Who rides both, hard boot and soft

[Bobby Buggs]

Im really going to make an effort to try softboots again this season. Have not been on them since 95. What should I expect??

[BlueB]

Pain...

Sucking performance...

I ride softies only when I have to.

[rjnakata]

I bought a soft set up a few years ago with the idea of "relaxing" from hardboots.

I bought the stiffest boots/bindings I could find. It felt like I had half the control and responsivness of hardboots. The boots were comfortable, but overall it was very dissapointing. After one day, I sold everything (at a big loss).

Maybe I just need to get better at snowboarding.

[snowboardworm]

i have gone the other way. i went from soft boots to picking up hardbootin for boards AND skiis. Soft booting was starting to bore me silly and i wasnt' having any fun on the hill. I tried Hardbooting and my face went WOW!!! these things rail!!!!!

where i am, there aren't any half pipes to spice it up and the grooming can be the sh$t$. anyway, i notice that when i'm getting tired on the hardboots, and depending on conditions, i will switch to skis or softboots as these are easier based on my conditioning at the time.

if theres a decent amount of fresh powder i don't even use skis or the hardboots but use my softies with my powder board. home mountain is powder king in northern bc.

however, if conditions are marginal i won't be using the soft boot setup as its much less precise.

i'm not someone who can tell you what scr my boards are. i just go out and have fun. i experiment all the time with my setups and i'm itching to try my hardboots on my powder board.

so my thoughts are this. rent or borrow to see if you can get accustomed to softboots as its not as demanding or as precise as hardbooting.

[polaris]

I always have fun in softboots. Powder days, late season slush, riding w/ my daughters, tuckerman, colorado off piste, and whenever else i feel like dialing back a bit and cruising the hill. I get solid performance out of my soft boot gear.

You should expect to be surprised by the lack of lateral support from soft boots. Getting around the lift is a pain. Drop the angles back as Bordy suggests 18/9 or -9. I run higher angles around 33/20 maybe a little less. YMMV.

[b0ardski]

10 years ago, after a decade on hardboots, I bought clickers and the stiffest K2 boots, used them 3 days and sold them at a loss to a friend in need.

This year I bought new flow amp9s and burton drivers which I used 1 day and are now for sale.

There is just some thing about board response & edge control I really like.

Every decade or so I just have to remind myself why I put up with the convenience of streamlined, unbreakable stepins:smashfrea

PS IMHO Raichle 123-4s w/thermoflex are the best all mountain powder specific boots ever made, but then my knees won't do duck.

[GeoffV]

PS IMHO Raichle 123-4s w/thermoflex are the best all mountain powder specific boots ever made, but then my knees won't do duck.

+1, 123's are my Tuckersmans boots and just do better than a softies.

[Loc]

I bought a pair of Burton Driver-X boots a few years back for 60% off of new but haven't gotten around to using them yet. Perhaps this season I will if I can find some good bindings to mount on the Prior ATV. I've been following the splitboard forums and they seem to like the Drivers for their stiffness too.

[DiveBomber]

I only use them to practice things things I try to take over to HB's, so mostly in the park, and occasionaly in powder, but I could never ride them all day like I can in HB, not to mention the heel drag(almost broke my front ankle on a violent blowout on a carve!)

[MUD]

I still love softies. I don't like them stiff, and run relaxed angles. If it wasn't for another purchase I did this fall, I would have a Donek Saber and would be lovin' every minute of it!

Don't be afraid to embrace your soft side.....

[chippermon]

I prefer the hardboots but I still ride my softies every now and then. Sometimes it's fun to dick around in the park, jump the drop offs in the terrain under the chair, get big air, do some jibbin'.

I noticed that ever since I started hardbootin' I have become a much better soft booter. Much better.

[slopestar]

primarily a soft booter. I have been on Flow bindings since their inception. 1995 prototypes at Kelly's Camp @ Blacomb. I have dabelled in three straps and hard boots since 90' and have recently committed(last 2 seasons) to at least 5 runs a day on the hard boot setup. The local mountain"terrain features" are like litter instead of fun for me and snowboarding at MT High West is torture. Skid, skid, skid, 1080 to nose press B.S.>.... More and more as I get older that I am finding snowboarding new again when riding hard boots and alpine boards. If only the legs could take it all day...I'll get there!

[slopestar]

I bought a pair of Burton Driver-X boots a few years back for 60% off of new but haven't gotten around to using them yet. Perhaps this season I will if I can find some good bindings to mount on the Prior ATV. I've been following the splitboard forums and they seem to like the Drivers for their stiffness too.

Buy flow for the convenience and the support. Easy in and out with tons of support. Just buy last years top o' the line freeride binding and save some dough! You will not be disappointed.

[dingbat]

I ride both soft and hard boots.

I find it works best if you use the soft one in the front.;):p

[earthsurfing]

Soft gear as come a long way since you last rode it. As many here have already said, at first you'll feel quite a lag in response- but its a whole different game.

I'd recommend trying the EST gear, although your limited to under 30 degrees or so.

