alpinegirl

bump..... hey, what else is there to do on this coast anyway??? knit or something?? ladies, although steph is able to get a cool deal at some hill, that doesn't mean that it's final (please do email her if you are at all interested (in riding with fellow women) and haven't done so yet). keep talking about this stuff. share stupid stories, whatever. i also don't want to see this thread fall by the wayside, especially for that one random female carver who only glances at this board occassionally and has missed this thread. i used to be one. remember, we're trying to recruit as many women as we can. and hey, let's think about inviting madd to come by and demo some gear. as in, what crazy things would you like to have happen while bonding with fellow women on boards? a swiss masseur, cheesecake, a cup of jamaicanmecrazy, veggie burritos? what things would make this the best possible use of time and money for you guys?? dream big. and don't worry, i'll be around less as soon as snow arrives.

aw, why are people reminding me that carving at swain is fun?? of course it is a lot of fun, and there are more people on hard gear over there than where i currently work. but yeah, after spending 4 years teaching over there i eventually changed areas due to high gas prices (graduated from school, new location). i can now afford to work again, but there honestly isn't any suitable carving terrain where i am right now. compromises galore. oh well, i was planning to head down there this season anyway to visit some of my old peers who are fun to ride with, and bust out yet another board that will conjure up comments of "you can't ride that here" from a certain someone. it was only a 167, we all had a lot of fun riding longer boards than usual that day. hmmm.... should schedule a "play date" on plates down there. we just need some snow first!!!! hope you guys with snow are having fun so i can continue living vicariously through you all. you can all vicariously mow your lawns through me. and yeah, mike T's advice on arching the back is good. it is another thing that leads to some awesome carving sensations. just try to not hurt yourself.

any snow is good snow at this point in time. we haven't even had a suitable freeze for snowmaking yet, so we're kinda stuck with this grassy hillside..... besides, most of what we get is only ever manmade. although... i do live in the rochester (NY) area, and one year for the city's "coldrush" (winter festival thing to promote the city) they were unable to make snow (it was too warm) to produce a wedge in the middle of the city (on some street. sense??) for people to ski, board or tube down (more sense), so they trucked in snow from buffalo to build it. snow gets to be considerably expensive once you resort to trucking it in. maybe i should move

and in addition to bending the knees as Derf mentioned, you might want to try to actually drive your knees towards the snow. he's right, there is an article somewhere in the bomber files of good reading, it might be entitled something like "using zee knees." a lot of folks bend their knees and remain stacked perpendicular to their board. hence achieving only inclination. drive both knees into the ground (not literally of course). as you go through a turn your back knee may end up being closer to the ground than your front knee. your knees end up being beyond the edge of the board while your hips and shoulders are closer to the edge. i am not cool and i do not draw pictures, sorry. but stop sometime, get a knee or both in contact with the snow and straighten your upper body (as in not bending at the waist) as though you are standing up straight. try to get up on edge from there. if you can balance like this while not moving it should be interesting to feel while you are moving. another way to think of driving with the knees is... (if this is a part of how you ride) as you drop your inside hip into a turn you can accentuate the force by further lowering your hip (to the board and snow) and becoming more compact by bending the knees. here again, the back knee will probably flex more than the front. as always, if you do try this i'd love to hear what you thought. i am always interested in learning what works and what doesn't. and to everybody else out there, please feel free to feed my brain. i have no answers, adn the best i can ever hope for is to learn something new. by the way, send some snow in my direction, all this grass is getting depressing.

