neanderthal

Steep angles that are fairly parallel favor carving while mechanically disadvantaging other turning styles. A splay and slacker rear foot favors forcing the rear of the board in a turn (Slarving) while quite good still for carving. The large muscle groups better allow you to kick your rear leg front and back - think walking. Like this the front foot becomes a piviot pointing where you want to go by moving the rear of the board around. Minor muscle groups then are used for lateral stabilization of the front foot and this is exacerbated with a wider board putting more lateral forces into your front knee (could cause knee pain balance issue or just be tiring). Parallel slack angles or duck may be the most versatile (more powerful and quicker turns in the deep or through trees) on a wider board because you can use big muscle groups to move the front or rear of the board like walking a kickturn or tick-tacking on a skateboard. I like to look ahead and rotate my body to the front of the board when riding faster or cruising and find that if the angles are slacker than about 45 degrees this puts too much internal rotation (rotation of the knee to the great toe side) for me and starts to cause knee pain. If you look at my new Jones hovercraft over on the new board porn thread you will find that our angles are not that far off but for me I would probably slacken the angles just a bit on that moss. Not less than 45 degrees and keep a splay with the front a bit steeper. That said everyone is mechanically different and has different style. I just love to see that I'm not the only one riding this sort of board in plates and loving it.

Sometimes I explain snowboarding as the exact opposite of waterskiing except in powder- instead of leaning back and moving your front foot to change direction while pivioting on your rear foot on a snowboard you lean forward and piviot on the front foot while moving the back foot to change direction. In powder it seems that the technique and feel is very much like waterskiing providing it is deep enough. Carving is when you figure out how to piviot between the feet by trusting the edge of the board to make the turn rather than grossly pointing the board where you want it to go. (Not entirely true as we know you can either up or down unweighted the board and then move it as a unit with both legs in that unweighted instant) This takes a integrated approach using both feet for the same purpose and is probably where the tuck the knees together style came from actually trying to use both legs as one unit All three approaches have their merit and we use the best tool for each situation. Most the time I try to carve. Some times I have to slide a turn or slarve and occasionally god gives me the chance to float Not sure who's tag line I'm stealing/butchering but: Any cat can make cord only God can give the powder

When I ride choppy stuff its always my front leg behind the knee on the little toe side that hurts. Fibular head or Hamstring muscle insertion? Anyone else have this problem? Wonder if its just my cant angles being wrong. Always wonder if a gecko or other free-riding plate would help

I already am looking at these for freeride (https://pierregignoux.fr/en/produit/black-snowboard/) and am ready to embrace newer tech. Sixth-Sense or the new northwave should be a big improvement in an market that has stagnated. I am particularly excited for a truly NEW take on a snowboard boot. The advances in ski boot tech particularly in the AT variety it is substantial. Lighter weight, better fit and a walking mode that makes you wonder about just wearing your boots to the restaurant/bar afterwards. I hope that both the new northwave and these will consider a lever lock or other mechanism for their BTS so a real walking mode is possible. Some of us have to hike a bit through the parking lot or on the hill. (that can be exciting with UPZ and Fintech heels). Also a spring system that is lower profile would help. There are a number of ways this could be done - I was hopefull this would come to market as a mod for existing boots but it would be awesome to see something like this done OEM. http://www.extremecarving.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=11201

WOW that is beautiful

I was typing a response but deleted it when Ursle's poped up What Ursle said after that is settled then think about Gilmour or reverse Gilmour bias.

