Unicorn Poop

Awesome! Thank you so much. :)

Won't let me watch because I'm in the US. Any way around this? NBC won't let me watch (or even buy) their online streaming because I don't have cable TV with them as one of my channels. What a crock of ****.

Avast is telling me that there's a virus called JS:HideLink-A [Trj] on that site. Also, as silly as that board is, it may finally be our ticket to go ride at Alta, Deer Valley and Mad River.

Near bluebird skies and near hero snow up at the Powdah. Lift lines were silly... I had to wait almost an entire minute to get a chair at one point. :(

I apologize. That was confusing and I should have been more clear. I meant that if he tapped out the stripped insert for a larger bolt and retained the same thread engagement length as he currently has (or had), the larger screw would hold a higher load. All things being equal (load, material strength), a larger diameter fastener will hold the same load with less engagement length. Given that he was only able to get three turns (half of what is generally required) and that the insert is of a softer material, the same engagement length of three turns in a larger diameter fastener will be stronger. The statement that one diameter of thread engagement is a very general and broad reaching statement, but is a safe rule to adhere to when other factors are unknown.

You generally want at least a diameter's worth of thread engagement. So, for a 6mm bolt, you want at least 6mm of engagement. The number of turns this is depends on the thread pitch. I believe the thread pitch on our screws are 1.0mm, so you'd actually need six turns. If the material is softer, such as brass, you'd want more engagement; depending on the type of brass alloy, it could be quite a bit more. That's just the engagement; the torque is probably quite a bit lower than you think- only seven foot pounds or so. But that's for steel. Since the inserts are brass, that could drop to between three and five foot pounds. If you were using the same screws you always use with that particular set of bindings on different boards, and were cranking down the screws as tight as you would on a board with steel inserts, there's a good chance that you overtorqued your screws. You could helicoil, assuming the OD of the insert is big enough to allow for this, both in diameter and integrity. If not, you could drill and tap for a larger bolt, since a larger bolt will require less engagement length and allow for a higher torque value. Or, replace the inserts all together.

Don't know, don't care.

The place I go has over 7000 acres, so it never really gets crowded. But, I do have a Kessler 168 for low light days to keep the speed down, and a Supermodel 81 with plates for powder/ crap/ tree days.

Can't say I've ever seen a board bend like this. Then again, I'm not a jibber.

I have been enjoying the pictures all season. We've been getting hammered with the snow up here at Powder Mountain for the past week and once it clears out, it's going to be awesome. Shoot me an email if you guys ever venture up this way. Budget constraints and a fear of the bad luck that greets me whenever I go to PC prevents me from reciprocating and joining you folks.

So they're crying about an excessive amount of jumps that would lead them to spending more time in the air than what is considered desirable during a run? Sounds like a bunch of salty, hard- booting old farts to me. ;)

What does "packed with wutang" mean?

Hurrrrrt feeeeeeelings!

While waiting in line at the rope tow at Powder Mountain: "Hey, anyone going up alone?"

Your stance is dictated by your skeleton and how everything works together. You should be comfortable standing without any strain or unnatural pressure. If your stance leads you to bump knees in a turn, so be it. What works for you won't work for someone else and vice versa. I had a guy tell me early on that my stance needed to be 20.5" wide, 65/60 angles with a flat front binding and only cant in the rear. This was how he rode and he was actually a very, very good rider. So I did that and even though I never touched knees, I rode like ****. Then I listened to BeckmannAG and spent a few hours setting up my bindings and boots in my living room and hit it like a rockstar the next day, and as a result of setting up the gear to work with my geometry, my knees touch. Don't do what someone tells you to do. Do what your body tells you to do. If knees together works for you, do that. If throwing a hand up mid turn like you're waving at the hotties on the lift works for you, do that as well. There are rights and wrongs, but "right" is open to much interpretation.

As long as Kessler, Oxess, Virus, SG, Donek, Coiler and Prior can make me a board, and as long as there's at least one boot out there that will fit my hooves, every single stupid gull wing camber reverse banana rocker wavy edge marketing gimmick board can burn in a fire for all I care. Look at the gear we ride- the technology and geometry that goes into the boards, the boots and the bindings... I identify more with skiing than soft booting. Let snowboarding die already.

I'm usually too busy having fun to go take pictures of the ditches. It doesn't compare to you guys, but here's what I got. Mid season last year; it was maybe my eighth or tenth time in hard boots. Last turn of the run: And then this year on the big Kessler, doing work. You can see the rut from my previous toeside in the background: Yeah, I got a new wardrobe this past summer. :)

You'd be amazed at what idiots will wear at the wrong time and/ or place. Being close to Hill AFB, I see it all the time up at Powder Mountain.

Oh man, did I call that, or what? http://nypost.com/2014/01/24/us-warns-olympians-dont-wear-team-colors-outside-venues/

Just because you can go fast doesn't mean you can be fast.

This was one of the suggested videos after the xc boarding video. The 2:25 mark is absolutely perfect.

That reminds me of what the military would show us as an example of what NOT to wear when traveling in a foreign country, so you don't turn yourself into a target for terrorism.

I've heard of guys using the same rubber you dip tool handles into.

Admittedly, I'm a relative noob when it comes to hardbooting, especially compared to most around here. I don't try to make any claims beyond being average given my time on the hill. Motorcycles, though, I do know a thing or two about a thing or two. The part about John McGuinness and foam pipe insulation clicked. That there was the perfect analogy. Thank you. I know now the path that must be traveled. Also, your in- depth analysis of binding and anatomy on your site helped me make some huge strides this year in my abilities. Thank you for that as well.

Thank you for those links, Michael. That saves me some googling. :) I do use the orange tongue. Dingbat- that's sound advice. I started out on HSPs, so my boot experience is pretty much non- existent. They definitely worked against me for a long while and there's still some times where they bite me, which is one of the reasons why I want to do the mods and install BTS.