ok, i'll take that. thanks barry. i realize that the tone of my post was a bit less than pleasant, so thanks for playing along. i hadn't intended for it to be like that. randomly thinking out loud: a side conversation to further enable this thread to compete with the MADD thread. is it at all possible that a rise in the number of visible female hardbooters would further bring hardbooting back to a "more accepted" place in the snowboarding world?? i believe that the relatively recent increase in interest in this sport (sport being snowboarding overall), as well as the acceptance of it, has coincided with the rise in visibility of female riders. if this is true, are women potentially able to do the same for alpine?? guys, this is a serious question rooted in curiosity. i only started snowboarding back in '94. at that time there were definitely not as many visible female riders. granted when i invested in my first board the following year, shannon dunn had released a pro model. my thought based on this is that that was a relatively huge milestone in the evolution of snowboarding. shannon was one of relatively (as in relative to the number of men) few pro women riders and undoubtedly having her own board was significant. 3 more years pass and snowboarding emerges in the olympics and for whatever reason a lot more talk is generated around the halfpipe comp than gs. however, nicola thost's handplants and solid (although not too aggressive by today's standards) gold medal runs generated the most talk by blasting away all expectations of women riders. beats me who won the men's comp. but the results of the women's halfpipe left an impression. in the meantime, the number of women being sponsored to ride is increasing at a large rate. in general i think a lot more people are getting some support from companies, but who knows, maybe it's just press exposure that is making it seem that way (as in there are a lot more ads being run in magazines. blah). women's riding in the meantime is experiencing a huge surge in skill level. not quite up with the men, but increasing at what is possibly a faster pace. this is generating a lot of buzz. men still rule the roost. men still have the greatest number of products produced for them. men blah blah blah..... they are doing awesome things though, and i do not wish to take away from what the male riders have been doing. women have exploded into the scene. tackling rails and the pipe with as much aggression, skill and style as the guys, removing the possibility of any gender based excuses for not pushing the progression of skill. in general, the freestyle side of snowboarding is at an exciting point. ideas are being continually challenged and explored, and oddly enough the sport continues to attract people to it. i believe that women have played a tremendous part in this. maybe it was because anything a la title IX (or whatever) could be avoided when the olympics happened. maybe it's because some part of the population of this earth feels more comfortable with having a female face (or 40) to assign to this sport. perhaps the olympics are what really brought snowboarding into the public eye as a legitimate sport and when it was presented as being fairly balanced gender-wise, it gained even more appeal. it is accessible. and it probably appears to be even more accessible since just about anybody who wants to do it can, regardless of gender, age, physical or mental gifts. then there's alpine. alpine is rather inaccessible. it's hard to casually try out due to the lack of gear (i was very fortunate in that my mentorish person was a shop manager who loved alpine boarding. he helped me out a lot). and the main companies making this stuff tend to be these smaller, independent type places. and if you don't already have a friend or 8 who are into it, and haven't really seen it much, it seems like something that only a certain bunch of people like to do. on the brighter side i have had at least two folks this past year mention an admiration for it as well as a desire to learn to do it. there definitely are not as many women riding alpine gear as men. established point. but who knows, maybe women just appear to be more approachable. maybe we are able to attract more men, women and children because we appear less aggressive. maybe fewer of us are total techie junkies (i love you guys) which may scare some people. the more women we get on board the better? afterall, riding is all about having fun and why would we go and kill ourselves if it wasn't any fun to do?? i do hope that that is the image being portrayed by most of the folks in this forum who freeride. so where's the most accessible, smiling human face for this sport? it's probably on the faces of whoever is having the most fun ripping it up. but please do consider my initial question. is the role of women important in the progression of this sport?? i am curious what folks think. just a thought, just an opinion. i am looking for something to think about. but alas, until that time i will continue having fun dreaming of someone to ride with, as well as snow to ride on. happy riding!!!!

wow, i want a definition of "recently new" from barry. and anyone else who thinks that they have a valid one. male dominated, yes, it once was. and alpine definitely sees a lot more men than women. it might actually help if there were more equipment options for women. afterall, you all know how i feel about boots. and having a softer board isn't always an answer for everyone just because they lack a Y chromosome. and yes, i am well aware that having more women involved in the sport would help procure more equipment options. even freestyle had to evolve. but there has definitely been a more positive response in that market with the increasing development of womens equipment closely following the growth in the number of women riding. and innuendo on the hill?? yeah guys, what is the deal with riding the longest boards possible and kinda dissing anyone who rides anything below a 170 unless it's a madd????

