reweston

Point taken. I would say that backcountry is another set of rules. If someone is stupid enough to park it in a landing area in the backcountry, then, they're just voluntary target practice I guess. I would say the more conservative stuff mentioned previously is reserved for the groomers.

Yep, was just there last week, and plan to go a lot more this year. For carving, it's actually not too bad for Arizona(lucky to have anything at all). Insanely wide open runs near the bottom of the mountain (hart prarie lift), and some fun terrain elsewhere. Looking forward to a good powder day there. Last week, I found the runs to be extremely well groomed, something I was worried about beforehand. 2300 vertical feet is pretty good, and with good snow coverage can be a very fun place. Have yet to go to sunrise in eastern AZ, that will be in a couple weeks. Robert

Forgot 1 thing......glad your daughter is OK Thomas :p

I agree Thomas. You can still have fun and be in control. You don't have to make every run a mach 4 mission. Carving should be a controlled art anyway, and that would include being aware of a potential collision with another person. If you are flying over a blind spot at a speed that would not allow you to avoid something (debris/rock/human) in front of you, then yer doin' it wrong! We're not talkin' bumper cars, we're talking potential serious injuries! Hospitals! Blood! Broken Bones! The collision I witnessed last week was HORRIFIC, and hope to never see anything like it again. And yes, I always travel at a speed that allows ample time to avoid anything in front of me. Do I ride slow? Hell no! Just smart. If you're on a wide open groomer, midweek, and you can't see a soul anywhere, that's when you fly top speed. Any blind corner/roller deserves a speed to accomodate avoiding danger. Look at it this way....sure, the code states that you shouldn't stop where you can't be seen from above, and you/we can accomodate that rule, but can you count on everyone else doing it? Never. Robert PS: Since I'm preachin', as a pharmacist I have to warn yall about the advil thing. I know many people, mostly athletes, who relied on it for years to get through their session of choice every day, and am now dispensing meds to help their ulcers, and even worse, kidneys. If your going to take it all the time, take it with food, don't take it with aleeve (naproxen) and take it easy on the dose. No more than 800mg 3 times daily TOPS. Preferably far less than that, and factor in your booze intake, that's rough on those kidneys too. OK, I'm done now, consider yourself pharmaceutically counselled :D

Another idea: Don't charge over blind rollers at a speed that would cause you to slam into some object on the other side unless you have a spotter.

Your madd might just be too much board for that hill, mellow. Is there anything else open there except.......that?

Normally doesn't get tracked that quick...as soon as outback/northwest/summit open, it's freshies for days if you know where to find 'em.

anything will do. A board, or boots, or bindings, I'll piece everything together. Anyone?

First thing that came to my mind was surfing......yes, that's the sport of choice off season. Longboarding the mushy waves, but always shortboarding the more structured stuff. Have never ventured into the wheeled off season stuff...... Robert

Going to Bend for a week, 12.12-12.19, and one of my friends is showing up with no gear. So, rather than have him rent garbage for a week, I thought I'd see if anyone has anything they would like to get rid of. Size 11 boots, 16? board. Thanks, Robert

Tim~ You can see snowbowl from prescott? Yes, it will be a tragically short season I'm sure. I'm planning on trips to: Bachelor as previously stated, SES, Big Bear 12/23-24, Telluride in March, Bachelor again in April, and as many local trips to the bowl and sunrise as possible. Just bought a like new 1977 Chevy Pathfinder Van 4x4 for the travels(it's got a-team style!). Up for some travels, tim? Robert

I was going to post a review of this board after I got back from Mt Bachelor (12.12-12.19) but what the heck. I have been boarding since 1988, riding plates since 1993. I rode everywhere, all the time, up until 2000, when I decided to get my #($% together and find a career.....so, now I'm a pharmacist who just had his first real day back on the hill in a long time. Saying that, my first impression of the board was: weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! I was able to instantly initiate fast, short turns with no problems, throwing all of my weight into each turn and whipping the board around until it would explode into the next turn. Not what I expected! It is more turny than my sims burner 162 or my mistral ecstacys' 159&167 (rest their souls). Ok, so that's great, but let's try and open it up and stretch those carves out.......that's where I believe my abilities need ironing out, and that's where this review will be continued after 7 days at Bachelor :D Roberto

