Cousin of Beagle Posted December 2, 2009 Report Share Posted December 2, 2009 Freezing level is rising to 2200m tonight. Going early tomorrow morning to Grouse. Will take the Prior 169 4WD for the first time this season! So far, been on the Burton Vapor 157 and Dynastar 3800 163. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueB Posted December 2, 2009 Author Report Share Posted December 2, 2009 I did a ski session with Luka today. His new record: 2.5 hours of continuous skiing. Still bombing the fall line like a mini demon... Everyone around laughs at my unsuccessfull attempts to make him do "pizza"... Ah, well, another Crazy Canuck in training ;) Conditions, nice and sunny, cold. Empty hill. Very hard pack, but not ice. At 4pm it was -3C. Tommorow's high, for the city is 3-4C, so I guess about -3 again on Cypress... Should be a killer day for carving. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crucible Posted December 2, 2009 Report Share Posted December 2, 2009 Tony, Maybe I'll wax up the new Oxygen Proton and come up with you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ruwi Posted December 2, 2009 Report Share Posted December 2, 2009 Yes, we did met at Grouse before. Will be teaching again at Grouse Saturdays and Holidays. See you soon. ruwi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarvingScooby Posted December 2, 2009 Report Share Posted December 2, 2009 Freezing level is rising to 2200m tonight. Going early tomorrow morning to Grouse. Will take the Prior 169 4WD for the first time this season!So far, been on the Burton Vapor 157 and Dynastar 3800 163. Tony, how's the 3800 doin after new slick base waxed? Let us know the 4WD Tony,Maybe I'll wax up the new Oxygen Proton and come up with you! And report this year Santa's present;) Change plan going to Cypress today, instead decor day:p... Cheers Roy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crucible Posted December 3, 2009 Report Share Posted December 3, 2009 So here's my initial impressions on my new Oxygen Proton: At 168 in length, it's a very capable carving and racing deck- I think it's softer than my older Proton that has titanium butterfly wings and the flaming red topsheet, but not as soft as the full Titanal Proton that I have in a 172. Edge hold on icy packed powder is solid, and the nose and tail are responsive enough to keep you honest if you don't stay in the carving sweet spot. I tried to keep the same stance angles and stance width that I use on my other Protons to keep the comparisons as similar as possible. About the only minor gripe I can see on this new deck is that the topsheet material seems to melt and hold more snow on it than I'm used to- I might hit it with a layer of car wax this afternoon to see if it makes a difference. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cousin of Beagle Posted December 3, 2009 Report Share Posted December 3, 2009 Oh yeah. The waxing was awesome! Nice glide. Yesterday was a bit challenging for day#1 on the carve stick. Skidded most of the turns on the blue runs. Didn't see Crucible, although I could feel a disturbance in The Force. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueB Posted December 3, 2009 Author Report Share Posted December 3, 2009 Young Beaglewalker, Force with you, strong is! Of Dart Geo and his dark stick, beware you must... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crucible Posted December 4, 2009 Report Share Posted December 4, 2009 Sorry I missed you yesterday Tony. I got delayed with work stuff and finally made it to the hill by 1230. It was really interesting holding a carve through the bulletproof schnee that was in the shade, and then dealing with the softening corduroy once you got into parts of the runs that were hit by the sun. It was like moving in the Millennium Falcon at warp speed, and then BANG- coming out of hyperdrive, only without Chewbacca wailing in the background... What I really appreciated was having the runs clear and wide open- I might have to do this more often! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cousin of Beagle Posted December 4, 2009 Report Share Posted December 4, 2009 It's going to be bullet-proof for the next few days. freezing levels: Friday 800m Saturday 300m Sunday sea level Monday sea level and sunny every day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarvingScooby Posted December 5, 2009 Report Share Posted December 5, 2009 11.30AM when hit Midway. Granules & soften, morning mustbe ICY. Came together with Blueb and Luka. They both hit the magic carpet. 2008 Oxygen Proton -178. Stance 18.75" 55/50 on TD2 with TD3 second board kit modified. On Deeluxe Track700T + BTS. Thor "Kiprotech" Gloves This deck was the ride of the day. This board has plenty of edge hold, easy to ride, ride like a Cadillac. Hard to make this board skids. 2.5 hrs rode on this from Midway to Rainbow. It's a fun board. Was planning to switch to Prior WCR but too much fun and stay all the way. Too much fun forget to take pics. Next Run will compare O2-172 & Prior WCR-173W Cheers Roy 7 Days = 25.5 hrs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crucible Posted December 6, 2009 Report Share Posted December 6, 2009 Grouse update for December 5th- mountain was -4 degrees and sunny, and the tram was FULL, just not with skiers and snowboarders. Lots of tourists going up the mountain to get their fix of snow and the Christmas season- visiting Santa's workshop, checking out the reindeer, and skating on the pond. I got up there by 1130 and stayed until 1430- it was so icy that I started to have flashbacks of trying to carve my old Burton Performer on New Hampshire's Wildcat Mountain hardpack from the late 80's. Lots of jibbers were throwing their boards into survival slides just to keep from smacking their bums and faces into the snow. The rocks were really starting to come out of the moguls by mid afternoon, so I took my new Proton and went home. I'll have to do a quick edge tune to get rid of the nicks that I put into my new board, but it's officially broken in now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xy9ine Posted December 6, 2009 Report Share Posted December 6, 2009 Lots of tourists going up the mountain to get their fix of snow and the Christmas season- visiting Santa's workshop, checking out the reindeer, and skating on the pond. haha - we did exactly that w/ the kids today. tourist mode. beautiful day, but bulletproof. didn't feel too bad about not having my board with me. kid was stoked about riding the gondy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarvingScooby Posted December 6, 2009 Report Share Posted December 6, 2009 Crash, big crash. It happened less than 100 ft from RAINBOW main Station, I know I can't talk about it but witnesses, medic was there, saw and came and they all support me. Good thing no one injured or felt everything is still intact and work properly. Watch out for uncontrol straight liners guys...!! Forgot to mention saw a few thin carve S line on Midway and Rainbow, any one start early that day? At noon saw a carver with RED Toque with a 150 - 160 ish deck?Wakeupjohn or seungminiGS were you guys there that day? Cheers Roy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crucible Posted December 6, 2009 Report Share Posted December 6, 2009 I have noticed a lot of near misses and general lack of control on the local hill over the last 2 weeks. I think it's because the majority of skiers and snowboarders don't have their winter legs in shape yet, and when you combine this with the hardpack conditions that exist locally and the unforgiving nature of an icy surface, it can lead to a lot of carnage. I overheard 2 patrollers mention that they have already had 2 spinal cord evacuations off the hill in the first 2 weeks. I make sure that I look uphill before I start my run every time I start.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueB Posted December 6, 2009 Author Report Share Posted December 6, 2009 On the same day Scooby got taken out, I had some bad experiences too. I took a 4 year old kid for a ski lesson. On our 1st run down Collins, on Mike's Corner, a boarder straightliner zipped in between us, right in front of a speed cop. Controller took of after him, but was struggling to catch up... Then on the next run, we already past all the tricky parts of the run, working the lower wide part. I was in front giving the rhytm to the kid, when I heard something behind. Another out of controll fool actually crashed into the poor kid! My hart froze for a second. Then I saw kid standing up and not crying. On further examination I established that no injuries were sustained (and had to bite my lip not to beat up the guy). We released him without calling patrol... On the side note, later when I returned to Luka I saw young instructor Jeff absolutelly killing it on Midway. I spotted the guy that Roy's talking about, too. Also a good rider. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonbass Posted December 6, 2009 Report Share Posted December 6, 2009 That's brutal. I'm glad no one was hurt. Do you think people are getting more inconsiderate or has it always been like that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarvingScooby Posted December 6, 2009 Report Share Posted December 6, 2009 That's brutal. I'm glad no one was hurt. Do you think people are getting more inconsiderate or has it always been like that? Can't tell about the behaviour since this season is my 4th seasons but my theory population grows faster then the runs:rolleyes: I make sure that I look uphill before I start my run every time I start.... +1 and I did, always wait till the run was empty but when you are on "carving mode" the straight liner will catch up, in this case he cought up on the bottom of the slope. Good thing it was on the flatter slope, speed was reduced... Cheers Roy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crucible Posted December 6, 2009 Report Share Posted December 6, 2009 Roy, Knowing you and especially since you've had a big wreck on a snowboard, I have no doubt that you're squared away in terms of save boarding best practices.... I made my comment for the benefit of new riders on the forum who might not know that our particular style of snowboarding can cause some drama for other sliders who aren't familiar with it. When I was a ski patroller during the 90's on Cypress and Grouse, I made it a focus to ensure that out of control speed demons were held in check. I have had no problems with speed control and ski patrol on my home hill, mainly because they have seen me exercise control and safety even with my high speed turns. The important thing is the control part. Geo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueB Posted December 7, 2009 Author Report Share Posted December 7, 2009 It's a real bummer, he got taken out on an almost empty slope. It feels that the out of controll straightlining is on the rise... Or, is it due to the very hard pack that was prevailing for many days now? Most problematic group seems to be "strong" male riders in their early 20s. They have enough balance and strength to survive bombing a frozen black run, just flicking the board a bit left/right, but God help you if you get into their way :( Rainbow (my favorite carving black diamond) was such a gong show today, it took only one run for me to retire to the nearby Midway (nice wide blue run, short though) that normally sees very little use due to the slow chair. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueB Posted December 7, 2009 Author Report Share Posted December 7, 2009 So many things to write about today, almost don't know where to start... Roy decided to take it easy today, so I went on my own. I was expecting very frozen conditions, but was nicelly surprised to find "just" super hard surface and decent grooming. Temperature never got over -2C today, sunny skies, medium crowd (for Sunday), lots out of controll people... Midway was the run of the day, by far. Spent almpst whole day there, except for short excursions to Rainbow, where I got scared by the crowd. I also went to the Raven 1 and it totally sucked. Ice under thin shugarry layer, lots of pebbles. Ride out over bottom of Panorama and Lower Fork was just pure disaster. "Brown" ice (mig of blue ice and rock/soil/grass) on Fork. However, Midway was really, really sweet. I did about 6 hours straight riding (no lessons). I saw some kind of pretty informal mini PGS going on at the merger of Panorama and Fork, skiers and softboot snowboarders mixed. I decided to go check it out and see if I could have a run. Controller at the fenced off top of the Fork let me through when he saw the race board... So, I poatched a run down the PGS run, whith tons of fresh snow! Cannons are blasting full speed, whenever the temps are belloow freezing. It was a weird feeling... Then I ended up at the start of the race course. It turned out it was Vanoc, doing a test run, practicing the timing, setup, etc. They refused to let me through the gates and were quite confused how I managed to end up there... Rides of the day: Prior WCRM 173 and Kessler BX 168. I dont know if I put really crappy tune to the Prior, or I just couldn't make it work well with the new boots, but the edge hold was just so-so. I had to focus to make it work. Kes really stole the day, later on. I think I have her figoured out. Effortless to ride and I had way more edge hold then on Prior... I tested a new boot setup: Suzuka with Zipfit liners and blue BTS. I don't know what to say... I definitelly could flex lower in those boots then in my Dalbellos. Indespite of the mighty Zipfits, my old (Deluxe) nemesis, the heel lift, was back. Especially on the front boot. To the point that it made riding on steep ice impossible. I'm not quite sure that I liked the feeling on the narrower Prior and TD3s. However, on the Kes, with lower angles and Snowpros, they worked really nice! I still have to experiment more... Front boot gave me a monster bang on the front calf (never had that before)?! Probably too much forward lean and I didn't like the cuff spoiler (took it out later). One funny observation: The clip-in length on Suzuka 26 is slightly BIGGER then on the Dalbello 26 ski boot! I thought it would be other way round, as the Dalbello is the same shell as Head Stratos and engraved number on Stratos sole is 1cm bigger then on equivalent Deluxe boots. That would probably mean they just measure the sole length diferently. I brought an alpine setup for Jesica the instructoress: Killer Loop 159 with Blax bindings. She seemed really exited and motivated. We started the alpine training last year, but then she got distracted by the preps for her CSIA 1 and the skis took priority over the alpine board... TO keep the motivation up this time, I've trown a chellange upon her: If she can rail that board without any skidding by mid January, she can have it for free! On my way out, in the parking, a guy started to ask questions about alpine. It turned out he's Nick, the head coach of the Cypress Ski Race Club, but he used to coach alpine before! Apparently, he watched me for the most of the day and gave me couple of pointers. We chit-chatted about gear a bit, good places to carve in Europe, racers and styles... Apparently, he's hart is still with alpine, but he can not make the progrm happen (no money in it). Even Ski Race program seems to suffer nowadays. Ah well, he's on the hill all the time, we'll chat to him again. Maybe we can convince him to let us run the stubbies here aand there... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarvingScooby Posted December 7, 2009 Report Share Posted December 7, 2009 Roy decided to take it easy today, so I went on my own. I was expecting very frozen conditions, but was nicelly surprised to find "just" super hard surface and decent grooming. Temperature never got over -2C today, sunny skies, medium crowd (for Sunday), lots out of controll people... :smashfreaI sudn't drink that "HORSE" pin killer:nono: Felt way better today, think I got a mild whiplash, felt behind me neck swollen for 2 days, and right shoulder side bruces and I'm under my armour. I wonder how the straight liner felt today after I chopped his both legs from the back ( he was back flip in the air due the impact). Side note Always check your gears if this is happen to you guys. After the accident, I cheq all my gears and seems every thing is intact and work properly and continue my rides. The nxt day what I found that the sole block (toe & heel) shift sideways under my front boots:eek:, good thing screws still tight and still hold the sole block tight:smashfrea. Cheers Roy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueB Posted December 7, 2009 Author Report Share Posted December 7, 2009 I forgot to mention: Thor gloves work great! Thanks Bro, wonderfull early Christmas present. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wakeupjohn Posted December 8, 2009 Report Share Posted December 8, 2009 Crash, big crash. At noon saw a carver with RED Toque with a 150 - 160 ish deck?Wakeupjohn or seungminiGS were you guys there that day? Roy, sorry to hear that you got an accident. I was at Mt. Seymour on Saturday and Sunday for checking the slopes and went to Whistler today. I am also going Whistler tomorrow again to test a Prior WCR demo board. I would like to hang out with you guys and ride at Cypress but just have no time to ride at other mountains on weekends. Are you guys riding at Cypress in weekdays? I will probably be able to come up this Friday and next Monday, Tuesday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarvingScooby Posted December 8, 2009 Report Share Posted December 8, 2009 Roy, sorry to hear that you got an accident.I was at Mt. Seymour on Saturday and Sunday for checking the slopes and went to Whistler today. I am also going Whistler tomorrow again to test a Prior WCR demo board. I would like to hang out with you guys and ride at Cypress but just have no time to ride at other mountains on weekends. Are you guys riding at Cypress in weekdays? I will probably be able to come up this Friday and next Monday, Tuesday. Thx, I'm absolutely fine now. I'm more worried abt the straight Liner, well he learned his lesson...I hope. For sure Friday and maybe this Wed if I can make it. Count BlueB in. Any one else? Which version (wide) & length you gonna tested?:rolleyes: This week if groomed, these will be compared (year 2000??) Oxygen Proton-172, 2008 Oxygen Proton-172, 2009 Prior WCR Wide-173. So if you are not in Cypress that day who was the RED Toque ...seungminiGS? Cheers Roy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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