i support the approach that any place with great carving is worth going to. unfortunately i have horrible knowledge of areas in the NE due to a lack of travel so i have to rely on you folks. okemo just supposedly has pretty good grooming and people liked it long ago and far away, when the big board magazines actually included articles on techie stuff and included pics of people on alpine boards ripping it up..... sorry, i'm starting to feel a bit nostalgic for a time i hardly knew. although i must admit that the offering of dinner by cheri does make stratton a bit more appealing. date wise??? classes thrust me back into a full realization of reality january 25th. but depending on where this happens i can always be creative, maybe hit a sunday and drive back early on a monday. why not that weekend? the 22nd-24th. to all the folks with real work concerns and family and all that stuff, please start tossing out possibilities. i am a putz and will undoubtedly have to bite the bullet and miss something (work, school) if i want to ride with you folks. i need to warn my boss well in advance and con somebody into subbing for me. he he he, as though i have had any success with that in the past. oh well, back to eagerly awaiting snow (my boards have never been loved this much before) and studying lawn mowers.

here's a pointless post. i am honestly willing to go anyplace away from "here" that is located in the NE. "here" for me is western ny, so anything that is a mountain is new to me. right now it is sounding like it would be a gathering of women in the NE who aren't exactly able to join in all the fun at SES. i only suggested okemo because it supposedly has pretty good grooming and i know nothing about actually riding in areas that offer vert greater than 1200'. so whatever happens happens. the gorey details are yet to be determined, but i really do not want to see this idea die. i need to have my butt kicked by some awesome female riders on plates. the focus is intended to be fun cruising?? maybe sharing tips and techniques? i know i would definitely appreciate that. so please keep the ideas flowing. to whoever mentionned canada, i approve. personally, i am always looking for an excuse to travel in canada. and as for speaking in code, may i suggest smoke signals??

how about okemo??? i've never been. then again i haven't ridden with another female on plates before either. i have been looking for an excuse to abandon the mole hill i work at for a day this season and think this sounds like a blast! and yeah, i am pro-NE since my finances are uh, "creative." but i would totally love the opportunity to bond with fellow women riders who are into more than rails and pipe.

neil, i absolutely agree with you on that. i do agree that a vast majority of the time that straight legs are a problem. i just opted to focus on something else that can contribute to carving because rarely is there just one problem. although with straight leggedness, maybe that phenomenon could be regarded as stiff leggedness. even while angulating, the moment we cease to remain dynamic and adjust throughout a turn, we risk losing our edge (and bonding with trees, snowguns....) regardless of how much our knees are bent. carving is like exercising strength with a great deal of sensitivity. the power involved in it is absolutely tremendous, yet it is hard to control it in a manner that is not fluid without risking destruction.

