ak_rider

the lift prices are outrageous, luckily i'm a keystone employee, free during the week and $10 on weekends. The one run was nice for about 2 runs. I would have been upset if I had to pay. Too many people on not enough snow, I don't want to think how crazy it will be this weekend. My last CO winter is starting off good. Hopefully this is a sign of a good season to come.

the snow's in summit county about 1 week earlier than last year

please stop doing your snow dances. i'm ready for summer, mainly because i work outside, but if there's powder this weekend, i'll retract my comment :)

I didnt know there was more of me, aka Quiet Girl. If you want to find me I'm usually hiking or hiding in the trees. Not talking is a choice, I'll talk if you find the right topic.

Check out a halfpipe for good softboot carving, or just check me out when I'm riding in softies Really, what's more fun than carving?

So Winter Park found out I can tele, so their brilliant logic was to get me to teach alpine. I got a deal on some new alpine ski boots. My problem is that my ski boots leave bruises on the inside of my ankles and on my shins, but my hardboots dont(even when they were new). Can anyone shed some light as to why my ski boots leave bruises but my hardboots dont?

vail is definately a powder day mountain, but it usually gets pretty tracked out. BC is by far the most fun mtn I've been to in CO for carving, and I've never seen it crowded, like the other Vail resorts get. Plus, BC has cookies and hot chocolate at the end of the day and escalators. But if you stay in leadville, definately check out Ski Cooper. It's super fun to play around at and there's no one ever there.

my clot was not a direct result of dehydration but it made it worse. they're still trying to find out the exact cause, which they may never know. dehydration put me at an increased risk. i was definately in the 50% group. I just didnt want to be bothered with having to run to the bathroom every hour. but taking 5 minutes every hour or so to pee is not so bad now that i know what the alternative could be.

so, some interesting things on dehydration that I learned. As some of you know last season ended early for me thanks to a blood clot in my brain and 4 brain surgeries. I'm happy to say that yesterday I was officially taken off the bloodthinners and my brain is finally starting to heal(9 months later). The interesting thing I found out is that dehydration can actually cause blood clots. And, you can become dehydrated without really notcing. A camelback is now a permanent fixture whether I'm teaching or just free riding. So, for everyone who rides at altitude be sure to carry water and drinks LOTS and avoid alcohol until after you're done riding. I know this sounds like the same old thing you hear at every ski area, but getting dehydrated can take your life in a very slow and painful manner. Just wanted to let you all know. I wouldnt wish what I went through on anyone. And, my bloodclot was not caused by dehydration, but it definately made it worse. So, drink, drink, drink, and throw down a beer or two after the lifts stop. Here's to an enjoyable and injury free season for everyone

i'm not possitive about OR but NJ passed the full serve law back in the day to protect the people who pumped gas-basically minimum wage job security, my guess is OR is similar. But there is a hidden danger in NJ, some of those mullets get really long and could potentially get caught in the nozzle. I think the funniest thing is that gas is not more expensive in these full serve states than self serve is in other states. If i didnt have to pay more I wouyld sit in my car and let someone else do it, although this could just be the memories of sub zero alaskan temps speaking.

steamboat-slightly closer to most in CO-got 16" in the past 24hrs but there are stashes several feet deep. I was up to my waist yesterday in some spots. i'll let you all know how today was too.

i agree 5 yrs or when there is visible wear. when looking for visible wear make sure to look at the foam inside the helmet, not just on the outer plastic shell. the foam inside will start to pack out like boot liners. in a helmet there should be a small amount of give in the inner foam, when you crash this foam compacts instead of your skull, so if it's all ready compressed-which will happen over time, it wont really do too much good.

as I tell my students when I teach, there is not right or wrong way to snowboard, just more or les efficient techniques. I say if you feel stable pulling your back kne to your front go with it. and there is actually some pivot going on in your turns, especially when pulling the back knee towards the front, but it is slight, as there is obviously less pivot when carving as opposed to skidding, but it is still there. this knees together techniques was popular back in the day because less twist was used to control the board and more pivot. but snowboarding isnt about all this, it's about getting down the mountain in as fun a way as possible and if that involves tucking the back knee, then more power to ya.

as long as i dont have to pick you up off the snow all day, you're a friend of mine

Does anyone remember the last time it friggin snowed in CO? Please Ullr, help us.

a last note on WP. this year is maybe not the year to come. with no measurable snow in sight there's talk of some of the lifts being shut down due to poor snow cover. although i wouldnt really know what the conditions are like, i've been teaching everyday all day since the mountain opened. but someone's been carving around the past few days, whoever you are(i saw a yellow board the other day outside the derailer) you're totally making me jealous. fat, non-athletic people who want to learn to snowboard.

