NateW

http://www.google.com/search?q=spyder+govy ? I have one and it rocks. Very much. Has extra compartments for tools, wax, snax, etc, and all of the compartments are easy to reach. I did revise the way the boots get strapped in though, the little plastic clips were too tedious, especially with cold hands. I'm using some lightweight carabiners now. Big fastex buckles would be even better. If the up-and-coming Evil Sports backpack carries boots, I'm interested. The Govy is out of stock everywhere last I checked. I thought it was out of production (replaced with a boot-less version) but it's on Spyder's site again. The other feature I'd like to see in a pack is a water bladder that doesn't put a hard piece of plastic (the filler cap, usually) up against my spine. No bladder at all is fine too though. (And if Evil Sports is branching out, how about some gloves with GoreTex and a super-tough outer layer? I killed another pair this year.)

I got a good whack on the head years ago in a car accident and had trouble talking for a while after. And for weeks I felt a little weird... tired, not fully aware... like I'd just woken up. Got a little better day by day though and now I are complztely nrmal aggin. Well, mostly. A friend of mine went through basically the same thing a few years later, only he was really messed up at first, and recovery took longer. Now you'd never know, other than some bumps and scars on his head. Best of luck with your recovery, Kimo. Expect it to take some time, and (perhaps most importantly) let your friends and family know that it sometimes takes a long while. Nobody told my girlfriend about that, and for a while she was really confused and worried about me. So now I tell these stories to everyone I know when stuff like this happens, because sometimes the doctors don't, or they don't tell this to everyone who needs to hear it. Wishing you great success!

Best wishes, Kimo!

Updated text above, updated picture below.

It's been a pleasure doing business with you. My quiver is now complete!

Very cool!

Today I did some A/B testing with Hertel Hot Sauce (thanks for the sample Randy!) and One Ball Jay Summer Slush wax (thanks for the tip boardski!). I put fresh wax on two boars last night, scraped and brushed. I took a few runs on my Donek AX with the Hertel wax and while most of the mountain was pretty fast (much faster than I expected given the high temps and clear skies), there were some definite slow spots, particularly in an un-groomed area that I pass through on every run (the face between the upper and lower terrain parks at Summit Central, for you locals). This area gave the "brakes on" feeling I referred to in my first post above. Then switched to my Donek FC, with the OBJ wax, and did the same runs. Mostly it felt pretty similar, maybe a tad faster but not significantly, however in the ungroomed section, the "brakes" sensation was pretty much gone. I took a few runs to confirm. Occasionally I could feel just a slight hint of braking, but mostly that ungroomed section felt just as fast as regular snow. I switched back to my Hertel-waxed AX again to double-check / confirm that it was the wax and not just changing snow conditions, and the ungroomed stuff still felt really slow. The brakes were still on. The AX has a slightly more ungroomed-friendly nose, is .5cm narrower, and has a base that is structured for wet snow. All of that should have been to its advantage today - if it had been the faster board I would need to try again with the waxes reversed. But the OBJ-waxed FC did much better in spite of its minimal structure and flatter nose. The FC is a few cm longer (180 vs 172 for the AX) but the improvement was way more than the few percent that difference alone might account for. The boards have almost identical flex. So I declare One Ball Jay the winner, by a large margin. Plus it smells really nice, like fruits or berries or something. My girlfriend said it smelled like I was making pie. :) I find it strange that OBJ is targeting the same people who buy scented candles, but I'm OK with that. I'll order some of the other suggested waxes and try them out next spring.

Saw three carvers there today. That's triple the previous record. :) Alpental will be open next weekend!

I know nothing about the bankruptcy laws in F2's home country, but here in the US I know just a tiny bit about them. Over here, F2's assets would be sold, perhaps by auction. Those assets include the tooling and intellectual property (if there is any) for the Intec heels. If somebody buys them, then that somebody could continue producing them. If nobody buys them, then I have no idea what happens. Probably they belong to the creditor, who will probably sell the molds to a recycler or something like that. I'm not sure it really matters though, there's other ways to attach heels to bindings. Intec was the first popular system but now that the heel-to-boot interface has been standardized it wouldn't be that hard to come up with a new heel-to-binding interface that's just as good or perhaps even better. Look at the old Nitro system, for example. There's other ways to do this.

Sunday's weather looks better, so that's when I'll be there. Rumour has it that Alpental is likely to be open next weekend as well (ticket sales are apparently the deciding factor), so I'm going to ride Central while I still can.

So, if F2 isn't going to ever make an all-metal Intec-compatible heel piece, who will? (hint, hint)

I will be there this weekend for sure, probably Saturday but maybe Sunday. I mostly ride the park but will probably take a couple/few runs on Silver Fir too. If the snow is firm and they groom triple-60 or Parachute, I'll hit those too. It would be great to meet some more local hardbooters, so if you see a guy in black with a ponytail give me a shout!

I was looking at Donek's deal where you can get your name inlaid in the base, and thinking that instead of my name I might get... not a monoski ...written on the bottom of my next board.

Let me guess... the season in New York just ended, didn't it?

I tried the Hertel wax today (thanks again Randy), but didn't get around to A/B testing. I'm pretty sure I was faster than the guys I was riding with, but I don't know how they tune their bases. Today was almost-end-of-season-BBQ-day; next weekend I'll have fewer distractions.

Hard boots or soft?

Thanks! (if you read the fine print on my email I think I mentioned my email troubles and which address to send replies to. :) )

I'll take you up on that. Check your email. :) And thanks!

$225 + shipping it is, then. How much to ship to Seattle?

Do you still have this board? Would you ship it to Washington State for $225? The email address on my bomber profile doesn't work, but I can be reached at "Delaminator (at) gmail (dot) com."

Never heard of that, but it can't hurt to try.

It's that time of year again. The time when temperatures rise and snow gets wet and slow. When even with a deep coarse structure and a fresh wax/scrape/brush job, I feel like my snowboard is randomly hitting the brakes. Zardoz Notwax is the only thing I've found that helps, but it doesn't help enough, it only lasts for one run, and it's silly expensive. Please tell me there's a wonderful new solution to this problem. Please?

I wonder if the sole is stiff enough to work with regular hardboot bindings. The boot looks like an odd combination of snowboard boot (strap/ratchert) and mountaineering boot (sole lugs, crampon ledges over the toe and heel). I also wonder if the designer or marketer (or whoever wrote the text for that page) has any experience using this boot for snowboarding... or using any boot for snowboarding, for that matter. You never know. :) See also: they make a ski boot.

Left to right: CustomCraft 170, 23cm wide, 10m radius (for rocks and the occasional jib) Donek AX 172, 19cm wide, 13m radius (for everything else - I love this board) Nidecker GS 177, 19cm wide, 13m radius (redundant, might sell) Donek FC 180, 19.5cm wide, 12m radius (redundant, like it too much to sell) F2 183, 19cm wide, 15m radius (for special occasions) I'm keeping an eye out for a used board with a sidecut well over 15m, or waist well under 19cm, but only out of curiosity... The Donek AX meets 95% of my needs, and the CC and F2 have the rest covered. Might get the AX cloned, just in case. Twice. (Did I mention I love that board?)

Thanks for the inspiration, guys!