jason_watkins

hey, nice pics, makes me wish I'd gone to check it out :(

I've only heard of it from high frequency wireless networking, but isn't it possible to build a passive repeater of sorts... a tuned resonator that can act as an RF mirror? Even a 1 watt consumer radio probibly has the range to cover your resort unless you're at whistler, and with something high up the hill to bounce off of you could get over the ridgelines.

I'm not quite sure I'm reading to spend $300 on a 5watt radio I may smash next time I get in an argument with a tree, but I have had horrible luck with FRS radios. Thank god for REI's no questions return policy... I've had to return 3 sets in the last year. With the 5 watt radios do you find you can transmit up over and back down accross ridge lines? The only time I've had trouble getting someone on the mountain with little .5watt FRS radios is when someone is in one canyon and I'm in the other.

Mike: I'll try to get dave to firewire the video from the other weekend and post it here. He's a real gomer with that camera so I think he managed to tape over most of it, but there should be at least one clip.

I personally think it's pretty clear burton is looking to diversify beyond snowboarding and become a much larger style company... something like has happened big surf companies like quicksilver.

Ok, thanks billy, I've got ideas to try now. :)

Ok, here's something I probibly have wrong then. So far when I do jump turns, I keep my body more or less vertical. I usually think of it as lifting the board out of the snow to my body as I spin around 180, staying vertical. So when do I time throwing my weight forward relative to rotating into the turn and doing the pop? Once I've gone to where I'm perpendicular to the slope, how do I end up back in a balanced vertical position on the new edge, I'm having trouble visualizing it.

Billy: thanks for the post. I haven't worked on jump turns for a while now, not since I got comfortable making skidding crossover turns on steeper slopes. I do know that if I'd tried a jump turn on that pitch, I would not have set the edge. So maybe I should practice that first. I'm digesting the rest of what you posted: -keep your weight _way_way_ forward -change edges emphaticly but smoothly, pop hard onto the new edge I think I'm loosing you when you talk about uphill weighting vs downhill weighting. What I'm picturing is the sort of turn that finishes with a J shape, and what you're talking about is varying weight between front and back foot?

sorry, I probibly should have been more clear with my post. This happened at A-Zone at Mt. Hood Meadows resort. Conditions today were... I'd describe it as frozen compressed mashed potatoes. The particular pitch I was on is in bounds, patrolled and bombed, so I'd be confident that if it's open, it's safe from avalanche within reason. Today there was definately no danger of avalanch, the snowpack was very firm. Everything that was loose you could see in the rubble from the bombing earlier in the week down at the bottom. What happened to me was there was a small cornice to drop over, only a couple feet. Other people throughout the day had tracked a ledge about a boardwidth wide traversing accross to where the slope was better on the other side of the bowl. Right where you'd drop onto this ledge from the cornice it had gotten kindof chopped up, making the ledge roll with a couple bumps. I took it all at a snail's pace but still rolled off one of the bumps wrong, which put me slightly below the ledge others had traversed out and no way to get back up to it. At this point, I stopped for a moment to pick where my line was going to be. That was mistake one, I should have thought about bail line from the top if I missed the traversed ledge. Mistake two was the automatic reaction to start to sit down. As soon as I started to bend my knees, it released the edge and sliding I went. I had a fair amount of time to think as I slid down, and besides thinking "I sure hope I don't catch my board wrong here and start an end over end tumble" I remember thinking "hrmmm, having an ice axe and practiced knowledge of self arrests with a board strapped to your feet might be something to obtain". Anyhow, I don't want to overstate what happened to me. I'm sure several other people took the same slide I did that day. But it is a wakeup call for me to improve my riding. I know I have no business out of bounds until I feel supremely confident end bounds as well as have avalanche training, equipment, and most importantly a buddy I trust to have the same things.

Speaking of how much effective edge to have on ice. I'd very much like some quality advice on sticking turns on steep iced slopes. I made a mistake today that resulted in a 500 foot vertical slide. Once I lost my edge there was clearly no way I was going to get it back in. Thankfully I kept the board below me, the runout was smooth and I kept my speed down somewhat, so I came out of it without a scratch. Unforetunately the skiier that took the same slide I did ended up in a tumble mid way through and really tore up his knee :( At the time I was just a little shaken, but the more I think about it, the more I realize it was a good scare I should respect. I need to clean up my technique on steep pitches, and in particular, when it's iced. I plan to pratice on some short steeps that don't have a danger of a long high speed slide. I'd like some quality advice from someone who knows how to stick turns in bad snow on 50 degree pitches.

On the subject of effective edge: how much is "enough", and what is it a function of besides weight? I'm a pretty lightweight guy, so I've been wondering if that means that I should be looking at boards with proportionately less effective edge. Is there just a minimum edge you need for a given radius, such that a short board with a large radius would be out of balance? If I have a chosen radius, is there a good rule for deriving how much edge I should get on a custom board? I'm sure there's a lot of factors, but at the same time, I bet if everyone compared numbers we'd find a clear trend.

None of my videos from those spring carving days turned out. I think I still have a few someone else took of you guys on the magic mile. I'll upload and link to those tonight. My friend took some pics durring a powder day we got last May: http://gallery.ad3pt.net/album15 That day was crazy, just dumping all morning. If I remember right, it was toward the end of May too, like the 21st.

Bingo! Thanks Mike, mystery solved.

I'm definately in. Heck, I'll be riding up there anyhow ;P May at timberline was freakin' fantastic last season.

Anyone familiar with this brand of binding?

Sean: I'm curious why you don't list stiffness index for axis at least, and the softboot boards as well.

I'd thought about getting a lipstick cam and building a little brace/stand that would screw into one of the un-used insert pair toward the nose. You also might try running the footage through motion stabilization software like SteadyMove... that's some pretty hard shake (double image) but it might be worth a shot.

outsider: I'm gonna go see a showing of that tomorrow... about where in the movie is it so I can keep an eye out?

check the general discussion forum over at http://www.couloirmag.com/ . There's a lot of splitboarders that post there.

"That's what you get for being gay" -- Screamed at a carver I was following by some kids on a lift chair after he fell. Made me chuckle...

Speaking of mt hood, the other day at meadows I noticed a sign quoting an oregon statute concerting out of bounds riding. Basicly saying "don't do it or we'll fine you bigtime." As far as I understood, because hood is national forest, no one had the authority to stop you from hiking and riding whatever you like. Now of course, if you have a lift ticket, they can clip your ticket, but if you hiked all the way up, I thought you were more or less on your own unless one of the climbing rangers had beef with you. But from what they quoted in this statute, it looks like now roped areas of the designated ski area have been given special protection. I'd really like to look up that statute, but I can't remember the numbers. So anyhow, beware ducking the rope at hood, there may be higher pentalties than loosing your ticket.

Portland local here. I've not been to enough mountains to really rate Hood, but for being the local hill, I think it's just fine. Mike T could probibly give you a more balanced view, but I'd be willing ot bet it's better than what you may have in WI. The long season here might make up for terrain you might miss comparing Hood to Baker, Tahoe, etc. We also have variety. There's some good surfing on the coast if you can brave the water temperature, and one of the windsurfing wonders of the world is just north of Hood in the Columbia Gorge. Tons of backpacking and that sort. If you live smack downtown in Portland like I do, it's about 2 hours from my corner to parked in the lot and walking to a lift at Mt Hood Meadows. The farther you live east in Portland, the better it is. You can cut it down to about 1 hour drive and still live in something that resembles a city instead of a rest stop. Unforetunately, the job market in Portland has been poor since the bubble burst. Depending on your resume, it may not be a problem for you, but I'd definately hit up monster et all, make some applications, and see what response you get before you think much about moving here. Bend, OR might be worth considering. Mt Bachelor is a fantastic place, and from what I understand, there is a larger tech industry than you might expect from the size of the city.

like I said, I know nothing... but my armchair guess is that what mattered was not scrubbing speed on the landings. With the boarders, the winners definately seemed to be the folks best at landing the board flat. So I think having soft boots with flex in the ankle would let you make a quicker reaction to flatten the board as you land. Someone in a harder setup would need to really nail the launch, as once landing they'd have to move the larger joints to make any correction. If you watch the video of the semi's with klug and the other guy in indy's, it really seems to me they loose on the landings. Klug especially seemed to gain as he glided, only to lose it again on the next jump. I believe skiers simply glide faster, and they could enter the course with a higher speed by poling out of the gates. Because of that, they almost always had enough speed to carry their jumps onto the transition instead of the flat. With that number of jumps, the difference between landing on the flat and on the trannie could really add up, and I think that's one of the big things going on with the skiers vs the boarders. But like I said, I know squat, so if someone can poke holes in my armchair theories here, speak up... I'm really curious about it all.

I'd just suggest getting 2 goggles, or at the least, 2 lenses. I did a whole lotta night ski last year, and I really liked a clear lense over even a lightly tented lense once the sun set. With 2 goggles it's easy to swap to clear once the sun goes behind the ridge and light goes flat. Sorry to hear carrera's might have helmet problems. Mine work well with my boeri helmet.

you can watch the raw footage on espn's website and come up with your own conclusions, but as far as I'm concerned, anyone in that race can definately "cut it". that course looks interesting... the boarders couldn't get the speed to land on the transitions of some of the tables, so definately think that'd punish someone in hardboots more than someone in softies. doesn't look like the there were any technical turns, mostly just gliding the berm. so all that I think would bias you to using softboots over hardboots. on the other hand, something great about the course is it seemed to provide a lot of passing, so the races were actually races down to the line, not like some of the FIS boardercross I've seen where the hole shot really settles the race. I don't know jack, but it looks to me that the course dictates the setup, and I'm pretty sure anyone competing at that level could rail a lunch tray faster than most of us could ever hope to.