b.free

Excuse me? Why is that?!

Great riding!!! Vail did not suck. We should do it more often, and hopefully Beaver will be ready for us!

True inspiration!! Keep going man!!

Yep! Lets plan Vail then.

Sweet! Are you riding this Sunday then?!

Tell us about Beaver, is centenial's runs open? Is Avanti open and grommed in Vail?

Can you?!!)))

Well, I came to HB from skiing, was pretty good actually. Still ride it sometimes. Although what you call fundamentals is basically staying on the edge, so yes its all same at this point. However body orientation is what makes snowboarding technique different, or skiing technique.. or skwal.

Well, 15 cm boards are still considered as a snowboards, what's you riding is a skwal and rules of snowboarding don't really apply to skwal riding. I tried a skwal ones, and my snowboarding technique did not work for me on it. Don't mean to offend at any point, but riding skwal is riding sideways, no need to apply any other forces, like rotation or longitudinal work. Most of up to date boards have variable sidecut and by applying some forces a boarder can make a longer or shorter sidecut. I personally can ride EC on my Virus Black Death which is 15 cm board, just by making my turn longer. Of course mastering the technique is a must. I have never tried TD3s, however why not, they should work with EC, don't see any reason not to. As for toe/heel lifts, its all personal preference, use them or not. I ride flat on my rear leg and with toe lift up front. Works fine for me, might not for others.

Hey, Question, what red tongues are you using in the video?

Surely,

It’s unnecessary to ride 22w boards to do EC. My best setup is 18w boards with longer edge line, bindings angles would be 65+, but it doesn’t really matter as long as you know a technique. Nevertheless, EC can be easily done even on 15w board.

Btw, if anyone wondering, D shell can fit M F2s bindings.

I ordered them through Rich at All Board Sports. It was a special order directly from MS

Updated my WCs to RDs. Boots feel stiffer which gives me more of control, especially on icy slopes. Riding them with orange (stiffest ones) springs, since I also had issues with yellow ones, even broke one. 6.5 with 220lbs

We might this Sunday. All depends on lift lines. Do you think will it be busy in Sunday?!

Local event in Aspen

GoPro allows you to count G forces more or less properly.

There are at least 4 of us carving Keystone on Sundays. Join!

There is a thread a little below

My lineup for this season

4874 is a softer prototype. From the first start - amazing board, truly universal, no need to adjust, especially on a day before I rode Virus Black Death 3 with 15 cm waist. Got lucky to ride it on soft snow (more than a foot of freshies) and at the same time on groomed trails. A day went from gorgeous and sunny AM to terrible PM conditions when the sun went into the clouds and everything got frozen. It turned out to be softer than 4872 board everywhere - nose, waist, tail and the most important torsionally. At the same time, it did not loose anything in carving, the nose did not rattle, the middle with a good feedback and the tail jumps! Board is 400 grams lighter than 4872 and it FEELS! Carrying it uphill was much easier and more comfy, which is very important for a powboard of it’s size. In pow without trees, the board floated great and jumped when necessary. It easily can be spinned and allows to throw it under you. In not very dense and tight trees, it was quite easy as well, since it torsionally softer, the board helped to go around bumps and trees, like it was a simple matter. Of course with tighter trees when you have to twist a lot, it’s harder, although it’s kinda expected for a 195cm board. The only thing I did not like was when the snow got frozen and became limp, I went back to the trails, board began to stick to the snow, not wanting to turn and put on the edge. The easiness of riding immediately disappeared, as you were riding on the wooded log. As a conclusion, this board turned out to be much better than 4872 (stiffer board). Very similar feeling of the Undertaker but with better and wider variety of riding. Its unbelievable ride on deep snow and on groomed trail to carve it. I recommended to use this prototype in a production. Great board!

As for my reviews, i can say that both boards are build in excellent and almost identical shape comparing to the original, some minor differences in construction and dampening, although my original is 20+ years old, so its hard to compare in exact way. 4872 is a harder prototype which is obviously stiffer build and heavier, testing were in very hard spring pack, no freshies unfortunately by that time. Boots were UPZ AT8, which is my softer setup for powdays. Yamifumi said its crazy to use this pow board in such conditions, ohh well, I wanted to try it anyway. I am 6.5, 225lbs and the board felt very good for my weight. On the groomed trails, U195 felt more of GS board with wider turns vs the Undertaker as more of freecarving board with shorter turns, not sure if its good or bad, more of a preferred way of riding. The nose felt amazing, no rattling at all, just amazing stable ride, great hold on any speed. Same with the tail, I was so surprised by it, very jumpy, lots of feedback, very “alive” tail. I was not scared to press it, amazing since its a swallowtail. Midsection of the board is probably too stiff torsionally, which would be hard to maneuver in the trees, well no trees riding yet, however its not an issue on the hardpack. I had to adjust my technique and get used to the board to feel and ride it comfortably. Overall with only one day of riding on it, I would say its more of a carver than powboard, way better on hardpack than Undertaker, great grip to ride anywhere on trails, will see how it will ride in deep snow and trees. Short video:

Mr.E used 4872 (the stiffer one) for testing yamifumi used 4874 (the softer one) for testing