GabrielH Posted April 5, 2009 Report Share Posted April 5, 2009 My first day snowboarding with hardboots n plates Board: Nidecker 156 Bindings: Oxygen Boots: Nordica Ski boots:eek: Traveling to the mountain was really tedious, i was totally psyched to try the board that boris(blueb) lent me:) Then finally when the 2 longest hours of my life were over i was at the top of the run(The cut) I stepped into my binding and Put the toe thing on with lots of diffuculy, it was a very awkard position. Then i got up and launched into the run, With my binding angles at 65/60 i felt the stance to be very awkward since i usally run a 39/21 on my softies. I picked up some speed and slowly leaned into a carve. Suddenly i lost by balence and almost fell but right before i hit the snow, my board just suddenly locked in and pulled me around the carve:) i was so amazed but then after the carve ended unsuspectingly the board just suddenly popped and i got a ton of air. Then lets say i did a EC without carving or getting up:AR15firin oww!! lol Then i got back up and tryed doing the rest of the run. What really amazed me was how will the board ripped through the ice at this point i knew i was born to be in hardboots=) After about 10 awesome runs the sun came out and the snow got really chunky. What i noticed was with this setup i felt every single bump:eplus2: and that really gave me this nervous feeling but i tryed to bend my legs and absorb them, without success with those ski boots boris lent me i couldnt lean forward so when i bent my knees my ass stuck out and made me lose my balence. I tryed loosening my boots up and that helped...a little but i still had problems Finally out of frustration, i just left the top buckle, along with the powerstrap undone and that worked for me Later that day, the sun dissapered and then the crappy snow became hard again for a while. I took this opertunity to try some layout EC carves i managed to pull a few frontside ones but even with this setup i still couldnt do my heelside:angryfire O well il learn it sometime. As my conclusion, i LOVE Hboots i got so much more control, and i didnt bust my ankle everytime i skid out! Im a Hbooter forev! Side notes: People kept on staring at my board and wondering "What the hell is that?" it got really annoying. I also met tye with the green burton board up there and he gave me some advice. Thanks to all the people like Doug, Rouey, Boris, Tye and maybe others for helping me out with carving. If i did not meet these people i might have ended up a park rat:smashfrea Thanks everyone for helping me! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeGogoussier Posted April 5, 2009 Report Share Posted April 5, 2009 A spectacular and inspiring first post ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueB Posted April 5, 2009 Report Share Posted April 5, 2009 ...to wonderfull world of alpine riding and to Bomber, Gabe! I'm glad you put that setup to the good use. Few tips regarding the boots: Please don't call them ski boots, as you'll have half of the members here flaming me and you for using those. They are Nordica TR9, a well used AT and snowboard boots. Yes they do feel stiff compared to soft boots, but are way, way softer then ski boots and softer then many modern hard boots. I would refrain from riding with buckles undone, you can hurt yur ankles by doing that. There is a lever at the back of the boot, I forgot to mention it when you picked them, that puts the boot in the ride or walk mode. If they feel too stiff in the ride mode (you are light weigh), you could switch them into walk mode and everything will be just fine with buckles on. Well, have fun. I really hope to be able to work with you a bit before the end of the season, at Cypress. Otherwise, hook up with Doug and Ruwi at Grouse. Boris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GabrielH Posted April 6, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 6, 2009 Sorry about calling them ski boots but on the back the mode is between ski/walk so i just assumed. I already noticed the lever before i got on the slopes, i tryed experminting with it but found that it made absoulotly no differnce=( unfortunatly i wont be able to make it to cypress either Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack M Posted April 6, 2009 Report Share Posted April 6, 2009 nobody's going to flame you for saying ski boots. :rolleyes: There is some info on getting started in the links below. Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
serge Posted April 6, 2009 Report Share Posted April 6, 2009 Side notes: People kept on staring at my board and wondering "What the hell is that?" it got really annoying. I also met tye with the green burton board up there and he gave me some advice. Thanks everyone for helping me! Glad to see more newcomers like me....just a suggestion.. don't get annoyed with the comments you hear.... alot of people don't even know that alpine snowboards exist...and you will hear more from where that is coming from As a matter of fact.. you may turn some of these people to the dark side I had one guy run after me... I guess he saw me carving earlier... He just said " What the hell is that.. and where to I get one!?". I spent at least 15 mins chatting it up with him. showing him the equipment, explaining the difference . I suggested that he check out Bomber... for used stuff, and asked him to check out Prior, Donek , abd Coiler. He left with a smile on his face.. telling me..."Great Thx! Watch for me next season..!"