kmartshopper
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Posts posted by kmartshopper
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The Autozone Wedgie Board
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"Did you ever think to yourself - I just don't have enough steel beams inches from my spine when I snowboard? Well your prayers have just been answered!"
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https://www.facebook.com/StrattonMountain/photos_stream
Hopefully those aren't stock photos, and they are having some fun. Would love to see and hear more about it though!
EDIT: BTW, one of those - the toeside woman in purple pants is a front-pager on their site. Anyone recognize her?
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Nice post OP, and great turns. It's a testament to how interesting and well received your post was that it took a full 21 replies before the thread got the obligatory hijack by someone out to teach the world that softboots carve as well as hardboots.
fwiw, I personally enjoy the best of both worlds. On the one hand - I understand physics. Then on the other hand, I ride softboots anyway because I just like too.
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"You're awesome"
Big fish in little pond in softies at wolf creek.
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I have a Never Summer Heritage X which has the type of rocker you ask about. It really does make a big difference in powder. It's a 163 and in powder (your specific question), it destroys my 161 Donek Wide and rides about as well in the center holes as my 169 O-Sin 3800 does in the rear sets. Of course the Donek destroys it carving (especially firm groom)... but it will carve ok in forgiving conditions. My only knock is that it feels a bit squirrely riding it flat... can be a bit disconcerting, but I never had it catch or come around - just doesn't feel like it's tracking like a cambered board.
I think the rocker makes it faster and easier to maneuver and more forgiving in bumps and trees too - definitely the quickest and most fun board I've ever owned in that regard... again, destroying the Donek in those conditions, and quite a bit quicker than the bigger osin.
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A couple boarders came up to me waiting on the side of the trail.
"Do you have your both your bindings facing forward?"
-Yes
"I like how you make a line when you turn."
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When I find myself doing this, the "Heads up" drill from this page sometimes helps. (ie. pick a target point on the opposite side of the trail for your next turn). Being aggressive and picking a point high up - or even changing points as you come around (moving it back/higher/uphill) will help me rip the turn around. If I'm not mistaken in my jargon, this helps avoid the aforementioned counter-rotation.
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I've been chilling at wolf creek CO for a few weeks and haven't seen more than 1 other person making a single carved turn - soft or hard boots. I've been on softboots so far, but a powder drought and finally the exodus of the spring breakers has me planning to pull out the hardboots tomorrow.
It's not really an advanced carver's mountain (no groomed steeps), but there's some great cruisers off of the treasure lift (the road less travelled/scratched out by the lemmings) that I've been tearing up on softies the past couple days.
Anyone from around these parts? Hit me up - should be sunny and softening a bit through the week.
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For me they are pretty much all the same.
I agree... Softboot bindings don't make that much of a difference. Find something comfortable and spend your money on good boots. Add these if you have skinny legs:
The difference between 10 year old Burton Missions and Catek FR2 pro's is really just not that much. Only exception being cant/lift in cateks. Wasn't worth all the negatives with the FR2's, so I sold them and just use $6 plastic construction shims to get some rear heel lift.
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Deeluxe hardboot tongues fit surprisingly well under laces of some softboots and do a ton to stiffen them.
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There were some comments about alpine not looking "cool", and while I have to agree that it's hard to capture the appeal on video (though some certainly manage to do so), there's no shortage of people who appreciate it in person. At the top of the hill at NICE two weeks ago, a mixed gender group of older skiers (maybe mid-60s) came up and said "we're having so much fun watching you guys ride."
I was at least one who said that. I don't doubt that the vast majority of people who see us carving think, even if they won't admit it, that it looks hella fun. Unfortunately fun does not necessarily equal cool. Dungeons and Dragons is fun and PBR didn't come back from obscurity because it was a great tasting beer. Someone on this site had a sig IIRC... something like "Alpine snowboarding is the only way to both snowboard and display your individualism" (very loosely translated from memory). That hits it pretty much on the head... the demographic that matters statistically (youth), has a narrow band available to them into which their 'individualism' can conform. Just doesn't seem to me that alpine boarding is likely to fit in there. Just one opinion... but I would have bet against Sean White's hotpants too... so what do I know.
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Hopefully some new 10-20's added, instead of everyone just shifting up a slot (purely hypothetically of course - from 36-40 now in 41-45).
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2nd in line if it falls through....
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Subs?
That looks like Killington on a Saturday.
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it's just fun to see other like-minded people on the hill. perhaps we're just freaks, but i don't know of any other sport that's so ridiculously fun, yet unacknowledged by the general pubic. the coolest board sport dynamics i've ever experienced. oh well...
I think the rarity of alpine riders actually contributes to this phenomenon. Even with my sparkling personality and boundless charms, I'll talk to random people on the lift but will rarely ride with them after offloading. With hardbooters though, I'd say it's the other way around - more often than not we'll at least take a few runs together. I think if it were commonplace, this wouldn't be as much so.
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I have met a few bomber folks who actually collect gear with the intention of sharing with newbies.... I applaud your efforts!
