Recap Your '07-'08 Season

[Thor VonRippington]

even worked one whole season at the "Boat in 89-90 and playing drums at night. was even too busy making turns to chase chicks.

Don't kid yourself SS... there were no chicks to chase in the boat back then. Who were you drumming with? Probably saw you play... I used to leave the house at night back then. :p

[Thor VonRippington]

Snow Speedster,

Soon those rug rats will be on the snow with you and then kicking your butt. I'm so glad my dad was a skier and got my whole family into it. Oh, and in my day, we didn't have those fancy carving boards. We rode skinny wooden skis with cable bindings and lace up boots and we LIKED IT! But I digress .....

... and here I thought the Snow Goddess was timeless... dating yourself a bit C!

[0815-fahrer]

geeez... a mas reply from Mr. TVR himselves...

next year at SES you´re toast, buddy:ices_ange

[Thor VonRippington]

BRING IT!! ZERO... eight one five :rolleyes:

[0815-fahrer]

BRING IT!! ZERO... eight one five :rolleyes:

you dork... a 815 will bring you zilch

08:15 is the real dealfor me:D

edit... was there... done that... pfew.. got boring....remember??

[Thor VonRippington]

you dork... a 815 will bring you zilch

08:15 is the real dealfor me:D

:lol:... you got the dork part right

[0815-fahrer]

at least the sky-bar bill was somehow split...

[Thor VonRippington]

at least the sky-bar bill was somehow split...

Oh great! Now I owe you drinks? The end of the night was a bit fuzzy... all I know is the one drink I got for Michelle was like $20 ... and she didn't even pass out from it so I could take advatage of her.

[0815-fahrer]

Oh great! Now I owe you drinks? The end of the night was a bit fuzzy... all I know is the one drink I got for Michelle was like $20 ... and she didn't even pass out from it so I could take advatage of her.

double "ouch" here...... never owing drinks... but "sacrificials"

the holy bow-from-the-butt as promised <(teaching session)> never took place while Mr. TVR was not Slopeable... or equivalent: never seen riding... got some shots drinking though...:D

[SnowSpeedster]

Snow Speedster,

Soon those rug rats will be on the snow with you and then kicking your butt. I'm so glad my dad was a skier and got my whole family into it. Oh, and in my day, we didn't have those fancy carving boards. We rode skinny wooden skis with cable bindings and lace up boots and we LIKED IT! But I digress .....

Why young lady....<i>(insert Yiddish accent of an 80 yr old guy from Long Guyland)</i><br>I learned to ski with some crappy no name 160cm skis with screwed in edges, cable bindings, long thong straps that would windmill and slice your jugular when you yard saled, plus some leather boots with elastic laces and I thought I was KING SH*T! :D<p>Until I bought a pair of used Head 190 metal sandwich GS skis, Marker Rotomats and Nordica Astral Slaloms (I challenge anyone here to remember those! lol) That setup instantly humbled me...but I got good (okay,....mediocre) real fast by buddying up to the guys on the Saranac Lake NY high school race team and following their ruts through the gates at 10 below zero. Such a yutz I was.<i>(End accent)</i>

So far as my boys...<br>My 17 year old on a visit from GA was linking turns in 30 mins <br>My 15 year old sat down and cried on the bunny slope 'cause it was "too scary" ...Oy vey.<br>My 7 year old is going to have to wait 'til the 08-09 season to make tracks with Dad, but he's currently jumping off playground equipment, doing 360s in the air and sticking the landing perfectly! YEAH!!!<br>Help Daddy retire, kid...help Daddy retire. :D

[pebu]

My grandma tells me stories of skiing on wooden skis (no edges or anything) with leather straps back in the old country (Austria). Everybody should know these skis... They're the ones that are above the door in the lodge... Only 2m long. Probably 8cm wide at the nose... And the waist, and the tail... That would be a scary ride.

[EnisiWaya]

Why young lady....(insert Yiddish accent of an 80 yr old guy from Long Guyland) Oh like Eddie Murphy's portrayal of the old Jewish guy in

the movie "Coming to America"?

I learned to ski with some crappy no name 160cm skis with screwed in edges, cable bindings, long thong straps that would windmill and slice your jugular when you yard saled, plus some leather boots with elastic laces and I thought I was KING SH*T! :DUntil I bought a pair of used Head 190 metal sandwich GS skis, Marker Rotomats and Nordica Astral Slaloms (I challenge anyone here to remember those! lol) That setup instantly humbled me...but I got good (okay,....mediocre) real fast by buddying up to the guys on the Saranac Lake NY high school race team and following their ruts through the gates at 10 below zero.

