kipstar

I do not know how easy it is to find these boots, but as well as the ski version of the non asym shell raichle lemans style design (now branded firstdegreeboots.com) we also seem to have a 3rd modified version of the raichle flexon comps, alongside the Dalbello, the Full Tilt now we also have the Italian http://www.roxa.com/ guys who seem to have a variety of boots including what looks awfully similar to the FT..... The various freestyle boots seem to be in a variety of flexes perhaps including even something that works for snowboarding.

yeah, as Davekempmeister says, around Tahoe there are some sweet deals if you are willing to go beyond Squaw/Northstar/Heavenly; different days different promotions; I think last time I rode Tahoe (2005) we didn't pay full price a single day while there - every day was some promotion running here or there. Homewood that run to the carpark really does feel like you will end up in the lake; a few runs like that on the hill; one of the prettiest to ride that's for sure.

Homewood is pretty nice; the lifts are a bit slow but the run in front of the carpark when it is good snow conditions is AWESOME for carving earlier in the day; gets cut up though and can go into an ice/thaw mode late in the day though sometimes. Looking up the hill, there are some nice runs down the left side of the hill running to mid mountain, nice mid pitch groomers. All in all a nice place to spend a day or so especially if you have done a big day on the quicker lifts at Rose, Alpine, Squaw etc. Because the lifts are a bit slower the crowds seem to be minimal as well (my biggest issue is lots of ppl on the way down).

June is a nice place to go from time to time but I am not sure you would want to spend 2 months riding there mostly continuously compared to Mammoth which has the groomed runs of June plus also has a bit more variety being a lot bigger, with the wind packed powder in Cornice, Scotties, etc plus a bunch of freshies on Chair 9, backside, Paranoids etc when the snow comes in. It's a long time since i rode at June, but I recall it is quite good for racing and stuff since the pitch is so constant at June, and definitely not so crowded in the weekend....on the flipside if you want variety, then it's hard to pass up Mammoth when you can do top to bottoms on the gondola with a whole variety on the way down...head over to the warming hut side etc etc and when it is midweek Mammoth can really be a great fun place to ride. The ppl who ride June are many of the same people who ride Mammoth, but for some reason just seems like less attitude over at June...maybe that was because they all used to smoke weed on that stupid Yan tram lift that has been removed, who knows. Spent last week in Japan with some former Mammoth locals and we were talking about the good old days of the ghetto area, the options for eating, the shuttle service around the town, etc etc; Mammoth is a pretty awesome place and big enough on and off the mountain not to drive you bonkers; June would start to feel pretty small quite quickly (although great if you ride backcountry I guess). Interestingly, the guys from Mammoth (ex race dept) claimed June is a great place for racing. If you wanted not crowded and great groomers, Rose and some of the areas in Tahoe would be maybe cheaper than Mammoth, and maybe a bit more interesting than June.

In the marine industry, we use a variety of epoxy resins which are rubberised, including plexus, Sparbond, HPR, Kenetix etc all of which have holding power something like 30+ times the rate of standard epoxy; in addition some have a slight amount of flex as well, enabling bonding on bending items such as masts, foils, joints etc where the joint has to flex slightly but you don't want it to let go. Since bonding of metal to other materials can be a bit of a headache and having things flexing back and forth may also be a headache too, I am sure having a bond that can handle flex is a good thing. Example of a product we use below (marine industry): http://www.atlcomposites.com.au/atl_composites2/epoxy_products/adhesives Yonex is building composite things like tennis raquets and so on, I would imagine they know a lot about handling adhesives. Speaking to some skiers, apparently the Ogasaka skis are AWESOME, so I would imagine their boards might be pretty decent as well; certainly was nice to see a decent number of modern new school race boards; the Japanese boards had even lower noses than the SG, F2 and Kesslers that I saw; could have been that they were slalom boards but the concept was similar (decambered nose) just shorter and lower...the dudes I saw riding them were ripping up everything from knee deep powder, to chop to groomed, so it didn't seem to affect them much. One thing to add; riding this board was a lot less tiring than older generation boards; it just was so easy to make it do what I wanted and so I think I was able to do an extra hour every day without getting worn out.

