johnasmo

Order a new board and I'll be happy to do CNC codes for you. The ones who want versatile and playful are not the future of alpine. Future of carving in general, yes, but future of alpine isn't the cool kids. It's the few odd ball softbooters that dare to wonder what riding a Skwal might feel like. The freaks that are willing to screw versatile and playful in favor of the best possible carve on the steepest possible run and find that low angles and "cat butt" style isn't getting them there. Getting 1 in 100 "carvers" interested in "alpine" would be lucky. Just need a few that aren't happy with +24/+9 to make a market for higher angle gear. Softboots/bindings that handle +65/+60 and a 18cm waist will be the end of alpine. RIP.

Finally adding my 2 cents to the thread... I think the future of recreational alpine is as a progression from softboot carving. The on-ramps for new alpine riders are either racing or softboot carving, and racing doesn't have the scale to even replace attrition. Youth racing in most locations is dominated by skiing programs. Look for all the "XXX ski team" jackets on any weekend. If your community has any snowboard racing, it's most likely the occasional BX or banked slolom competition. There might be a snowboard "freestyle team" to put kids into, but the number of communities that offer *any* snowboard racing where alpine gear has an advantage is just too small to grow the sport. For equipment niches to flourish or at least survive, customers have to want it because it offers some advantage over other available equipment. There has to be a reason to progress into that equipment, be it specialized auto, motorcycle, biking, boating, ... or skiing and snowboarding. So what does alpine snowboarding offer a young person that's not interested in PGS or GS snowboard races? Carving progression. Some softboot snowboarders will find that they like the feeling of carving turns. Some will throw money at wider boards and try to do it duck stance. Some will learn that narrower boards with forward binding angles make it easier and work better for them. Some of us here just like hardboots over softboots, but IMHO, most of us have both and use hardboots to enable higher binding angles on narrower boards. It's about the boards and the carving progression they allow, not the choice of footwear. We choose plates and hardboots because they are the board interface that works best at high angles. Softboot carving *is* a growing niche within snowboarding. That's the future market for apline gear, the softboot carvers that want to progress to narrower boards when their progression on wide boards plateaus. The success of softboot carving is not the death of alpine. I think it's the feeder to maintain a market for alpine gear. Yes, when aging alpine riders "progress" to softboot carving, it looks like we're losing ground. But based on volume, there's more potential for young softboot carvers to come the other way because that's where the love of the carve is growing new participants. This forum is for alpine enthusiasts, but clearly our own community illustrates the synergy and overlap. Alpine is a niche in a *growing* carving community. The growth of the carving community at large is the future of alpine.

This is a trip down memory lane. Fun thread. Montana: Whitefish, Turner, Big Sky, Blacktail, Snowbowl, Discovery British Columbia: Fernie, Kimberly, Revelstoke, Whistler, Blackcomb Alberta: Sunshine, Lake Louise Idaho: Schweitzer, Silver Mountain, Kelly Canyon Wyoming: Grand Targhee, Jackson Hole, Meadowlark Utah: Brighton Oregon: Timberline Colorado: Aspen Highlands, Buttermilk, Ajax, Snowmass, Copper, Vail, Arapahoe Basin, Steamboat Minnesota: Buck Hill, Afton Alps, Welch Village, Wild Mountain Vermont: Killington Maine: Sunday River Switzerland: Wengen Austria: Sölden Germany: Garmisch, Zugspitze Andorra: Grandvalira New Zealand: Turoa

Ahh the memories. It's the drops that get ya. (I can't upload new attachments, but I can recycle old ones.) Funny thing is... that's my "good" shoulder now.

The guy with the boom mic doing heel side carve to 360 to toe side. That's a nice looking move. The others doing spins just spin out to slides until they can carve again, but this guy has something. 3:05, 3:10, 3:41 (best). No matching toe to heel 360's though. Carving switch and popping tricks is what makes soft boot carving look cool. Duck stance looks different, but high-angle soft looks the same as alpine; style is more just the equipment spectrum from wide to narrow boards than soft to hard. I think the future of alpine is soft boot carvers that want to try higher angles. When some of these riders want to stop fighting the geometry of riding wide boards and progress to higher binding angles as a progression of experience. Even if only 1 in 100 soft boot carvers dares to imagine what riding a Skwal might feel like, there's hope for alpine. This one. 3:05, 3:10, 3:41.

