queequeg

Is this: no mandatory insurance to own a car, or no mandatory insurance to drive a car on public roads? That is uhh ... pretty wild. What happens if a young, impoverished, legally uninsured motorist maims someone innocently going about their day and puts them in the hospital? What if the person they harmed cannot afford good health insurance? And has dependents? What if they crash into a business and cause massive amounts of damage? I’m genuinely curious.

Lolz. This is so awesome. In my fantasy dream world you rebutted that painfully bad testimony like Marisa Tomei in My Cousin Vinny, when she busted out a bunch of @johnasmo youtube videos to demonstrate how snowboarders actually turn, causing the plaintiff to dismiss all charges—and then everyone in the jury ran out to buy Coliers and Doneks so they could rip killer turns just like Joe Pesci does. That’s how it went right???

Me too: done with weekends. I don’t ride nearly as much as I used to but I enjoy it WAY more. I just take a few week-long trips a year now. I’ll ride weekends for pow/trees and to hang with friends but no trying to charge hard on the weekends — I just don’t enjoy it.

I almost never wear a bike helmet nowadays (though I was in the habit of wearing one when I was biking in traffic everyday in NYC). I personally don’t find them uncomfortable at all. I just don’t see the point of bringing one if you’re not going to wear it. Technically you are required to wear one, but not once in my ten years riding one did I see a cop hassle somebody for abstaining.

When I lived in NYC a huge majority of the food-delivery dudes on bikes would clip their helmets to their handlebars, and keep them there all day. Like they’d be biking around in NYC traffic, with their helmet dangling off of their handlebars and and not their heads. Never understood that at all, it’s like they thought they were some kind of dashboard ornament for bikes? People are fascinating.

People have stopped wearing helmets?? I feel like I might see one or two people in a day not wearing helmets. Usually they are the “jeans+starter-jacket” type that just doesn’t have the right gear or know what works on mountain yet. I figure that’s their right either way, they aren’t putting me in any danger by not taking care of themselves (though I hope they don’t have children, or other dependents). I stopped snowboarding for awhile a little while after I got out of college, and then started back up a few years later. Helmets happened in the intervening years. So when I started back up I was like “what the hell is it with everyone wearing helmets now”, and I did think they looked more than a little silly. I think I was convinced to give them ago by a forum member on here who pointed out that they are better than hats because they are warmer, and they don’t collect snow when you eat it. — oh yeah: and they protect their brain. Now I think people look kind of silly without them. Being smart will always be fashionable. I must never have really rung my bell prior to the advent of helmets; but I have since—and was very grateful to have something protecting what little brains I have left.

As an aside, I really wish the mountains would try and take a more creative approach to collision prevention. In a faraway fantasy world, we could dream of would-be skiers and snowboarders being forced to pass some kind of basic competency test or whatnot. I think a better solution would be timed-entry lift tickets, now that everything is digital. It is totally within the realm of possibility for mountains to force skiers/snowboarders to wait before riding the lift if they have gotten down the mountain in record time. They could even increase or reduce the required time to wait, given the number of people on the mountain that day. This would probably go unnoticed by most people, except for those that are more likely to have to wait, and result in less crowded slopes. Ideally: people who like to ride really fast would learn to wait on the mountain for a nice gap, so that they can do their thing safely without having to wait in the lift maze—and for those that don’t—having to wait at the bottom of the run would identify excessively fast skiers to ski patrol and everyone else: which would be very useful. To make things less onerous for skilled skiers and riders: you could potentially offer a class that reduces your wait time if you pass an exam for skill and competence at higher speeds, potentially with multiple levels. Probably a dumb idea, but I feel like the skiers code is somewhat of a joke, and mountains could really be doing a lot more to make the experience of being on the mountain more enjoyable, and safer (particularly now that lift tickets are stupid expensive, and shit is more crowded than ever).