... Mission accomplished Another time, I saw an instructor on HB.. made of point of going up the lift with him thinking he might show me some stuff.. Turns out he was a ski instructor on a break .. trying out his board hhe just bought used... I ended up spending a couple of hours trying to help him out... He went from skidding to doing a couple of carve on his first time out... I even make a point of acknowledging people staring at my board...by just smiling at them... just that will open up a bunch of questions .... alot of people are quite intimated by hardbooters... The funniest comment I got this season was : "Man, you must really get some air in the park with that thing ":) So at the end... just be patient, and "promote" the sport... Alpine snowboarding is still a "fringe" sport.. and it is really up to us to keep it alive... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ruwi Posted April 11, 2009 Report Share Posted April 11, 2009 Just to mention Gabriel is 13 yrs old. At his young age and the skills he developed just this season, he will be an awesome alpine rider. He really need a good boot set up to begin with. I met him again today Good Friday. He has the same problem when I started, my alpine boots will be the same size as my street shoes:mad:. He said his foot is size 9, but MP is 24.5, that is the problem. We switched boots briefly with my Raichle SB 123 that I was wearing MP 25 and was still loose for him. Heel lift that he encountered causing to go out of control sometimes. That NordicaTR boots is also loose for me but I found it better to ride with than my SB 123:D. Boris(BlueB) sure knows good gears. Gabriel, Since we will be riding again tomorrow and Sunday, I will bring my heel insert for you to try and hope this will help. Was riding from 0830 Hrs - 1330 Hrs. Morning runs was awesome with my UP 168 until the runs became soft and turned into slush and bumps. Too much work for my old knees and being lazy after holidays at Cuba.:lol: Sorry Garbiel I have to leave. I'm an old man, that is always my excuse. He continued to ride alone. I can see some faces from teens of his age wondering why this kid is riding with an old man like me and not with them. Some asked him repeatedly what is that:freak3:what is that:confused: I just smiled at them to my satisfaction. In my mind, hey dude he is my riding buddy. Grouse Mtn season was extended until the 26th April. I no longer teach but will just be riding and maximize my riding time. Two weeks off due to surgery, another week of Beach time, I missed a lot of time in the snow. Cheers, Ruwi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueB Posted April 11, 2009 Report Share Posted April 11, 2009 Sure sounds that you guys were having fun! If Cypress closed early (they haven't anounced yet), Roy and I should come play with you sometimes... Those Nordicas are suposed to be 25 mondo... Yup, they feel nice and flexy for my 180lbs, I guess I could use them as freestyle boots :D They have better heel hold then majority of Raichle SB boots which don't suit my foot shape... Funny enough another old pair of SB 121s I've got have most heel hold of any boots I have!?! Oh, btw, Gabe, the smaller Raichles I told you about, are back from the girl who had them on loan. If you wanted to swap sometimes, you are welcome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GabrielH Posted April 11, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 11, 2009 I think i will be okay but thx BlueB Hey ruwi any chance you can let me try out the raichlee 123s with the heel inserts, the boot is ok for me lengthwise its just heel lift, i love how flexy they r!thx=) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GabrielH Posted April 11, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 11, 2009 After ruwi left i got this nice guy to take a vid of me boarding heres the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54gDm9Ddnf4 Also a nice pic of me Attached to the post i think.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueB Posted April 11, 2009 Report Share Posted April 11, 2009 Sweeet! You are railing it, Gabe! Give it a year or few and you'll be riding circles around us, old farts :D Try aggressive rotation into the heel side: look way into the turn, forward hand past the heel edge, shoulders and hips square to the nose, rear hand rehing for he forward knee, both knees driving into the turn. Keep up good work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KingCrimson Posted April 11, 2009 Report Share Posted April 11, 2009 Cripes! Neither I nor Arclite are cool and special anymore! :lol: Awesome riding! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ruwi Posted April 12, 2009 Report Share Posted April 12, 2009 Me and Gabriel rode again today. 