Nothing radical with regard to setback and taper. Each sidecut profile is adjusted for length, radius, and setback. Taper is calculated to bring the waist to near or just before the setback. The tightest radi are still in front of and behind the inserts. The location scaled by board length *and* target radius to keep longer SCR from initiating too slow. Setback is 40 on 170+ lengths, 35 in the upper 160's, 30 or 25 if getting into BX sizes. Insert separation is 500 mm for alpine, 560 mm for BX. There are Contra BX sidecuts too, but none were built last season. They push out the radius tightness even on lower SCR as compensation for lower generally low angulation. Stick to normal Contra if the goal is EC carving. Anyway, I'd start centered and see how it goes. If you normally shift your stance fore or aft because you like to drive more with your front or rear foot, try starting centered and being more neutral at first just to see. The tightest radi are still in front of your front toes and behind your rear heel, so fore/aft pressuring still has an effect, but focus your attention (direct the flex) closer to your feet than before. I'm centered on center inserts in front, and using center inserts but shifted binding disk back one hole for a 20 inch stance. On my older Coilers I tended to shift forward. I don't know if my change is a reaction to the board or I'm evolving a more neutral stance over time on all boards. I was adjusting cant/lift last season across all boards and I ended up more centered on all of them. What I posted earlier about shifting pressure may be misleading: It's not so much about shifting pressure from tip/tail to center, but preventing it from being shifted too much away from center towards tip/tail as you increase edge angle. When the board can't cut very far into an icy surface, a center stiff board risks unweighting the center as you go higher on edge; the stiffness of the board prevents the center from being flexed out to bear much load, concentrating downforce at the ends of the tip/tail. In those conditions, a tight-long-tight sidecut shifts too much load bearing pressure from the center to the ends. Contra flex/sidecut are trying to keep the low angle and high angle pressure distribution more consistent. Not necessarily centered, but more consistent over edge angle, which may "feel" more centered compared to other VSR boards. What you should (I hope) feel with the Contra is that instead of attacking the hill with the tip of the board, you are attacking it with the area in front of your boot and riding out the turn with good center traction. The feedback from the board should lead to a more centered and neutral stance than other boards. Design intent and design reality don't always match. I feel like its working, but hope to get more long-term feedback from other owners on the forum comparing them to their other boards in various conditions. Sample size is the number of Contras Bruce built last season. Bruce, Dave R., and myself are only a sample of three.

I promised yesterday to share some beta on the K168. Nothing secret, just what can be observed by handling one with feeler gauges and a straight edge. My analysis says it's a 8-12-10 VSR, where the 12 is reached just before the rear inserts, 1550 mm effective edge. It starts straighter at the very tip of the effective, but drops below 8 near the saddle between the camber/rocker. Eight is a fair average over the first 200 mm. Same at the rear, but the min radius there hits a bit more inboard of tail rocker. Ten is a fair average for the last 250 mm. The tip and tail engagement is done by rolling onto the rocker profile, not relying on sidecut induced flex, so tip and tail blending toward straight inside the effective is to be expected. The remaining 1100 mm is a where one would expect it to be two "clothoid" curves, one from 8 to 12, and one from 12 to 10. But that's not exactly what I found. A clothoid curve is one where the curvature (1/R) is changing at a constant rate. The rate of change of curvature I observe is not constant. It is changing constantly, but interestingly, that rate at which is is changing is constant. So it's the rate of change of rate of change that appears to be constant during these transitions. The graph of curvature expresses itself as a clothoid curve, making the actual sidecut curve a clothoid anti-derivative curve. I could share all the graphs of this, but I can't upload any more attachments to my account. You'll have to visualize. What you should see if imagining a graph of radius over the length of the board is a smooth curve, no abrupt changes to slope. Like a throwing a ball up from 8 m and letting gravity slow it down to zero at 12 m and start dropping back to 10 m. The rate of a acceleration actually bumps a bit higher at the rear inserts, but you get the picture. Core profile is interesting too. A micrometer shows it's very much table topped between the inserts. Way more than I was expecting. More than Bruce is doing on the Contras. I speculate that this might be a characteristic of the K168 that is not as pronounced on other sizes. Could be part of what makes it good for free carving. Someone with more sizes would have to take a micrometer to them and report back. The K168 and Contra are different. What the K168 and Contra have in common is that the radius changes every inch, and that the rate of change is changing smoothly throughout. I can model them both with the same spreadsheet math just by changing up position and coefficients of control points. So if you want G-codes for milling K168 knock offs in new sizes, I have you covered. Where they differ in appearance is that the "flying W" of the K168 has its low points out at the tip and tail and the Contra brings them closer to the inserts.

