No.2

Cheers malymis. I hope you are wrong about the need to stock pile but something tells me you may be right.. in Eurpoe anyway. Thinking about the P.O. again and wondering which town to stay in and which field is the best for carving. Pas de la Casa, Grau Roig, Soldeu, El Tarter, Canillo, Encamp, ? Any thoughts.

We went to Schladming. The snow was great, the runs are beautifully groomed and we had an absolute ball. However no one in Bluetomato rides hard boots any more! What is happening to the world! I ended up buying a 168 Sliberfpile at a not too flash 400 Euro as they were all out of 172s. All in all I was not impressed with them. A far cry from the service that they gave me when I bought my Raichler 325s from them only a few years back. One of the staff even said that he thought that all Carvers were so old that he suspected that they had all dropped dead. Any way we are looking for another resort to try. Menno mentioned the eastern pyrenees as an alternative but it seems to be awfully expensive to stay in Andorra. Any other sugestion for nice wide open runs in that area?

Hey thanks heeps guys. I'll probably have the most fun on moderate slopes in a town where they are hard boot mad. Now I had my heart set on Schladming esp because of the Bluetomato shop and the possibility of demoing and maybe buying a REAL carving board. How ever I've just recieved a lovely email from an old friend. So what do you reckon guys any of those slopes kind to hard booters??

Holly Molly Menno! Thank you so much! Schladming it is I unless all my french friends are religious about staying in France ;) In which case the Pyrenees Occidentales eh? Awsome. Can't wait to try out some REAL alpine boards :) Thanks again guys.

Cheers Guys. Looks like Austria it is. Shame to here about france and Switzerland?! Any Runs, People, Shops, Events, Pubs ect. to look out for?

Any thoughts on carve friendly resorts in Europe. We'll be there during Feb 23 - March 10. Probably go in the week after the 6th (end of school holidays). Looking for intermediate wide dry groomers with out too many crowds just good clean hard booters :) I've had a look at http://www.alpinecarving.com/resorts.html#europe and this thread http://www.bomberonline.com/VBulletin/showthread.php?t=6943 Zinal might be a touch too steep for me (?) Tignes Maybe? Really like the sound of the smaller Austrian slopes like Sölden and Kaprun. Oh Yeah and I'm only taking my boots so I need to be able to hire/demo/maybe buy some nice alpine boards. Any tips, tricks and recomendations?

I want'ed #2 but the forum wouldn't allow that name. It comes from Austin Powers. For my ski pass here I got dressed up like Roger Moores Character complete with eye patch for the photo. And then proceded to have heated arguments with the admin staff for the field. "Is that your REAL name?" "Yes of course it is... First name symbol #, second name 2.... yes the number not the word!" "Occupation? ...Henchman" "Ski or Board? ...Biathlon" They saw the humour in it in the end esp the liftys. :D

Snow all year round if you have a helicopter. Where I ride there's all sorts from 12" fresh to bullet proof ice, most commonly pack pow. Whakapapa has the best carving terain. There's plenty of dry squeekys in the South Island but the fields are smaller.

Thanks Terror. I've just now been focusing on reaching for the edge of the board and flexing into my rear boot. And that seems to work but reaching for the nose may make both happen more naturally I'll give it a try. Cheers, you guys are just too good. :) Re. Kevin. Every pic of him I've seen just looks pure style and flow. I'd love to see a vid of him in action... Anyone... Kevin? DrCR: Well I'm no expert but from my reacent epiphany on this matter. I would say that if you want to ride East Cost Styles then go 55+. If you want to ride all mountain styles, a bit of park and do a bit of "trail grooming" here and there then go 30s to low 40s if the board permits. You'll have to bring the toilet paper. (No problem if thats what you want to do) and leave the 45 - low 50s for your old school Asym. Slalom. I don't know about powder (Never ever seen any) ;)

New Zealand Aleseyga. You guys should come for a mission down here. Where I ride in the North Island a bunch of carve heros would be like aliens in Texas. Boy that would be a hoot. I hear there are a few good carving spots in The South Island. But I've never been there... still quite new to this game. If any one dosen't mind a modest crash pad you are more than welcome to stay. :) We caught up with Dan Yoda (the UPS guy) and his wife a while ago. So if you can handle the flight.... :)

