ak_rider

breck was a gold mine this year. i found $10, 2 ipods and a digital camera. i'm still confused as to how someone loses an ipod on the mountain though, i think i would notice the sudden lack of music in my ears, or maybe just zip my pocket :D

your closest USASA region would be the Copper mountain one. It's ok to race without a coach. since a lot of ski areas here have public nastar courses you could always run gates there on your own to practice. race camps are also an option, they are usually cheaper than having a coach for the whole season, and it will give you tips and things to work on on your own.

it wasnt an avalanche.at the time of the accident, the snow was quite stable, and an avalanche was unlikely. they think doug and his friend either slipped on ice or got caught in their sluff(sp?) and they ended up being swept 200meters over a cliff. by the time a doctor got to them they had already both died from injuries they sustained in the fall. we lost a true legend. doug was the best ski mountaineer i've ever had the pleasure of riding with.

here's a good option if you're looking for some coaching along with competition. http://www.teamsummit.org/

i looked on snocountry and have no idea where birch hill is, i think it's the little hill near fairbanks, never been there but fairbanks and the whole interior is really flat and rediculously cold, like -80 cold. there's really only 2 major ski area, eagel crest is ok but it's in juneau(aka midle of nowhere). alyeska is the best for carving, when it's not dumping. when there's pow there's pow, the storm that dumped 55" is actually an average size. there was one in january that dropped 160" in 5 days. the cycle at alyeska is pow, pow, then it gets too cold to snow and it'll be clear for like a week or so and then warm up enough for more pow. and it goes back and forth like that the whole winter. when it gets to those cold snaps it's awesome for carving, they groom EVERYTHING, even gullies, it's sick!!! it's the best of both worlds, bottomless pow and awesome groomed. it's definately a hardbooters corduroy, when snow gets that cold it's so hard that unless you sharpen your edges everyday it's pretty hard to set a good edge on softies. plus they have an FIS race course, super sick to mach down, it goes from the top of chair 6(highest lift on the mountain) to the bottom of the mountain. and nobody ever goes to AK in the winter, they all think it's freezing cold and we live in igloos, so you can go as fast as you want without having to worry about some tourist cutting you off. i'd jus stay away from alpenglow. it's run by volunteers so they don't really groom. alyeska's anywhere from 25min to 2 hours from anchorage, depending on road conditions. sometimes you can do 80 sometimes you can only do 30. I feel I should warn you, once you go you'll never want to come back

yes, skiers doing the power wedge with their ski poles tucked up under their arms so they look like old tv antennas going at a snails pace but thinking to themselves that they look like a gs racer :D

if you are good on softies i'd recommend starting on those just to get comfortable spinning in the air. if not, here's a progression that could be helpful start out doing 180's, no prewind witht he upperbody, prewind causes seperation of upper and lower body, and while this works on softies, as mention above on hardboots you dont really have the ability to scissor, so focus on the 180 with exact alignment and doing the whole rotation with your body and board aligned. then for the 360, first try doing the first 180 on snow and the second 180 in the air, to get used to doing the full 360 roatation being aligned but there's less injury risk since you're only in the air for 180 and by this point you should be comfortable doing 180's. then move to 90 on snow and 270 in the air, then finally the full 360 in the air. i've taught several people with this progression on both hard and soft setups. the alternative is how i learned about 10 yrs ago by hucking and hoping i landed(this is not recommended unless you like breaking things)

I ordered an alp from klug riding a few months ago, wanted a shorter softer board so i could still carve when it got crowded. my longer race boards were just too hard to make short quick turns with to avoid the tourons. Aside from the awesome price I got it in about 5 days from the order, brand new with the stickers still on it. it says it's under factory warranty but i doubt burton will be cooperative if you try to use the warranty. overall i would reccommend ordering from their if you cant afford a newer board.

it's definately awesome living near a mountian, except now, when we've gotten 17" in the past 3 days and I'm stuck on the couch. arrrgh, I'm just telling myself that the mountain is full of drunken spring breakers and I wouldnt have fun because of the crowds anyway. That's what I'm telling myself anyway :rolleyes: but I did have powder days almost everyday in Nov. I guess I need to share the snowwith everyone else

people have a natural tendancy, many years of teaching has hsown me that. watch a beginner, they have one way that they ted to do, but if you dont put into their heads that there's one way to ride 99% of people can be taught both. i can irde anything regular and up to and including single diamonds with moguls goofy(on softies, i'm a blue goofy rider on hardboots), and park is jumps and rails are easier for me goofy. but i'm also an exception to most rules, i'm left side dominant but write with my right hand, golf righty, but putt lefty, throw righty but bat lefty.

spring is traditionally the snowiest time in summit. today started off with 5". too bad i have to enjoy it from my couch. oh well, carving in spring snow sucks anyway...

unfortunately i'm off snow for the rest of this season, but i got 102 days, so i can't be too mad. there's always next year :) and the tan's pretty much gone now, it's amazing how fast a tan fades when you're stuck in a hospital for 2 weeks.

