alpinegirl

i thought summertime was for earning money in an effort to support this illness, er ah, i mean hobby. every 12 hour, 90 degree work day that's wicked humid is well worth the time i get to spend on snow in the winter. well, at least that's what i've been telling myself to help me get through these days

i agree (if that's enough of an explanation of this post, please skip ahead to the next person. this is afternoon babble) with much of what the last few peeps have stated. with the exception that i think the general population would benefit from learning in a softer boot with two strap bindings (why are we teaching them ankle movements when they can barely move their ankles in the crap rental gear we have? my area's rentals are those fabulous switch step-ins. i strongly dislike the gear we offer) i support the whole two strap/ focus on ankle movement thing. i honestly believe that ankle movements are essential in alpine riding (finer motor movements allowing smaller adjustments on the fly). i've had folks tell me that the movements i go through when trying on boots are unnatural, but how on earth am i going to manage increasing edge pressure when my knees are already scraping the snow if i don't use a little plantar flexion?? i tend to blow myself out of toeside turns with my knees when i am not paying attention, in both soft and hard boots. although i prefer stiffer soft boots, i do not rely on the cuff to pressure my toeside edge effectively. it can be a lot of fun to simply drop the knees to the snow to carve, but there's a time and a place for that. do i find the catek's appealing? of course i do. and i eagerly anticipate the evolution of that binding, to match the Madd BX board i drool over. but until that time, i will continue trusting that i can carve on just about any gear. even if it's burton's first women's boot with matching soft bindings (and a base plate that flexes so much it seems as though you could rip the binding off the board) on a noodle of a board, or in hard boots on a board which bordy would classify as "too much." ("too much" = 173cm renntiger for my size and available slopes) i'll just have to have fun on whatever gear i have that enables me to slide down a hill sideways. provided of course that there is snow.

bordy, do you feel as though you don't drive as much with your knees when you are riding switch? i dunno, you seem to break at the waist and ride a bit more stiff in the lower body. however um, you haul. this is something i've felt in my own riding whenever i go switch and approach carving, with the obvious exception of speed cause i sorta got more work to do. but i find it to be a bit interesting because you are a high level rider, and when you were playing with switch riding your alignment was off just enough that your entire stance wasn't as strong as it could have been. i can't help but wonder why it's there and ask of the other folks on bomber if they've ever experienced this while carving switch. fun video to watch guys. i think what stood out the most was that you guys were having so much freakin fun riding. maybe i just really need to get back out and ride. what is it now, hurricane season? and what is this post other than evidence that i need to start sleeping more?

strawberries are great for increasing the volume of a smoothie/shake while providing cool things like flavor, some of those crazy nutritional things and fiber (maybe?). play with fruit and make sure she gets protein (as was previously mentioned). liquid diets get old fast, so be creative with what you're mixing up. it's amazing what can be sucked up through a straw. pump fluids. conversationally though, just be patient and listen when she's speaking. few things are quite as frustrating as exerting the effort to say something and have somebody brush you off just because you can't articulate it as clearly as usual. oh, and volume can drop too. but most phonemes in the english language can be formed through clenched teeth, it just takes some getting used to. i'll be praying for you guys.

used to be that most burton bindings FLAD's lock, holding the highback upright. this is a problem when an area's chair dips below it's minimum height clearance when loading and consequently breaks the binding (highback and/or baseplate). but hey, what was that, common sense is a good thing? burton may be phasing the locking mechanism out other company's also offer locking mechanisms on their highbacks, but i can't recall them by name.

i will admit that there is a bit of the freak factor while riding a square tailed board switch. i tend to envision myself "spearing" something and consequently not being able to walk afterwards. and yeah, i do feel more comfortable doping around on an all mountain board than a race board when conditions are not "perfect groomers." so yeah, even with a minimal difference in the tail, the mental aspect of it is affected. given the fact that it is possible to dig the nose of a board into the snow, i must acknowledge the heightened risk of doing so with the tail. hmmm, and yeah shred, if it's true about that board, please do share. relatively large airs when landing switch = 15-20 feet. i avoid gaps with knuckles. and i tend to more often straight air jumps in an effort to work on "sucking"