Holy **** batman it works!!! Just got back from 2 hours of pure fun. Cross through, cross under, pops between edges, laydowns on both edges and all most a heal side circle. :) Just set my stance to 61F 57R and went for it... I've got my board back again. Yeah! Sure it is slower edge to edge and you need more commitment to get it up over and on to an edge. But hey its the only decently slippery, sharp and semi stiff board I've got. I'm so wishing I had bought a nice slim freecarve board to learn on rather than a BX board. At least I would have been pointing in the right direction. I may one day turn the stances back and learn to ride it through the park. For now I just want to learn to carve like you guys... allbeit over the net :( I'll have to come over and do a SES. Those coaching sessions with video sound just great. Maybe I'll post a vid of me one day if I get my self organised enough. Thank you once again guys I'm much indebted. PS. Coments from the liftys. "Wow I've never seen that before.. It looks buzzy!" & "Do they still call that Snowboarding?" :D

Thank you very much guys. I've had so many of the local 'Hard booters' here (instructors included) telling me to turn my stance back. Grrrr. I'm the only person on the mountain that is trying to ride East Coast Style... no one else gets it. They all ride fat twin tips and play pass the toilet duck. To be fair its probably not bad for our tight bumpy terain. But not the flow that I've admired in you guys all these years. Thats a load off my mind I'm really looking forward to trying it out now. :lol:

Wow so you mean I can run high 50s on a wide board! I was under the immpression that I would get less leaverage if I didn't rotate my toe and heal to the edge of the board?? So does that mean I can run 60s on this thing and carve it like my little burton!! That would be a dream come true. I guess it just comes down to the lateral flex of my boots? (Raichle 325s with the cant adj locked off). Tell me is this going in the right direction?

Ok, Thanks Jim. So I guess theres no way I'm ever going to look like kevin on this board. :( I can turn my stance back even further to about 45deg with out any overhang. Do you think I should learn how to work it with those angles? I see you are selling a 157 Oxy SX. Can you give me any tips as to what sort of style I should be aiming for with these wide boards I'm guessing its quite different from the 60deg club.

Hello bomberites please help me with this. Every time I end up on my heal side I wipe out. This is on my wideish board runing 51deg. With my skinnier board where I use 57deg it doesn't happen. If I crank my back foot right down and stand my front foot up straight it helps the problem some what. And if I rotate my hips AWAY from the turn it helps too but. I dont want to carve like that. Does this 51deg stance mean I'm going to be stuck on the toilet seat?? (Please God say no!) My skinny board is to short and soft for any serious fun but this Oxy SuperX is doing my head in. I just don't seem to be able to ride it the way I want to. Style Gods Please help.

Cheers guys thats all good stuff. I've set the bindings back about 15mm and I'll focus more on the tail loading part of the figure 8. I'ts true I probably am being a bit impatient with the board. I'll try and let it find its own way a bit more down the runs (hopefully I can make speed my friend) I was going to be going today if I could find a partner in crime for the 8 hours of driveing for a one day mission from where I live but no such luck. : ( Oh well next week. Thanks guys. No.2

Thanks guys. I wil try my stance further back as I do tend to loose the back slightly before the front. ( I have been running with 0 set back) By musceling the board arround I mean I feel like I have to apply huge pressure to my shins or calfs to keep enough pressure on the edge and then it still seems to rattle arround the turns. It bugs my how the old soft (but narrower) Burton is super smooth and quite with untuned edges after I spent almost a week putting a -2.5* side edge on the Oxy' and pollishing them up with three daimond stones. My riding ability is at is the point where on Blue trails I can agressively do cross under, cross through and cross over carves, leave clean lines and get a bit of air between turns. But only on the shorter softer boards. I just can't seem to hang on to the stiffer one. May be I'm just not strong enough to handle the Gs required to get the board to flex into a nice arc? If I do turn my stance back to around 47* to get a bit more leaverage am I going to have to change my whole style?

Hi all. Njoying the best season down under that I can remember. : ) I'm just haveing a few issues with edge hold on one board. My Oxygen SX164. It has the sharpest edges of the lot (-2.5* and pollished all the way) but I seem to have to muscel it around so hard to get it to bite. And then it still seem to skid a bit. On an old 153 Burton or on the SX157 I have an absolute ball. It is ever so slightly wider than the other 2 (235mm) and I have had people sugest that a take my stance back a bit (51F 51R with size 26 boots). But I'm loath to do it. I wan't to try and learn to carve like you guys not like jibbers. ; ) This has got me confusssed. Am I just not heavy enough (76kg) or not going fast enough? Or just plain too use less for the stiffer board? My boots are stiff enough (R 325s with black tounges and Booster straps on Cateks) But I just cant seem to get enough pressure on either edge.