D-Sub~ When the big storm finally hits Bachelor, do rainbow chair->summit riding cows face to the backcountry all day. My favorite terrain there. Rainbow provides some great carving runs, and a little more time to rest the early season muscles on the slow lift. I'll be there in 10 days! I'll email ya before I get there. We're staying in the southeast part of town by the costco. Ah, bachelor powder by day, deschutes brew by night. Robert

I second the Tom Waits vote, I've been obsessed with his music for a long time now. Not really while riding though. While riding: Powder - reggae! Carving - grant green, john scofield, some live phish, mmw, old school punk, iron maiden killers, critters buggin' When I used to live in Bend, I'd go up every morning and listen to the morning AM news while riding. There was something very odd about that.... Robert

Had my first trip up this year yesterday, went to AZ snowbowl. -5 degrees, clear and cunny, no wind, and the most perfectly groomed snow ever made for an amazing day of carving. Rode my brand new coiler AM 169, and had a blast! Unfortunately, near the end of the day, a group of snowboard instructors were trying to complete these full circle carves, one at a time, across a wide open groomer. You can only guess where this is going.....I was on the lift observing their efforts, when one of the guys takes off. 3 skiers where in his plain view when he started. He gets full speed, goes into his giant carve in an attempt to complete his circle-carve, and you could see the collision coming right when he started. I was going to yell something, but he had 3 instructors below him watching uphill, and 2 behind him. Were they spotting him? Wasn't somebody going to say anything? Nope. This guy clocks this little female skier going full speed, didn't even see her until the last 1/100 of a second. The noise made on impact was UGLY. Her leg looked broken, she started moaning & groaning, then going into siezures. It ended my day, I felt very bad for her. Anyway, be careful out there, those super long speed carves are fun, but sending someone else or yourself to hospital is not worth sacrificing a few seconds to observe your surroundings. The fact that these were instructors made the whole thing even worse...... Robert

I lived in bend for 3 seasons, and have been away for years now getting my s*$! together so I could move back. It's not an easy town to make a living, but I've finally found my niche! Anyway, I'll be up there 12/12-12/19, in a nice large rental, riding (hopefully) everyday and whoopin' it up at night. If anyone would like to meet up for a few runs, or an evening of pool/beer, shoot me an email! Robert

Would anyone be interested in going in on a 4-5 bedroom house for 7 nights during the event? If 5 of us go in on a house, it would be about $600 each MAX, less if there are couples staying in a room. I would be willing to do this with the right peeps.....I'm a 35 yo pharmacist from arizona, going solo. I party it up at night, put away the brew, but don't care to stay in a 'party house' for 5 days. In other words, I wouldn't be into inviting the whole hill over for a hoe-down. Here is an example of a house I am looking at for the week: http://www.rentalsexpress.com/vacat...use6_rates.html Also, if anyone else is going from AZ (very unlikely, I know), let me know maybe we can carpool. Thanks! If interested, email me at Robert.Weston@azwebmail.midwestern.edu Robert

My first board bag: an old sleeping bag with a whole roll of duct tape wrapped around it.

Anyone have any advice on board bags? Living in Arizona, my board will be seeing several airplanes, and plenty of abuse I'm sure. I'm also looking for a suitcase that has a seperate compartment for boots. Everything I've seen so far seems to be lacking in style/function/quality. Thanks for any advice! Robert

Sorry for the waste of space, looking for a guy named Alan. Rode in Big bear, sierra summit, mammoth, baldy frequently. Anyone know him? Thanks..... Robert:confused: