Dave*

The Tuesday report.... 1) I didnt ride yesterday it was raining per the website. i must be getting old that would never have stopped me in the past. 2) Today plus 4 celcius this am at around 0900 parking lot warming to what felt like plus 8-10 by 1200 . Snow started off on the corduroy about 4 cms of butter smooth schmoo transitioning into a nice firm grippy base, unlimited grip, very nice to carve, off piste was already at least 10-15cms of semi firm schmoo. Skies were a mix of sun and cloud. crowds were non existant, did not ride the chair with any one period. Was able to leave some horrendous trenchies until the snow got to soft and wouldnt hold a full laid out carve without exploding out at just past apex or burying the nose, it was about 6 inch deep schmoo layer at 1200hrs when this was happening, the 4x4 can only sink in so far when on edge to find the grip. Of note my trenches were the only ones visible from one side of valley to the other, no other skier or jibber was digging em deep, was able to leave a few nice sets of figure 8s on lower bowen that were plainly standing out as visible from top half of eagle chair. Midway chair not running had to boonie bash off the top of sunrise to hit that little stash of cord, small quarter pipe forming up near top of midway chair, good for a nice little pop of air just before railing the grooomies. Newly repaired gloves worked way better than expected on both knuckles and palms, imminent issues with right knee and elbow, dragging to many body parts. Did not luck out with traffic on way home, Need to do some hot waxing tonight with the secret warm weather stash. Hopefully no rain tomorrow. Dave*

Forgot to mention bigger pics Dave*

Email sent, post if not recieved. Dave*

Tempting, very tempting , said the gear vacuum. I am curious as to that generation of Chris's 4X4s what is max stance width, Could you throw a tape measure on and find center to center at widest set of inserts. With that old floral hippy top sheet I could grow a ponytail, eat granola, and smoke weed, and put some patchouli in my pockets, would fit right in with that old set of neon green TR 10s that I have stashed away. Although I second Boris's idea of you keeping it and coming up to Cypress with us. Dave*

Ola Boris, if the aggressive plate rider was spotted sunday it was not me, I slept in way late over the weekend. I have been up early (0815ish) the past few mornings though. Is there another Cypress hardbooter lurking out there? I thought it was just us two. Yup need to get synched up for some riding sessions, no weekends off till mid march though, I am getting bored riding by myself all the time, havent found any jibbers that can keep up even in the trees. BTW starting early april I am shifting my work to Wed/Thur/Fri with only one night shift per month. Getting to old for the nights that I have been doing. Bumped into Ron the Israeli guy from the Casi course today who thought HB gear should be banned from the mountain, he didnt recognize me in my "normal" helmet initially, he took a look at the feet and clued in pretty quick. Thats all, start work set tomorrow. Riding monday. dave*

The firestarter sort of fits that bill, almost.... I was thinking it might be a good deck for me and my riding style if it were stiff enough for the "Incredible Bulk". Will probably spend the extra bucks and get another pimped ATV built up over the summer, I have a few new ideas to add on to my existing one. BTW Boris i placed order for BTS kit the other day, I have sneaking suspicion that is what you need as well ( heavy springs for you of coarse) Dave*

Thanks for the feedback, I guess its like they say if you want the job done right dont go cheap. That Madd 168 bx with the CF wings looks very tempting but would be plus plus expensive to get into Canada, less expensive to go full blown custom from Prior, he is almost in my backyard and has built me some boards before. Project Atomic on hold ( it was a good idea at the time) Dave*

Feb 28 report, per usual the cypress snow report is pushing creative license to the utmost. In actuality about 2cms on top of some decent hard pack. Off piste froze up a little after yesterday aft warm spell. Overcast but good visibility. Should have taken the 185 factory prime up, the hill was deserted. Temp minus 5c at 0815hrs , warming to minus 3 c at 1115hrs when I came off the hill. Should be good carving conditons for the weekend crew if current conditons continue. Wont be back up till monday, gotta make the bucks. Dave*

Well I have to admit that I have had the mid season doldrums going on and have been a bit lazy the past three weeks (only on hill 7 out of the previous 21 days) as I just havent really been "feeling it" Today got the mojo back, one of my top three days on Cypress for the season. Bluebird skies, minus 5 celcius at 0820hrs warming to plus a couple by 1300 hrs, Very few people on the hill until about 11ish, talked with a few on chair they went to work, quit and came riding, one guy even conned his boss to coming up. About a foot of leftover fresh for me in the "bundoos" as Boris calls them, aka some of my tree stashes, the sky chair was damn near untouched, didnt open until 1130ish though and there was a minor feeding frenzy of bottom feeders side slipping fresh powder THE HUMANITY!!!!!! And to top it all off some very nice sections of grippy hero corduroy , didnt have to contend with any spodes either until about 1230hrs on the groomies. Got my helmet camera mount dialled in for the old pentax w10, some good tree line footage and a few carving laps done on the digicam. Quit around 1315 with thrashed legs, the spidie senses worked for the radar trap on the way home, traffic was light ( I only swore three times, a new record low, not sure where the handitards were but they werent in front of me), got home to find my CASI registration # finally showed up, hello pro deals. All in all a great day, had to slip out and buy a lottery ticket just in case. As to Robs question RE Bx track there is no snow being moved for that near as I can tell yet, I can see a few potential lines around the upper park area that might work, knowing the general hinkiness of Cypress they will leave it to last minute to put something together. edit: should probably mention I dont think they will cancel due to lack of snow this year unless we have a really bad case of warm weather and rain over march, there is a lot of snow right now. Dave* see attached view from sunrise chair overlooking ?bowen? island and I think Howe sound.