On the contrary... I met a few really helpful hardbooters where I'm riding now. One of them was gracious enough to loan me his metal coiler for the day. I should have known nothing good would come of that, but I walked right into the trap. Thanks to his 'kindness', ignorance is no longer bliss as I face the rest of the season on my old fiberglass torture chamber. :(
With regard to the initial topic. I think most of the ideas discussed previously could go a long way to making it easier for a small subset of riders to get into alpine. Unfortunately, even if it was easy, I think that subset is very small. 90% of the battle in America is being fashionable, and alpine is not fashionable with the primary young demographic. Granted snowboarding has lost it's rebellious allure, but it still has those free laid-back unstructured characteristics that initially set it apart from skiers of the time. Now as skiing is coming back, it's more backcountry, freestyle, etc. Less gate bashing racers. Alpine boarding though is inherently structured and more analogous to ski racing in that it requires a somewhat formal (gasp!) technique. And you will never have that relaxed loose free feeling from the gear. So I think it's going to be a hard sell to the majority of the younger (bulk) population no matter what the accessibility.
If you could get Apple to partner with one of the board manufacturers and put the apple logo prominently on the nose of the board - that would go further to expand the sport than any other suggestion so far.
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So are they 'good' because they are crouched down, are they crouched down because they are 'good', or is your perception affecting your observations?
It's pretty uneducated empirical assessment of numerous random sources. This help page is probably the best single example:
While the more casual upright 'group B' towards the end of the doc are doing it right and may have more upright boots, the "crank up the volume" group at the end seems to have some real acute boot lean/flex angles (especially rear).
E.g., forward lean can be independent of forward flex. The riders you cite may stand upright on two feet while at rest, and down on all fours while 'at work'.Are you saying that much of this could indeed be flex - boot, board... rather than forward lean? And maybe it is just level of aggression (ie. lazy riders don't flex boots much).
Something else to consider is the number of questions directed toward shin bang, heel spurs, and other maladies. While too little forward lean can be detrimental to one's riding, too much can be injurious to the rider.This is what's driving my interest and constant fiddling with this particular topic. My literal and figurative achilles heel is on my rear foot, and suffers somewhat at higher lean.
Aggression is one thing, accuracy another. Do you want to power yourself up to move your board, or power up your board to move yourself?Back to those pictures in the link I posted... based on body position and snow spewing energy, that riders in the final 'crank up the volume' group are being more aggressive. That is putting more effort and dynamic forces into the process, rather than just casually floating around the mountain. As for me, I want to get my board up on angle to carve tight turns on steeper hardpack without getting bucked by every blip in the terrain. The rare times I do get a turn or two in like this, I feel that it's when I've been more aggressive - diving into the turn and crouching so my hand is at my boot. And that is where I find my self with heavy boot lean because I can't use upright lean settings and get down that low.
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I've wondered about this myself. I see all these pictures of good carvers (the upright torso, not laid out style of carving) and they are often really crouched down. I don't understand how their boots could be anywhere but in the max lean setting. I have 6deg lift in the back and my boot in max lean, and ride flat in front - one setting from max lean... and I see pics of myself and it still looks like I'm standing around at the bus stop. I can see what Beckman is saying about smoking quads, but I just can't imagine how to flex boots from a more upright position into that low powerful position. Maybe I'm just not aggressive enough or I'm not bending the board enough - even with squishy old SB324's. Seems like I'm missing something.
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Buy some now before Lucas and Disney put them out of business.
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I have a Donek Incline/Wd 161. It's a great softboot carver but I'm kind of moving away from doing that so I don't use it much - in good shape.
I'll be in UT starting Feb1 (snowbasin) so if you're interested and haven't found anything by then, let me know and you can try it out.
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The drawback that has kept me from attempting to market the system is the fact that while the isolators are rated for compression and shear, they are not rated for extension. I have always told everyone that has shown interest or tried the system of this fact. Obviously, when you compress one side or corner of the plate you are extending the other.
Do you have any more detailed pictures? Was wondering how the rubber is in tension. I would have guessed you'd use sort of a bushing stack (2) with the plate sandwitched in the middle. Kind of a like a skateboard truck works:
But the macro pic looks like the top is flush. Sounds interesting... just curious.
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Thats just what they call it. I think Never Summer created it, it looks like carbon fiber. Donek uses it on the Rev race boards.
Yeah, carbonium is a stupid name, but I think it's really is a good topsheet material. So far has been very durable and has a slightly rough but low friction hard plastic texture. Very much like one of those hard surface mouse pads if you've ever tried one. I think custom graphics might not look as nice as on a normal topsheet since there's no depth or glassiness to the finish.
Want to soft boot carve?
in Carving Central
Posted
I'd be interesting in demoing if you can convince them to come out east some time.
I'm still on an ancient Donek Wide (incline).
I went with bomber plates last year and think they are a net ++ (heel lift and heel boot out clearance > substantial weight cost).
I can still pull toesides as hard as I want, but still wash out on my rear foot when I try to pull in the tight heelsides.
I'll never by a board untested again though - so rossi's at a bit of a disadvantage there.