alpinegirl

a new to me car! figure it beats walking to and from work every day! bobdea, i hadn't realized that you were still accepting applications. maybe i am not nice enough ;)

personally i just like bosu's. they really force you to be honest with yourself because the medium that stands between the board and the floor is dynamic in all directions. i use them in the way that isn't recommended ;) snow......

or you could look at it from my perspective. i live in western NY, a whole whopping 60 miles from 2 feet of snow. i built a deck on friday on a beautiful, sunny day with nary a droplet of precipitation. weather like this is seemingly a trademark of the area ;)

hey allee..... given my stupid schedule of riding these past few years i tend to wear my gloves a lot! as you have discerned, waterproofing, durability, and quality insulation are what you are looking for. i know that your general riding conditions are colder than mine, and yeah, mitts rock. i give up some warmth so i can help students more readily, and i got to really test some gore-tex gloves last season. i could wear them open to close most days. and if the temp dropped into the single digits (F), then i'd don my skanky old mitts for the evening (with fleece gloves underneath. no fashion for me). leather palms tend to hold up better than most synthetic, woven materials. burton's AK oven mitts look rather toasty. but seriously, stick to what you're thinking and find the best waterproofing possible (gore-tex comes in so many forms these days. silly chemist geeks goofing around). you can always add to insulation. and yes, the gordini's that you have spotted do warrant a trip! hope you have a fantastic season. i expect a full report on what you discover!

i like riding the board that has the most recent wax job. ;)

http://www.psia.org/forum/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=199&posts=39&start=1 if you need a laugh, copy and paste that

i have no idea why i am writing all this. i miss snowboarding already. riding switch is fantastic for overall riding. regardless of stance angles, ride it as is. there is a reason why you ride those angles and hopefully it is because they are the best angles for you. my fault while riding switch during the exam was that i changed my alignment to see where i was going (silly me, bombing through all those people from the UK). right now, AASI is a valuable resource for me, hence i am choosing to continue with it. i have learned a great deal through AASI and am glad that it has helped challenge my understanding of the sport. and although it is not a perfect "thing," i have been fortunate enough to see that there are people involved in the organization who are challenging it's current realization. hopefully it will never become stagnant. it was detrimental to my alpine riding for quite some time (because of how the info was presented. then i met vickery and had my head staightened out by someone else), but it has since encouraged me to learn more freestyle stuff (how far can you spin around on the nose of your race deck??) join AASI if you find joy in sharing riding with people and can take it for what it is, a dynamic resource (read:excuse to travel to other areas)

hey man, thanks!!! i had a total blast riding up at killington with folks and learned a lot. i think we saw maybe 6 trails over the course of 3 days and learned that that myth that you must be prepared for every weather condition possible is true. hardboots. i wimped out and only rode them on the second day. passed all aspects of the exam that day, and had to accept that my front knee could not handle it anymore. super bummed by that. but hey, we were able to shed some light on some myths that day (switch riding seems to remain the biggest one). i did receive some interesting feedback though. have a lot of things to consider as i continue on this journey. my choice of gear was questionned big time. i'm going to continue sticking with "it's a snowboard, let's go ride" for a good while longer. have a great deal of things to work on if i ever pursue my 3. although phil, i am definitely thinking we aught to collaborate on an article next season. ;)

boot cuff canting is there to help you achieve alignment such that you can snowboard efficiently. face it. we're all human and chances are that we've all screwed up our bodies in many different ways. if your lower leg is not aligned with your boot cuff, then additional energy is expended trying to reach a neutral stance, and quite frequently it hurts, as well as it does negatively affect riding. you want the cuff to move with your lower leg, and not deviate from the legs normal movements. blah blah blah. if you feel the need to adjust this, then tweak away! take out the liner and see if you can get the cuff aligned with your lower leg while standing in a natural, relaxed stance. see how it feels with the liner in and maybe even do a little carpet boarding.

first quote response: hey, me too! ;) second one: yeah, i do know that quite well. my point was really just to exaggerate the aft. now the fun switch riding task is slalom turns. rumor has it that you use the same exact movements that you do while riding "non-switch," and not a reversal of them. i have a new goal! now to go test the waterproofing of a jacket in our awesome weather.

