Neil Gendzwill

When do you think that one is from? The only one they show in the history thing on the Burton site is a '92.

For me, it's because a 21.5 cm board lets me get my angles down to about 45, which for me is the most I'd want to go and still ride chutes, bumps, trees and the like. "Versatile" to me doesn't only mean comfortable in soft snow.

I think the 4WD/Axis/AM shape is the best all-rounder there is, maybe one of them could customise a shorter, softer version for her. I think she'd have to check with Chris Prior but IIRC the 159 has a design weight considerably higher than 125 lbs. He could produce a softer one if she isn't intimidated by the length - Prior makes custom flex adjustments for $US55. Donek is now making an Axis 162 that's softer than an Incline 160 but whether that's soft enough for 125 lbs I'm not sure. The 150 Incline is probably soft enough but has a 24 cm waist. Coiler's shortest AM is 169, although they've done a narrow 159 also. They do the cheapest custom work. Problem there is lead time... Maybe F2 is the answer.

There's the key, right there - only 26. Your body still has some amazing recuperative powers. Come back and talk to us in 15 years or so... BTW I'm 43 and don't often do the vitamin I either but if it makes the difference between riding and not riding I'll jump on it. I also work out, quite a lot.

One thing to note about ibuprofen is that the recommended doses are way low. You can safely double them if you have to. I had a bruised tendon sheath or some such and my doctor prescribed a 10 day course of ibuprofen as anti-inflammatory. I had to call him back to confirm the dose - it was something like 3 times the recommendations on the bottle. His explanation was that the drug can cause heart issues for some percentage of patients, so the recommended dose was set because of that. Goofy thing is, if it's going to cause that particular problem it will do it at lower than the recommended doses. Anyways, bottom line is don't be afraid to take an extra pill or two if you need it.

Three thoughts to keep in mind: 1. Bend your knees. 2. Bend your knees. 3. Bend your knees.

I have the exact same boots. Except I cut the annoying gaitors off, put eyelets into the liner so I could lace it up for more support, and added velcro to stick the tongue in place so it didn't rotate around on me. They work OK but they only flex so far and stop. And they're really, really pink. Even more pink than in the picture. They're actually Koflach Valugga Lights in disguise.

Actually I was looking to see if they had an online version of an article I read with a bunch of funny names for wipeouts, and happened to see that one. And I'm obsessed. On my office wall I've got a poster from Snowboarder showing her tearing up some insanely steep face in Valdez - my kind of woman.

and the guys, too. Found this at Powder mag: Victoria Jealouse interview.

We always rate the crashes out of 10 (shouted from the lift). To get an 8, equipment must be scattered. 9s require inverted position at some point during the fall. A 10 would be something like a multiple cartwheel, leaving equipment a minimum 50 feet above, requiring the uphill trudge of shame. No ratings allowed when someone is obviously hurt!

Big Mountain's a great hill. Tons of snow, which can mean tons of fog. Learn to ride by braille.

I don't think swing weight is an issue. I've never found the tail on the Prior to be too catchy. I had that issue sometimes with my old Gnu but it was 15 cm longer. You've got to be comfortable being in the air a little, it's a bread and butter technique in the bumps. I think a pure carved run in big bumps is a pretty tough (impossible?) goal. You've got to let a bump launch you once in a while. Not only that, sometimes you just have to jump using brute force, especially in dicey conditions (rocks, tree stumps). I think light weight is helpful there.

It's a trade-off - the young guys coming up now have the advantage of good gear, established technique and welcoming resorts. OTOH there's something to be said for being in on the ground floor of something good. I wouldn't trade my memories of the early days for anything. The camaraderie with every other rider you met was great. Even having to take a test to ride the hill and all the questions you had to endure on every lift ride were kind of cool in retrospect - we were on the leading edge and we knew it, even if the resorts didn't at the time.