The wider a board is the more leverage it takes to tip onto the sidecut. That extra width also gives the chop and crud a longer lever arm to throw you around with as opposed to a narrower ride cutting through the chop. A wider board makes it much harder for me to put as much weight/force on the edge. Think scraping ice off your windshield with an 8" scraper vs holding onto the end of a 4' scraper. Sure it is nice not to walk around the car to clear the other side but when the ice is difficult you walk around and choke up on the handle. ( Havnt ridden it yet but this is probably a big part of the reason the MK is so narrow ) Thats about how I select my ride for the day - If it looks like stuff I can brush off my windshield I use a longer handle and a wider board If there isnt anything on my windshield I use a mid-sized waisted board If I see an inclined skating rink I bring out a narrower board I recently have been riding a wider board (Jones Ultracraft 26.4cm waist). It takes a lot more energy to carve but with the rear foot at slacker angles I can force a turn easier. By using my feet like walking you can slide the rear with the full force of your Quads when you toes are pointed across the board. As I am recovering from a Knee injury to my LEFT/front knee I have played with a number of factors tuning what works biomechanically best for me and found that my knee likes angles not less than 45degrees because these put too much lateral force against the axis off the joint while steeper angles the forces work with the joint axis. DrSchwartz reminds us of riser plates but canting for similar reasons can also help bootout on a narrower ride because not every turn puts the board edge perpendicular to the snow. Canting with the rise given by TD3 lets me ride slacker angles than Catek (less rise) or Rat Traps (not sure why? but along with the dampening provided from a big bomber elastomer this is a big reason for my Franken-Bomber Rat Trap) Lets also remember Gilmour bias or reverse Gilmour may help with preventing bootout and riding. I have mondo 27 and for a regular carving ride cant TODAY imagine wanting a board wider than 23cm - That said I agree with the sentiment of LordMetroLand about the economic incentive driving most companies. We are very lucky in the alpine world to be able to ask for a truly custom board for not much more than an off the self jibbing/softboot ride. They do have some tech we havent adopted yet like the 3D nose or Spoon tech which I would love to see incorporated into an alpine ride and while I do not fully comprehend SoftBootSailor's assymetric rocker idea it sounds like something I would love to try.

How much and how long do I have to wait/save for these? I love the yellow

Next in line

Amen!

Depending on your budget I would say to take advantage of the stong dollar vs Canadian and just get in contact with Bruce @ coiler. Tell him a bit about yourself the hill and what you THINK you want and he will cool up something that will probably be better than you could select. Then save money by findings bindings on the forum

Another vote here for g-form They are great for snowboarding and mountainbiking

So here is my update after riding a bit and I may revise and write a board review in the proper section after this weekend when there is projected some more powder. Last year I broke my leg in the trees so this year I wanted an uncompromising powder board short enough for tree riding, stable enough for crud and carvable. Initially my gut said swallowtail but I couldnt seem to find one than met all above criteria. (Please send me any suggestions if you can think of something else to try) After a bit of looking I decided on Jones Ultracraft 160cm 26.4 waist 9.5m sidecut(https://www.jonessnowboards.com/gear/solids/ultracraft.html) So did it work as intended? - In a word YES This board has unreal float - I'm about 215lb on a good day with a large breath of helium filling my lungs and just out of the shower - Even at low speed there is no stopping this thing when going through 2+ feet of powder. Cn transitions where I normally would sink or need to haul ass instead of a straight line I was playfully leaving lazy s turns and carrying plenty of speed . Between the small sidecut and the short tail it is very easy to throw around and force any line through/around the trees. The long 40cm nose wasnt floppy and didnt chatter but was great for smoothing out transitions through crud and obviously was a key component of this board's big float. While the board is overall quite short the long nose (40.4cm) along with 2.9cm offset lets you really lean into the tip without any fear of sinking. I found this especially helpful for committing to a toeside turn on steeps and bumps. It doesnt sink or catch so I found myself riding the sidcut rather than jumpturning on a few faces (both in powder and soft bumps). Not sure if its just the marketing hype but I'm sold on the "spoon nose"/3D contour nose for powder. Is this something that is helpfull for a more alpine board? Anyone else incorporating this tech? I will certainly be looking this direction when it comes time to fill my quiver with a swallowtail. Last but not least - Carving Does it carve? yea but Its ridable if you are searching for powder and need to ride some groomers to get there. You can carve but the effective edge is so short dont plan on being aggressive or leaning very hard to the front or back. There really isnt much of a tail so if you lean back in a turn here comes a skid. On this board the carve is pretty much right between you feet. In short it is possible to really carve some turns but quite tiring tipping a 26cm waist & the turns are more of a side to side leaning that is not nearly as fun as loading the nose of my coiler and popping the tail at each transition.

