Neil Gendzwill

Looking to hit someplace for Easter. Was thinking Fernie but it looks about done for the year. How's Sunshine looking? The Lake? Bueller?

It's powdery flats that suck! You need some tilt or you get bogged down. Do the east coast people have trouble adjusting to the steepness of the western resorts? I think (I have no proof) that what is called steep in the west vs the east has the same relation to what is called icy in east vs west.

Don't need to mask them if you want them available. Just output them with a little inline javascript like so (substitute the square braces for angled ones in your code): [script language=javascript] [!-- var contact = "Neil" var email = "gendzwil" var emailHost = "sedsystems.ca" document.write("[a href= + "mail" + "to:" + email + "@" + emailHost+ ]" + contact + "[/a]") //--] [/script] Makes it harder for the bots to pick up.

Intec bindings are a lot less sensitive to sole length adjustments than toe-clip bindings. One of the (many IMNSHO) advantages. If your boot soles shrink a little bit on a cold day, no biggie.

And what do you mean by "linking good turns". If you mean carving trenches, then I haven't seen that either. But I can link turns and stick aggressively to the fall line in some pretty big and steep bumps (western soft ones, not eastern icy ones).

D-sub: Berts are lead hand on the wall/snow/wave if you're doing them frontside (heel edge) and trailing hand or both hands for backside. Laybacks are always frontside AFAIK with trailing hand. I could never get them skating as it required more flexibility than I possess, plus it's really tricky to get that board to come back under you. FWIW I think the laid-out carves are really cool, wish I could do them as well as the European guys do. Angulated bomber style carves are really cool, with I could do them as well as the East Coast guys do. Racing technique is really cool, wish I could do it as well as Jasey-Jay does. 'sall good. Big fat word to everything Bordy said.

IIRC the point where people get confused in these types of problems is where they say "is a head-on collision where both cars are going 50 kph the same as hitting a wall at 100 kph". The answer is that the wall is much worse in that case.

It should be just fine for 180 lbs, I have an older version of that binding (Intec RS) and it works for me at 190. BTW that 55 degrees is a suggested limit - those F2 binders rotate all the way around. There's no teeth either (it's a friction fit with a rubber ring) so you can get any angle you like.

Why go so short? Hardbooter has the 182 in normal width for $349.

Layback is back hand on the wave/coping. I can't see holding an edge in that position.

Just curious, mirror70 - could you actually specify a hardboot group lesson? Or would they just put you in with all the other beginning snowboarders? If someone were to ask for an advanced hardboot group lesson, would they tell them to book a private or accomodate them?

Try turning like most skiers - stand taller, put the board not too much on edge, switch edges fairly often. Not so much fun, but way less work and you'll get to the bottom faster.

How tall is that headwall? It doesn't look like a lot of vert judging by the turns. I take it Tuckerman's is dangerous this time of year?

You might find at 40/30 that the splay is getting too much. The higher the angles, the less difference between them is the general rule. But give it a go and see how it feels. As for step-ins - I have them and I'd never go back. There's another recent thread of step-in vs bail that points to other older threads for all the pros and cons.

I don't have any direct experience with Donek, but what I gather from the many discussions comparing them with Prior is that the Doneks are designed more towards carving performance, and that the Prior is designed more for non-groomers. At least, that's what Sean Martin of Donek said. The longer Axis models are supposed to be quite stiff, so I'm not surprised at all to hear that the 177 gives some people grief in the bumps. So if you're looking to be off the groom and in the bumps, you might prefer Prior. I'd look hard at the 169 if I were you. If you want to save some coin, they have deals on demos and blems on their website.

Short effective edge? Carving boards have long effective edges. This really depends on the board. For example, at your weight if your talk to Prior, they probably would want you on the 174 or the 179 rather than their 169. But you could get them to do a little custom on the 169 and stiffen it up for your weight. OTOH if you're planning on a lot of bumps, you might want to go with the stock 169, intentionally having it a little softer than ideal for carving for better bump performance. I was on one of their older 165s and it worked real well in the bumps, but it was a mite soft on the groom. If you go with Coiler then Bruce would make it right for your weight regardless of length but then again there's that 1 year wait. Sean over at Donek can build an Axis to suit, too, I bet. I'm a little heavier than you (190) and I'm on a Coiler AM172, and I don't find the length an issue at all. Lots of guys here ride really long boards but if you want to be in the bumps you probably want to stay under 180, and maybe more towards 170. Rambling now, hope that was helpful.

Broke mine when I was 17 skating. Clean break but right through. Doc said 6 weeks, I tried to push it and skate at 5 weeks. Fell on that shoulder - ow, ow. Waited an extra 2 weeks. I'd say give it what the doc tells you.

Allen, I have been using hardboots and all-mountain boards with 21.5 cm waists in the moguls for about 5 years. Before that it was a 25 cm waisted freeride board, also with hardboots. I like the narrower waist and more forward stance better, but I wouldn't want to go much narrower. As far as going to a freecarve board right away - the previously mentioned boards (Donek Axis, Coiler AM, Prior 4WD) will carve plenty hard. At your experience level and for what you want to do, they will certainly provide all the platform you can handle for the next phase of your snowboarding life. If you're uncomfortable with the expense of these boutique boards, Chris Klug's site has a good cheap alternative. The '98 Alp 64 shown here is only $160 and is a very similar design to the Axis/AM/4WD, although probably quite a bit softer. It should work very well as a starter all-mountain/bump board.

Did you actually blow the disk? If you're having numbness and all that you should see your doc. It might be time to get that sucker fused. My mom blew a disk up higher near her neck and her right arm was in horrible pain. They fused it and she's been fine since.

To do well in the park, you need to be good in the air, have a good sense of where your body is, not get disoriented spinning, all that kind of stuff. I don't think those sorts of skills are all that required in racing and to quite an extent those are natural talents. So if you get a racer who's never so much as thrown a back flip off a diving board, the park is maybe not going to be his forte. In other news, TWS can blow me.

Norm? Who's Norm? It was me, my old Burton Elite and those awful webbing/Fastex bindings.... Self-taught all the way. And it shows :)

High price? He undercuts Prior by $100 and provides semi-custom work as a bonus. He should probably raise his price.

I ride around 45 degrees and it works so well for me that I've never been tempted to go any steeper. But I ride everywhere and groomers are only one part of what I like to do. I suppose if all I had to ride was groomed I might go towards a purer carving setup, but I'm a big fan of the all-round setup and I'm not one to switch boards all the time.

Do any of you ride your steep angles off the groomed? I have trouble seeing 60 degree stances working in bumps, steeps and trees but then I've never tried it.

Rick's been following him around every thread and posting some inane response. I have no idea why he's made it his personal mission to harass D-Sub but it's really pissing me off and I don't know either of them personally. Maybe Rick can hang out at www.derangedstalkers.com or something.