Wonder if Tanner has ever actually seen a world cup level downhill course? I've been at Louise when they've run the ladies event and stood at one of the corners as those women went by at mach schnell on what's more or less a course of solid ice. They add water, on purpose, and used a bunch of military guys to side step it and get it nice, hard and icy. I don't think I can even stand up on one of those sumbitches, much less set an edge at 75 mph.

OK, bumping this thread in the hopes of getting my questions above answered. Also a couple of more questions (I know very little about tuning): Bruce says his boards come with no base bevel and the edges at 89 degrees - that means a 1 degree side bevel, right? There seems no purpose in bevelling the side the other way, so that with no base bevel the edge is more than 90 degrees. He recommends putting in a 1 degree base bevel. I always just filed mine flat and never found it too hooky. Do lots of you guys run bevel, or flat? I'm a little nervous about adding bevel myself. I'm even more nervous about trusting the local shops to do it.

Tele guys in bumps just blow my mind. That looks like a lot of work, not to mention skill. I love watching them.

Do you ever get honest-to-god VW sized moguls there? I've heard that term over and over but never seen them in the west. Who's ridden east and west? Shred, I know you've been to Banff - have you seen White Heat to compare it to say Paradise at Louise?

My Prior was 165, but with a straight tail. I went a little longer on the Coiler 172 as the tail has some kick and I didn't want to give up any edge, plus I wanted some groomer performance. I don't expect the extra 7 cm will be that much of a hindrance.

Sean, is that your formula for softies? Works out to 21" for me, a wee bit wide for hard boots IMHO.

Can you set it up to do one or the other but not both if you want? Also: how do you use base bevel guides like the svst Final Cut or swix Pro with a snowboard? I've seen several similar designs and they all use the opposite edge to track straight. Seems like you'd have to have a long file to reach the filed edge on a snowboard, and maybe it'd be hard to keep it true. Also, doesn't the file angle vary quite a bit with the sidecut? ETA: the hell with all this hand-tool pussy-footin' around, through the magic of ebay you can get your very own stone grinder.

Started in '86 on a Burton Elite. Broke it first season, switched to a Sims 1710, still on softies. Switched to plates in '89-'90 and never looked back.

I love bumps, and I like to think I'm good at them. I beat most skiers down them, although I can't keep up with a hot mogul skier taking the zipper line. I ride a pretty straight line, much the same as I did on skis. All my experience is in the west in soft snow - if they're real icy (like refrozen on a spring morning) I stay clear, but if they're just glazed I'm OK. I haven't had a lot of boards - I've ridden hard boots on a Gnu Race Room 179, a Burton Asym Air 164 and an older Prior 4WD 165. It took some adjustment when I switched from the Burton to the Prior as my main ride but I like it the best in most conditions. The narrower board lets me get edge to edge quicker and be squarer to the hill, and at the same time lets me have a shallow enough stance angle to really swing it back and forth. The medium-stiff flex works well, too. I speculate that a narrower stiff race board would be doable but not even close to ideal. Too stiff and it couldn't flex through the troughs, too narrow and not enough leverage for the quick turns and jumps - same reason slalom racers like wider boards, I suspect. If the bumps are big and powdery, the Burton works better. If they're small, spaced out with lots of powder I can pretty much ignore them on the Gnu, IIRC (it's retired now). Bruce is building my new board as we speak, and I asked for an AM172 in the 21.5 width. He's got my love of bumps noted, and is going with his standard construction for my weight. Hopefully I'll get a chance to get into some nice bumps with it and let you know how it works. I'll also be taking my Tanker 200 into the bumps just for grins - I suspect it will be too much work in real bumps, but if I find a nicely spaced set on a steepish blue, it will be a hoot.

No need to bring any extra, just bring along a pocket knife with a pointy tip. Dead easy to spring the latch on a zip-tie and undo it, then reattach it elsewhere.

Trying to remember the R11 - I know the local SportChek has been trying to dump a pair of BetaCarve 10.20s for a while now, but they want $500 and those skis are at least 4 seasons old. You gotta watch those guys with the really old stock and the seconds.

Works for me, but I use IE.