Neil Gendzwill
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Posts posted by Neil Gendzwill
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It's not a fair price for a used board - you can get a brand new 04 Renntiger for $349 here.
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Yeah, the PBB bill is a bit of a surprise the first time. But it does say on the paperwork you get from Purolator that you will receive a bill for duties and taxes later. However the bill is very reasonable compared to what UPS charges on ground-delivered stuff.
They've renamed the company (PBB) so that it's more clear that it's Purolator's in-house brokerage service, forget what the name is now.
Probably the easiest is just the postal service, but then you don't get the tracking.
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The Cliff at Big White is Big Fun, especially after a Big Dump. 10 foot cornice drop into a 45 degree slope with knee-deep pow, a bunch of turns that are more or less free-fall drops into pow until it "levels out" into a 35 degree slope or so. Then the agonizing poma ride back out... or used to be, anyways - the poma got taken out by an avalanche or something a few years ago and now you've got to exit through Black Forest, so running laps on the Cliff is a royal pain. But still a great run.
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Seeing as we're typically going twice as fast as any other snowboarder on the hill, a helmet seems like a good idea. Also, I've heard of more than one fellow who got locked into a carve and went sailing off into the trees before he could get out of it. That WCR is a lot of board too - if you don't feel confidant going in, perhaps a little extra protection is in order? Finally, there's a lot of boneheads on the hill - even if you don't make a mistake, no guarantee you're not going to take a ski to the head from some drunken idiot going too fast on the wrong run.
I use a Giro Ravine SC, I find it warm and comfortable, the weight is not an issue.
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Originally posted by Dave*
I am going to guess that the other couriers such as fedex etc would be much the same.
UPS only charges the ridiculous brokerage fees when you use their ground service. My martial arts supplier ships stuff from Japan to Canada all the time using EMS which turns into Purolator when it gets here. Brokerage fee is about $6, not sure if Purolator charges more if you use the ground service.
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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.
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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.
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That picture doesn't really do it justice, does it? There's some good 45 degree pitches on that lower half.
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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).
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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.
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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?
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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.
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Beer, scotch, rum.
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Originally posted by Rusty
Awwwyeah!!! Was that the Performer Elite with the skeg in the middle? I had one of those in like 87-88 (first board just before I bought my Mystery Air) what a board...flex we don't need no stinkin' flex. Oh and the fas-tex wbbing for bindings...totally radical dude!
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
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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.
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Originally posted by NMU Alpine Boarder
No, actually the 220 KPH speed wasw set on a snowboard. I don't know who, when, or where, but iff you ever see the description for a Volkl Renn Tiger, it'll say "The only snoboard ridden to the amazing speed of 125 MPH".
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.
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Originally posted by Derf
And especially here, people like long boards.
That was kind of my point.
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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.
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Originally posted by NMU Alpine Boarder
Can anyone help with any racing specific drills?
Go downhill, really really fast. When something gets in your way, turn.
Thank you, I'm here all week.
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Originally posted by yyzcanuck
I've always had a problem with that term... "degrees". What does it really matter what degree of cant/lift you have? As long as you can adjust the binding over some sort of range, who cares what the angle is?
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.
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Originally posted by jeffnstefanie
Definition: [n] a limitation of views or interests like that defined by a local parish
See Also: narrow-mindedness
[snip]
you can conclude that I am in no way exclusionary towards one side or the other of the mighty Mississippi
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.
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I have no coast. Land-locked province, donchaknow.
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Very nice, appreciate the registration - keeps people in line.
Congrats on the new binders - sweet!
Avoiding duty on US to Canada shipping
in Carving Central
Posted
The limit of value for a gift is $60. But so long as the sender marks clearly on the paperwork "made in USA", you should only have to pay GST and maybe PST.