:lol:My snow gear purveyor was a Mr. Solomon in Hartford, CT, we lived northwest of there a ways. He had the hardest to understand German/Yiddish accent but was very fair and good to me As my parents policy was we had to earn the money for our gear and then they would pay for lessons cello, skiing whatever.. Started with suede mucklucks and bear traps. Then we routed out the bottoms with a hand plane and screwed Salomon segmented metal edges on our skis. Next was the dover cable "safety release" bindings. Then came the Raichle laced inner and outer hiking/ski boots. THen we got our hands on some Teflon that Ensign Bickford Engineering (the Primacord / Darworth Folks)was trying to figure out what to use it for for Dupont. You had to burn it with a torch and then use aircraft grade contact cement to put it on the bottom of the skis. neat thing was it was the same thickness as the Salomon edges. No waxing all you had to do was scuff it with 220 sandpaper every couple of runs. I spent the winter of '64 on that set up training to become a ski instructor. We had to be full certified with tip rolls and GelandeSprungsAnd of course final forms and all that on command during certification exams to be able to teach our own classes in 65 at age 14.

With eastern junior full cert the parents helped with gear for '65. Got a pair of Alu omega metal skis(eventually became the omega core for Dynastar), Marker bindings and ...!!! drum roll the first pair of Dolomite leather 6 buckle racing boots in the town. You had to put them on with just a silk dress sock as one size smaller than shoe size. then put a chair in the bathtub fill it with hot water then sit there for two hours doing homework while gradually tightening up the corner buckle for the inner boot and then the outer boot buckles. Then steal Moms fancy Hood hose hair dryer to dry them. when dry you used a fish boning knife and separated the inner boot from the outer. Then you took Dr.s tongue depressors and some fiber glass resin and cloth from Kaman Aerospace, Hamilton Standard, or Pratt and Whitney (if yours did not someone in the neighborhood's dad did work at one or the other). Put the tongue depressors in vertically and fiber glass cloth on both sides of them. Insert foot and tighten buckles and wait for two to 4 hours for the resin to start to set up well. Now you had some serious lateral stiffness and could actually bend the skis and make them carve .

Head 190 metal sandwich GS skis, Marker Rotomats and Nordica Astral Slaloms

Wow ! just like the fancy New Yorkers who came up to the Berkshires on the weekend! Your ears must have been burning from the comments of the locals(even up at Saranac or Placid) as we raced each other down the trails. LOL You had the G Fox/Lord and Taylor/Neiman Markus rig..........We'd make comments like fancy never equals fast. and so on....:rolleyes:

Hope you take this all tongue in cheek brother.

BTW I went to CSU and taught at Eldora

AGGIES FOREVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Chase:biggthump

[bigdyno]

I managed to spend a few days on the slopes last winter, most importantly I did it without breaking anything ( me included).

I lucked out and was assigned to 4 on/4 off work shifts so I spent about fifteen days on the ice at Blue Mountain, I don't know who named it that but boy were they mistaken. It was my second season on a carver after waaaay to long on nothing. I started the season on my well used Nitro GTX and waited for the snow to fall before I took out my shiny new Coiler.

I also managed to get back to Switzerland for ten days of fresh snow and no lift lines, Zermatt is so cool! I took my brother and a couple of friends with me this time and had a blast, but I now hate granola and toast and the Euro version of chocolate Frosted Flakes as I had to eat them every day.

I hope to get out more this winter if work allows and can't wait as this year it will be a trip west to SES.

Is it snowing yet?

[*Ace*]

Last season...

Started the season off on my antique WFO 142cm Freestyle deck. Odd ass binding pattern had me drilling holes in my Burton bindings to make them fit. It was fun, but sketchy when going at speed. Switched back to the Morrow Freeride deck shortly after that. Went up to Bromely, first time in VT.

Bought my first Alpine board off of Ebay in Dec., '94(?) Burton PJ 162 Goofy, EVEN CAME WITH SKI BOOTS! That set the hook nice and deep.

Shortly after that I found this site and started posting. I met up with a few guys(dingbat, cail) one day up at Berkshire East, new terrain for me. After that AWESOME terrain, I needed to get a symmetrical board to see what all the fuss was about.

That led me into buying a DEMO '98(?)Burton Ultra Prime 165(?). Hot dog, this was getting better and better. I was having a blast on the PJ, still do, but this really was on another level. This board had a lot of snap, but was lacking in the edge hold dept. Went back up the Berkshire East where the snow was UNREAL this year, one of my favorite mountains. Took it up to Okemo, also new terrain. Met queequeg there on the slopes.<!---->

This had me searching the classifieds for something with some length. That led me to buy a Donek 175GS. Matched with a pair of Bomber TD1s and HOLY SH!T, this is what I was looking for in an alpine board. Plenty of edge hold, nice and firm but still damp(compared to Burton UP) and i loved the construction. The topsheet really is like one big stomp pad, great stuff. I took that thing up to Stratton(new terrain) and rode with dingbat, the conditions were bad that day, which makes want to ride this thing in epic conditions so badly.

Sadly that was the end of my season. I thought it might have been extended when I saw TVR's Virus' come into the classifieds. His Terminator Carbon Edition caught my eye, and I had to have it. I needed to see what all this Virus talk was about. I was supposed to go out there to CO late in the season, late April, but it never worked out.

Now I am sitting here with new equipment to ride, counting the days until the first flakes start to fall. Every week I hope I hit the lottery so I can splurge and fly to where the snow is.

As for next season, I already posted that in the 'Goals for 08-09' thread.

So yes, it was my first carving season, even though I only spent half the season carving. I went trough a whole timeline of carving gear. What do I have to say for it?

ALPINE > FREERIDE/FREESTYLE

[jolson]

Most time on board in years and with considerable amount of growing carvers showing up during the season. Thanks to Russ for the great input and I am sure his bank account is thanking me for funding his next big season as I vacumed all the stuff he was peddling...(and some he was not).

Advanced my skill set with the help of new(er) equipment (a long way to go)...

Sooooo.....lots of time on the snow, newer equipment, great people to share it with .....

I set the bar pretty high for next year.....if only I could find a way to SES

[ealely]

As for me, 2007 and 2008 seasons have been the best ever. In 2007, I was still living in China and I had to travel around to get some snow:D !

Are u ready to read ?? it's summer time so whatever

1/ Time : february 07 - Travelled from China to Switzerland (Shanghai to Geneva area via Paris) around 20 hours to get there (door to door) just travelling (plane, drive..)

I started with a week in Switzerland for the Extremecarving Session where I could ride about 4/5 days only, because of the weather condition and because I was too tired...but those tiny little villages in Switzerland are the best places on earth to rest (for me) :rolleyes:;

2/ Time : february 07 (Chinese New Year Break) - China to Japan.

After Switzerland, I came back to China but a few days later, I was already on slopes for Chinese New Year Break. You don't want to know the time I spent travelling from Switzerland to Japanese slopes within a week

So, I have been riding crowded japanese slopes for a nice week-end of snowboarding in Nagano area. The snow was melting very fast in the afternoon and I don't like it much . but well, first time riding in Japan..big time!

3/ September 07

Shanghai (China) to Auckland (NZ)... then to Queenstown (about 17 hours from door to door )

In September, I spent 2 weeks in New Zealand around Wanaka area with different types of riding, from carving, all mountain in powder and carving in water...I really spent 10 days riding snow but at the end, the snow was melting very fast, stopping the speed of your board suddenly...scary spring time oh oh. But New Zealand IS such a beautiful country, there you spend as much time riding than enjoying the landscape.

4/ Feb.08

From Paris (France) -- yeah finally I left China --to Geneva area, just a few hours drive.

Back to Switzerland slopes for another ECS..with what I would call "so so conditions", not a lot of fresh snow and a warm weather so, by 3pm I would be at home watching my favourite US TV soap :p

5/ March 08

From Paris to Chamonix (Mont-Blanc), a few hours of train. One week of riding (everyday, yeah!)) Already spring time kinda weather but Awesome..fresh snow, fesh powder while snowing time, and nice groomed slopes sometimes.

5 bis/ March 08, from Chamonix (France) to La Thuile in Italy..about 1H drive

I was tired to enjoy it 100% but "wouah", plenty of snow, good grommed slopes and good off-slopes rides..awesome :)

That was my 07-08 season, life is beautiful:p

Cheers,

[powdahbonz]

This sh***y east coast weather is making me wish snow were flyin'. I've got moss growing on me from so much rain! The lowlights would be only 8 days this year, but 5 of those were midweek days which was a +++. Burning quads, lots of laps, really felt good about my riding. Highlights, picked up a nice set of Burton Fire shells which were a game changer from my old boots, a great find on a used set of Catek olympics, a mint FP173 for $75 and my can't wait for next season, the Virus 182 care of Mellow Yello, care of shred and whom ever was on it before. So hopefully soon, like Keller Williams says, we'll be "floatin' on the freshies"!

[redriver]

...back in January, my gracious host guided me toward a few new mountains and deeper into the siren's song of carving. My thighs, however, weren't following my heart so I spent most of the trip trying to ride through the burn. Best day was the final one at the Loveland ES, riding above the trees with several rippers and exploring the limits of my F2.

Best buy: Found online a 185 WCR hiding in a shop in Canada and took it on my last trip (a whole 10 days for the season) and fell further in love with carving. Think I'm over the hump now and anxious to use the board on big terrain next season.

Worst day: Found out the hard way that 12" of groomed snow doesn't compact that far down. Running a lonesome blue one morning in New Mexico, made a nice turn and the nose of the WCR pushed through the crust, and pitched me on my helmet. Then later in blurred conditions, found that groomers hadn't completed their work on a run and hit the bumps on the right side at full speed. Messed up my ankle for a while but grateful that I don't have a really bad story like some of you.

This year at 50, looking forward to competing and still getting better at something very physical. Promise: my thighs will be prepared when they get back to Colorado this winter, Stan.

LC