2 cm of new snow,and snowing when I arrived at the hill, but wet, pretty wet snow and foggy as well. Not as good as yesterday. As usual Gabriel is inspired. He said his mom forgot to put the footbed when she cleaned and dried the liner. That explains the heel lift. He is railing it until popped, oops, let Gabriel explain why later:( to Boris. We saw Steve and his son carving as well and his older son wanted a carving board too. I offered my old Revelation alpine board that I only used a couple of times for him to get started and I will fit it with a set of Fritschi Bindings. Let the cool young ones join us. We are creating a good impression when they see us carve the slope. Today my fellow instructor Chris from UK asked me, hey Ruwi, is that boy(Gabe) your kid? I told him I wish. He was laughing and commented that kid will go a long way in alpine board. He is so cool:D. I will let him try again my SB 123. Later, ruwi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GabrielH Posted April 12, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 12, 2009 Im really sorry about what happened. overall it would have been a good day except for these things: During the morning i noticed my boots suddenly got loose so i thought id buckle them up tighter then i noticed that the top buckle was broken:mad: I have no idea how since i always leave my top buckle undone anyways:confused: , but despite that i managed to ride for a while. then a stupid dumb skier going really fast:nono: crashed into me head on I was fine except for a huge bruise on my lowerforarm:p However the board did take some damage theres this scratch going across the top sheet and a little bit of the top layer thing got scratched off...is this ok? will the board still work?? im really sorry once again..Hopefully its fixable edit: btw i checked the board and the scratch is only on the topsheet and didnt go through and my internet resources say the boards still fine:rolleyes: but it kinda looks bad=( I have no idea about the boot tho Gabe Btw: the skier didnt even say sorry and i was the one in front and by the alpine code i clearly hide right of way..it wasnt even a big turn i was just doing pushpull like in the vid!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave ESPI Posted April 12, 2009 Report Share Posted April 12, 2009 Gabriel welcome, and you indeed got a taste of the "Crash course of hardbooting" as we clash with skiers and others on the slopes ! lol. We all have had one (or more) of these kind of situations. Just remember to be cool and level headded about it, and be respectfull and things tend to be OK when dealing with others. If they dont say "Sorry", its on them, their bad mojo. Keep plugging along , and the "Swivel head" (look before you lean) is your best defense against such interlopers crossing your path on a blind turn ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GabrielH Posted April 12, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 12, 2009 I just feel really bad about it though since it wasnt my gear =( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GabrielH Posted April 12, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 12, 2009 Hey boris, i heard that privilaged passholders can take one person for free to cypress any chance u can let me tag along? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tenorman Posted April 13, 2009 Report Share Posted April 13, 2009 hi GABE nice riding in the video. that’s the first time i’ve seen you ride in hardboots—i’m impressed. You are railing it, Gabe! Give it a year or few and you'll be riding circles around us, old farts :D BLUEB's quote would be more accurate if the word YEAR was replaced by the word WEEKS. i have seen GABE carve on softboots and he rips. i think he was just unfamiliar with hardboots as that was his first time using them during the video. the video definitely did not show what he is capable of due to his ill fitting equipment. i think next year we will all have trouble keeping up with GABE! GABE, continue practicing the KEEPING YOUR SHOULDERS PARALLEL TO THE SLOPE exercise i showed you the last time we rode together at the end of march. you were consistently close to grabbing your non turning edge when you were still riding on your soft boots so maybe your hardboots need some tweaking/and or downsizing in order for you to regain your previously more angulated riding form. take BLUEB’s advice to NOT eurocarve (banked turns) until you can properly racecarve (angulated turns.) racecarve style allows you to ride in EVERY snow condition while eurocarving doesn’t work when snow conditions deteriorate. That Nordica MP 25 and was loose for him. Heel lift that he encountered causing to go out of control sometimes. you can make a small boot bigger but UNFORTUNATELY, you can’t make a big boot smaller. in your case since it is a nordica boot, you may wish to contact bomberonline member PAT DONNELLY for possible help. i remember him posting on bomberonline about 10 years ago that he was able to use a pair of size 11 (mondopoint 28) nordica sbh boots even though he only had a size 10 foot. i can’t remember what he did exactly but I seem to recall it was quite comprehensive. i can vaguely remember him posting about making a shim board to take up volume under the footbed and some sort of homemade neoprene ankle immobilizer to keep his heel from lifting and maybe some sort of tongue pad also. i am probably forgetting some other things he did to make his boot SMALLER so it’s probably best to contact him and get it directly from the horse’s mouth. sorry i couldn’t join you and ruwi today. i made that dvd of the eurocarving that you wanted and will give it to you next week. just promise me you won’t try anything you see on that dvd until AFTER you perfect your racecarving lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GabrielH Posted April 14, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 14, 2009 Hey doug u gonna be up there next weekend also i'm working on my pushpull atm the bomberstyle just doesnt appeal to me Btw its not my gear boris lent it to me=) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GabrielH Posted April 14, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 14, 2009 Im able to do pushpull in almost any condition the way i do it in icy is i get air inbetween the turns, then my edge