Has anybody ridden either or preferably both of these decks in the 165 firestarter and the 165/170 dreamraider. I can get a really sweet deal right now. They both seem a little "turny" with around a 9m multi radius cut. Not looking for a powder ride more of an all mtn hardboot deck for when its time to retire the pimped ATV. ( I have powder specific decks for the deep stuff, carve decks for the full on groomer days) How are they for stiffness, ie agressive 210 pounder on plates and my "softer" flexing hardboots, will I be folding the noses on either, Which is stiffer? I had a 170 dreamraider in hand ( didnt ride)last year so really curious about the firestarters stiffness in comparison. "Dampness" vs "Springiness" between the two. Waist widths look like I would be running some underhang front and rear with my preferred angles for this type of deck, not a problem. With the Firestarter how is it for durability with multilayer construction, is it a delammer? Its kind of hard to tell between the two off internet pics but which has the squarer tail profile. Any input appreciated. Dave* ( I know like I need another board)

Sorry we lost you George, we waited at top of million dollar trees for quite a while for you, I hope you got into the same area as the powder was SWEET, I do believe Mr Roboteye aka Crazy Dave was envious of my ATV in there, he didnt have much float on the little 64 factory prime, you also missed out on the Dusty's lunch. I must say off piste was the place to be yesterday, just needed to weaponry to deal with it. There seemed to be a lot of powder in some of my usual old migratory pathways, Next one we need to check american holiday schedule, crowds were a bit nutty. Dave*

I use a full face helmet and pull a long neck tube over the top of the chin bar of the helmet and then tuck it under the goggles, when its this cold I also use my Oakley goggles with a small clip on nose/cheek protector that hangs down about 1 inch below the goggles I like this method as no wet material touching skin This has kept me frostbite free down to minus 26 celcius, the coldest I have ever had the opportunity to ride in. Dave*

Sorry Boris, I forgot to write his(Adrian's) # down or punch it into my cell last time I talked to him, If you get a hold of him and he is going tell him to call me RE: carpooling, he is somewhere in my area. Am stoked for sunday. Dave*

Try an old Raichle ski boot tongue ( sorry dont know model ) or a Raichle/deeluxe Hardboot (SB series) tongue under the laces and above the soft boots tongue, the compound curve of the plastic tongue will stiffen your soft boot in a Fore/Aft as well as in the lateral plane considerably. Doesnt work overly well with Flow bindings, regular strappers might need the straps let out a touch. It does add an extra minute to the morning lace up ritual. This was my last step before going to HBs a few years back. This is a thought, if you had access to some Kydex ( thermoplastic sheet, commonly used in making knife sheaths nowadays) you could mold your own stiffeners, its pretty easy stuff to work with, only need oven and hand tools. I have come up with hundreds of uses for this stuff. I guess you could order some SB series tongues from bomber as well. Dave*

I havent ridden in softies in quite a few years now and probably will never again unless they have a major "breakthrough" in their boot and binding technology. I spend most of my time in various raichle/deelux HBs of varying flex depending on mood I am in, what happens to be dry , and what board I am planning on riding. Spend about 50/50 locked or walk mode again depending on board and what I am doing, need to get the BTS set up , I have a couple RABs but they stick me with to much forward lean for my tastes. Angles vary depending on width of board, splay and stance always the same. I havent been doing much B/C stuff the past season or two but for that I would be using my Nordica TR 12 AT boots, they have proven to be my favorite AT boots for snowboarding as when in "ski" mode only a back flex stop , the cuff does not completly lock out like on the scarpa/lowas etc, this in my opinion gives the best feel for boarding, adjusting buckles and powerstrap allow just the right amount of forward flex, work really well with my Karhu approach ski set up. Any of the Nordica TR series might be what you are after TR 9, 10, 12 , of note they dont work well with stock bombers TD 1s or TD 2s secondary to clearance issues at the toebox unless mods to boot or binder. Have a splitboard set up but for my purposes the approach skiis have worked better for me. Dave*

Just came across this thread, my comments are merely educational in a hypothetical sense and under no circumstance would I advocate ripping and copying a copyrighted DVD rented from say Blockbuster........ Google up and find a freeware DL of DVDshrink 3.2 it takes care of most of your "backup" needs and shrinks a DL movie down to a regular single layer disc, keep movie quality by deleting stuff not needed ie portugese soundtrack etc. I try and keep movie quality to 70% when going to a single layer 4.7 gig disc, I am to cheap to plunk down the cash for the DL discs to maintain 100%. It works very nicely if you have NERO Supreme burning program already on board. Have only had a few movies I couldnt "crack". DVD Fab express is another "decryptor" but only in a 28 day trial format for free, they want money for the Gold version which I have never tried. It worked quite well before it expired on me. Dave*

