Neil Gendzwill

You might try looking at one of the shorter Prior 4WDs. Those are at least in stock, and some of the demos/blems are OK deals.

Quickness edge to edge, and overall weight of the board. Also a wider waist allows lower angles, so if you like low angles you want a wide board. IIRC the EC guys run relatively low angles.

Did you see this Pow-stick from the SES photos? Love those subtle graphics...

When the board is flat, clearly it's not carving. If the board is such a noodle that it will fold up in any carve, that's a big design flaw don't you think? The point is, a board won't carve a bigger radius than it's sidecut, although it may be difficult to get it to carve even at the sidecut radius due to the fact that it will always flex somewhat in the turn.

The last points of contact of your circle determine the effective edge length of the board. Usually the designer will add a little radius going back the other way and then the shape moves into the nose or tail sections. So how far a given sidecut bites into the side of the board is a matter of how much edge the designer wants the board to have. Clearly a really long board won't work with a really short-radius sidecut as you would need a very wide nose/tail in order to have a usable waist. Also a matter of design choice. A powder board with a long, gradual nose will have the centre of the sidecut back further than a slalom racer with an abrupt, short nose. When the board is laid over, it flexes and the sidecut radius becomes effectively smaller. The given radius is the largest radius turn the board can make in a pure carve. In the extreme carving case, the point where they are totally laid out and the board is at a high angle is just the peak of the action. Before and after that point the board is at a more regular angle. At the peak, the tail and tip are dug strongly into the snow and the board is already strongly flexed so I don't think the board is behaving like it would on some theoretical flat surface - it's turning on a combination of edge and base pushing against the snow.

Blue Tomato accepts Amex and has Tankers on sale now.

Can't see anything but error codes, red Xs and incomplete buttons on that page, Maurie.

I'm just going to have to dig deeper in the ol' pockets next year and come out, that looked like a blast. I wonder what the local reaction to all that trenching is like? Draw a crowd for the limbo contest?

Because it's big, big fun to go real, real fast. Back when I was younger, stronger, and dumber my skiing buddy and I used to try to beat the Olympic chair at Louise - get on it when the liftie said "last ride", and then be fast enough back down to get another last ride. This usually involves skiing Louise from top to bottom in about 3 minutes, which isn't world cup speed but is still hauling some ass.

Hi, Allee. I posted some comments here about my AM and a link to a little clip. On Panorama as a whole - well, due to snow conditions it pretty much sucked as much as it did last I was there (20 years ago) as none of the swanky new terrain was rideable (at least, I refused to subject my boards to it). Everything was rock-hard and icy in many places. I've seen worse conditions at Louise in thin years - at least I hit no rocks, thanks to snowmaking - but it was still pretty bad. Spent a lot of time on Fritz's as it was in relatively good shape. Got to the top and went down the 10000 Peaks run and a couple of the bump runs, which were OK-ish but degenerated in the bottom half. The view at the Summit is truly spectacular! I think it would be a great hill with a few more feet of snow, but in talking to people the last 3 years haven't been so great. Had my kids and mom along, so I noted that there's also a serious lack of easy greens for beginners - those greens off Mile 1 are distinctly blueish, especially with the ice. Some mondo big houses are being put up near the golf course, a lot of serious Calgary oil money is being spent. I'm told the place is busier in summer than winter. Our condo was a short walk from the Toby lift but not truly ski-in/out. Most of the places you'd have to hike up and down stairs, so as a place to park a family for a week it's not as attractive as Big White where you can literally ski to your door. In short, I wouldn't go back unless I knew for sure it had enough snow. I'll certainly never take a gamble by reserving months in advance again. We're already thinking Big White for next year. I ran into only 2 other carvers all week. One is an instructor named Ian who teaches on an old 173 FP. The other was a guy from Washington state on an Axis that I rode up the lift with. Didn't get to make turns with either of them. If any other BOL folks were there, I missed them.