penetrates deeper and it works quite well im still not able to do good EC but as i said i can lay down a front one..barely Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KingCrimson Posted April 14, 2009 Report Share Posted April 14, 2009 Gabe, I used to think the same thing, EC certainly seems a lot cooler at first! However, you will find that angulated race carves are not only much more accessible from an early point in your riding, but they really are more versatile. You will find that you can use angulation anywhere, anytime. That's not to say it's cool that you're learning EC; the bigger your toolshed of the techniques, the more snow you can trench in! Keep trenchin! Theo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueB Posted April 14, 2009 Report Share Posted April 14, 2009 Im really sorry about what happened. overall it would have been a good day except for these things: During the morning i noticed my boots suddenly got loose so i thought id buckle them up tighter then i noticed that the top buckle was broken:mad: I have no idea how since i always leave my top buckle undone anyways:confused: , but despite that i managed to ride for a while. then a stupid dumb skier going really fast:nono: crashed into me head on I was fine except for a huge bruise on my lowerforarm:p However the board did take some damagetheres this scratch going across the top sheet and a little bit of the top layer thing got scratched off...is this ok? will the board still work?? im really sorry once again..Hopefully its fixable edit: btw i checked the board and the scratch is only on the topsheet and didnt go through and my internet resources say the boards still fine:rolleyes: but it kinda looks bad=( I have no idea about the boot tho Gabe Btw: the skier didnt even say sorry and i was the one in front and by the alpine code i clearly hide right of way..it wasnt even a big turn i was just doing pushpull like in the vid!!! Ok, Gabe, sht happens... The only really important thing here is that nobody got injured. As you choose to discuss the issue only online, not even mentioning when we spoke on the phone, nor emailing, you'll get the schooling online too. "Sorry" doesn't help much. You already know the Alpine Code, time is to learn the unwritten "Bro Code". That code says: "You brake - you buy". So, the cool thing for you to do would be if you had asked to buy the goods, then even cooler thing for me to reply would be to say "No worries". Simple isn't it? Now imagine I had lent you the 1500E Virus Vamipire... You broke it and then just say "sorry" online... Dosn't sound rigth, does it? If the fibreglass is showing through those chips and scratch, it would need to be sealed with epoxy, so the water doesn't get in. Ask someone how to do it, or bring the board here and we'll do it together. It's really simple and you probably can do it yourself. I do not quite see or understand, from the photo, what is the damage on the boots. We need to look into repairing them. VERY IMPORTANT: I told you before - do not ride with the buckles undone, that is a great way to hurt yourself. Also, it is a lot easier to damage / brake of a buckle when loose - any minor impact can take it off... Now to a more pleasant topic: The Cypress "Bring a buddy along" deal, you heard about, starts from the Thursday 16th. I've checked with the Guest Services and yes, instructor passes are entitled for free guests too. That means you can join for a day, most likely Sunday, but I might go some other day too. The only thing that can come in your way is a very, very unlikely event of my wife wanting to ski that day... Later, Boris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crucible Posted April 14, 2009 Report Share Posted April 14, 2009 It looks like the top cuff on one of Boris' Nordica TR8's is sheared off... The ding on the board looks like it's past the topsheet and is into the fibreglass, but the pic isn't too clear. Either way Gabe, it looks like you owe Blue B some cash for a replacement deck and boots. I suggest getting in touch with Boris off-line and getting him squared away. George Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazyTKDsquirrel Posted April 14, 2009 Report Share Posted April 14, 2009 That's exactly why I don't like borrowing other people's stuff. You never know when stuff like that can happen. But as BB said, the good thing is that no one got hurt. Just remember that other ppl on the mtn. are oblivious to our style (going perpendicular to the fall line) and you really need to watch out for others above you, even if you DO have the right of way. Good luck on the repairs and keep on trenchin' Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GabrielH Posted April 14, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 14, 2009 I assumed that you would already make me pay for it i didnt think you would want me to say...well ill say it now; ill pay for the repair of any damages and if not repairable i will just buy if off you, sorry about that usally when you break something someone lent you, U pay for it so i thought that was gonna happen...As for the boots the top buckle is broken.=( sorry again for not mentioning it, if u want me to ill just buy that board off you since now yo have probally no chance of selling it now...its not really what i wanted to get since i had my heart set on another board but if you want me to i will Thx alot for everything you have done for me, again. ttyl, gabe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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