go amy!! oh, and nyahhhhhh!!!!!!! (did i get that right, sometimes my brain doesn't work at all, and this could very well be one of those times)

is the need for a slightly upturned tail based on having actual snow to ride through??? i've rarely had a problem with the tail of my boards while riding switch. granted i do hesitate to land relatively large airs switch with questionable landings, but that's more of a rider problem than it is a board problem. think about it, people had been skiing backwards on older straight skiis for years with little tail upturn, so do you really need that much more of an upturned tail in order to play around on your board??? length is probably more of a true issue as far as playful comfort goes. then you don't have to think as much when you spin

dude, regardless of what you get, its performance characteristics are going to differ a great deal from your alpine gear. stop looking for a softie setup that performs like that and accept that it'll be a totally different ride. some torsional flex is desirable. some width is desirable. if you really work your feet and fine motor movements, your riding overall will actually improve. don't set yourself up to get a softie setup that performs like hardboots, and accept the challenge of refining your "craft." a wise board guru this past week confessed that he had started riding much softer boards (he got me into alpine and is one of those people who whoops and hollers on down the hill). his freestyle setup became much softer because it forced him to really work on his riding techniques. it's a different beast. spend some more time getting to know it. i received a women's board this past year (yay warranties) which would have been perfect for a considerably lighter, smaller footed woman. i was still able to engage in moderate carving on that thing (no superhigh board angles due to drag, although i could lay my stomach on the snow on a good day). it took some time to get used to.

give us some more info about yourself. i suspect that a board around 20cm wide and not overly long will fit the bill. a freecarve or an all-mountain board would be peachy. everything skids. what determines the perceived range of function of the gear is actually your ability and your familiarity with it. there are situations where a particular style is more beneficial, but unless you have serious powder issues or whatever, i suspect that a 167ish board would work. it's an illness, really. burton alps are nice lil' boards to play on, and cheap.

i ride a race board with hardboots to teach in. or i ride an alp.... softies on freestyle and freeride boards, due to stance angles and my desire to have my toes and heels near their appropriate edges. i have taught on these. but with a vast majority of lessons (as in most lessons are new riders), it doesn't matter. with lower level riding, there is more of a focus on the feet and board performance (yes, board performance is always a point, but i find that when starting out all you can really focus on is what the board is supposed to do, like tip, as opposed to the many ways in which a person can put a board on edge). alignment references correspond to binding angles, not the nose and tail of the board. there are movements that work regardless of the gear that you are on. well, i don't know about skiis. but yeah, if the focus of initiating a turn is the knee, and all you want to do is move the front knee over the front foot's toes, then the angle at which that happens is only relative to the individual's setup. so yeah, what does it really matter what you teach on? and yeah, i feel for you about switching to a soft setup having had not ridden one in a while. how did you set yourself up on it? how do you normally carve a toeside turn? lonerider. i figure that AASI is happy to take anyone's money. i do have to consider how far i want to go in the organization. at this point in time i would be testing for my level II in hardboots. frankly they like to fail people who haven't played the game right. i have witnessed amazing instructors who were great riders fail exams without explanation, on softies, while others who are not really all that "good" pass. i was fortunate, i had tom vickery so i didn't have to take any heat about my gear. i honestly would like to have him for my next exam. there are still a few higher ups (as in clinicians and examiners) in AASI who respect plates and are able to look beyond the gear. heck, when i fail it had better be because my best riding isn't good enough. right now my best riding occurs in hardboots, so why would i compromise that just to be riding "the right gear?"

your students will trash your board within the first week of its life (other instructors probably will help as well), so it might as well not be a precious alpine deck. personally i prefer teaching in my hardboots. this includes the typical fare of freestyle stuff that comes up in lessons. and though it isn't a policy, the area was hesitant to hire me due to my gear. it isn't as though i was brand new to instructing, but yeah, silly misconceptions. granted i wanted to beat up all the new instructors this season who kept making stupid, questioning statements like, you can't jump on that or ride switch.... truly, ignorance sucks. and i am on the verge of a tangent. after passing my level 1 (i know it's meaningless) with an examiner who dug my riding (which surprised me, especially since i was with a group of jibbers) last season, my boss types have stopped harassing me about my gear. they know my freestyle riding is just as bad in softboots as it is in hardboots. actually, it's better in hardboots.... so yeah, refer back to statement 1