Thanks for that post. Here's what I think is the important take-away: It helps to understand why a one board quiver killer is unlikely. The post doesn't say it, but I think we all know the ideal "pressure distribution signature" changes based on snow conditions. Snow is not a solid, flat plane. It's a 3-dimensional problem, in motion. The amount of snow compaction, at different depths affects the trench being carved. How deep the trench is behind different parts of the base and how much it resists compaction affect how much load it can bear. I ride every day I can, and from one snowfall to the next the hill undergoes daily or even hourly changes. Right after a dump, I'll be riding soft boots, hanging out in the bumps and trees looking for pow to surf. That might last a day or two. Without new snow, a series of packed powder days begin. First day is still pretty soft, trenching a few inches. Plenty of hold everywhere unless the whole trench blows out from being too loose. Queue long SCR Nirvana. Get on the nose a little to tighten turns, but be careful not to blow out against the loose snow; it's not an EC day. Next days are more packed and less powder. I like to call it "chalk" at it's peak. Trenching about an inch. Still lots of boards work; there's so much grip available. But things are speeding up now, queue a smaller SCR so you're not taking up the whole run, but still having a blast getting low as you can every turn, wearing holes in your cloths. But now the sun comes out and things get soft by the end of the day, or there's a little rain event that evening. Your packed powder is replaced by granular refreeze. Bring out the Contras and Thirsts. The pressure distribution tolerance of the snow is changing all week. Climate change is bringing more wet snows and refreeze cycles earlier in each season. Having gear that still hangs onto a carve while all the other skiers and boarders are slip skidding away is fun. I hear more cheers from the lift on those days than hero days. Ditto. The Contras and Thirsts aren't going to please everyone. The pressure distribution seems to work better in icy, variable grip conditions, but if you don't carve in those conditions you may be happier with something tuned to the conditions you ride more often. If you want a soft, tight nose, they don't have it. They shift some tip and tail pressure towards the center; they'll feel different. But seriously, I rode almost 60% alpine last season, and over half of that was on two boards, a Contra 12 and a Contra 10.5. I gave all my older boards their shot, but there weren't many days that I could charge harder on the old than the new. Those days were all soft-ish conditions. Yes, be careful, you can overflex Contras (and Thirsts) in soft snow. Those are the conditions Nirvanas were tuned for carving.

Yup. Yup again. I'm a metal fan. So far, I've not ridden anything that remains as composed and predictable as edge hold slips and regains as metal construction. No muss, no fuss; just keep calm and carve on. It's fair to say the Contra was inspired by Mark's boards, but they're not metal knock offs. It was from trying to sort out what made Mark's edge hold behave differently that inspired applying some contrarian thinking to a Bruce build. There's no asymmetry of sidecuts or difference in toe/heel offsets or any of that, unless you ask for it, but allowing for more center flex and switching to a long-short-long VSR was done in pursuit of better edge hold on ice. Mark's boards proved to me that good edge hold wasn't from metal. Metal was only contributing control and composure to otherwise chaotic, chattery situations. The edge hold had to be from something else, like better distribution of turning loads against the available friction. So back to flex and sidecut experiments. This is so true. Alpine might not be thriving and growing in numbers, but you wouldn't know it from the gear. It's a really good time to be buying alpine gear because of the personal attention we get from quality builders. Bruce was already dabbling with table-topping the core profiles of BX boards at the same time I wanted exactly that as well as a contrarian sidecut on an Alpine. After a bit of back and forth over numbers, he was willing to share his milling CNC programs with me so I could mod them to my liking. Can you imagine that happening at a big batch board company? Being in alpine today is like being on a factory race team getting custom gear, even if you (like me) have never turned a gate in your life. And it's not just Bruce. We have Mark (Thirst), Rob Lu (Winterstick), Sean (Donek), Jasey-Jay (JJSB). Lot of personal attention available from world class builders right here in North America. As for K168 comparisons -- hearing so much about them, I acquired a used specimen from another member here right *after* the pandemic shutdown. Boot packed it up for a few tries on days old groom. Not a true test, but enough to tell it was unflappably composed as expected. Behavior consistent with a tight-long progression. Confirmed later by at-home measurements to be a 8-12-10 VSR. I'll save details for tomorrow. Spoiler alert: "Clothoid my ass."

That's an apt description -- a tight-long-med VSR stuck between longer radi tip and tail. A plot of curve's curvature over length looks like a flying W. Such a graph looks more like a new camber profile than a sidecut, but that's really plotting the derivative of the curve, not the curve itself. Agree and disagree here. Core flex is #1. But sidecut profile is a strong lever to control the shape your pushing the board to form, which is a lever to control distribution of load. There's the shape the board wants to make based on deforming the sidecut curve to meet a plane, then there's the shape the core flex alone would want to form just bearing the load, then there's the shape of the carve in the snow itself. The shape of the carve in the snow, oscillating between smoothly decreasing and increasing radius curves, is the shape the board is forced into. The difference between that shape and the other two affects how much load different parts of the board are carrying to force it into that shape. So tuning the curvature of the edge is a way of tuning where the forces flexing the core are distributed along the edge. Whether turning a car or motorcycle on a road, or a snowboard carving snow, staying hooked up requires not exceeding the friction available where the rubber meets the road, so to speak. For the snowbaord, that means distributing the flexing loads along the edge to not exceed the friction available at those points. Which is uneven, as it is affected by the vertical downforce at each point and trench depth behind different parts of board. We're playing with both core *and* sidecut design variables to distribute *both* flexing load and downforce, trying to match to available friction on icy runs. Results have been promising so far. I'll share more later, but now I want to go skin what's left of our mountain. Day 150. Might be last day, as no longer contiguous snow this week and the boot pack is getting longer each day.

I picked that up on sale in March of last season, when there were 4 weeks left of lift-assisted. Just enough for a few creamy spring dumps and lots of soft warm days. I absolutely loved it for its maneuverability in trees and bumps in spring snow. Declared it my new favorite "resort" powder board, as it's really good with tracked-out and bumbed-up snow. Better than the Hovercraft, which prefers untracked. This year it was still my go-to powder day board, but I did notice its limitations in less spring-like conditions. Love it in soft, surfy snow, but not so much when you want some help from the edges. It's so rockered and de-tuned that there's little effective edge when you want to do something other than slide sideways down the fall line. Sidehilling with a few inches over frozen? No thank you. For under 4 inches I was still choosing shapes with more camber and effective edge, like my Nidecker Megalights. But that just means it's not a quiver of one. It's a great board for soft, surfy conditions. It's so unhooked and loose that it feels like you're riding a wake-board, which is an absolute blast in the right conditions.