My two cents on Burton I have a bunch of factory primes and some speeds, they have proven to be as durable as any other boards I have, nothing bad to say other than three hole binding pattern, ( Burton freeride decks another story, I am not impressed) Burton Hard boots , I have had bad luck with, not a durable boot at all, I have had one set of old winds with white shell and blue cuff crack between buckles two and three, then a set of newer gen winds ( the translucent blue) crack in the same place between buckles 2/3. Raichle/deeluxe shells seem to last forever ( the parts on them are definitly finite ie ankle pivots, buckles, heel and toe pads ) Dave*

Dave* will be there... Most likely on the ATV or the 4X4.. pending the conditions . Dave*

Those crazy euros, last year me and a buddy were in the Harmony( 4 person chair) line up at Whistler on a somewhat busy day, right in front of us were two guys apparently in the line up and not really with the program of advancing etc in an orderly fashion, my buddy Paulie asks " are you guys two " and the response back was ( insert appropriate euro accent here) " No ve are seven" followed up with a very abrupt back turn to us and a studious attempt to ignore us. Fine by us, a few minutes later where the right and left lines are supposed to merge in an alternating fashion this pack of a##%^&*s attempted to barge right in in a " No ve are seven" pack damn near causing a fist fight with the american tourists whose turn it was from the other side, it was actually worth the two minutes extra in the lift line to watch that little arguement brew up. Ahhh international relations at their finest. Now all it takes to get a good laugh is a well timed " No ve are seven" Dave*

Jan 30 report. Got up there about 1200 hrs to warm bluebird with slush on top of "icy" layer pretty fun until 30 minutes after the sun went down when that stuff solidified , mmmm iced up crud lumps with polished patches. Was up to about 2140 hrs teaching. As to the teaching was first day ever. Did one lesson shadow, then taught my first ever full blown lesson. It was a few level ones aka never nevers. That CASI course is a bit artificial compared to teaching a real pack of never nevers, should have grabbed a person at random and done a practice lesson a week or so ago. Going to give it another go tomorrow . Not entirely sure this teaching thing is going to be my cup of tea. Dave*

Hey Boris, that will be me trying to teach tomorrow, weds and thursday. have to go early as no uniform or anything else set up yet. Was up whistler today, It rocked, the cord was incredible, not icy like I was expecting, hardly any one up, clouds clearing to bluebird, awsome.They even groomed a swath down boomer bowl, the grooomers up there must be racking some serious overtime. Stopped and talked with Mike at finelines on the way back, what he said was pretty damned funny, he said all the whistler locals dont know what to do with themselves as they have had so much powder this hardpack is bumming them out( its fricken awsome hardpack), Mike is going to take his AT boots out on a BX deck tomorrow for the first time to give the whole carve thing a go. I miss my whistler. Dave*

Where are you located dere Frenchy, if in CaNaDa i might have an old set of used 23 or 24 mondo 3 buckle boots(they are red is all I remember) kicking around that have been waiting for 1) parts scavenging - most likely scenario or 2) me to get steady GF worthy of the HB conversion- lower probablity(fingers crossed here people) As I am currently stacked with a lifetime supply of boots in my own size right now , and a surplus of parts boots not in my size it is time to thin the boot quiver, As my recent dealings with Americans have shown to me they do not follow specific directions well at all I am currently ONLY WILLING TO DEAL WITH A CANADIAN!!!!!!! Let me know before I go attempting to deal with the infamous duffle bags of snow board doom that Dave* has accrued over the years, its a scary sight. Dave*

There is a chance I will be arriving the 28th night, riding the 29th/30th pending some new work related activity. If so will be on the whistler side, watch for the big orange brain bucket, probably riding with a skier and a soft booter ( the infamous straight legged E, ) I need my big mountain fix, Cypress is ruining my mojo ( although it has improved my carving) If straight leg gets his way it will be longhorn, If skier gets his way we will be GLC in the afternoon, either way cant lose. Dave*

Hate to burst the bubble but I think you have a set of size 26 mondos The number on the heel indicates sole length however raichle comes up with that measurement. Size 28 AF series ie suzukas 309 mm Size 28 SB series ie 125-413s 303mm Size 27 AF series ie af 700s 299mm Size 27 SB series 295 mm Size 26 SB series 285 mm Maybe the other BOL guys could supply the rest of the sole lengths for other sizes in AF/SB lines Why Raichle/Deeluxe had to make a 4-6 mm difference for "same size " shell AF to SB makes no sense to me , a real pain in the buttocks for binding set up if changing boots. Dave*

To be rid of this damn Flu ( only reason I am hanging around house at this time of day). Dave*