I agree that it would be nice to see the ten seconds before what happened. That said, from what is there it looks to me like this is pretty clearly the snowboarders fault; since he effectively carved into the skier from the side. It looks to me like the carver was trying to avoid the skier downhill from him (barely visible in the video) and was probably focusing on avoiding him, and failed to notice the other skier nearly parallel to his position on the slope, that he actually hit as a consequence. It’s the kind of mistake that anyone could make: fixating one potential collision and neglecting to notice another danger altogether. Ultimately seems like a matter of: skill vs speed and situational awareness at that speed. Having the skills to rip turns at high speeds is one thing, having the skills to rip turns at high speeds while also maintaining total awareness of your surroundings and the ability to perform evasive maneuvers at the speed you are running is another thing altogether. I’d put most of the blame on the snowboarder here, but @ace is right: a longer video would probably tell a more nuanced story. Agree with what others say that the skier is not looking to the side but ... she is moving straight downhill, and looking where she needs to in order to prevent herself from hitting people that are directly in her path. To my mind: because the snowboarder is suddenly running across the slope, it is his responsibility to avoid obstacles that are across the slope, since this is his chosen path. Watching again, it looks to me like the snowboarder target-fixated when he suddenly saw the skier in his path — panicked instead of hurling himself into the next turn as hard as possible (or digging in uphill) to avoid the collision: riding faster than his brain could think. This could happen to anyone, but it generally means you were riding out of control: since you are not accounting for your own reaction timing. If the skier was overtaking from uphill and the carver was making predictable turns, my assessment might change. A lot of people on the mountain (as on the highway) end up skiing in crowded packs, instead of looking for the gaps in between the human-dense areas ... whether you are a skier or a snowboarder: failing to avoid crowded sections of the mountain (and contributing more density and danger to them) seems like a pretty risky behaviour. If she indeed was overtaking: and then did not pay attention to watch for the downhill snowboarders whereabouts while overtaking: that would change things in my view. I also tend to feel like: you take on a certain amount or responsibility when you are the delta. If you are moving much faster than everyone else around you, you are bringing the danger, so you should be responsible for making sure it does not affect other people around you who are moving slower and present a less significant danger to others in the event of a collision. Snowboarder was moving way faster than anyone else on that slope. I suspect a longer video would reveal that both had ways they could have prevented this from happening. The better question in these kind of events is: how could we have avoided this?

I walk on my hands. Just kidding: I like those little replaceable red pads that go under the fintec heels, since you can replace them every now and again. I would think this is more of a fitment issue for standard bindings than intecs tho, so I am guessing you are not on (f)intec heels?

I'm all for it, as long as the animal is happy and safe.

Seems like you are really looking for an argument John. I hope you are doing alright, seems like you might not be having the best day.

lolz: I was waiting for this predictable comment. Yes I did, some twelve or so years ago. I came in hot at the bottom of the run, and threw my board sideways to stop—when suddenly a lady who had her back to me started moving backwards into the path I was taking. She could not see me and I was already stopping as hard as I could. Her boot caught the tail of my board, and my remaining energy caused me to straighten out, and the result was that I plowed into a pile of people at the center of which was a small child, and its ogre of a father. Nobody was harmed but the kid was understandably freaked out and the dad went into ultra-testosterone-freakazoid mode. Ski patrol was remarkably kind about the whole thing but pulled my pass for the day, which was the least I could have expected. It was tremendously embarrassing (I'm sure this is why you are bringing this up) and easily could have been avoided if I had not been carrying so much speed so close to a crowded area. I definitely learned my lesson that day. The lady walking backwards into the tail of my board was pretty unpredictable, but it was still a pretty dumb move to be carrying all that energy into a human-dense area like that. I suspect there are very few people—if any—on this forum who have not made some kind of error in judgement of this kind at some point ... but: some people just looooove to fling mud. I have no problem admitting it when I've a mistake, which is a quality that I am quite proud of. We all make them, but as long as I am in the habit of learning from mine I'm not going to be embarrassed by my past failures ... particularly when brought up in some cowardly potshot.

Sorry that happened to you (and your board, which I hope the little bastard is replacing). In my experience, ski-racing teams are by a very wide margin: collectively the most irresponsible group of people on the mountain. Mostly for the way they think that they can straightline on runs open to the public because "I'M A SKI RACER AND I'VE GOT THE MADD SKILLZ SO SCREW YOUR DISCOMFORT WITH MY IRRESPONSIBILITY". It's obnoxious. I suspect most of these little pricks get away with this sort of thing because: mommy and daddy are flush with cash and donate to the ski-school etc ... Most of them don't grok the idea that the gates on a race-course don't move; and while their skills do allow them to charge down a CLOSED COURSE without endangering anyone but themselves: that same logic does not apply to open slopes where downhill skiers can behave unpredictably. God how I despise these little race-school pricks.