I collect too much data. OCD. This thread was made for me. Board Vertical Feet Days % of total Coiler Contra 178 V2 (alpine) 569,618 42 22.53% Coiler Contra 178 Proto 3 (alpine) 387,988 33 15.35% Jones Mind Expander 158 268,845 16 10.63% Nidecker Megalight 163XL (3) 227,539 13 9.00% Fisher 176 Watea 88 (ski) 208,278 20 8.24% Nidecker Megalight 163XL CR (2) 155,242 11 6.14% Coiler Clubby 182 (alpine) 88,718 8 3.51% Coiler Nirvana XXX 170 (alpine) 83,780 8 3.31% Coiler Contra 178 V1 (alpine) 72,958 8 2.89% Coiler Skinny 174 (alpine) 56,628 6 2.24% Coiler Chubby 175 (alpine) 50,048 5 1.98% Other (alpine) 44,390 7 1.76% Jones Hovercraft 160 36,719 3 1.45% Coiler Angry 160 (alpine) 31,254 3 1.24% Coiler Manic Nirvana 175 (alpine) 27,592 3 1.09% Jones Ultracraft Split 160 32,000 16 1.27% Rossingnol 175 Stratos 80 (ski) 18,848 2 0.75% Thirst Superconductor 175 (alpine) 18,508 2 0.73% Thirst 8RW 185 (alpine) 17,744 2 0.70% Burton Cascade 163 16,261 1 0.64% F2 Eliminator LTD 164W 12,780 1 0.51% Nidecker Megalight 167XL 12,660 1 0.50% Flow Solitude 164W 12,480 1 0.49% Gnu Riders Choice 161.5 11,712 2 0.46% Coiler VSR 177 (alpine) 10,916 2 0.43% Coiler Monster 185 (alpine) 10,400 1 0.41% PBR 10,000 5 0.40% Other (freestyle) 8,380 2 0.33% Kessler 168 (alpine) 7,900 4 0.31% Rossingnol 176 Bandit B2 (ski) 7,512 1 0.30% Prior Khyber Split 165 6,600 3 0.26% Airwalk A-1 163 4,000 2 0.16% Splitboards still getting days until the snow is gone. 122 days on snow and counting. Not OCD enough? I've got board totals going back to 2008. Now that's a list.

Totally agree. But, shelter-in-place directives could be relaxed as soon as an effective treatment is found that reduces rates of mortality and hospitalization, which could happen sooner. That's my hope for 20/21 ski season, assuming I'm lucky enough to see it.

I've tuned more this season than most. I waxed and sharpened everything I brought with me to the MCC, which I think was 8 or 9 boards. I had already tuned a few while comparing them to the Contras. I would get so disappointed at how my old favorites where comparing that I'd go home and sharpen the edges. To no avail. There's more to it than just fresh edges when it comes to staying hooked up on firm/icy runs. AFAIK, Bruce still ships them out with 0 and 90. But I tune at .25 on the base and 1 degree on edge. Then hit it with 200, 400, and 600 diamond stones to make it durable. This is a real effect with both the Thirsts and Contras. I think the design parameters that make it good when there is little traction make it turn tighter in soft snow. They have a bit more mid-flex and sidecut that directs more load there, so when the snow allows for some compaction the center will push further than stiffer mid boards would allow. They don't fold up, but will de-camber a bit more and produce a tighter radius carve. There's quite a difference in turning radius you can achieve between fast, hard snow and soft snow. Getting more than one sidecut size is an option. Or keep old favorites for the soft days. I found having a 10.5m and a 12m Contra covered most days, but I'm keeping my older boards for variety on softer days. The smaller radius Contra's are almost too easy to ride on soft days; keeping others to challenging myself with other styles when the snow allows. Like Dave said, it's good to try lots of different boards, even if they're all Coilers.

You'll love it. The Contra will stay hooked up on icy snow better. I have a few early Nirvanas and a couple early Contras, and the Contras were by far my favorites this year. My Nirvanas hold well as long as the center of the board is trenching into the snow around an inch or more. The Contras hold on even when there's only 1 or 2 cm of bite to be had. It's really noticeable when you switch back and forth. If it weren't for hero snow, the rest of my quiver would be obsolete now. I think the 11 will be a popular size. I spent a lot of time on a 178 x 10.5 and a 178 x 12. The 12 was my favorite on good days, but on the hardest, fastest snow or flat light days I used the 10.5 a lot as the 12 often wanted to go faster than I did. Although these sidcuts may sound tight, Contras only ride corresponding tight in hero snow; they feel longer than that in firmer snow (in my opinion).