hey, i am curious what your binding angles are. that can affect your alignment to the board (as in, duh). but, depending on how you are aligned with the edges of the board, one particular carving style may prove to be more effective than another. then again, we're all human and tend to have our own "styles." point of consideration. read up on the cross-through, cross-over and cross-under carving stuff in the tech articles section. it's well written and i believe that it describes some beautiful images to hold onto. there are concepts in there to play with. dragon fly jones pretty much described a way to get into crossing over. personally i think that's a pretty good place to revisit playing. there is a tendency to end up on edge while turning if you lower your center of mass as much as possible (appears goofy, but it's really good for ankle flexion/extension, balance and the freak factor). in the off chance that you are not riding at very high angles (which i guess means under 30 in softboots on this forum), you may wish to try yet another confusing image. while not riding super high angles, it is easier (in theory that is) to ride square to your board edge, as in tip - tail lines up parallel to your shoulders. while riding in a position like this, one way to consider where your center of mass is traveling is to follow your butt in a figure 8 movement over your board (between the bindings of course since we haven't gone to extremes yet. afterall, this is early season). try this on a fair slope, more towards the depressingly flat side, at a moderate speed, like once until you get bored. so talked through even more.... toeside turn initiation finds your center of mass (CM) kinda traveling out over your front foot's toes. so that's towards the nose and over the toeside edge. through the turn your CM can travel towards your back foot, while remaining over the toeside edge. then transition to heelside and allow your CM to "gravitate" over your lead foot's heel. and here again we see it traveling towards your back foot throughout the turn. remember, your mass always remains between your bindings and never goes past them. what is this all about?? playing with fore/aft pressure. it's actually an exercise i had recommended to me for working on switch riding. but it's kinda cool when you can lock in on it. afterall, we;re all just a bunch a kids playing with really expensive toys. also, this movement is really only possible in a controlled manner if your knees are flexed. it should be smooth. otherwise you end up looking like a weeble. gotta keep the upper body upright. the babble continues... again, this is all assuming that your binding angles are under 30*. the butt moving figure 8 pattern was described for use while keeping the shoulders fairly parallel with the board edge. food for thought on that. geez, i now realize that i am moving towards the "ducky" extreme. anyway, if you rely on rotating your body leading into every turn, chances are that this movement may in fact be hindering you on your heelside turns whereas it is rather effective on toe-side. try twisting your body sometime while on a level surface and pay attention to what happens to your lower body. especially pay attention to what happens to your back leg. does your knee straighten out? are you able to pressure your heelside edge as effectively with your back foot as your front foot while in this position without shifting your weight?? if you are shifting your weight, in order to reach a point where the edging is effective while riding, mid-turn there is a great chance that your weight can potentially end up being too far back adn kinda locked into that place. this of course leads to chatter. anyway, sorry to babble soooo much. it has been a long off season and i can't wait to get back on snow. i am super curious to find out if your try this at all, and how it seemed to work or not. i can't exactly get out there to try it myself yet (we just got our whopping first 1/4" of snow tonight. yee-haw!!!). so happy riding. i'm only able to get my brain warmed up at this point in time. and i do accept all help in the brain warming up process. it tends to take a lot longer than my body to get going!

randy. thanks been there, done that. i am very happy with the fit right now. i just found that throughout the process that i wanted the buckle to be in a different place because i felt as though if the function of that buckle was to help hold the foot back and in the heel pocket, that that goal would have been better achieved had the strap been placed in a slightly different location. it seriously would be about a 1 cm difference, though still hard to achieve given the close proximity to the boot cuff. but yeah, footbeds, heel lifts, j-shaped padding and more padding around the ankles.... it's been a long time coming. having had diabetes for 20 years, i have passed the point of compromise on boot fit. the fit is fantastic now, but again, i still long for a little extra hold right there. i want the buckle on my boots to pull my foot back adn down, into the heel cup, and not just push down. and i want it to be studded with rubies so that whenever things get icy i can click my heels together three times and chant "there's nothing like snow" random: how do you go about finding a good bootfitter?? i had been hearing only horror stories about bootfitters losing their motivation to do quality work while watching ski racers demolish each other's boots with power tools. so i found a need to look outside of my area.

i simply want boots that fit! one thing i think (so yes, this is my opinion) that would make a huge difference in hardboots is adjusting the placement of the ankle strap. i would love to see it placed a little higher in an effort to actually lock the heel down as opposed to pressing down on the foot. or am i the only person with this problem?? the strap's orientation seems to be in the same location on numerous boots. it seems as though when it comes to boots, many problems remain unresolved due to a lack of interest or something. it's kinda glamorous to create boards that somehow meet every potential need. it's kinda glamorous to conduct r and d on new materials for those things adn present it all in a shiny package. bindings seem to have a better defined niche to fill, as opposed to trying to fit every rider's own unique "footprint." so, we continue compromising. boots, boards, bindings if everyone who has purchased a particular product has had a problem with some feature, then shouldn't it be changed??