After 7 years of not riding at all, and having done maybe 20 days in the last 15 years total, I was lucky enough to receive a SG new snowboard for Xmas, and went riding in Japan for 6 days on it; set up with TD3s, indys using the BTS system as well. The first day didn't start so well, as I was filming some kids riding and tore a great chunk out of my shin due to extreme lack of fitness and soft shins....not the best start.... also riding in knee deep wet chopped up powder at Sahoro and flat light didn't help. Anyhow, once I had my first real day at Furano ski resort, riding in -25.5 temperature, very quickly the benefits of riding a properly set up new board came out. The board is unbelievably damp and simple to ride; unlike the older generation of boards where they like a nice fwd drive into the turn, mid weight and then weight back coming out of the turn, it seems like the SG prefered to have a much more centered way of riding; also you could ride with less rotation and just let the board do a lot more of the work. Riding through bumps, chop, fresh knee deep powder, epic grooming, the board was effortless to keep on edge and get good edge hold. The only times it was struggling was on narrow cattracks and big bumps or when I didn't have the guts to ride it properly. One surprise to me was how easy it is to adjust the line by disengaging the edge the reengaging it mid or late carve. I had also expected the board to not like certain styles of turn but it seemed to be really good for a wide variety of turn types; even tried a few EC style turns on both sides and it was pretty simple to make the board work. Even riding on one day in fresh snow over a firm base and very flat afternoon light, you could just let the board run, and be confident it would always hold; the times I got into trouble was when I just didn't have the confidence to ride and push on narrow tracks and steep runs. Being a 180, it needed a little speed to get it going at first, but once I started to get the feel for the turns, not any more than a shorter board. The TD3s seemed a good match, although in -25.5 celcius, started to get some boot shrinkage so the bindings ended up pretty loose fitting and the lugs were starting to freeze. Also the chrome finish on the toe clips was coming off as well, no problem I guess. The BTS system is better than the RAB, and I ended up restoring the fwd lean to the original; because the board seemed to ride so easily, I found I could ride longer and harder each day than my previous boards, and with a little more fwd lean. I rode it without a plate, and it seemed very happy; I am pleased I didn't go for a 185, as that would have been a bit more of a step up length wise; the 180 size has a decent waist width (unlike the 175) and although the side cut isn't massive, it seemed to be happy to crank reasonably tight turns. Highly recommend it as a great riding board. While in Japan saw some Ogasaka, Yonex and Grey snowboards; all similar low nose new school shapes with various plate systems.

Yes, it's a trip with the TV network I shoot for, doing a small segment of snow in Japan (always nice to get a free trip, one of life's few perks) and after we made our arrangements, the cameraman hasn't been able to secure a VISA in time, so it's going to be a bit of a one man special. The resorts in Niseko have offered to fund a 2nd trip out promoting snow for the 2013/14 season on air at the end of this year, so I will be visiting Rusutsu (and probably also Niseko) in around March/April. Can't believe the weather forecasts though. -21!!! Over here we think it is freezing at the moment as Bangkok is about 26 degrees celcius today....

Sorry for the post but I will be heading to Japan sahoro 2-4 jan faruno 5-8 jan shooting a small segment for tv and also doing some riding. If anyone is around to join and wants to do some riding let me know by pm. I also have a bunch of gear including various old boards and bindings if u Japanese guys need stuff. First time riding since 2006 so could be a bit rough.....

Started boarding in 1990. Was addicted. In 1991 bought a nice nitro freestyle board (a fusion one of the first season nitro boards) and started working at a snowboard shop in Auckland. Through the shop and the nitro distributor met Steen Webster, at that time NZ's best snowboarder and one of the few doing back to back winters in Breck and NZ at the time, and at the hill saw a guy, Greg, absolutely tearing up the mountain on a nitro EFT. A week or so later, won $800 in NZ's equivalent of powerball, and got massively drunk, snogged some random girl before throwing up loads of red wine...and then next day pushed Steen to sell me his EFT and I rode it with softies for a weekend, and then realised, a board like that needed hardboots (plus my feet were in awful shape thanks to the first generation airwalk boots I had)...got a set of rossignol hardboots and never looked back. Took another season before I learned how to make the carve happen, and then...it was all on. Really got my stuff together in a season living in Mammoth, back when hardbooters would match the number of soft booters in the early morning on Chair 1, Chair 2, Chair 3. even to this day I think Greg (the dude with the EFT) is one of the best riders I've ever seen rock the hardboots.