There a lot of ways to screw up a carve; a lot of them start at the hips. But it's early for that... Time on snow is the biggest factor at first. It takes time to train the mind that the edge will hold. You've got to learn how the board behaves as it goes higher and higher on edge, and you've got to learn body positioning and movements that facilitate getting it to those edge angles. The higher edge angles you can reach on alpine gear over typical softbooting require the mind to be willing to commit fully to the edge. If your conscious or subconscious is convinced the edge won't hold, self-preservation circuitry won't let your body put itself in the position it needs to be in. Suppressing that circuitry takes time on snow. As for board width, I don't think being on the narrow side of things is necessarily a disadvantage. I remember having my best early progression when I picked up a used Donek Vlad Carve 175 with 17.5 waist. Higher binding angles force your hips to align more with the board, and I think that can help progress your heel side angulation while staying stacked over the board. If you go too wide, you could learn style and technique more appropriate to softboot carving. Which if fine too, but doesn't sound like your goal right now. The issue with the Virus might be sidecut radius. Too long a sidecut will force you into higher speeds and bigger turns where your self-preservation circuitry could slow your progress. The longer the sidecut, the higher on edge you need to make the board to tighten turn radius. Getting that high takes experience. The Virus site doesn't divulge sidecut depth, but they say its got 1550 mm of effective edge. A radial 12 m equivalent of whatever it is would have around a 25 mm sidecut depth with a chord length of 1550 mm. You can measure it. There's actually nothing wrong with long sidecuts, they give you plenty of time to think about each turn and make adjustments along the way. I further progressed on a 188 Coiler with a 17m sidecut. But you need a lot of wide open space if you're trying to learn on one as a first board. I think something around 11 - 12 meters makes a better starting point. Too small is also a problem; things happen too fast -- you can't spend much time being high on edge to sort things out. Anyway, stick with it and good luck. Experiment with binding stance and angles to where your hip positioning is aligned with your feet when neutral and you still have range of motion to squat and twist from there as needed while staying vertically stacked over the board. Get your legs right and you hips will follow, get your hips rights and your torso will follow, get it all right and magic happens.

Rob, at first I thought there was something missing from your bindings or that they might be freeballers, but looking closer I guess I can see the hibacks hiding under the straps. Speaking of Flow bindings... Did you know that Flow is owned by Nidecker Group? The quite giant of snowboarding. In addition to Flow, they have Jones Snowboards, Yes Snowboards, Rome SDS, Bataleon, Lobster and Switchback, and Now Bindings. I've always liked Nidecker since my first Megalight 163XL board in 2008. I have a 2010 with over 3,000,000 vertical feet on it, 169 days, all with Flow bindings. Just picked up a 2020 161L for 1/2 price from a shop in Utah. WooHoo! Not many Nidecker branded models make it stateside. Sorry for going off topic. Oh wait. I can save it... "This season I'm learning once again to appreciate the Nidecker Brothers and their commitment to the sport of snowboarding."

Learning that spring hiking season isn't just for splitboards. Putting one foot in front of the other long enough and you can still lug your heavy alpine gear to the top of a closed resort if you're desperate for a carving run. Prior to the abrupt start of hiking season, I was working on a few things -- flexing into my boot cuffs more, keeping a straighter back when scrunching down, more hip rotation on heel sides, keeping shoulders level to angulate more... When you see yourself in a video, it's often what you're not doing that jumps out at you.

With a straight edge and some feeler gauges, you can analyze the heck out of your sidecut. Given 3 points on a plane, you can calculate the radius of a circle passing through them. Mario and Jack have provided links to the math. Do that at enough intervals and you can figure out what your fancy VSR is all about. With just the effective edge and the sidecut depth you get one number, the radial equivalent approximation of the whole sidecut. For VSR's that aren't easily described, I think that radial equivalent sidecut depth is a good way to talk about them. Better than just saying an average radius. Depth equivalent radius gives a good idea the shape it will form when high on edge. So that's how we're sizing the Coiler Contras. A Contra 12 has a sidecut depth equivalent to a radial 12, but is not radial. Clothoid is nothing special, no magic to it. It's a type of curve where the rate of change of the curvature (1/radius) is constant. So a 10 - 13 clothoid goes from 10 at one end to 13 at the other such that the inverse of the radius is changing at a constant rate throughout that progression. Like the path your car follows if you're turning your steering wheel at a constant rate. But as soon as you change the rate or direction, it's not technically a clothoid curve anymore... it's some other VSR curve.

Sitting at the top of a run with a handful of carving buddies, staring down 2,000 vertical of corduroy without a soul on it. It's like a back country experience, but for carvers. Back at my home hill today in a sea of humanity. I miss Turner already. Hope to see you all again next year.

Agree with that. I use the 312 mm shells (28-28.5), but with size 10 liners that normally come in the 324 mm shells (29-29.5). I wear US size 12 shoes, which by the UPZ sizing chart had me in the 324 mm shells (29-29.5). Took me years to figure out those shells were too big. When I downsized to the 312 mm shells, the shell fit was fine (just at two fingers), but the liner was way to tight even outside the shell. I had to re-use my old liners in new shells, and all was well. The larger liner fits in the shells just fine.

Anyone still on the fench about attending the 2020 MCC? There's still time to sign up and make arrangements. I'm staying at the Country Inn. The 7 day forecast calls for snow tonight and tomorrow (Wednesday) and temps staying below freezing through next Tuesday. Looks like it's going to be a carving session this time. Woo Hoo! (But bring powder board to be safe; it's still Turner...) Need more reason to come? Demos, Demos, Demos! Where else are you going to get a chance to demo the latest, greatest alpine snowboarding gear? Have you seen the list of board brands alone? Thirst Donek Alloy Winterstick Coiler Exelgi Ace Skwal Rad-Air, Stranda Heck, come just for the raffle! As I understand it, all nine above have a board in the banquet night raffle; that's more swag than any SES, ATC, or ECES of the past. But you must be present to win!

RIP Great Northern Brewing Company. Property sold and brewing equipment to be liquidated. Better plan an evening (or two) to say farewell. I think there's a (locals) going away party Wednesday the 22nd.

Never tried a K168, but have Thirst 8RW and Superconductor. From what is described for the K168 sidecut, I think they take a different approach to variable sidecut. They differ from radial in very different ways. I'm a bit surprised that a 8-12-8(?) VSR could hold longer turns well on ice. Snappy initiation, yes, but concentrating the edge pressure at the tip and tail when the board isn't forming a trench would, I think, leave the center carrying too little load, supported by the board's center stiffness instead of the snow. With the turning forces concentrated at the ends of the tip and tail, eventually their hold risks being overwhelmed. Thirst flex/sidecut seems to be designed to keep edge bite underfoot. Slower initiation, but then like you're riding an ice skate between the bindings. I think that's what leads to the stay-centered riding style -- no need to chase the bite elsewhere, feels funny if you do. So both fun, but I suspect very different rides. Buy both. $$$

Move out west to a uncrowded resort with wide groomers? When carving with non-carvers, I try to only go in front if I can stick to half the run or know I will stay ahead of them because they are beginners or intermediates. If I notice them encroaching, it's time to let them pass and carve behind. Going faster may sound counter-intuitive, but over the years I have been having less close encounters as my downhill progress gets faster. Knock wood. There's always yahoos bombing the hill on bluebird days -- you won't stay ahead of them -- but if your downhill progress is similar to average skiers, even while covering way more ground, there are fewer people trying to pass you. I find the steeper runs aren't the problem. Fewer intermediates bombing beyond their abilities, and more willingness on behalf of others to wait their turn. It's the blue cruisers that get people bombing beyond their abilities whenever the visibility is good. So you can improve your odds by only carving blues if they are wide enough to let you carve in half the run, then carve as fast and tight a line as you can. Still keep an eye out and stop if you notice fast traffic coming up behind; never assume anyone but you is willing to wait their turn, and do assume they have tunnel-vision. Or just carve in the fog. Way fewer people bombing runs in the fog. If you're descending faster than everyone else, you won't get hit from behind.