Cypress Diaries, 2007-08

[BlueB]

George, thanks for the report!

Well, since we know now of the adventures of our 2 arboreal friends, it's my turn to tell about the exploits of the rest of the team who preferred the open runs, carving and crud/bump bashing...

First of all, it was great having Doug for a day, with us at Cypress. Maybe we'll bring him over next year? Doug is one of the smoothest riders I had pleasure to watch. Think low, angulated "Bomber" style, then, here and there bam! he's in EC mid carve, right from the angulated position split second ago. Great riding with you buddy!

Conditions: mostly sunny, 12-15cm of fresh overnight, some runs - groomed pow, some runs fresh over old crud and bumps. One of the fun days where you could find almost any type of riding you wanted... Funny enough, some of the runs (Lower Bowen/Midway) got even more compact through the day, thanks to skidding crowds.

Ruwi, Roy, Doug and i mostly stuck togeteher, with exception of Roy having to do few work shifts in the afternoon. Roy and Ruwi were on their trusty 4WDs, Doug on his new Silberpfeil (very pretty looking board). Me, I got crazy this morning and brought a hoard of boards to test...

Roy and I switched our big guns for a day. he took my big red prior WCR and gave me his Hot Blast 176. After riding the Vampire for first few runs down the steeps of Rainbow and laying ECs efortlessly, switching to stiff Blast came as a shock. I quickly realised it is now an EC suitable board. Every attempt to initiate at high angle / low pressure / head down the slope first, the board carried on straight, letting me slide down the black dimond head first... As I got intimidated by the speed it wanted to run with to overcome the stiffness, and a samll binding glitch, I switched back to Virus. Later on, I tried the Blast again on a blue run and the impression was just oposite - great fun! Stable as speed, solid edge hold, plenty of snap and rebound. Not as nose-dump as WCR, but not too dissimilar ride.

Vius, as usual, proved to be super friendly ride, versatile, easy to initiate, great hold, rebound when you want it, chatter free, EC like no man's business. Actually, on the first run of the day, I took her down the steeps of Upper Bowen into partially chopped/bumped freshies and it worked just fine.

Last but not least, a new to me Volkl Cross, had her maiden voyage. Fun, versatile board. Way stiffer then what one would expet from an almost soft boot looking stick. It's actually an alpine board in disguise. I wrote more detailed review in the Volkl Cross tread, here http://www.bomberonline.com/VBulletin/showthread.php?t=20641

Comment of the day, by a liftie: "You guys have a tribe on this hill?"

[ruwi]

Thank you all of you carving veterans, Boris,Dave*,George,Doug., Thanks to Roy for helping out with tickets to others and lots of organization skills. You could be our Club Manager:1luvu:

All the riding tips I got from you are really awesome. Now I slowly start to EC toeside for now and it's a wonderful feeling when you could laid it out nicely. I got to try and commit more and do more riding before the local hills shut down.

At 1400 Hrs my legs started to hurt and had to leave you guys.

Hey Whistler here we come:lol:

ruwi

[CarvingScooby]

Was fun riding with u guys!!!!:D:):rolleyes:;)

Next Sunday? -> Tenorman, Crucible, Ruwi, Dave*, BlueB & new member Tele-bum???? Joey How's ride today?

Roy

Note:

Name of the run following number as Dave* version looking down from panorama start from left

#1 = Crazy Raven (Blue)

#2 = Coyote 7 (Black)

#3 = First Sun (Black next Raven chair)

#4 = Black on Black (Double Black)

#5 = Meteor (Double BlacK)

#6 = Black Fly (Double Black)

#7 = Benny's (Blue last run on the right)

Run #2 was a groomed last sunday. This run is wider and less steep angle thn Crazy Raven (#1) and the first part wasn't groomed and only a view knew how to get xcess from crazy raven, it was a BLAST.

Ruwi u rock man I saw yr last turn.

REMINDER: WHISTLER April 20th:cool:

[CarvingScooby]

Was fun riding with u guys!!!!:D:):rolleyes:;)

Next Sunday? -> Tenorman, Crucible, Ruwi, Dave*, BlueB & new member Tele-bum???? Joey How's ride today?

