The Windup

[KingCrimson]

I had lots of clicking today. My balls grew two sizes and I was comfortable at ANY speed I reached, thus I was having fun on an EMPTY black diamond.

Had it to myself. Just some old skier on it, I told him that it was my turf, and he told me I could walk home.

There are a few things that I want to make sure I'm doing right so that I don't burn them in my head incorrectly. The first and foremost is the windup. In harder snow in the morning, I would just get some speed, compress, tilt, extend, compress, cross the board under and extend once more. Very cool feeling when you recognize that the board is uphill. Anyway, as the snow got softer, I quickly found out that simply tipping the board on edge resulted in falling in softer snow. I built some speed, compressed partway, and did a light carve in the opposite direction of the carve I ultimately wanted to make. During this carve, which had no appreciable radius, I would "sink" towards the board, and then change edges and go about carving normally. Is this the correct method for the windup? Am I applying it properly?

A few other things I noticed:

1. The big sidecut RULES! It forces you to focus on how much you are actually driving the nose. If I simply tilt that board on edge as I did with the Burton or the Proton that I tired, it turns a radius that wouldn't be useful on any slope. I really understand driving the nose to tighten up turns. I understand that it's stiff, so I can't imagine what a softer board would be like; with this board I can be taking a lazy carve, get all the way on the front and the world turns to a blur until I point back uphill. This must be the appeal of the Schtub.

2. How much breaking at the waist is too much? There is a picture of Jim Callen from the 06 SES (it was the picture prior to the one in his avatar in the album) where his knees are all the way bent, and it is as if his chest is touching his knees. Is this the limit for leaning forwards?

Thanks,

Theo