I like this story about the crazy Jan lifts how stupid was that flying toaster or the furnicular thing going from the carpark up. I would think some decent cheap accomodation in the area, family target and generally making it cheap and more like Homewood would be the position that might work better for June...a lessor version of Mammoth and a bit dull and boring, it has that appeal of lack of people and family fun that makes the place not too bad in a crowded weekend. Having it as an overflow for Mammoth is a doomed position for sure though; it needs to have an appeal as a nice place to go every day, not just the crowded days. A really good park and some more specialist niches might also work too to finally get it making some madd cash. http://mammothtimes.com/content/june-mountain-open-long-live-chair

Yeah, I remember a few girls getting 'Girl Power' tattoos at various times and then it being fairly funny since it doesn't make sense to just grab the character for girl and the character for power, and expect all the Chinese readers to be in awe of the tramp stamp. I think the board looks awesome....my chinese reading skills don't go far enough to know if it is right or not, but looks so sweet.... :_)

is that place the goody box still around down somewhere near Vons? They used to have all manner of cheap stuff, I am still gutted I did not buy the aggression stealth 170 asymetric back in the day when I had the chance (I think it was $100) in the late 90s. Seems like a trip to Mammoth will be post President's weekend now, as we have a major press conference and work stuff ;_( so not much chance to ride chair 3 this year.

This is all just my theory and could be totally wrong. but i spent quite a bit of time riding in hero USA snow as well as lousy NZ north island conditions, some racing and stuff, and most of that was in ski boots (raichle flexon comps) during the era when a lot of people were using ski boots. I used to be fine in choppy rutted stuff, but now definitely think that the stiffness of the flexons did hold me back a bit; nowadays I think the dalbellos and FTs you can customise the flex a bit more, plus also the board flexes have changed a lot. Also, back then I was thin, now I'm a fat middle aged coot with 20kg/44lb additional weight! By free flexing I mean you don't really want to ride a boot with the boot cuff either riveted or with a locked cuff such as the locked in forward positions on some boots (in which case the forward flex comes from compressing the liner and/or distortion of the shell) nor do you want the boot to flex forward freely only up to a certain point then stopping (as occurs with the RAB due to a massive design flaw) after which the boot distorts. You want the flex to be progressively stiffer and stiffer as you go forward, without the boot distorting at the ankles (usually distortion means the boot gets wider and your ankle gets LESS locked in, which is exactly what you don't want to happen as you flex forward in a toe side turn) and this can be acheived in the original flexons with just the tongue (although it was quite stiff and a bit temperature dependent) or in the case of the indys/700s using a system like the BTS. I have an old pair of UPZs lying around NZ somewhere, cannot remember how they worked, I think similar to Northwave, BTS as well; so its partly the tongue providing resisitance and partly the spring system on the cuff. Looking at the dalbellos I suspect the tongue is enough to control fwd flex, you get the tongue type right and the boot should work fine. I don't really think you need the massive forward flex that some of the EC guys show on the net in their liviing rooms, having watched James Ong ride who is probably the best EC rider I have seen in person (back in the mid 2000s), he has almost no resistance as he use to ride with no mechanism on the back but uses calf muscle strength to control the forward lean. Ski boots if you can get the point where you have a nice flex forward you are comfortable with then you can just load up the front tongues, but good to use calf strength I think too. I personally think lateral flex is not really needed so much, but you could get it by using sidewinders or integrating a rubber sole onto a ski boot. Yes, TD3s can handle ski boots for sure as you can adjust the length of the bails. The boot board is the thing your foot rests on; in more high end ski boots you can use a screw usually on the side of the sole with a thread to wind the boot board up and down; the advantage for some people is it means you can reduce the volume around your ankle vertically, by raising it slightly. Snowboard boots, at least the indys, seem to have no way to adjust this within the boot and the standard boot position already seems to have the heel very very high for some reason, so you feel like you are wearing high heels. In a ski boot at least for the raichle style shape (I cannot comment much on dalbello or FT but assume is similar) the volume around your ankle is less anyhow; once you can also adjust the height of your heel in the boot as well, then you can really get the right fit around your ankle so there is no heel lift at all. You can sort of replicate it with hard foam shims under the liner in indys, but as the height of the heel in snowboard boots is so high already, it's probably not a great plan. Even with indys and moulded liners plus shims I have never come close to the good heel fit in the flexons with regards to heel lift; mostly because the area around the ankle is a bit volumous. Still, it's not bad. I do think I could do better so am at the same point as you, the things I really like in a ski boot are the adjustment, the solid non flexing sole, the luck of having a shape of a boot that happens to be closer to my foot, and generally better hardware. Most important would be to get the flex about right, the new park boots are getting closer and closer to the sorts of softness we have in snowboard boots anyhow.

PM King Crimson, he is one of the most knowledgeable I think on using ski boots and in particular, the FT, Raichle, Krypton type boot to make it work for snowboarding. I used to race and ride in the raichles (exactly the same as the FT) and the summary of what KC told me was the Krypton is the best of these 3 as it has made the changes needed from the original raichle shape so that it works well. If I can paraphrase: The one issue is with bindings, you need to get a binding that can handle a thinner ski boot sole; I have toyed with the idea of getting some new rubber soles CNCed up so the ride height is the same as a snowboard boot (but without the high heel feeling of the indy and with a little rubber flex in it); you have to accept slightly longer sole length; the stiffer lateral flex means that choppy show is a little less manageable and you will want to go for a softer flex if you can. I don't know specifically the krypton pro but you might want to consider a boot which fits well, then see what can be done to make the fwd flex what you wish (not too stiff and ideally, quite linear, not abruptly stopping like what you get in a riveted boot or with the indy with the RAB system). Forward lean you will want some sort of free flexing system but getting the neutral starting fwd lean position depends on how the boot works. For sure, ski boots seem to not have the major distortion problems of the soft plastic as a result of the cheap materials used in some snowboard boots, but needs a few tweaks to make it all work. I personally think a raising and lowering boot board is a HUGE help to making boots fit and also the general fit of raichle ski boots was better for my foot around the ankle than the indy is, so I am also considering doing a switch to the dalbellos. Originally was looking at the FT but paying big dough for the exact same boot as what I had 20 years ago....hmmm.

Having suffered some major health issues in the last 3 years, I'm just this season getting back into things. As a former triathalete, Muay Thai sparring partner for some decent fighters, sailor, it's tough to get fit again, toughest as you get older with ongoing health problems to overcome. Anyhow, what I learned from Tris and in boxing is after building any sort of fitness base, the next step is interval training, to get the peaks right; in boxing, snowboarding and many other sports, the peaks are intense for shorter periods, the idea of going for a long 1 hour run is ok for a fitness base but won't help the peak intensive activity. even tris, intervals help a lot in all 3 parts. So for this season I've been doing: 1. stationary trainer cycle, stair climbers, elliptical trainers, rower with interval training (variations of 1 min full speed 1 min rest up to 30 sec hard out of the saddle, 30 sec sprint 30 sec spinning minimal load again and again and again for between 15-45 minutes; RPM around 80+ except in the out of saddle stuff) 2. skipping with intervals (15min of skipping with 10 sec sprint every minute first 10 min + 15 sec sprint every minute last 5 min) 3. weight training (full body with 2 variations; variation 1 lifting 3X10-15 reps rest 1 min, next set; variation 2 3X15 reps at lighter weight 10 sec rest between each set) 4. running (3km - 6km distance, this is the easy day) 5. balance board 5 min rocking back and forth 6. (ok one more) specific core training including the plank for 1-2min at end of each training session; 2X15-50 crunches/sit ups; 50X knee raises each side Would like to think I won't struggle too much but I know it will be tough so that's why I'll take Bordy's advice, and get time on the snow plus some good hot tub apres ski action early season, and then later in the season hopefully a trip to a proper hill like Mammoth or Squaw.

sent a PM, if not received please PM or email me back as I am interested ;_)

The scorpions and Epics were wood core (I think) but this one I suspect is foam core. yes, will overpower it pretty easily though.

I have a set of heads which are exactly the same as F2s (with I believe a 5.5mm bails) which I bought 2nd hand on bomber and I have never used. Make me an offer for although the postage (from Thailand) could be a bit brutal; let's assume it would be $25 USD. I should be out in USA end of this year or mid season next year but better you buy now I think pre season. PM me if you want to go further.

If I remember correctly this is the board similar and based on a scorpion but coming out before the nitro cam (which looked similar but had an odd modular looking deck on it and was I think a foam core beast). Maybe a bit softer. Back in the day (1993-1995) the scorpion was a lovely board, I used to race on them a bit, but the modern gear is a big step forward from those days. Assuming I come stateside in Dec I will be flogging a whole bunch of gear including a scorpion 163 if Nitro is your poison. The lengths of the nitros tended to be a bit all over the place and not necessarily the same as the size of the board.