Roy

Note:

Name of the run following number as Dave* version looking down from panorama start from left

#1 = Crazy Raven (Blue)

#2 = Coyote 7 (Black)

#3 = First Sun (Black next Raven chair)

#4 = Black on Black (Double Black)

#5 = Meteor (Double BlacK)

#6 = Black Fly (Double Black)

#7 = Benny's (Blue last run on the right)

Run #2 was a groomed last sunday. This run is wider and less steep angle thn Crazy Raven (#1) and the first part wasn't groomed and only a view knew how to get xcess from crazy raven, it was a BLAST.

Ruwi u rock man I saw what u did on yr last turn.

REMINDER: WHISTLER April 20th:cool:

[tenorman]

Thank you all of you carving veterans, Boris,Dave*,George,Doug., Thanks to Roy for helping out with tickets to others and lots of organization skills. You could be our Club Manager:1luvu:

All the riding tips I got from you are really awesome. Now I slowly start to EC toeside for now and it's a wonderful feeling when you could laid it out nicely. I got to try and commit more and do more riding before the local hills shut down.

At 1400 Hrs my legs started to hurt and had to leave you guys.

Hey Whistler here we come:lol:

ruwi

hi ruwi and the rest of the cypress crew

thanks for showing me around last sunday. the place has changed so much in ten years that i would have gotten lost numerous times if not for your expert guidance.

i was surprised by how much snow was up there for this late in the season. ruwi and BlueB's constant ECing prompted me to dig out my old bauer/nerva flicks. during my search i found the original RIDE THE EDGE vhs tape that i misplaced about 8 years ago! i'll transfer this stuff onto a dvd and give it to you up at grouse this weekend. i paid for the original copy back in 1995 and still have the receipt in case some copyright goon investigates--i am sure i am allowed to make a backup copy in a non-commercial scenario. you guys will have a kick watching some of my old carving videos as i even have one of craig kelly and jose fernandez running slalom gates.

it was a great day on sunday both in the ski area and on the drive up the access road. here are 2 pics (one of the ski area snowpack and one from the 5km viewpoint.) i think my dog loyal almost had as much fun as i did. i look forward to riding with you guys up at whistler on the 20th.

later

doug

[ruwi]

Will be riding Grouse Wed night with my office mate Richard. He is an avid freerider Wed nights at Cypress and finally convinced him to give a try carving. I will lend him my 4WD while I will try Doug's WCR. This time I will use my burton wind boots for a change. The fit feels good and will see how it works riding. Feel free to join us, be there around 1700-1730Hrs.

ruwi

[CarvingScooby]

Mayb Boris will Join, Bro...???

What about Sunday in Cypress?

Dave* will be in Whistler and Sunday will b in Cypress again!!!

Have FUN!!!!

Roy

[crucible]

See you there by 1900 Ruwi.

George

[ruwi]

Yes, will be riding at Cypress this Sunday. Did you guys(Boris,Roy) went to the Staff Party?, I couldn't go, got some emergency work to finish yesterday.

See you Sunday.

ruwi

[CarvingScooby]

That Sunday I believe will be free (no charge). & no duty for me:eplus2:. Play all day . Don't forget boys!!

Ruwi, we didn't go to the party.

Let me know how's the ride today.

Roy

[CarvingScooby]

Bro, how's the board treat yr ride?:rolleyes:

[BlueB]

I'm in this Sunday. Less likely on Saturday...

Didn't go to the party.

For my Volkl Cross detailed review, see the Cross tread:

http://www.bomberonline.com/VBulletin/showthread.php?t=20641

[ruwi]

Stiff, too stiff with my 70 kg weight, and used a stiff burton wind boots made it even stiffer. We bailed out from work @1500 Hrs, was riding by 1600 Hrs. The cut was carvable enough that time but got worse when the sun was gone and temp colder. We managed to do the blue runs as well, me in WCR, Richard in 4WD but snow condition became crusty so Richard switched to softboots and his never summer premier, me just changed board to 3800 and we played in the mogul field of the peak. Later I hooked up with George with his proton. He was carving in the cut, nice and low with his raichle boots. I asked Richard for 2 runs to follow him and observe how he rides. Richard's comments, I will never be able to beat that dude. He is so fast. Me and George made few more runs after Richard and his friend in softies who left earlier.

