NateW

I have always used World Cup. I have mixed feelings about the liner job they just did on my UPZ boots but I haven't had a chance to ride them yet so it's too early to say for sure. But I've been pretty happy with them in the past - even when things didn't work out the first time, they have always set things right. And sometimes it just takes a couple iterations to get things dialed in, so I'm not complaining.

Question for those of you who answerd with something other than option 2: what do you think his setback is now? :) Option 4 assumes that your setup is already in the ballpark. Unless you have some reason to believe that it is NOT the problem, why not make an adjustment and see if it helps or hurts? Perfect posture and perfectly aligned legs won't mean **** if your bindings are an inch behind where they ought to be. No amount of practice will fix that, except maybe by teaching you how to get by with a botched setup. Unless you're a masochist, I suggest tinkering with the setup to see if it's part of the problem. :) I moved my stance forward, and liked the results. So maybe I'm biased. But if your main problem is getting your weight far enough forward, moving the bindings forward may well take care of it. It only takes a few minutes to try it, and if you don't like the results it only takes a few minutes to put it back or try yet another setback. Personally I found that carving got easier and some other stuff (moguls especially) just felt weird. But I adjusted, and overall I like this better. I'm about 2cm aft of the center of the effective edge. I tried being centered but it felt too weird. The extremecarving guys like that though. What setback does everyone else here use?

Last season I had my 324s widened 1/8" at the widest part of my foot, and that helped a LOT. Didn't quite solve the problem, so this year I took the boots in to have them widened further back as well. This time they did it by grinding rather than stretching - I'm not sure that'll work or not, but I'll find out soon.

"[...] those pins look like they have a lot of strength. " I agree, they do look pretty damn strong. And other than that first one, mine have all held up just fine. So I still feel pretty good about them overall. The main problem I have with Intec is with the heels loosening. Nothing catastrophic yet, I just keep an allen wrench with me to tighten them up periodically. (I converted from phillips hardware too. More torque, smaller/lighter tool, and no stripping, what's not to like?)

Yeah, I busted a pin on my first pair of intec heels, on the first or second day I rode them. I didn't notice the problem right away, as the other pin still held my boot in well enough. I swapped the heel and kept riding intecs and have not had a pin failure since (or cable failure). Also heard from someone else who broke a pin on the first day, and that's the only other pin breakage I've heard of. I suspect that the dead pins were just plain defective, and if a pin is going to break, it's probably going to break on the first day. Or maybe I just sleep easier by telling myself that. Any metallurgists want to weigh in on this issue? :)

I had been riding 45/30 for years when I got the "face forward" religion. Even at those angles, just changing my posture made my carving a lot better. My widest board (23cm) is now set with 45/40 angles and I'm totally sold on the face forward idea even with those angles. I'm more comfortable riding higher angles with that technique, though. Was riding 55/50 and 21cm for the last 3 years or so, and still wanted a little higher angles for hard carving. Got 19cm and 17cm boards for this season, we'll see where I end up...

Snowboard hard boots have much shorter soles than ski boots, and the UPZ soles are much shorter than Raichles... I was barely able to keep them on my Raichles, I'm not surprised they don't stay on the UPZs. The plastic crampon idea seems like it might work. Try it and let us know... :)

Touchy-feely version: Assuming you ride both boards at the same speed, and lean in at the same angle, the board with the shorter sidecut will turn tighter. For me, the way it really works is that I ride faster on the board with the bigger sidecut. You can make a board with a larger sidecut turn as tight as a board with a smaller sidecut, you just have to be riding faster so you can lean way into the turn. Or you can angulate a lot (increase the edge angle without leaning in any further), but IMO it's more fun to just go faster. :) Intellectual-mathematical version: Jack did a great article... http://www.bomberonline.com/articles/physics.cfm Stiffness doesn't change the fundamentals - your turn radius is still a function of sidecut and edge angle - but it does affect how well the board holds an edge on uneven snow, and it affects the 'feel' of the board. The sidecut radius also determines the largest radius turn that you can possibly carve of a given board. As a correlary, for a given sidecut radius there's a "top speed" at which the sidecut just won't carve. You tip it slightly on edge and the board skids, period. The larger the sidecut radius, the higher that top speed is. You can ride faster than that of course, but your turns will be skidded rather than carved. -- Some data points: Most freestyle/freeride board sidecus are under 10 meters. 10m is 'big' by those standards. 10m is 'small' compared to most alpine boards. Mostly you find sidecuts in that area on all-mountain boards and slalom boards. Freecarve boards tend to run 10m-12m GS board tend to run 13m-15m. (though apparently that could be changing - GS sidecuts could be getting tighter soon) Super-G boards tend to be 15m-18m. But most skis, even "shaped" skis, made for "carving" have sidecuts larger than 15 meters. IMO the ski industry still doesn't quite get it, but that's a rant for another time.

And here's me and my other bird, Darwin the red-vented cockatoo. He's around 20 years old but he's only been with me since last spring.

Farewell Baloo. :( This is Phoebe, my bronzewing pionus parrot. I've tried to teach her to fetch several times over the last couple of years but had no luck until last week, when we had the big breakthrough. She's perched on my shoulder as I write this...

