Some questions about buying first alpine setup

[SEJ]

I'll be riding South Lake this year. We can hook up and you can try my stuff. I think a good place to start would be my 169 4WD. All mountain shape, but carves like a race board in the mid 160s. 9.5M sidecut. I've got a couple of others that might work also. Burton bindings are a good idea. When learning you will want the extra flex they provide to move around on the board easier, plus you can get a used pair for around 100 bucks. At your weight they should be bullet proof. Cant and lift are personal preference. I ride 7 degree front and rear simply because I always have, it's the way my first board was set up and I've been too lazy to experiment. The only issue with the Burtons is finding 4 hole cant plates. I just make my own. See ya this winter. Scott

[Hugh]

Welcome Wun,

Carver's Almanac has everything that you need to help you decide on gear, BOL has the info on carving technique and getting started and TahoeCarvers has the friends to hook up with...you are set

I will be riding weekdays at Kirkwood this season and a few other days at Mt. Rose, Sugarbowl and Northstar and hopefully OES in March.

Not many choices for boots on Bomber until November. Get a 4 buckle boot and spend a little extra on Thermoflex liners, Granite Chief in Truckee will heat and fit your boots.

Keep reading...

--Hugh

[Wun]

We can hook up and you can try my stuff.

Awesome, thanks for the offer. There are several people now that can lend me gear, so I am confident that some kind of combination of gear loaning will ultimately work out during the season.

[Hugh]

Wun,

I forgot to mention, F2 Race Titanium is a great beginner/intermediate binding. Intec will give you a stiffer ride, I prefer the front bail. I bought a pair of F2 Race Titanium Standards last year and totally love them. I think that you can buy the (medium size) bindings with your footprint.

Another good beginner/intermediate boot is the Raichle SB 413, medium flex without too much race stiffness. Boots and bindings are what you need, boards are available for loan.

--Hugh

[Michelle]

Here's an entire section of our web site dedicated to the new carver with tons of info. See if this helps you http://www.bomberonline.com/articles/welcome_center.cfm

[SEJ]

Wun, thermoflex liners rock! It's like sticking your feet in concrete and waiting for it to cure. They are REALLY tight the first few days, but all liners pack. If a new 'off the shelf boot' feels perfect, it will be too loose by the end of the season. Also, good footbeds are a must, the footbeds that comes with all boots are junk. if you have the money, go with the custom footbeds. I discovered these back when I was skiing 20 years ago, and they changed my life. For the price of 2 lift tickets you can have the bottom of your boot match the bottom of your foot PERFECTLY. If you don't have the $100 look at the trim to fit footbeds. I found out that they were close enough with my Indies. It's a matter of pronation, if you don't have it, no big deal, but if your ankle pronate, you will want a footbed that stops it. Pronation is the rolling of your ankle inward when you put weight on it. Put your foot on the floor with no weight on it, then apply weight. Look to see if your ankle rolls inward as you apply the weight. If it does, you need a footbed to stop that. It creates all kinds of problems inside the boot.

[dshack]

Wun, speaking as someone close to your size (23.5 mondo boot, 125lb), unless you've got an abnormally short torso, you'll at least want the option to easily cant. The inner mounting holes on many boards are not designed for the inseams of very short guys, and canting gave me more leverage, less leg burn, and a much easier ride. You might want to try flat and canted bindings before you buy, as some require you to buy cant plates as an additional item or as a substitute for flat plates.

[Wun]

Here's an entire section of our web site...

Oh, trust me... I've been reading around everywhere. Anyway, I would only assume that you were going off my OP, but at that point, I was planning on getting a few quick pointers and jump into buying a setup before I realized how willing people are to meet up and/or help me out in-depth in general and in making purchases.

And thanks guys for your suggestions and comments about your preferences.

[pebu]

It must be nice living in an area where there are other carvers.

[Mike T]

This article is a must-read for anyone who is going to experiment with canting and lifting.

http://www.yyzcanuck.com/E_tech_article04.htm

Thanks again to Bruce "Coiler Boardmaster" Varsava for writing it and the YYZCanuck gang for keep it on the web.

I tried a bunch of crazy things before settling on no cant whatsoever, and using only that lift which is necessary to balance out my functional leg length differences. (I've been doing a lot of work to get my hips more stabilized over the summer and fall so who knows what lift I will need this season!)

Wun, if you can, come on up to OES at Mt Bachelor this March. It's about a 7 hour trip from Sacramento and I'm hoping to see seevral of the NorCal crew there. Getting together with a group of carvers is a great way to accelerator your learning curve and have a lot of fun!