Steve Dold

I vote for Kirkwood since that's where I'm riding.

Tex, you can't invoke Godwin's law in only the third post, you have to wait until the thread degenerates into name-calling :-) I think Rush is the current voice of the right only because he has the biggest audience, and has become the media's go-to guy any time a "republican" response is needed on whatever the current political media event is. Most of the stuff I read and hear about him in the media is pure crap.

I can see why your knees might hurt. I don't know if this is the same for most people, but if I'm riding mostly with my legs extended (like most do when starting out), I need around 5 degrees between the front/rear bindings (like 55F/50R). If I'm riding mostly knees bent, butt close to the board, I need the same angles front/rear. But standing tall with the same angles front/rear feels really weird on my knees. When I had about 4 years experience (alpine) under my belt, I got one of those boards, and I could hardly turn the thing. I was used to the 182 version, but man, I had a hard time with that 186.

Wow, Mat, glad you're OK (except for a headache). Maybe you should get checked out. I was riding at Mt. Rose along a cat track once on some pretty hard stuff and turned around to look behind me. I caught my heelside edge, the back of my head hit the snow and there I was, laying on my back, unable to move my arms or legs. One or two guys rode up to me asking me if I was OK. For some reason I was trying to tell them I was, but I couldn't talk or move anything. This lasted for about ten seconds, and then I recovered all of my movement and speech over the next five or ten seconds, and everything seemed back to normal. It was the weirdest thing. I always wonder what I would be like today if I hadn't been wearing a helmet. Maybe pretty much the same :rolleyes:

I have two small GIFs that used to be on that site, let me see if I can upload them. Edit: I guess it worked. The one on the left is Swiss (pre-rotation into the turn), the right is French (upper body facing downhill).

It looks like someone thought it might be cool to make an Intec heel receiver to go on Burtons and Cateks (isn't one already available for the Catek?). It sounds like it might be a good idea, I'd have to see it. I don't like the rubber pad under the receiver, it sounds like a recipe for loosening screws, or fatigue failure. I sure can't explain the price though

My wife and I had fun walking around town looking through store windows at the $3000 ski jackets and stuff.

That's why I said "For a lot of us" instead of "For all of us", because my comments do not apply to all carvers. And I've watched enough people ride to know it isn't just me.

It's interesting that some of you call touching the snow a "crutch maneuver". For a lot of us, certainly me at least, that's what it is because it gives me more confidence during the turn if I can feel "where I am". It's like walking down a hall when you're drunk, feeling the wall as you go to keep from falling over But I think the problem is that it's a lot like bike training wheels, and it has had the same effect on my carving as training wheels do on a kid's bike. It gives me more confidence initially, but may have taught me some bad habits and makes for a slower learning process because it takes away the need to learn to balance on the edge. I think the answer for me is to "take the training wheels off" often and learn to ride around on my edges in all conditions without trying to "get low".

:lol:That's pretty funny. I voted YES because getting low is pretty much what I have been trying to do for awhile, but I don't think it's a very good goal. I really should be working more on learning to ride in all kinds of conditions and rounding out my skill set. But somehow I always end up trying to find perfect snow and get low. It's like learning to fly and concentrating on doing perfect loops and never practicing landings or other things you need to do. But I really have fun doing it. But I think learning to ride ice or especially carve ice would be a much better goal. It would make you better in all conditions.

I switched to hard boots with a Burton Coil (soft carving board) about halfway through my first season. Not hard, it was fun. Like getting a new tool and learning how to use it. I think it's good to use a slightly softer board at first. Try lots of different binding angles and stay away from trees.

I look at what other people say rather than rating numbers, which can get too goofed up by reviews like "I gave this board a 3 out of 5 because I haven't ridden it yet". I wouldn't mind if the rating numbers were gone.

Corey, the tests and videos are just what I was looking for, thanks. The performance of the Bridgestone Blizzaks is pretty impressive. I might get a set of those if I can find a spare set of wheels for my Forester. Good tip about Glenwood springs, my wife and I are looking seriously at another trip out to CO and cheaper would be a lot more do-able.

Yeah, I do too. Lately doing this I've discovered that the new Yokohamas I bought from Big O are fine for drive/braking traction, but not too good for sideways traction, compared to other tires I've had on the car.Which got me wondering: How does one pick a good tire? I can pick a tire for mud, but I don't know how to pick one for packed snow and ice. What do you look at, the tread, siping, or ??? Asking the guy at the tire store is like asking the guy at Radio Shack about electronics. Edit: Thanks for the link Corey (below), I'll take a look.