I need a nice fresh groom run to handle that WCR better. Otherwise it's a nice and fast board for me at least. See you guys on Sunday.

ruwi

[Dave*]

The April 04 2008 Whistler Report

Had a couch to crash so...... No new, cold compared to Cypress, well below zero C, sweet hero cord. The Rhino lining pant repair did not hold up. Seen about 8 HBers including myself on the Whistler side. Ran into my old neighbor who is one of the OG hardbooters of whistler, ran with him for half the day, great fun watching some old school race style, Martin will try and hook up with the crew on the 20th. It aint a trip to W/B with out a trip down to Priors shop, much eyeballing of some of Chris's protos for next year, sweet indeed.

The April 05 2008 Whistler report

Still surfing that couch, nice not having to do the drive,

again well below zero C, intermittent flurries, more hero cord, visibility a bit more of an issue in spots today, crowds a bit heavier with the weekend traffic but not that terrible..

Chris P came out for the morning on his new proto titanal deck ,, sweet indeed, a pleasure to watch Chris ride, screw ECing, I need to fut it down with that style, new goal to strive for.

Before driving back to Vancouver had to do the "tour de ville" came across something interesting in Evolution in the back corner, hmmmmm what is that with the pointy noses,, Hey WTF a few Dupraz decks in 5'5" and 6.0" got yapping with the kid who steered me to the rep who works in a local tuning shop, of course I had to go check things out , am now lined up for a demo next week, will post full review and maybe some pics.

Also the crew at FanatykCo had a few HBs in stock very limited sizing, they have a few older Prior WCR square tail demo decks for cheap , 167 and a 175cm, ask for Budgie tell him Dave* sent ya,

Will be back on Cypress tomorow , I want to check the BX finals out,

Dave*

[BlueB]

Another fun day at the "office"...

15cm dump over night and snowing all day long, no students to teach and very few people on the hill, made for lots of fun. Visibility sucked, but we had few non-foggy moments. The afternoon's stronger dump of wet snow made me cry for my waterproof sailing pants, which I foolishly stored away few days ago.

Usual suspects, Dave, Roy, Ruwi and myself, were joined by our old friend, Rod softbooter (now a hardboot apprentice too). Fatter boards came out to play, to handle the freshies. Rod was badmouthing the ride of 4807 (he's got one too - a wall hanger), so I invited him for a run down a black diamond moggul field, opening up into flats with tracked pow and another big drop into steeps with mix of chop and bumps. Needles to say, when he finally arrived to the lift line few minutes after me, he had better oppinion of my board ;)

Dave and Rod spent most of the day poking around trees, while the rest of the crew stayed mostly on the runs, playing the chop/bumps and searching for untracked at the edges and into sparce trees to the right of the Rainbow. By the time we crossed over to Raven side, to ride No 1, 2 and 3, everything was baddly bumped/chopped. Great workout, but very few people on that side.

Few of the nicest runs we had were down easy glades, called the Cat Track, a mellowish blue. However, that runs out into Collins, a long green cruiser with lots of traffic. There, I had an incident (whenever I got hit, it's always on that run). There I am, carving the nice surf-style, medium sized arcs, pretty uniform in size and speed, and suddenly hear "Watch out!" followed by a light hit in my back and someone running over my tail. On my "What's wrong with you dude?" the guy proceeded to bitch about how I cut him of and can not turn like that, etc. On my remark on Alpine Responsibillity Code and uphill/downhill skier, he said "ok bring it on" gave me the finger and speeded away down hill. I caried on slowly, somwhat pissed off and shaken, just to find the guy talking to the Speed Cop on the side of the run. I quickly pulled of to them and said I was glad to find them together and quickly invited the Speed Controller to tell us about the Alpine Code. The guy pretty much trew a tantrum about my windy riding, not looking, and cutting him of while he was just inocently straightlining. Culmination was when he claimed that I actually passed him from behind and then turned in front of him. I just calmely responded that it's hard to belive that a constantly turning boarder would overtake a straightliner. He's final point was "look I've been snowboarding for 20 years" where I had to mention that my 35 years of snow sports is more but had nothing to do with this issue! Confused Speed Cop, who mostly just listened to our argument finally said, "well, was anybody hurt in this?" we both said no and the guy took of. Cop, who was kinda convinced to my case, still mentioned that one has to be on the watch for straightliners on that run...

Funny enough, Ruwi had to do a nose/chest dive to avoid a person falling just ahead of him, just one run before.

Stay away from the green cruisers...

[CarvingScooby]

Ola brotherhood...

REMINDER: This weekend will be the last season 07/08:(

Whos' coming this Saturday?

Boris

Dave

Doug

George

Rod

Roy:)

Ruwi

Who's coming this Sunday?

Boris

Dave

Doug

George

Rod

Roy:)

Ruwi

Ruwi

Note: Last year was given as "FREE"on Sunday, no money required for lift tickets!!! (I'll confirm again:p)

Roy

Last Weather report: This weekend will be carving conditon (will c:p)

[ruwi]

No on Saturday:(, will put on my skis and my son will be teaching me @Grouse.

No on Sunday:eplus2:, Staff fun ride/picture taking at Grouse.

Weekend weather will be +13 deg C. Part sunny/cloudy

See u at Whistler..

ruwi

[BlueB]

If a sneeky little plan worked out I might ride on Friday!

Probably not on Saturday.

Sunday for sure! Rip the cord in the morning, surf the slush in the afternoon.

[CarvingScooby]

Man O Man...that early:eek:...no wonder I don't like SUMMER:mad::rolleyes:

Doug: out on both days - c ya @ Whistler

Ruwi: too - c ya @ Whistler

Boris: Out for Sat - try sneaking on Friday:nono::p - c ya Sunday

George - Sat ∨ Sun? You'll b still in town?

And Joey have u try use the binding:confused:? U r not working this Sat:rolleyes:?

I guess only Dave* & Me this Sat:biggthump....unless he left for Whistler:(

Cheers

Roy:cool:

[Dave*]

Dave* will be Cypress tomorow (thurs) , soft booter Rod also, we will be destroying that tree stash again.

If conditons superb at Cypress will be there Fri/Sat/Sun also.

If condtions not so hot

Whistler Fri/Sat , back to Cypress fer Sunday ( cant miss last day for Cypress, might have to play a game of beer hunter )

Dave*

[Surf Rat]

if sunday is free i will be there

[BlueB]

Just checked the site:

All passes will be valid through weekend. That means if you didn't have at least a one-niter pass you'll probably have to pay.

[Dave*]

The thursday April 10 2008 report,

No new to speak of , around zero C early morning, warming to probably about plus 4 C by 1600.

Some very grippy cord first thing with a few little groomer surprises here and there, the cord got quickly worked over by a combination of factors , but mainly the warmish temps.

Midway not run, the entirety of Eagle closed and fenced off except for panorama , Bx n half pipe training still going on.

Raven chair had #1 buffed ,

Almost entire day was spent in the "deathstar tree stash" , basically a foot and a half of wet powder to be had, the Ti Fatjack proved to handle it but was a bit of a handfull due to lack of nose.

Of note it appears the Canadian Alpine Team is back training at Cypress for a bit, Fawcett/Loo etc spotted , plus a fair number of other HBers not normally seen.

Dave*

[BlueB]

Yup, I'll be on the hill tomorrow.

Are you in Dave?

[BlueB]

Great day! One of the best this year, in my book.

Hero conditions in the morning (wet very compact snow), a bit softer in the afternoon, no people.

I started my morning on the Bowen/Rainbow, as usual. Dave saw me across the vally, on top of the Upper Bowen, from the other mountain!?, reckognised the style and was quick to join me.

We stayed together for the day and tried each others boards in the PM (Prior metal FatJack and Virus Vampire).

That FatJack is one of the stiff mother, at least for a titanal board. Apparently Prior didn't change the lamination specs of the stock 19.5 board, just fattened the contour, which resulted in stiffer board... For my weight it's great for power carving. To EC on it, I couldn't just roll it over and expect the imediate and effortless hook up of Virus. I had to do a bit of cross through with small pop in order to power it into next laid turn. It has great edge hold like all Prors, and more. Made me tired quickly.

I think that Dave liked my Virus a bit less then I do - 19.3 waist is narrower then anything he likes riding.

We did a lot of filming too, some good stuff should come out.

National Alpine team had gates training. We got to talk to Mark Fawcett in the

parking lot. Whole team is on Kesslers KST shape and Hangles. One guy on Dalbello Krypton boots. Training area was closed for public, but Dave managed to do few shots from the chair lift, over the course.

We've got 2 potential convertees.

In the morning a softbooter/surfer dude approached me to express the admiration for my turns. We rode together for few runs, I gave him few tips to improve his softie carving. Next year he might try the Dark Side.

Other one was a Mountin Host skier guy, who worked as the training course security this morning. Saw us in the parking lot and inquired about advantages of alpine boards. Dave quickly showed him some of the footage we did this morning and directed him to Bomber site.

Boris