That Guy...

Welcome back! You certainly picked a good year (at least at your end of the country) to return. If you're comfortable on the gear you're on and you don't want to spend the money on new stuff, don't even test ride a decambered metal board, because about two turns into it, you'll be thinking of ways to justify the purchase. ;)

Funny story. Mid morning or so today, the guys and I are standing in the lift line and we're talking about helmets. We all ride motorcycles and quite a few of us spend time on the track, so we're all firm believers in full face helmets for that. Yet, we all ski with the open face brain buckets you see out on the slopes. I make the comment that one of us is going to smack our face and bust our teeth out one day and everyone just kind of nodded in agreement and the conversation tapered off and went in other directions. Fast forward three runs, and I ended up using my face to punch an aspen. No busted teeth or nose, but I look like I took a couple of good lefts to the mouth and cheek, and my jaw joint on the opposite side is sore when I try to chew food. So now we're all seriously thinking about full faces or something with at least a chin/ mouth guard. I'm picturing something kind of like a dirt bike helmet that would still allow the use of goggles because I'd imagine a visor would fog up pretty quickly. Thoughts/ experience and suggestions?

That reminded me of when I brought a board in to get a structure and a bevel. Some new kid was behind the counter and when I requested a 0.5° base bevel please, he suggested 1.5° or 2.0° instead so that the edges wouldn't catch on rails. Mind you, I'd just walked in with, and was standing right next to 185 centimeters of Kessler. I know and trust the head tech, so I asked for him to come up to the counter. He came out, greeted me, put a hand on the kids shoulder and moved him out of the way, and finished writing down what I wanted. Service with a smile, a valuable lesson learned for the kid, and a two hour turn around time for me. If you can't or don't want to do your own tuning, get to know the guys that do so they understand that what you're bringing in is special and isn't just another jib tech limp banana. :)

The only things I have the local shop do are base structure and base bevel. I'm specific with what bevel angle I want, but leave the structuring up to them.

Yes, all boards have serial numbers, but they aren't like VINs where you can run them through a database and see if they're stolen. Also, I'm willing to bet that the vast majority don't write their serial numbers down and keep that in a safe place in the event of theft. If the serial number's been obliterated, that's cause for suspicion, but isn't enough proof that it was actually stolen. You can also ask for receipts if you really want to hassle a seller, I suppose. Personally, if I has a guy indirectly accuse me of stealing a board I was trying to sell by way of asking for proof of legitimate purchase, I'd probably tell them to go pound sand. The only way to 100% guarantee it's not stolen is to buy new. Beyond that you'll never know for sure.

http://flightclub.jalopnik.com/what-its-like-to-snowboard-behind-an-airplane-at-78-mph-1688043096/+damon Cool to see him using a Kessler. Also, LOL @ the commenters saying they can hit 70- 90 MPH easy on skis at their local hills.

So has anyone actually had a baseplate screw come lose on them? In 22 years of riding, it's never happened to me, either with plastic soft boot bindings, or metal hard boot plates. My question to Mr. Orange is, if you're that concerned about them backing out that you use a thread locker, are you also torquing them to the proper spec with a torque screwdriver?

I ran a cable up my pant leg that comes out next to my pocket and I put a little pull start handle from a chainsaw on it. It's right at hand level for me, unless you watch real close, you can't see me pulling the handle. It blows peoples minds when I pop out of my rear binding as I'm coming to a stop and seamlessly transition to skating up to the lift. Same goes for stepping in- I'll step in as I stand up from the lift and be off before the skiers I ride with have their hands through their pole leashes. "Come on, guys... aren't you supposed to be the ones waiting for the snowboarder?" Some guy riding the lift with me was asking about it one time, and I told him there's an RFID tag in the boot that automatically releases when it senses the RFID chips they put in all the lift towers. He didn't believe me, so I held my boot out and as we passed the towers, I'd pull on the cable, retracting the pins in the heel of my boot. He was on the opposite side of the cable, so he didn't see what I was doing. I had a laugh about it in my head and then told him the truth, and we both had a laugh about it out loud. :)

Lubricating a thread allows for higher torque values. Loctite will never dry if left out in the open because it requires an absence of air to dry.

Beeswax.

What restrictions did OES impose when they sent you the boards in regards to distribution after review? I've been interested in a few of their boards, but would need to ride them before I spent any money. Any chance those boards will end up in Colorado for further demo usage?