i have a pretty small face, but it's fitting since i'm only 5'4" and 110lbs. i use drans dx. it looks big on my face but has an excellent seal and they have various lens colors. for under $100 you could get a frame with a mirrored lense and get a free perssimon lense with it. my opinion of mirror is it's good if you're trying to hide bloodshot eyes or if you only want to buy one lense. like a gold mirror would work fairly well on lower light days but on sunny days the mirror will help reflect the light away from your eyes. so i'd say if your planning on having more than one lense dont bother with overpriced mirror, unless you have the afore mentioned eye problem. also, the dragons have great ventilation, i never take them off ont he hill and if you start to get fog it isntantly goes away once you start moving and air flows through. really, no gogle will say fog free if your standing still, they need airflow.

as a former shop employee as well as a former shop manager please just dont gointo the shop and say you found the item for less somewhere else and want that shop to match it. This was probably the most popular thing for people to do at my old shop and eventually i ended up telling each one that they found a good deal and should take it because i couldnt match it. For super smokin deals try the big box stores. the little guy has to seel for more because he doesnt do the volume that the bigger ones do. it's like paying twice as much for gas in valdez, ak when you can see the pipeline from the gas station

dont know if you really want to hear but I had day 15 of the 06/07 season yesterday. for anyone thinking of riding in CO, copper has the most open terraina nd the msot open lifts, so less crowds, and more high speed carves

wet bud? stick it in the microwave. i mean, that's what i've heard ;)

i havent seen these new bindings, i havent checked out this year's flows. but on every other model the only way to exit from the front is to completely unclip the part of the binding that covers your foot(4 clips per binding), and that would make for a super pain to re-adjust them and all in powder. also, i dont believe you can rotate the highback-which is one of the biggest things i look for in soft bindings. if you rotated a flow highback it wouldnt keep you in the binding as it's made to. perhaps the most important part of buying flows-try them on with your softboots in the store and stand in them for a while, 30-45 minutes. These are a binding where you need it to fit because they have limited adjustability, pretty much you can adjust the pressure on top of your foot with the 4 clips and you can adjust the tension on the highback. I work p/t in a shop and have worked in shops for the last 7 years or so. flows are a thing where people either love em or hate em, and i think it has to do with the fit. If you want a good softboot binding to carve in i'd say look at ride(they're metal and nice and stiff).or Cateks, they have rediculous amounts of adjustability and are metaland great for carving, and why not support a company that supports hardbooting

the only helmet i owned with those built-in headphones was a pro-tec last year, and the earflaps were apparently made for someone with a super-long head because the headphones sat on my cheeks. I've listened to the sound quality in giro and the red. the subwoofer in the red is a gimmik, IMO. you turn on the bass and if the song has any bass in it it gets distorted. My answer-which i've been doing since before they made these built-in things was this- i never ride with earflaps(they never fit me and i don't like them) and i have a pair of those headphones that wrap around the back of your head and kinda fit over your ears. so the little clip type deal with the headphones keep them from slipping off your ears and the wrap around goes behind your head and you can adjust it so it basically wraps around the back of your neck, so it doesn't interfere with the helmet. The headphones covering my ears keep them relatively warm(i wear a had under my helmet and pull it down over my ears when it gets below zero) and awesome sound quality because i chose the headphones, which allowed me to choose how good they are, as opposed to the built-ins where the company tells you what you're going tolisten to. but that's just what i do, and probably isn't for everyone. 1 possible downside is you have to dig in your pocket and turn the music off or down to have a convo, where most of the manufactured earflap speakers have a mute button that easily accessible.

loveland claimed 20" or 22" dont' remember, but i'd say there was probably more than that, but not typical super dry snow, kinda wet, but i was up to my waist, and not too crowded in the am, probably because most of the roads were closed. St. Mary's glacier had easily 2 1/2 to 3ft of new snow. althouhg i was very surprised to find 2 people up there skiing w/out becons or shovels. this storm screamed avalanche danger. early season is sick, but please, everyone be careful if you're going to venture into the backcountry.

i would say where are you going to go to the most. i think most people buy the colorado pass because you get 5 mountains, but in reality most people only go to like 1 or 2. if you plan on going to a vail resort mostly get the CO pass. if you're over the hype of vail resorts go with a third choice, how about the loveland pass, under $300, no crowds(comparatively) and good terrain w/out the hype of nearby resorts and a long season. mid-week passes there are less than $200. -Cindy-where in WP do you live? I'm moving to granby tomorrow, and am all about the backcountry, although i'm no mexican hottie-most people think i'm a guy when i'm in full sb gear. but i manage to get rides at loveland pass w/out problems.