I'm primarily a soft booter who was recruited to race on hard boots. Even on my Factory Prime, I was still hitting kickers and riding the trees- plus getting higher out of the pipe and clearing longer tables than possible on soft gear.

Depends on what your looking for.

These days I'm mostly in backcountry or steep, technical, powder in tight woods. So pretty rarely on the hard stuff...

But- I still take out the race gear and have an f'ing blast.

If I was on a mountain with wide groomers, I'd probably be on it even more.

(and if I didn't down size so much that my race boots aren't even remotely comfortable! See my other post looking for more appropriate boots!)

I think you'll have a great time.

[slopestar]

I ride both soft and hard boots.

I find it works best if you use the soft one in the front.;):p

Oh,:lol: you funny guy!

[kinpa]

I've given up on my soft boots.... still got two pairs that I should probably try to sell one of these days. They just hurt my feet to much. Probably because I'd tie them as tight as possible, and still be unhappy.... also, they were part of a step-in system so the strap over the top just sat real hard on my bone spurs.... For anyone who skiis to, I realate it to going from stiff racing boots to tele or back country boots.... I just felt so sloppy in them.

[Snowman]

Don't do it Bobby!

[Tim W]

Snowman,

We will see how much you love your hardboot setup if you ever get out to the Pacific NW on a big powda day!

I love the control of hardboots and ripping carves, but soft boots are all about riding a little loose. Not the greatest carving setup, especially if you have toe or heel drag, but on a big pow day you can go all day without fighting your acid filled legs.

[Snowman]

Raichle 700s on everything. Burners, Donek, Prior Split, Fish, Volkl cross. Timeeeee you know softies just aren't for me.

Speaking of big powder days, you getting any?

Think Snow!

[photodad2001]

Last year I hardbooted the whole season. Actually last year was the first year I had hard boots for the whole season. (had them the last month of the season before) I went out my first day this year last week on hard boots HOWEVER... tonight I took my daughter out for her first ride of the season and chose to break out my 151 K2 with softies (simply because I knew my daughter wouldn't be able to keep up and I had to have fun so there it is). The weirdest thing was is that even though I had the intention of riding more like a baggy pant rider I found myself stuck in carve mode, and even though my toe-sides were practically nonexistant, my heel-sides were really frigin' unreal!!! My daughter even said I looked like I was bouncing my butt off the snow. I was only going like 15mph (this board only has like a 7 scr) but I was digging in deep and getting as low if not lower than I do on my other boards. I'm still not sure why I was able to do the heelsides like I was doing on this board because on my other carving boards it's my toesides that are my strong point. I haven't taken this thing out in 3 years and I definately haven't been able to "carve" on it like I did tonight. I'm thinking the flat stance with the high backs gave me the rigidity to heel it while not having the ability on the toe side edge, but I couldn't get over how slow I was going either. It's weird when you change things up like that and see how your riding has changed when you go back to a setup made for park riding. Tonight actually made me wonder if I shouldn't start looking at wider carving boards (23.5 width) with smaller a side cut radius.

[Call me jack]

i ride both. i use them if i'm ever feeling the park, or if i'm riding with some one who isn't very good at snowboarding.... or if i just feel like it.

expect weak heel side carves lots of heel lift on the toe sides.

i'm actually thinking about buying another softy board (k2 World Wide Weapon)

[WinterGold]

I think mixing it up makes you a better rider whether it´s using different boards or different boots or whatever.

I choose my equipment according to the conditions on the mountain and what I want to do that day.

If there are nice slopes, I´m on my hardboots ripping it up .

If there is powder or soft snow, I mainly use softboots. And I also use softboots for playing around on the slopes or doing little jumps.

If carving is all you want, you won´t need any softboots, but if you want to have the perfect equipment for almost all the different aspects of our sport then you should ride both.

Doing some nose- or tailrolls, different 180° (or even 360°), etc. on the slope can be so much fun and they are a lot easier with softies and low angles. And once you can pull them off, you can also transfer them to your hardboot riding.

Not to mention big powder runs in softies ...

But if that´s not your cup of tea then stick to your hardboots! Nothing beats them for carving!

[tufty]

I run plates on everything, and run AF700s with "hard" tongues on everything but skis. Don't even have a softboot setup anymore. I generally try a pair of softboots once a season, to see if anything has changed - They are still waaay, waaay, too floppy, and still uncomfortable. And the boot-out drives me mad.

I like things stiff though - I find my AF700s soft, more floppy than my (work provided) Garmont AT ski boots, and I loathe skiing in *them* - I much prefer my personal Nordicas for skiing, flex 120 FTW. One of these days I'll get them Vibram-soled and insist on using them for work.

I've got no problem with riding low angles and "floppy" boards in powder, but I just can't love softboots.

[terekhov]

some foot pain -- nothing to worry if you "ride from snow up" guy, and near unbearable otherwise (which can tell you: learn the basics, soft and hard-boots are the same if you drive with your feet and not with bootcalfs)