I have been looking a lot at the full tilt website and I really have some doubts that the indys I have will be able to provide a better experience than a set of FTs running the softest tongues. I used to love a nice stiff foot sole, which the snowboard boots I have had (UPS and Deeluxe) both seem to lack I guess as the bindings don't require it. More importantly, I have a high arch, thin ankles medium width forefoot, and length is 28.1cm, so it is a squeeze to get into a 27 shell indy, but the heel hold is awful. I have added the BTS to eliminate the RAB induced boot distortion (which widens the ankle area as it bottoms out) but I am still fairly sure I will get heel lift and that's with additional shims already. The toe area is already fully packed out and stretched, but will need to be stretched again as the heat here means the boot goes back to original very quickly. The issues of going to the ski boot is slightly longer length, a more problematic binding/boot fit (due to the thinner sole thickness) and managing to get a suitable flex in the boot. I am less worrieds on the backwards flex that the BTS adds, since I am not sure you need it. I do want to be able to run a nice progressive flex going forward and am used to the Raichle ski boot system (rode it for many years, based on an equipe, the model below a flexon pro). Would run the softest tongues, the new liners may mean I have enough room on the forefoot modify the shell a little on the forefoot and arch, and am wondering if that would work well enough to go? Has anyone actually got specific experience in the FT skiboots to comment if I am thinking right? I've spent a fair bit of time reading ideas from the esteemed Mr Beckmann and seen some racers using them; what exactly is needed to get them to the point of being a better boot than using the indys? The other option is to go from the standard mouldable liner in the indys I have now to a better new version....in which case which liner? Will it solve this lack of forefoot room too much heel room issue? Either way I tend leave boot fitting to experts, as I know what I want it to feel like, but prefer to let them do their magic (although I have worked doing boot fitting before). Hoping to get some good idea before I start planning which way to move forward.

Keep the updates coming; it works out that if I am buying a Donek and flying over to USA to also bring back a bunch of Harken stuff for my boat, that USA is actually going to be cheaper than Korea (and I know Mammoth well) so if the snow is in by December on Chairs 1,2/18,3,5 then it's on like donkey kong. would be good to do some riding (since it is 6 years since I last rode at all). Also means I can sort out my boots at Cordy's place (footworks? Footloose? Bootworks? Can't remember the name for sure, you know the good one in town that really knows how to fit boots properly).

radical stubby nose, I LOVE how it looks! Now with all the custom jobs from Donek etc, I guess easy enough to convince Sean to make the front end look like that, as it will make a good dining table as well as snowboard ;_)

Yo. Great place to love. If u r after a job try to land a job with mammoth mountain inn or a hotel in the village associated with the mountain. Any way to keep days free. When I lived there many many years ago the job was 10pm - 7am so I rode everyday almost; friends worked 3pm-12am (better). Best thing was cheap food, free season pass, and being on the mountain already ready to ride 4 hours or so a day. Nitelife in mammoth is sort of ok but a bit of a sausage fest; u need to decide if u go to ride or go to score skanks. If skanks then LA imports in the weekend might prove least problematic as they r gone soon enough so u can focus on riding. Best decision in my life was spending a year in mammothj I am sure it will be awesome 4 u too. Note all my info is pretty out of date as I was there working pre intrawest and last time was when rusty gregory had just taken over.

Guys thank you so much for the advice, thanks especially Mr Beckmann for the PM, very very helpful. Riding in NZ is pretty expensive for what you get as the flight time is similar to get there as to go to USA but the resorts are relatively not so huge, quiet expensive lift tickets, no accomodation near most mountains, and most importantly patchy weather so NZ is probably my less important location and so I would purchase the length I think most suited for Tahoe and Korea; that said Korea Yong Pyeong wasn't dissimilar to Ruapehu conditions (as it is man made, was wet when I was there with relatively narrow trails) and the Oxygen 178 went fine in those conditions so I would imagine a more modern 175-178 should be ok. I did borrow a Swiss instructor's Oxygen 180 I think it was back when I was riding a lot in the late 90s, and it was quite fine to ride on Whakapapa although a bit of a monster in the lift queues. Not sure how much powder riding I want to do, these days, happier to stick to the groomers because I am getting old ;_) The aim is to make life as easy and simple as possible! 200mm waist is what I am thinking I require, 195mm on the scorpion was ok, but the 193mm on the oxygen I have is maybe a little on the narrow side to ride the flatter angles I would prefer to try out.

My understanding is the Rev is made to work with a plate, so you are better off to go with a board that is made to work without one; otherwise I would have bought one of the 175 revs already (and not copied your idea of asking which board is for me in the other 'which board is for me' thread) :-) But would always welcome anyone's comment if my understanding is wrong.