I was a very late convert to the symmetrical way of doing things, but in my opinion it really is better. I just needed to revise my technique: shoulders and hips facing forward, ass over the tail of the board (instead of to the inside), knees pointing more forward and less sideways. That enabled me to get even higher edge angles on my heel side than on my toe side (until I started working on my toeside technique to even things out). I think Kamran is right about asym being useful for low stance angles, but even at 45/40 I ride better with the technique describe above than with a softboot-style shoulders-sideways technique. Far as I can tell, the problem with the oldschool / softbooting sideways posture is in a heel side carve your knees have to be extended to keep the edge angle high - so you have to bend way over at the hips to make up for that. In that position it's hard to absorb bumps in the snow, so even little things can throw you, or at least ruin your carve. With a facing-forward posture you can keep your knees bent for good "suspension." Then get high heelside edge angles by bending your hips and spine sideways rather than forward. You can get custom board builders to make you a board with asym sidecuts (I did - 10m toeside, 8.5m heelside) but try revising your technique first. I was lucky in that the first asym custom that I had made for me had a construction defect. By the time the builder was ready to replace it, I "saw the light," changed my technique, and requested a symmetrical replacement (10m both sides). I have not looked back (or faced sideways) since.

It suck here in Washington state as well. I'm a little worried that this season just won't happen. We now have 14 inches at the base of one of the areas where I usually ride.

Go straight for hard boots. IMO people who ride soft boots think hard boots are more difficult simply because they can't just put some on and ride just as well as they do in soft boots. That's only because hard boots are different - not more difficult, just different. Besides, if you have a lot of skiing experience under your belt (I did when I started boarding), there's a pretty good chance that you'll loathe soft boots anyhow (I sure did). If you're also competent on a skateboard (able to cruise around, at least), you'll pick up snowboarding in no time. If not, you'll still have a big head start.

The EC guys are on boards with sidecuts in the 13 meter range. If you go with a shorter sidecut, say 10 meters, you can make righter turns and ride at lower speeds. Donek's Axis line will probably give you a length, width, and sidecut that work well for you. I have boards with 13m and 10m sidecuts and while EC is easier with 13m, it's do-able with 10m. But if your mountain istoo tight to make good use of a largersidecut (not enough room / not enough speed) then things will probably be easier overall with the smaller sidecut. This is just food for thought... if you can demo stuff, you can decide for yourself what you really want. Bob's offer is well worth taking!

I.figure out what parameters I want (talk to people, use existing board as a baseline, demo stuff, etc). Then look for it in manufacturer's catalogs. If I find something close enough, I'll but it. That hasn't happened yet, so I've been going to custom builders. I think I can fill my need for a long board with a skinny waist and a large sidecut with something from the Donek or Coiler catalogs though. Maybe next season.

A radius closer to 10m will be easier for a novice to work with because, as Jack said, you don't have to be going very fast to get it to carve nice turns. (I'd avoid anything smaller though, for fear of outgrowing it too quickly). With a larger sidecut, you need to either go faster, make BIG gradual turns, or just skid your turns. A radius in the 13-14m range will require you to go fast before you start carving, and as a beginner you probably want to learn to carve before you start going fast. :)

If you can avoid inferring insult from the headline (not easy considering the source) this is actually an article about the (lack of) early warning communication. http://www.aljazeera.com/me.asp?service_id=6430

"Hopefully the wakeup call will go out for the installation of advanced warning systems." The sad thing is, I'm halfway around the planet on the western end of the US, and *I* had advance warning about this disaster. Like I needed it, but still. Before the tsunami hit, I was reading the news online and there was an article about some geologist types in Australia who measured one of the strongest earthquakes in memory - the had the Richter number, the location, etc, and it said they were concerned that it could lead to tsunamis in south/east Asia. The information just didn't get propogated to the people who really needed it. It's crazy that random people like me, sitting in safety in North America, reading news via the internet, knew it was coming... while thousands of people, for whom that information could have been the difference between life and death, were caught totally by surprise. Damn.

I've had three pair of the 324/423/Le Mans boots, and never broken a strap. I have broken a couple of cant adjusters though.

It's hard to find a freeride board with a sidecut radius over 10 meters, which IMO is pretty tight for carving, and it's pretty easy to get going fast enough that it will not carve at all. Steepwater makes freeride boards with the biggest sidecut radii that I know of, I think they go up to 11.5 or so... they're worth investigating. Or you could call up one of the custom builders and ask for something with a sidecut around 12-13 meters.

I rode 45/30 with Raichell 124s and a few different freeride boards. I also blew up some bindings from Burton and Nitro during that period, which is why I am so fond of Bombers and Cateks. They cost more but my knees are worth it to me. I just don't trust lesser bindings.

If your front thighis burning, it may be that your stanceis too far back. That was my problem, anyhow... it forced me to lean forward to get my weight in the right place. Moving the bindings forward let me center my weight so now both legs burn out simultaneously. :) It took a while to re-adjust my posture, to not lean forward so much as I did before, but IMO it was well worth it.

Raichle 423s are relatively soft hard-shelled boots. I used 124s (same basic boot, two generations ago) with freeride boards for years, and am now using 324s (same basic boot, one generation ago) to freeride on all-mountain alpine boards. For bindings, I don't recommend anything but Bomber or Catek. They are expensive, but if you buy cheap you might have to buy twice, and maybe blow a knee after one of the bindings fails. Unless you're really light (120 pounds maybe) or you never ride hard. Personally I used to ride 25cm wide freeride boards, but after getting familiar with alpine setups I will never go back. You might be surprised how versatile a 170cm x 21cm board is with 55/50 angles.

Growing, I always thought the "eh" thing was a dumb stereotype. Then I went to Canada. The very first thing out of the mouth of the very first Canadian I spoke with was, "First time here, eh?" Flabbergasted, I was.

DaKine used to make a leash that was actually a cable lock in disguise. Leashes are stupid, the cable locks are useful, and where else you gonna carry one? I bought three when they were on sale. :) Many years ago (before discovering DaKine's leashes) I popped out of both bindings at once. The leash broke too. Most of them are just decorative.