boots that fit well! geez, ever end up someplace before you realized you were going there? ok, boots that fit well. this can be a majorly huge deal and solve the whole aching foot thing. after freezing my feet i broke down, bought shiny new boots with thermoflex liners, got custom footbeds and paid to have this entire contraption fitted to my feet. this was a steep investment given my tendency to do seasonal work, but it was worth every penny. and honestly, it doesn't matter what you are riding if your feet hurt or there's slop in the fit. and with what to ride.... you are going to get a million suggestions about this. you can readily pick up a used board rather cheaply in the classified section here. in my haphazard opinion, somthing in the mid 60's ish should be suitable to get started on. i'm around 150 and have been having my butt kicked all over the place on a 173 renntiger (which i absolutely love). so, although it is the most stable board i have ever ridden (did i mention my love of this board), it is a bit too much board for me on steeper trails. i can't control it beyond blue squares while on edge for more than a few turns. i know, blah blah blah, practice, refinement, fitness.... but, this is merely a first step for you. so find a decent board that will take you to moderate blues and learn solid technique before landing your own long board. i still hold onto a burton alp that is actually much more suitable for my weight and up until last week would play on a grossly undersized slalom board for fun, on our steepest pitches. i'll admit that nothing compares to the freedom felt when flying downhill arcing out huge gs turns, but technique comes first heck, it's the austrian way of ski race coaching (rumor has it). they drill into people proper technique, piece by piece, making absolutely certain that it is "perfect" on moderate pitches, before they cut lose and let their pupils chase them for a while, then run gates. they believe that no feedback is necessary at this point because the appropriate technique has ideally been perfected and the folks training are able to determine for themselves if they need to go faster.

my illness seems to be contagious.....

and yeah, it's the next day... really forward angles in softies: let us know what you did with them and tell us about your day. some of us have to live vicariously through others. personally i avoid going past 30* in my soft boots. but some people have had fun going beyond that. and, i would suggest going to ECES. in the very least you would get to hang out with and ride with a bunch of really passionate folks who will probably be more than happy to help you out with this stuff. nothing beats checking out gear first hand. just be careful, you may not want to give it back. and definitely be certain that you have a good pair of boots that fit well. bindings and boards are easy to deal with, but a poor fitting pair of boots can suck the joy out of even the most glorious day of riding. there seem to be a few places on this planet that even demo gear, but the guys who know what those places are will have to tell you that.

blunting the edges just for rails?? no way dude. i like the approach mirror70 is already taking. and yeah, i dunno, an old burton would probably be suitable. decent ride, typically a bit softer (in my experience) and hey, since you're already doing it on a little hot rod, it seems you'll have no problem with adapting to any other board. personally i have been digging my alp on rails, though i must admit that i have yet to work up to a board slide. isn't the real goal to be able to ride any gear anywhere??? how do you approach hitting rails??

so eh?? for the racing inept among us (that'd be me, i know)... granted, i know that boards take a different path, but does that translate into there being no "straight" transitions (i am not expressing this well, sorry)? any straight lines?? is PGS pretty much the standard that people should have in mind when they train?? what happened to running events as "normal" GS and SL? i've heard that PGS is more exciting and blah blah blah..... and yeah, skiing turn mechanics. do they necessitate the larger side-cut? or is it simply the course set-up. i know that a course's set-up helps determine the desirable side-cut and length and stuff like that. but yeah, skiis?? oh yeah, you guys have been great thus far. i am still very interested in whatever anyone knows. and yes, i do still hear the call to run away and leave this place...

www.klugriding.com is unloading FP's for around $160 that are "softer-flexing" in that range. there are similar UP's. and the classified's tend to have a few floating around so you should be able to find some suitable gear quite readily.

i had a ski racer ask what the typical radius of a snowboard is. i offered up that my beast (for me it is a beast at 173cm on our hills terrain) had a radius somewhere around 14, and that it was a GS sorta board (it's a volkl, i enjoy it immensely). he remarked that that was small and comparable to a slalom ski. blah blah blah, GS skiis were usually over 20. i neglected to ask him what length ski that would be on. what range of radii (and length i suppose) are pro's racing on? what is the idea behind ski's and their sidecut radii? do skiis decamber significantly more, hence requiring a longer sidecut radii in order to achieve a similar arc to a snowboard with a shorter sidecut radius? although alpine boarders crank the snot out of their gear so i am dumbfounded.... also, i have no racing what-so-ever in my background so it all beats the snot out of me. so please feel free to inundate me with useful info. i'm procrastinating and prefer this sort of thing over IPM.