I think i definately used up one of my nine lives, guess it's fitting that my name is Kat. Being from AK i guess I greatly underestimated the importance of sunscreen. I will definately be rocking the spf45 next season :D

the snow should be good but don't hold your breath on the 30", so far we've barely gotten any out of their predictions and they're predicting 2-4 mon and 1-2 tues. i'd recommend vail, it's been super busy up here and atleast at vail you have 6000 acres to spread the people out over.

my discharge papers state a right sagital vein thrombosis, and under procedures lists right transverse sigmoid sinus(I can't make out what's written in front of it but I think it describes the procedure). i know they said that it had someting to do with the sinus and affected the drainage of blood from my head(I was heavily sedated so I'm sure their diagnosis was more precise but I couldnt comprehend it at the time). the docs in summit originally said i had an intracranial bleed, but once in denver they took more pics with dye in the ct scan and in the mri and found it was a clot. They intially tried to treat it in denver with heperin, but that wasn't working so they then called in the neuro surgeon. thanks to everyone for their input so far. i'm still hopeful that i wll be able to snowboard again, but my season is over for this year.

So, I've noticed that some members of this forum have some medical background, more extensive than my wfr and emt-b. I was just wondering if anyone knew anything about the effects of high altitude on blood and blood clots. I just got released from the hospital afer 1 1/2 weeks. I had a massive blood clot in a vein in my brain and underwent surgery to remove it. The doctors, as of yet, don't know why it happened.I didn't suffer a head trauma, and I don't have a family history nor am I a smoker or overweight or out of shape. The docs actually said my great physical condition saved my life. I do live in Breck on the mountain at 10,000ft. Before this season I always lived at sealevel in NE and in AK. I'm thinking maybe the altitude, and increase in red blood cells, maybe had something to do with this. If anyone has any theories or ideas I'm open to them. Sometimes the docs need some ideas to find the problem.

i must have hit the nose-pierce jump wrong cause i have a hole in my tongue :D

but if it were you or i who caused an acciodent resulting in death it owuld be a lot more than 280. NJ has a good idea, on the graden state there are truck lanes.

here's my instructor's opinion: pretty much everyone, usuing somewhat proper technique, use twist. It's used when going from one edge to the other initiating the turn.the alternative is straight dumping onto the new edge, which can lead to tipping over or crashing if you're going fast and is harder to balance. Twisting the board allows you to go seemlessly from one edge to the other. It also all but eliminates the chance of catching an edge, because if you're twisting you're always on an edge, and for a split second in the initiation of the turn you are on both edges. most people dont realize they are twisting the board, it just happens. it's not a great deal of twist, but as most of snowboarding is, slight movement get a large reaction. twist is definately more evident on softies, but it does exist on hardboots too.

easiest thing is to get some snow tires with studs, nokian hakapalitas(sp?) are like crampons for your car. that way you don';t have to worry about getting all wet and snowy putting chains on and can get to the mountain that much faster. Snow tires do wear out faster, but all tires wear out, so IMO having to replace the tires every few years is a moot point, becuase you have to replace regular tires every few years too. just have a set of winter and a set of summer, that way you can wait longer before buying new tires, plus summer heat takes a serious toll on the soft rubber of snow tires. I'd also advise practicing in a snowy, empty parking lot before heading up to the mountains, not only will it make you a better snow driver, it's fun too

what step is a poor girl from AK who's never been in a heli(except when i broke my leg into 5 pieces in whistler) and snowshoed/skinned up many mountains to ride some pow? and went several years without riding lifts, because tourons don't hike, and the backcountry doesn't get tracked, if you know where the goods are :D

Tyler had better finishes than klug and deserved the spot, so i don't think klug would have done any better. speed skating, biathalon are cool. i think the world can do with a lot less figure skating though. why didnt the champions from the other sports get a "champions gala"? i mean, a curling champions gala would have been more interesting. but oh well, back to a tv schedule without snowboard racing...

dragon goggles. if you buy the frame with either gold mirror or ionized lense they come with a free amber lense. I have all the lenses they make-thank you Dragon ;) , the gold mirror are actually almost all you need. they are a yellow like lense so when it's snowy/flat light it's like wearing yellow lenses and when the sun comes out the mirror reflects the sun. I love em on partly cloudy days, when the sun goes away i can still see and when it comes back out i don't go blind.

I'm not a speedskater, more a hockey skater, but i'd say there aren;t too many similarities between speedskating and hardbooting other than we both inclinate. but, as in snowboarding, sharp metal under your feet is key. now why are they interrupting women';s pgs to show me figure skating???????