Neil Gendzwill

I was just reading where Delirium Dive averages over 40 degrees for the whole place (it's more than one run), with sections of 60 degrees. Plus cliff bands. It's accessed controlled - to open the gate you need an avalanche transceiver. They require you also have a shovel and a partner similarily equipped. The steep run I'm thinking of is called Freefall, and Sunshine used to advertise a pitch of 82 degrees, which was unfair because that was the little cliff-y section in the middle. But there are definitely sections that are as steep as anything I've been on in-bounds. The only thing I can think of as steep is the top portion of "the Cliff" at Big White. Again, this is not groomed, no carving expected or possible.

No, not groomed but definitely 45 degrees. The top part is a huge open blue run, mostly groomed. The bottom is steeper, and you have your pick between glades, steep ungroomed and fairly steep groomed. I don't think the groomed stuff gets over 30 degrees, but the ungroomed has consistent pitches of 45 or so and a couple of short sports of steeper.

That picture doesn't really do it justice, does it? There's some good 45 degree pitches on that lower half.

It's hard to see from the perspective there, but the main run from the top is a medium-steep wide-open blue with room for building ridiculous speed. It runs into a cat track which traverses over a black run that starts bumpy on skier's right, then moves towards smooth on the left. Lots of beginners stand there, screwing up the courage to dip in. Major fun to haul ass up to there, check briefly for speed and then dive over the edge while they're still scratching their asses and making up their minds. The official name of the run is "Great Divide" but everyone just calls it "Brewster" for reasons that are lost in the fuzz that is my head today. Skiers right off the chair at the top is a nice easy black bump run, perfect for working out the kinks before trying something tougher (like the double fall-line ugliness that can develop on Standish, or some of the steep ones off Goat's Eye).

Nothing to add about boot fitting but I would like to second the recommendation for step-ins. They are so convenient! In addition to being able to just click-in at the top of a lift and go (excellent if you ride with skiiers as I often do), they work well on the flats. Stuck on the flat? Yank your cable and start skating. Got some momentum built up? Step in and coast for a while. Ski-outs and access roads are now enjoyable rather than a huge pain in the ass. I've never had a problem with slop of any sort although mine are not Bombers. If you do a search on the old site you'll find a consensus that well-adjusted step-ins are just as solid as traditional Bombers, if not more so.

Hmm, did it bounce or did I just ignore you? I've switched to Netscape for mail just for the spam filtering and I suspect all is not perfect yet. As things get closer to Jan, if you want to get in touch with me try my home email (replace the EHs with dots, eh): gendzwillEHn@sasktelEHnet - it's spam-free right now and I'm trying to keep it that way. My work address is all over the net due to kendo, nothing I can do to de-spam it now. Anyways I'd really like to make it out for at least part of that, but it requires a consult with my manager. Are you riding on the 24th and 31st or are those travel days?

I like my Giro Ravine XXL. When I bought it a couple of years ago there was very little choice for those of us with big melons. My head measures 62 cm and it's long, so even helmets that claim to fit 62 don't. The Giro is a little tight but it works, and it's a damn nice hat to boot. Toque, toque, toque. It's good to be Canadian. "Wool hat" is just so awkward.

Beer, scotch, rum.

That was also my first board. Loved the 5 minutes spent adjusting those webbing/fastex bindings, especially as the webbing got wet and stretched. It was also a joy pulling those helicoils right out of the foam while halfway down Great Divide at Sunshine. My history (guessing at the dates): 85 - Burton Elite 150 - fastex/webbing with hiking boots 87 - Sims 1710 Blade - plastic strap highbacks (ouch), sorels with old ski boot liners 90 - Gnu Race Room 178 - Elfgen plates, Koflach Snowboarders (Damian!) 94 - Burton Asym Air 164 - Race plates, Koflachs then Raichle 224 00 - Prior 4WD 165 - Intec RS step-in, Raichle 224s

Without a gym - wall sits*, lunges, squats. If you can get some dumbells you can add resistance to your lunges and squats and also do dumbell deads. For the old mid-section, crunches are good. Dips are also good and do stuff for your upper body as well. Some sort of aerobic conditioning is required: whatever turns your crank - bike, run, stairs, skipping, swimming. *Wall sit: back against the wall, thighs horizontal, shins vertical, hooooold it - if you can go 10 minutes, congratulations - you're probably on a national ski team. I can do 3 before I collapse with shaking jello thighs.

220 kph is 137.5 mph. 125 mph is 200 kph. I suspect most of us are going slower than we think we are. I'd bet I've never been over 70 kph (~44 mph), and I blow by most everybody on the hill.

That was kind of my point.

I note that so far in the poll with 101 votes, over 95% of the people are riding boards longer than 160. If I had to hazard a guess, I'd say 95% of the general snowboarding populace are riding boards under 160.

Go downhill, really really fast. When something gets in your way, turn. Thank you, I'm here all week.

So that after fiddling with it for half of forever and finally getting it right, you can write the number down so that you can reproduce the result on another binding.

Wow, talk about missing the point. What's a Mississippi? We don't have that where I am. I don't think it's anywhere near Nils' place either.

I have no coast. Land-locked province, donchaknow.

Very nice, appreciate the registration - keeps people in line. Congrats on the new binders - sweet!