Allee, my RT is very happy (gets the most hill time). although i do fear that it has sensed my lust for a MADD (as well as it probably wants to move to another area. i do not care to fight it's desire to do so. i just wish i could afford it). and yeah, i know that i threatened to leave all of my current boards there, thus abandoning my RT, to "mistakenly" go home with the 170 (do you sense an alpinegirl board clearance sale?). it was nearly impossible to pry the BX off of someone else's feet. and i don't blame him. besides, my body quit before i wanted to. and yet i still long to ride that board (drool, nyah!!!!). so many boards to try, so little time. and to think, i almost believed it when people started saying that alpine was dying. snowcoach, what soft bindings did you use on it?

i would love to give it a spin in softies. i sort of hate my board since it's this super soft chic freestyle board that gives me massive heel and toe drag and is not stable at high speed (it makes me fear speed). although i do fear ripping my bindings apart on it since it (the Madd) is a bit of a beast (although, why am i drooling over this board). after riding with steph and others at WCS (or whatever that was called) i can't get this board out of my mind. i want one (and a matching 170 of course). i can only imagine the expressions on people's faces as the board gets aired out under a lift somewhere. it makes me smile. ooh, and with our current layout.... roller, roller, roller, AIR, AIR, AIR, (even more speed) AIR (carving in between everything of course), headwall to gap, insanely more AIR, carve some more, HIP jump (miss the point of the hit and clear the darn thing), banked slalomy turns through the icy pipe and 50-50 the rail at the end (gotta protect those precious edges) and back to the lift for some more. dang. shaggy, can i come play??? when i think of boardercross, this board boasts the stability and edge hold that i dream of (i think, only based on watching people ride it and flexing it by hand). i want to experience it and show all the people at work that although lib tech boasts this serrated edge (everybody who has ridden that board thinks it's like the best thing on earth for edge hold), that a MADD handles better. i would love to have a board that responds like an alpine beast regardless of the boots. hmmm, can i be a guinea pig??

hey derf, i snagged a few days on an OSIN 167 (i am assuming that it's the same board) to prove to myself that i could ride the darn thing (i was borrowing it from a skier who seemed quite positive that i couldn't ride it since it was "too much board for him"). it does provide an interesting ride. i had it out on a day after we got some snow so by the afternoon everything was bumped up. the flex was relatively soft. notably the torsional stiffness was a bit lacking (the only other "long" board that i have to refer to is a renntiger, i suspect that i am a bit biased as well), so it was really easy to twist and drop through tighter turns. however i was not confident in it's stability when simply rolling edge to edge (again, i like my renntiger). but the ride was damp and i felt as though it absorbed a lot of crap quite nicely. in addition to this, it was easy to unweight the edge to catch some air off crud for some weightless transitions. it wasn't like a snappy tail sorta pop as much as it was a centered edge release. oh, and easy to crank thorugh highspeed medium turns. generally it struck me as being quite forgiving and i didn't have to be as precise with my technique to ride it. then again, i am biased. i'll probably take it out again this week to get a feel for it in different conditions.

it was indeed a strange weekend. at my little podunk hill I actually spotted 3 other hardbooters!!!!! usually i am the only one. unfortunately they all came out of hiding on a day with some of the worst grooming i have seen in a while. needless to say, i was excited, although saddened by my choice of gear for the day and my inability to "run into" any of them. how do you go about coaxing ski racers who have toyed with snowboarding (softboots) into trying an alpine board?

1. it's fun. 2. no. well, it is a little bit harder to run "all out" in the boots, but i do try to avoid doing that. i am more comfortable in varying conditions (doing various things) riding in hardboots than i am in softboots. and no, i am not a former skier. 3. i would love it if my area actually bothered to do a decent job grooming. that'd be nice. especially in light of the fact that they spend so much freakin time grooming the terrain park