something i haven't thought of in my own riding. i haven't even measured. but, i have seen changes in my stance width, canting, binding angles.... and this is what i believe (which means it is probably wrong. but it makes sense to me). stance width, coupled with binding angles and canting, is a matter of biomechanics, riding style/needs, and comfort. as in, if you ever need to be able to twist the board (a lot) in order to slide a little through a turn or initiate at lower speeds, then a wider stance, often wiht lower binding angles, may enable you to produce the greatest effective input from your legs. if you are blessed with areas that allow you to rail your turns all the time and you are able to forego using a lot of torsional flex (which is fun) most of the time, then a narrower stance, with higher edge angles, seems to be ideal for this. think of stance width as indicating where you are actually controlling the board. narrower stances lend themselves to reliance on the board decambering due to the force exerted on it, pretty much in the center of the board. wider stances move your control out towards the tip and tail a bit more (well duh statement) which in turn offers greater leverage in twisting the board. you could also view this as achieving differently shaped bases for riding. wide stances with lower binding angles can provide a more square stance while narrow stances at higher binding angles, with the knees close together offers a triangular shape. depending on need, the apex of each shape suggests the amount of stability offered in varying conditions. canting can simply make this all feel more comfortable. yeah, snowboarders ride sideways, btu that doesn't excuse us all from having proper body alignment. and canting is one effective way to achieve "good" alignment of somewhat important body parts such as knees, ankles, hips.... even on the freestyle end of things there are people coming up with ways to offer canting. yeah, they're techy geeks, but what motivates their research aside from interest and free time, is a desire to achieve better body alignment in an effort to ride better and experience less stress on joints. afterall, if we're all busy hurling ourselves downhill quickly (or hucking off things), thus experiencing tremendous forces, aren't we already exposing our bodies to enough stress? so really, find something that feels "comfy" to you. be ready to play with all aspects of the set up. see how it affects it. one other thing that i just realized is that, how much you opt to face forward will also affect all of this. but yeah, everyone is different, and usually, everyone's setup varies a bit to suit their needs and desires. personally i have been riding boards of varying widths for the past 7 years. oops. whenever i setup a different board i start by aligning my toes and heels with the edges of the board while putting in a 6-12 degree difference between my two feet. one excellent point to consider, that was made on the other thread that you were referred to (i think), is that toe and heel alignment doesn't matter as much on an alpine setup as in softboots due to the static contact point of the binding. personally for me, i still align myself toe/heel because i need to slide and i find that this offers me the greatest "feel" for edge control while doing this. so my binding angles naturally vary due to this. also, the difference between the angles increases as the angles drop and the stance gets wider. it makes me feel more stable. also, as i widen my stance, i have to use canting. so again, play with it and do not ever set yourself up for extreme discomfort. arguably the stance should feel natural. and hey, i am curious what all you folks out there think. as in, how off am i? i enjoy the food for thought offered up in these threads and do wish to continue learning more seeing as how i am supposedly a source of information. and um, i don't completely ascribe to what AASI teaches for carving when it comes to hard boots. besides, i don't want to discourage the one student that i get every year. happy riding to all you folks west of the mississippi. not that i'm envious or anything

hey, been riding this exact board and yeah, have no clue what year it is. but, it is a fairly stiff ride and quote, "rides longer than it is." it's a blast to play on. i'm not sure why the foam core is such a horrible thing. i hadn't given attention to that when i bought it, and it's held up well to my abusive behaviors (i weigh 155, so think about it). it's worth a good home!!! i might even have to consider adopting it for myself. too bad winter won't arrive for another month (or two) and my next paycheck is tied into that. stupid seasonal employment.... cheers to all the east coast riders out there

and that was back in the day when it could take close to 10 minutes to ride back up to the top. impressive i think the current optimistic outlook is around 5.

music to keep the mood light when it's sleeting. like, those people who are acoustic guitar slingers who aren't afraid of drum machines (ie, mary simon, dar and the indigo girls) and selective music to crank out, melodious techno and hard rock with elements of industrial are especially good when i'm a bit frustrated (powder in WNY responds a lot like ice). (ie, skillet) and a little ska never hurt anyone. i found that the song "oh canada" (fiveironfrenzy) was at the top of the leader board last year for motivational songs. the really deep lyrics have moved me to seriously consider moving there. ("i want to be where yaks can run free...") the danish band phenix will have found it's way into my frequent rotation this year. something about bass clarinet, accordion and extensive hand percussion.... thus concludes my pointless contribution to this thread