dude, you did belittle my knowledge and my riding abilities, while having absolutely no knowledge as to what my background is as a rider. all i did was share an observation that had been previously unmentionned. it can be a very exaggerated movement which apparently is so obvious that i have no right to even be out riding a snowboard. and you then opted to advise me as to how to carve a freakin toe-side turn? hmmm, maybe you can offer me some insight as to how i should set up my bindings too. they're supposed to be duck, right? what internet image? dude, most of the guys here already think i'm an idiot and an ornery witch. so what is there to preserve? i am really just a skier who has been on rental gear a few times with those cool step in bindings and i like to spout off any dumb thing i want because all snowboarders are primal knuckledraggers. nothing but a bunch of lazy pot-smoking, booze swilling womanizing thugs who have no right to be on the same slopes as us.

wow eddie, where was that question within my post? the instructor/i love snowboarding and want to help people figure out how to ride better, in me just wanted to share an observation. watch people ride, and you may notice that many folks are not as dynamic of riders when they ride switch as they are when they ride in their normal direction, regardless of the gear that they are on. i never questionned how to make a toe-side turn, so why are you directing that advice towards me? some advice i should take myself is to exercise caution in giving unsolicited advice.

but i realized something yesterday. and i don't know if this has been discussed in other threads, but i simply do not have the time to read through everything. it was a great big "duh" moment, but i feel compelled to share. while out attempting to carve switch on a longer board (170 or 173, if you have ridden at my area you understand that these are long) i had found that i had a hard time getting my nose to track during toe-side turns, which is quite frustrating. well duh, fore and aft shifting makes a huge difference and is perhaps absolutely necessary in order to make a board with a relatively huge nose continue to track well. i had previously been so focused on staying centered that i wasn't continuing to pressure the nose of the board through the turn finish. dang, i almost immmediately hooked up and sent myself into the trees. hooking up is a good feeling going both ways! sorry to bore you all, but i felt like the biggest dope for not realizing this earlier. and that bit of aft movement makes it happen better than anything else i've played with. hmm, now to work on slalom turns.... happy riding!

riding 6 days a week takes it's toll. i've definitely been checking in, but i am not coherent enough most of the time to reply. and i don't think any of the guys mind that. if the women's carve session goes off in march, definitely make a point of checking it out. it should be a lot of fun. in the very least, you can laugh at me. i'm hoping that i'll still be able to walk by then. oh, toys... any binding i can get my hands on cheap. raichle 423 boots, fitted to my alien feet. burton alp 5.7. super fun play board for moderate speeds and doping around madd 170. super duper fun all around play board that holds an edge and then some (came down steeps sunday and it didn't even register what it was). my favorite, very versatile board. volkl RT 173. i'm a bit light for it. but i still love it. it's a definite butt kicker. forces me to ride better (otherwise i would die) then there's the mystery soft boot set up that isn't complete. personally, in my "getting into hardbooting" experience, it is the feedback from the boot/binding set-up that takes the most time to get used to. maybe putting them on a freeride board would be a good step. i didn't do that. but i also thought that i absolutely had to carve to figure out what the heck i was doing. learn to control yourself doing dynamic skidded, yup i said skidded, turns on that set-up before really trying to lay an edge in. it will make a difference. it kinda lets you get further aquainted with the board without requiring as high of speeds. it needs a tremendous amount of input from you to make it happen, and those skills will carry over to carving on those boards. happy riding!

oh yeah, forgot about that thing that i took for granted (heel toe centering). already did that so i don't think about it. but dude, the ride ex binding does indeed have a rotating highback. either that or i have been smoking some very heavy stuff (yeah, currently injured, but no pain meds). if i go and stare at my pair in cedar red (ooh, yeah), i see that the highback can indeed be rotated. oh well, waxing marathon.

bindings: find ones that are adjustable with good ankle straps. i do appreciate the ride ex's that i have been rocking for this year. i like that the base plate doesn't bend as much as a plastic one. also the highback can be rotated apart from moving the ankle strap. i've also been playing with the inbinding Kickerfoot cant/lift thing and i must admit that it is a good thing. boards: support a smaller company. these folks are motivated by boarding and are committed to putting out great rides. they're gonna bust their butt to make sure that you are hooked up with the best ride possible, and it will be well worth any wait time. boots: ride in something that fits well. get these first, then find a binding that it works exceedingly well with. with great fitting boots and great fitting bindings you can ride a 2 by 6 down the hill. burton boots from this season are packing out quickly (this is based on all my co-workers who are at about day 50 in their boots who think they should have sized down. they fit very well for a while and now there is too much play). leather boots rock. leather is a fantastic material for boots, and once waterproofed tends to last forever long. look for it. also look for liners that are well constructed. seams should be at least double stitched, especially in key areas. and all the footbeds are terrible (for the most part). you should plan to replace these immediately.