That I should have moved to Aspen for the season when COVID became a thing? Kicking myself for missing this lost opportunity. That said: the way things are going I'll probably get a chance to correct my mistakes next year, though I hope not. In all seriousness: I am learning to focus on the fun. I remember when I was a kid going to boarding school in NH any evening it snowed nobody did their homework because we all knew we were going to the mountain. Nevermind the conditions, the long uncomfortable van trip, the horrible rental equipment, (or later on the fact that the screws kept ripping out of the retention plate on my Avalanche Kick [what a piece of junk]): we always had fun. (Granted: midweek skiing on empty slopes instead of being in class kind of rules when you are a kid). We didn't have PE so this is how we got our PE credits :p. In retrospect: I was spoiled rotten! Over the years I became a bit of a complainer. "it's too crowed", "snow is too soft" (this is my personal fave), "it's too cold", "its too hot", "my headphones are broken", bla bla bla ... recently I have learned to STFU and smile at the day and all of its idiosyncrasies because no matter how imperfect, it's usually pretty great as long as you are willing to enjoy it.

This is probably a dumb question and it has been a very long time since I have been on skis but: given the high DIN settings necessary for pro downhill athletes to retain their skis while charging down the course, has anyone ever attempted to conceive of some kind of emergency release mechanism (like a pyrotechnic fastener [or some other less stupid idea] etc ... ) that could be activated by the skier (or a third party in observation) in the event of a bad fall? My understanding is that the DIN settings they use are so high, as to render the release mechanism of the bindings nearly pointless. The logic seems like: "well: we're not planning on eating it during the race, so lets not screw ourselves by having a binding decide to release due to chatter or bumps etc and just pump that din setting to the moon, and pray shit doesn't go sideways in the event of that crash we weren't planning on having". Given that: it would seem a binding entirely designed around the idea of manual emergency release would be more appropriate for ski-racers running these types of events?

I mean ... if he even still has one? Also: this colourful image immediately rendered itself in my poor tortured mind as some unreleased Zappa album cover.

Good god man! That recovery deserves a medal. Nerves of steel!!!!

I don't know what you're talking about dude, obviously he is talking about carving!

As others have indicated: start with the boots. As in: get a pair of hardboots that are the correct size for your feet, and do *all* the bootfitting you need to do to get your fit dialed so that you have HAPPY FEET. There is a misconception among many snowboarders that hardboots are horribly uncomfortable, when in fact they tend to be vastly more comfortable than softboots *provided you have had them fitted/setup/molded correctly*. Don't think you can just buy a pair of boots and go straight to the mountain and be happy: you can't. Make sure you have the correct size boot, get a custom footbed made (expensive, but very much worth the money) and have a heat-moldable/wrap liner from intuition or Dalbello cooked around your foot in the boot for the perfect fit. Once you've got your boots worked out, they will serve you comfortably for a long, long time: don't skimp on this step. Ideally: find the best bootfitter in your area, that is preferably on the mountain (it helps to be able to take a few runs, and bring the boots back to the bootfitter to make necessary adjustments until all is comfy in the land of feet). Mountain Slope and UPZ seem to be the recommended way to go these days — if you want stepin bindings: UPZ is the way. A note on liners: I have no idea what the Mountain Slope boots come with. UPZ boots come with a liner that is uhh ... "controversial" at best? Most people opt to discard the UPZ liner (or burn it in effigy if you actually tried to ride with it). I'm not sure if others have suggested this yet but, since you are already snowboarding on softies — it may not be a bad idea to ease into the alpine experience by spending a few hours getting accustomed to hardboots/bindings on a board you are already familiar with and then subsequently switching over to a full alpine setup. This advice works better if you have a more performance oriented board (tip-to-tail camber, ideally). As others have stated, you will want to start with a damp, friendly board that is relatively tight-turning for a good learning experience. You will outgrow it, so I would go with one of the many used boards available here. An all-mountain carving deck with titanal + rubber dampening, and a softer flex pattern and tighter turn radius is ideal. As @dredman mentioned: Donek snowboards offers the Talon which seems specifically designed for new hardbooters. I used to live in NYC and rode in Southern Vermont all the time. There are many *excellent* riders throughout New England that will be more than happy to help you get your bearings and build your alpine fundamentals!! Find people to ride with and get you started, you will progress so much faster and this is a very welcoming community that really loves to see people join the sport. Stratton, Wachusset, Berkshire East all have a contingent of carvers - take advantage of them and you will be ripping turns in no time!

Thats pretty wild!

Along with everything everyone else has mentioned: having difficulty railing turns on chalk/ice (if you can) can also suggest your board is too stiff.

GTFO!!!

The UPS guy infected me with a virus this morning, just in time to head up to MCC: