icebiker

That's hilarious!! His ride has some wicked reverse sidecut. Maybe a more traditional sled would help ;)

Agree...I've used this stuff for MTB and Boarding for about 4-5 years now with great results. Particularly as you said the Day 1/ Day 2 thigh burn.

so THAT's where all the snow is!! Congrats on getting back into it and on your engagement! Great pics. I like your handle, I take it you drive a V? Must be a rare sight over there in Europe. Hopefully it's a stick?:D

I'm far from a hardbooting expert yet, but in my softboot carving experience, a couple of points of advice from Nick and Carvedog stand out as spot-on: a) push with your knees, not reach withyour hand b) look to the trees, not the fall line. I never thought about it that way, but on the days when I was ripping solid carves, I was essentially doing both "a" and "b"...I just didn't realize it until you guys articulated it. The other factor I've found works for me is the surface conditions. If it's packed powder, my confidence ramps exponentially. I don't fear washing out. As such, I push harder with my knees as I turn. Assuming the board holds its edge, this effectively extends your body (arms and all) up the hill, closer to the snow. My problem is that in the NE, ice is more prevalent than PP, so while I can hold a decent carve, I frequently don't find myself confident enough to push with my knees beyond a certain point, out of fear the board will washout. As a result, I don't get as close to the snow as I'd like. I have to work on that.

Tremblant updated its snow report picture. http://www.tremblant.ca/mountain/winter/xsl_snow_report-e.htm Anyone here?

I like it...especially since there's much more white in the backgrounds...looks brighter and, well, snowier :) Don't forget to change the BOL tag line on the forum page to match the one on the home page ;) Congrats!

Thanks jt...just waiting for a few more locals to weigh in with dates that might work...of course we may all just be waiting for any promising signs of snow:(

Info on older Burton bindings here... http://www.alpinecarving.com/binding_model.html#older One specific mention of the clear plastic models breaking, as well as bales breaking. I have Race Plates too (orange solid plastic over metal base plates), and picked up a set of front and rear bales from Bomber (they are now sold as IBEX) in case mine break.

Teach, Nick, a while back we exchanged posts on getting together at Camelback one day this year. In the event that we do get a colder Feb , you guys still up for that? Anyone else in the NJ/PA area interested? It'd be great to meet some fellow BOL'ers, and I'd love to pick up some hardbooting tips in person, too. Mid-late feb works for me. I'd prefer to take a weekday off to avoid crowds and have the slopes to ourselves, but a weekend day can work too.

Tremblant is about 80% open now. Was there a Christmas/Hanukkah week and it was pretty good. Even got about 8" of natural on one day.

Love the Dickies! (1st vid) The "from above looking down" view in the 3rd vid is very cool.

For anti-theft I've been using an old 4-number combo lock with a decently meaty cable. Unfortunately, it broke on me last week, so I'm looking for a new one. It gave me 20 or years of trouble-free service, so I can't complain. Good idea re: the torx screws.

last week at Tremblant, I was at the top of La Crete (green trail leading to some blues) paused on the side of the trail waiting for my son. A few seconds later, out of the teeming mass of two-plankers, two-strappers and pizza-wedgers, glides a hardbooter. He gives me a smooth and subtle salute to the brim of his helmet. Caught off guard, I give him an equally subtle thumbs up, and he's off. I chuckled to myself that this must be what it's like when [insert name of favorite sports car here] drivers pass each other on the highway and figured that was proof positive I'm an official member of the carving tribe now! PS...He ended up being one of only 4 hardbooters I saw the entire week.

^ interesting that the banner ad on the top of that WashPost page is for Tremblant (which has some good snow cover)

Yep, that's them! I still have my pair...use them with my soft boot board and Torque 3-straps.

Got a chance to rail the new Donek this past week at Tremblant. Conditions were manmade groom the first few days, then 8" of fresh powder followed by packed powder. Windy as all get out, so some spots were icy. The new board exceeded my expectations! It was simply a total game changer for me and moved me to a new level of confidence in turns, at speed, and in the chop. The variable sidecut made it easy to carve both wide as well as tighten up the arc/turn by weighting the front (which has a tighter SCR). The rear taper made a huge difference in releasing from turns. The flex Sean built into it for my weight neutralized pretty much any chop I encountered, even at speed..it was like a hot knife in butter. Even on some of the harder/icy spots the board just held. I even took it into a terrain park to slash some of the walls...no problem. I had a 5h1t-eating grin on me on every run (though no-one could see it since I was full-face-mask due to the cold and wind. Everyone's advice was spot on...in particular the point about moving my rear angle in from 35. I am now 45 in rear (still 50 in front, but that feels right). Thanks again for all the tips. Can't wait to take it out again. Teach/Nick...still want to do the Camelback day, but Mother Nature's playing hard to get....

Just got back from 6 days at Tremblant. They did a pretty good job with the man made stuff up to the day after Christmas, then we got 8 inches of fresh and the last two days were great (but cold/windy). Couple of pics or it didn't happen ;)... my daughter... the resort (taken from the cabriolet)...

Apologies for the stupid question, but for those of you that have ordered a Donek, did it arrive pre-waxed? I emailed Sean but he's likely been too busy to get to emails this week since I haven't heard back yet. I checked his website and the build/finishing steps include a base grind and stone grind, but no mention of wax. If there is a coat, it's much thinner than the hack job I usually do:freak3: so it's hard for me to tell (yeah, I know...I SHOULD know this). Not a problem if I need to wax it, just asking so I know whether to slap some on before heading up to the great white north this weekend. Thanks

From this thread... http://www.bomberonline.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=35323 came this board... Axxess 172, 26 waist, 9-11 VSR. Thanks again for everyone's input . I have to say once again what you already know: Sean Martin is aces. Truly a great person to work with. Once I get 'er on the snow (ice?:() I'll report back. For fun, here's what my winter "quiver" looks like now :p. The ride on the extreme left has a wicked inverse sidecut radius that enables it to turn (and turn and turn...) on a dime :D

Homewood FTW. Middle of the west shore, few crowds compared to the larger resorts north and south. Kirkwood would be my next.

I think Head Stratos are only moldable on the lower part of the liner, not the full liner like with Deeluxe

"Carve your own niche....here" "Snowbored? We can fix that."

yep, that was my first thought...too easy!:) Couldn't upload from work, so ya beat me too it... here's another..(Tom Burt)

Awesome folks, thanks for the quick replies. Order underway.

I'm looking to buy some spare parts for my Burton Race Plates, namely some bolts and an extra pair of heel and toe bales just in case my Burton ones break while on a ski trip. I contacted Michelle at BOL and she was pretty sure they'd fit, but not 100% certain. I did a search and found some comments to the effect that they would,including this one: http://www.bomberonline.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=28453&highlight=burton+race+plate+parts I realize IBEX bought the Burton molds/license, but has anyone here actually successfully used the IBEX bales on the Race Plates with no issues? The post above appears to say so, I'd just like a few more confirms. Thanks