kathy b is around!!!! yay! the funniest thing about meeting new people is that sometimes it is difficult to associate their riding with the initial impression that they leave. how's your board treating you kathy?

read some of the other posts about them. the radius is large enough to get a normal file in for the sake of tuning. i have peers who swear that magnetraction is the best thing on earth. personally i figure that if i can't hold an edge on any surface, it's my own fault.

bump! (sorry, felt it was necessary to keep it on the first page)

the only true response can be found in your riding. go out, and every day that you get to ride have a blast doing it. people will notice your riding and that you're having fun. that's why most people snowboard (or ski, snowtube, make snowangels, play ball....). how doesn't matter as much as why. do whatever brings you the greatest joy, then have a blast doing it. that speaks more clearly than anything you could ever vocalize.

WEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! haven't spoken with my boss yet, but don't really care. i'm in for the end of the week, but skipping out on the weekend (last year my body stopped working, and i really shouldn't hurt myself as badly again), since i should really try to get back for saturday night's work. and i will have my younger brother with me. is it ok if he comes to shaggy and cheri's for dinner friday? he just wants to ride at stratton and i figured what the hey, but i fear leaving him to his own devices on a friday night in a quaint vermont town. i'm in, the 5th and 6th. hopefully i won't scare people as much this year.

instruct, member of AASI (gotta go for my next level ASAP), mixed feelings. AASI is just a resource to help improve and refine snowboard instruction (and make foundational techniques universal). that is the honest reality of it. and i do believe that it can be an outstanding resource, as long as all the info offered by it is taken with a grain of salt. afterall, this is snowboarding and there are many ways to turn a board. the somewhat recent shift towards teaching freestyle reflects what many paying customers want, as well as what quite a few of the members of AASI are focusing their attention on learning. this is valuable in that it presents many challenges to instructors. teaching freestyle is rather involved and learning to "teach" it requires a great deal of skill refinement as an instructor. hence it is currently the most appealing way to encourage the members to improve their technical knowledge. i consider myself to be fairly ok with movement analysis, but during early season training sessions someone caught me not paying attention as we drilled 180's into our brains. i did not pay attention to his board angle as he left the snow, hence missing a gigantic piece of information in analyzing why his jump was sketchy. what is the actual effect of a few degrees difference in board angle when leaving the lip of a jump and spinning? shouldn't i have been paying attention to that detail within his riding? will this lesson help me to become a more effective instructor??? perhaps. there are skills that are strengthened in working on freestyle stuff that can help to improve overall riding skills. hence a student who is motivated to learn park stuff can be encouraged to become a stronger rider overall by addressing various related skills. i am saddened to hear that there are areas that are exclusionary (hmmm, may not be a real word). my area almost did that to me and i've had to prove my ability to teach on plates. granted i also ride softies as per their request, but i see it as forcing me to become a more complete rider/instructor, and honestly, it can be fun. i'll be working the first two months this season almost exclusively on plates. i've paid my dues and it has proven itself to be worth it. AASI?? well, i've been fortunate thus far. maybe after i go to a few more things this season my impression will change. but thus far it has been a positive experience for me. and as i said earlier it has been a good resource. also, talk to phil about AASI. i need to pry some info out of his brain this season as well. my biggest local beef is with the ski race coaches who have no respect whatsoever for snowboarding. "oh, i've set snowboard gates before, 3 years ago, once, i can do it again." well, no crap, you drill a hole and you set it in there. wow, ooh, you are soooo complete as a race coach even though you are gonna set them up exactly the same as you set a ski GS course. sorry, these guys really get me. even their fellow skiers think they can be close minded jerks. and on that happy note i leave you all.

gosh allee, i must be just about as green as that gorgeous one piece suit right now.

alpine boarding is best suited for women. especially strong women who can control a long, stiff stick; evoking powerful responses out of it. so an alpine board is best in the hands of a woman. (as per usual, i say this with the utmost seriousness)

pipe comps are crazy technical. yeah, you gotta wonder about objectivity vs subjectivity, however, what makes it any different than judging figure skating? simply put, the winners are completing their runs cleanly with the greatest amplitude. if a landing is skidded, they lose points. if they don't get out of the pipe as much as "joe," they lose points. back to back 1080's, including at least one done switch? the progression of pipe riding has exploded over the course of the past few years. these kids are training like crazy for these comps. the tiny women are squatting 280 in the gym. sounds pretty darn serious to me. plus it is one comp where anything can happen. there really are no riders guaranteed to finish on the podium due to how well everyone will be riding. it should be a great competition to watch.