Must resist Just bought a powder board :( Someone is going to be very lucky/happy with this

Tell me more about those bindings :)

I needed a powder board for some of the snow piling up at Wolf Creek lets see how this Ultracraft floats my fat ass and if it can carve. So here is my update after riding a bit and I may revise after this weekend when there is projected some more powder. Last year I broke my leg in the trees so this year I wanted an uncompromising powder board short enough for tree riding, stable enough for crud and carvable. Initially my gut said swallowtail but I couldnt seem to find one than met all above critera. (Please send me any suggestions if you can think of something else to try) After a bit of looking I decided on Jones Ultracraft 160cm 26.4 waist 9.5m sidecut(https://www.jonessnowboards.com/gear/solids/ultracraft.html) So did it work as intended? - In a word YES This board has unreal float - I'm about 215lb on a good day with a large breath of helium filling my lungs and just out of the shower - Even at low speed there is no stopping this thing when going through 2+ feet of powder. Cn transitions where I normally would sink or need to haul ass instead of a straight line I was playfully leaving lazy s turns and carrying plenty of speed . Between the small sidecut and the short tail it is very easy to throw around and force any line through/around the trees. The long 40cm nose wasnt floppy and didnt chatter but was great for smoothing out transitions through crud and obviously was a key component of this board's big float. While the board is overall quite short the long nose (40.4cm) along with 2.9cm offset lets you really lean into the tip without any fear of sinking. I found this especially helpful for committing to a toeside turn on steeps and bumps. It doesnt sink or catch so I found myself riding the sidcut rather than jumpturning on a few faces (both in powder and soft bumps). Not sure if its just the marketing hype but I'm sold on the "spoon nose"/3D contour nose for powder. Is this something that is helpfull for a more alpine board? Anyone else incorporating this tech? I will certainly be looking this direction when it comes time to fill my quiver with a swallowtail. Last but not least - Carving Does it carve? yea but Its ridable if you are searching for powder and need to ride some groomers to get there. You can carve but the effective edge is so short dont plan on being aggressive or leaning very hard to the front or back. There really isnt much of a tail so if you lean back in a turn here comes a skid. On this board the carve is pretty much right between you feet. In short it is possible to really carve some turns but quite tiring tipping a 26cm waist & the turns are more of a side to side leaning that is not nearly as fun as loading the nose of my coiler and popping the tail at each transition.

are these still available?

I know an edict has been issued but I very much think splitting the board will dillute things. If I read about splitboarding or an ultimate powder board on a (carving/hardboot/Alpine/plate/insert your preferred term) forum I can relate more and understand from a common experience in a way that does not exist on specific forums. When I read that a 180 swallowtail is too long - does that apply to me riding a 175 most of the time in all conditions or is it conventional wisdom from a community where 155 is the norm. Tell me about edge hold and unreal control - again is this coming from a collective wisdom familiar with isolation plates or just magnatraction. In short I fear a loss of crosspolonization and fragmentation. In the end I probably doesn't matter much - I hope not to miss too many posts by reading on the board I am most interested rather than most in need of hearing from

Phantoms max angle is 30 degrees. I asked about making some cleats with a higher angle when they started to make fixed angle cleats ( wanted to ride at about 40 - 45 degrees in the front and 30 rear). He said currently max angle is 30. it may be hard to use that system with a higher angle because it would interfere with the touring toe pieces as you rotate to place and remove the plate. A few people have asked but it isn't likely that higher angles would be produced :( If there is interest in some higher angles from this community I encourage everyone to write phantom and perhaps seeing a demand a higher angle cleat might come to be. I can see how it would be hard to use with dynafit toe pieces but there are more minimal which shouldn't interfere (http://www.maruelli.com/M2SPLITBOARD/M2SPLITBOARD.htm)

" you carve, you carve, you carve - no slide" I have spent many years chasing that feeling on hardboots and soft, in powder or hardpack its all about the "no slide." That and those tasty threads :)

Looks great - way more stable than my upz boots Keep the teasers coming :)

any specs or description for those of us not in the Know?

Thanks for the update!!! And for the warning looks like I have to scrape my piggybank to order all my dream coilers in the next few yrs. I'm saving my lunch money now - should be good for my expanding belly as well.

I buy immediately if they come out with an intec version! Best wishes to this venture and I am super stoked to have a new alpine boot to choose from

Yes there is another Fritschi made some bindings also sold by Oxygen that are DIN compatible and do work with ski boots. I rode these for years with ski boots and they do work but the mechanics of steping in are difficult because you have to hook the heel bail and at the same time lift your toes quite high. Weird position to balance in.