Just got back from a week in Panorama with my brand new AM172, 21.5 cm waist. Conditions were rock hard and it wasn't uncommon to see blue ice. One of the instructors I talked to said it was typical Ontario conditions (where he was from). Any problems with edge hold were purely mine - the conditions were certainly revealing any technical problems I have. The AM is quite a bit stiffer than my older Prior 4WD and much less inclined to be skidded or ridden lazily at all. OTOH if I was on top of it there was no washing out or folding or any other problems I had due to the Prior being too soft for my weight (it was a short one). I'm anxious to get it in more typical Western conditions and see how it does, right now I have no clue how it behaves as an all-rounder as there was no soft snow and only a few small icy bumps. It was good in what bumps I found, but they were not going to be fun nor matter what the setup. Hope to be in Banff next month. I also had my new (to me) Tanker 200 and was thoroughly impressed. I think it's actually lighter than the AM172 and of course quite a bit more forgiving. Once you get used to the width/length, it's surprisingly easy to toss around and rails on the hardpack no problem. I loved it! PS You can see a (very) brief movie of the AM in action here. The videographer was my 12 year old daughter with a digicam in video mode - quality is as you'd expect :)

Haven't done it a lot, I just did one sequence that was sort of a carving point of view and a couple others where I was just following some people (so not carving hard in the second case). It's just a regular sized 8mm Sony, must be over 5 years old now so it's not small by today's standards but still fairly small. If you want to hold the camera upright it'll have to be hand-held unless there's some sort of gyroscopic gymballed mount available.

There's other threads about helmet cams. I just hold mine in my hands.

I had the opportunity to fight one of the most famous kendo instructors in the world a few years back. I was 30 at the time, he was 76. Kicked. My. Ass. At one point he asked me to practise taiatari against him (basically a full cross-check body crash). I was over 4 decades younger, 8" taller and 50 lbs heavier. Didn't matter, couldn't move him an inch. He just grinned the whole time, still having fun after a lifetime of kendo. That's the way I want to be.

Hey, I'm 43 and not only do I snowboard, I still skate. I get some looks from my lawn-obsessed neighbours when I bust out the longboard to go run an errand or something but I don't care. Got injured skating the local bowl in the fall which made for some raised eyebrows but again, not so much with the caring. I'd rather hang with the young or young at heart.

There's a demo one at Prior's website for $CDN459.

She wears boots in bed? (wipes sweat off brow...)

Bought a used 200 and am finally going to get to try it this week (stupid local hill closed due to stupid local government - stupid, I tell you). You guys get any interesting lift line reactions to these boards? I've certainly gotten a few "holy crap!" reactions just from showing it to my friends.

I note Blue Tomato is handling them now, although by the time you add it all up it's a bit pricey.

Men's DH is probably the best steep carver at that hill, only problem is access - IIRC you need to take the (old, rickety, slow) Olympic chair to hit the top section, that or take Top of the World and go around to connect with the top of Olympic. Worth it for that top pitch though, railing that at mach schnell is way too much fun. Ladies DH doesn't have quite the steep drop, but it's longer, if you can hit it when the groom is fresh it's really good. Gets bumped up/glazed over by mid-day usually though.

I think Sunshine and Louise usually close more due to lack of customers than lack of snow. Their big client base is in Calgary, and it's hard to think snow when you're golfing in April. Sunshine opened on the July long weekend one year, just to say they could do it. There was about a 2 hour window while the runs under Standish were transitioning from ice to slush, after that it was just a big party I hear.

Banff resorts are generally open until the end of April.

The Prior was 165 and a little soft for me (I weigh 190). The new AM is 172 and quite a bit stiffer, but then it was custom made for my weight. It just arrived last week and I haven't had it on snow yet. I would have gone longer but I wanted to be able to take it in the bumps. If I have a craving for long, I'll bust out my 200 cm Tanker.

I used to ride an Asym Air with plates (still have it, actually) and switched to a Prior 4WD. Just got a Coiler AM to replace the Prior, so there's my vote of confidence in that general shape and style of board. I find they work really well in all conditions for riding in the Canadian rockies. I don't think Telluride would be all that different. The 21.5 cm waist demanded steeper angles, but once I got used to them I appreciated the quicker response of the narrower setup. It's a little more work to horse around in heavy powder but once used to it, no problem. If I had a Proton I would still want something for off the groomed. With the all-mountain shape, I don't feel like I'm missing out.

It's not very fair criticism to label the board as too wide, it's a BX board designed for low angles and probably soft boots. I'd frankly be more interested to see it evaluated as it is intended to be ridden.