How do you know what good tires are? Other than looking for the M+S which doesn't mean too much.

Hey Flip: If you don't mind driving to Sacramento tomorrow to pick up a board, call me, <NUMBER REMOVED>, I have a couple of extra "beater" boards you can use if you don't find anything closer. I live about two hours from Truckee, and work about 1.5 hours from Truckee. But you might be able to find something closer. Steve

The pins make more sense now. It seems like a great way to have no slop and some tension between the toe bail and the rear heel receiver, holding the boot in tightly, without relying on the big pins to provide that tension. It's an even cooler design than I thought. But I think my big pins are against the back of the slots while there is still clearance between the small pins and the receiver. I'll check again tonight. It looks like the way it is supposed to work is this: The small pins ride down the ramp on the receiver, forcing the boot against the toe bail, and keeping the big pins lined up with the slot so they don't hit the back of the slot, but hit it more centered. Right?

Great pics Fastskiguy, yours look like mine, here is my experience after two days on the hill: I set mine up at home on the carpet so that it took some downward effort to get the pins into the holes. I did it to take up the side-side rocking play that the boot had when it wasn't so tight. I rode them yesterday and today, and I don't think I like that setup, at least for the back boot. The pins don't always pop out all the way, and when they don't, a hard side-side cuff movement either makes them pop out the rest of the way, or pushes them back in due to the bevel in the pins. You need to watch them to make sure they extend all the way out, past the surface of the receiver. I think I will be re-adjusting mine so that they are not so quite so tight, but still at the back end of the slotted hole. Maybe one turn of the bail ends will be about right. Hopefully after that they will pop out every time. I'm looking for the setup instructions on the web site right now, I didn't get any because I ordered just the heel receivers, not the whole binding. I'll follow those and see what happens. So far I'm really happy with the new heels and steel receivers, after a minor tweak I'm sure they'll be perfect. Steve

In a public statement Nov. 24, Jake Carpenter wrote that "the local reaction to these graphics has been hurtful and out-of-line." He said the company targets 18-year-old men who want gear "their parents would never be caught dead in." They wouldn't be caught dead in it because it offends them. Is "Jake Carpenter" mentally challenged?

I just got mine. They sound expensive until you actually get them, and see what an extremely cool product they are. They are a real work of art and a great design. Even the heel pad looks like something he spent months designing. I feel like I got a lot for my money. I got a set of heel receivers too and they are just as impressive. Not just some stamped and bent piece of steel. These things are great.

I use Pledge to keep bugs from sticking to airplane wings. Well, they still stick, but they wipe off way easier. Maybe it would work the same way for ice. I've tried car wax and it didn't seem to help much.

If a thread has a video that's especially useful, it would be nice to let the thread stay, but put a link to the video in some sort of archive if possible. Aren't most of the videos these days just youtube links?

I emailed Cliff today asking if some of the old Purecarve videos would be available on DVD and got his response a few minutes ago, it looks like they will. I'm really happy to hear about this since they are some of my favorite videos of all time. I think some of the riding in them is from some of the sessions you guys are talking about. ------------- Hi Steve, Yep they will be on dvd by the end of January, all 4 videos-"Ride the Edge" "Carve On" "Carver" "Locked In". Hopefully www.bromada.com will be up and running and you will beable to purchase the dvd's there. I am currently filming in Aspen, producing another surfstyle carving video for release next year. I am stoked on the site as it will have instruction, daily carving from around here, powpow and life style stuff. Spread the word if you can! Thanks for checkn in. Cliff Ahumada bromada.com

Sorry to hear about the problem. When I was building model airplanes, I used to use a syringe to inject epoxy into small holes. After mixing the epoxy, or maybe before, I can't remember, I'd heat it up in a cup held in some really hot water. It made the epoxy runny enough to easily shoot through the syringe. I bet you could drill the holes slightly larger than a syringe, then stick the syringe in the hole all the way to the end and shoot it in that way, so there wouldn't be air pockets or missed areas. Or maybe have the holes the same size as the syringe and shoot it in one hole until it comes out of the others. I'd use slow-curing epoxy since the heat will speed up the drying time. The steel pin sounds like a great idea. I always chase the inserts with taps in new boards now after getting TWO brand-new Renntigers with thread problems.

You could fight back with Mexican food, for some reason the Vietnamese seem to hate the smell. Fight fire with fire, until the other side calls for a truce.