How I managed to interpret the specs on Kessler's website wrong while looking right at them is beyond me. You are correct; thank you. I edited my post accordingly. :)

Just a small clarification here... Kesslers are not simply dual sidecut boards. They have a clothoid sidecut arc that ranges from the large arc that exists in the cambered part of the board to the smaller arc at both ends. In the case of your 171 (it's actually 9-16m), the SCR of the board along the cambered part is 16m, and transitions to 9m the further towards the tip and tail you go. The significance of this is that the board has a truly variable turn radius based on how far it's tilted up on edge and where you center your weight on the board, which, when combined with the unique decambered profile they use, translates into a smoother and more predictable board. I'm a bit out of the loop what with everything changing and improving ever year, but I believe Kessler is the only board with this type of sidecut arc. If someone knows otherwise, please correct me. *edit- here you go, straight from the horse's mouth: http://www.kesslerswiss.com/en-US/technology/kesslerShapeTechnology *edit #2- Here's some info about clothoid curves, if you're into math. There's some really cool geometry going on with that KST. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euler_spiral

Honest question- have you ever sighted down any Kesslers, and if so, where would they fall in regards to having a lot or a little camber?

As much as I'd rather not read about politics on a snowboarding website, as a US citizen without a dog in this fight, I am rather interested to hear more about the embargo and general feelings/ vibe of what's going on over there from people that actually live there. Even better that we have a Russian to chime in, too. I just hope this stays civil and doesn't get locked, no matter what direction it takes. :)

I really, really, really hope you didn't actually adjust your style to meet their unrealistic standards. Personally, I would write a letter to the owner/ CEO of the mountain and ask if the mountain ambassador represents the mountain policy of no hardboot snowboards after noon.

http://forums.bomberonline.com/index.php?/topic/39567-on-edge-style-oes-reviews/

I can tell by his boot/ binding setup that the gentleman with the white Kessler likes to tinker with things. They appear to be Burton bindings modified with Intec parts? Interesting to see that he removed that buckle from his HSP's, too. I found the toe buckle to be useless on mine and with it removed, I gained a little bit of room to wiggle my toes, but felt that I had too much heel lift if the 2nd buckle up from the bottom was too lose.

I have both style bindings and compared the two, and I don't see why not. Why would you, though?

Ice is no fun, but it'll teach you to stack your weight. Keep heading out in bad conditions... it'll make you a better rider, but use your judgement- if it's unsafe, don't go. At this stage, you should be taking just about every experienced riders advice to heart. There is a right and a wrong way to do it, but the right way is open to a whole lot of interpretation, so if someone says to try something that seems counterintuitive, give it an honest shot and if it works, incorporate it in your style. If not, discard it and go back to the way you were doing things. I've found that if the advice someone gives me is right, I'll see an improvement in a turn or two. Just remember- what works for one person may not work for another.

Glad to hear of the success when back on soft boots, and that's great that you're working with Bruce on a custom board. You'll find that length and SCR he's going to build you to be very slinky. My Kessler 168 has an 8-12M VSR, and even at 175ish lbs, I can pretty much fold that thing in half.

Please allow me to disagree with you here. A board can't tell how tall you are, only how heavy you are. He's 73kg, which is 8 kg outside the recommended weight range for the 153. On the next one up, a 158, he's still at the high end of the weight range. To go to the extreme, he's still pretty much smack in the middle of the spec on many 180 GS boards. Granted, the weight ranges are suggestions, but do exist for a reason. Otherwise, spot on with the rest of your post. Colozeus- If the board you're on now feels big, a bigger board isn't the answer. In time, it will be, but not now. Mr.E's suggestion to eliminate a couple variables and go back to softies on the new deck is sound and should be followed. Another thing to consider is the construction and profile of the board. Some boards are decambered at both ends and when running flat and at low angles, they behave like smaller boards because there's less running length on the snow. The full cambered glass boards I've ridden have generally been more snappy and less forgiving of laziness when compared to a decambered metal board.

Quite often I'm asked what a good first motorcycle would be. Those are the people who can be taught, and who are most likely to become very skilled riders. Once in a while, a new rider will come out to the track with a liter bike and insist they're skilled enough to handle it just fine despite their lack of experience and against the advice of wiser riders. Those are the people that need to learn and will most likely be passed on the outside by a 14 year old on a 250, and who will go home after throwing what's left of their bike in the dumpster. You can either be taught, or you will need to learn on your own; the path you decide to take is entirely up to you.

Yes and no. As I'm sure you're well aware of, the trail rating system is relative to each individual mountain. Let's take one mountain with four runs of equal length, all groomed, all straight, all the same width. However, each one is progressively steeper than the next. They would be marked as green, blue, black and double black as they gain slope. But if a mountain two states over has the exact same layout as the other mountain (width, length, groomed), but their most shallow run steeper than the aforementioned mountain's double black, that will not make it a triple black; it will make it a green. A real example of this would be to take a look at the double black at Camelback Mountain in PA (800' vertical and groomed on a 166 acre mountain) and compare it to a double black at Powder Mountain in UT (about 3500' vertical with cliffs and avvie holds on deep days on an 8700 acre mountain). I agree that CBM's double black isn't a "real" double black when compared to what's out west, but it is a legitimate rating when taken in the context of every other rated trail out there.