ship to the US. Too bad because some of them have gone for $30.

thanks for looking. Appreciate the effort.

Any Luck?

Anyone coming out to Big Sky this year?

Big Sky is one of the very few great Ski areas that is somewhat available and affordable for the common man, and you don't get much commoner than me. Prices have doubled since I bought mine, but you can still get a Ski-in short walk to the shuttle for about $160,000. 2 Bedroom 2 Bath, 783 square feet with low taxes and low HOA fees, and we're high with the base at 7500 ft.. Would love to see a couple more hardboots up there. Right now there's really only 2 of us.