A softbooters wanderings...

[Alaskan Rover]

I am probably one of the few on this board who LOVE carving in softboots.

I grew up ski-racing slalom and giant slalom...always using extremely stiiff racing boots...and after a day of practicing on the slopes and in the gates, those boots had ALWAYS begun to feel like medival torture devices rather than ski-boots.

To me it was pure and utter heaven when I finally switched from two boards to one board...not just heaven in the fact that I can gloriously SURF down the mountain, but also because the equipment needed was so utterly simple and I must admit, FAR more comfortable than my racing kit.

No more clunky, hard-plastic racing boot-torture devices...no more silly ski-poles...no more complicated Marker bindings. Just me, my board and my boots! And those boots....wow! For the FIRST time I was able ride all day long without adjusting and re-adjusting those vice-like racing boots. With my soft-boots, I was able to walk right off my board and walk ANYWHERE in comfort...even drive my old land-rover with them on. No blisters...no more counting the minutes to finally be able to take my boots off (but I DO miss the pure and undeniable ecstacy when I DID let my feet out of those racing foot bear-traps!!). So if those hard-boots were my anathema, then that softbooter's kit was my salvation...and the mountains opened themselves up to be both my cathedral and my heaven.

I was fine with the jibbing and the park-stuff at first...even if the groms at the various parks and pipes irritated the bajeezus out of me. But by and by, I started to miss the SPEED. It was like an old-friend that I never saw much of anymore and I was sad for it. Indeed I missed that delicous dance with gravity that can only be begotten from going down a mountain AT SPEED. I've never TRULY felt at home on a mountain unless my parke was absolutely flapping in the wind of my fast passage...that was always my guage.

So I guess it was absolutely normal for me to rediscover the ecstacy of the carve. But to this day, I will never again put my feet in hard-boots...they've endured enough of that agony. I have grown to totally love my softboot set-up...and I will trade it for none. I have always been in love with speed...in fact, I have always had a problem with going slow...just can't wrap my mind around "slow". "Slow" is some forlorn stranger that I do not care to meet. So I carve...and I flatboard...and I rip, because that is who am and what I am. But I do it in softboots, with my feet at 15 and 5...and most of all, I do it on my big old (16 years old, to be exact) K2 FatBob...because gravity is non-partisan. And as my flapping parka can attest, my softboots and my FatBob don't slow me down.

My Kit: K2 FatBob 162...Vans "Jamie Lynn" custom competion softboots; Preston EX bindings...regular...at 15 and 5 degrees.

Gravity is life.

[www.oldsnowboards.com]

Great first post!! Welcome to BomberOnline.

The line to be "Tar and Feathered" starts with you

[Alaskan Rover]

Hey, Thanks. I don't mind a little tar and a few feathers. :)

[Dave ESPI]

you definately are NOT alone....

There are quite a few of us who rip in softies just as hard.

Welcome to BOL.

EDIT: I miss my FATBOB :(.... It was a fun board.

[Seraph]

Uch...I hate myself for doing that...ah I'll get over it. Welcome to the board, there are plenty of us here that like it both ways...uch, I did it again.

[Corey]

Congratulations on finding a setup that makes you happy. Most people here have had different experiences than you so they disagree.

[dano]

you definately are NOT alone....

There are quite a few of us who rip in softies just as hard.

Welcome to BOL.

EDIT: I miss my FATBOB :(.... It was a fun board.

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[lonbordin]

...wear it.

Seriously did the soft boot (SB) thing since 86 (First boot was Sorels), worn ski boots (mostly rental) since then as well and I thought the same as you that SB were comfy and hard boots (HB) were not... I would've testified over and over again how awful HB's are...

I'll man up and say I was wrong.

My Deeluxe Indys are the best fitting boots I've owned soft or hard. Now I have the setups to flip back and forth SB to HB. HB's are more comfortable and the level of control they bring to the table is the icing on the cake.

I'll ride the equipment that best suits the conditions but I'll definitely grab the HB first.

Welcome to BOL.

[carvedog]

Glad you are comfy.

And welcome to Bomber. Don't let the anti soft booters flame bait you. Some will try.

Personally my experience is the exact opposite. Foam injected liners, footbeds and my feet love my boots. Burton Fires.

Just glad you found the site.

We are all here for the love of the carve.

[Bora20]

I haven't tried hard boots yet, but my feet kill me and fall asleep as I need to have the bindings cranked on so tight to carve in them.

I also hate going slow and plodding along, so I think hard boots will make it perfect.

[Jack M]

I will never again put my feet in hard-boots...they've endured enough of that agony.

What agony? Get yourself properly fitted hardboots with moldable liners and custom footbeds and you'll realize the agony you've been tolerating in softies.

[Jon Dahl]

What agony? Get yourself properly fitted hardboots with moldable liners and custom footbeds and you'll realize the agony you've been tolerating in softies.

I walked away from agony when I switched full-time to hardboots...

[b0ardski]

I walked away from agony when I switched full-time to hardboots...

Same here; 20 years ago

The only resemblance your ski racing foot vises have to my boots is that they're made of plastic.

[BlueB]

+1 on what few people above me said... Softboots = pure torture for me.

Gotta try a properly fitted hard boot or modern recreational ski boot. Also, the power and edge hold of the carves with plates, as well aas speed of the carving board, are addictive. You don't know what you are missing...

[Buell]

the power and edge hold of the carves with plates, as well as speed of the carving board, are addictive. You don't know what you are missing...

+1

I enjoy carving in softboots but rarely do it because hardboot carves are so much more powerful! Hardboots and softboots are comparable in comfort for me. I ride softies in powder, but hardboots on groomer days. There is no comparison.

[Alaskan Rover]

I feel I must add a caveat, though...and it is thus:

When I end my sojourn in flatland and head back home to Alaska, there are some peaks that I would just love to re-visit. The thing about Alaska peaks is that due to the rather dry air, there is a lot of sublimation going on...and this makes for some excrutiatingly HARD surface crust. What appears to be decent snow while scoping it out with binocs, turns out to be super-smooth but ultra hard sheet of inpenatrable top crust at 45 degrees of slope. As many of you already know, 1200 feet of 45 degree hard crust is an almost certain deathwish...and I would never attempt the descent in my softboot/FatBob setup. The only gear I would use for those sublimated peaks is what I have always used before on the steep hard stuff...my old pair of 208cm Volkl P10's and my Lange X9R racing boots and those damned poles. That set-up has never let me down on the Alaskan remote steeps (yes, even though they ARE skis!!). Unfortunately, I can only use this set-up when I am able to bum a heli-ride or a snowcat up...as they are strictly downhill gear. For true remote peaks, I have a full set of alpine Randonee skiing gear...and even though this gear allows me to climb and skin myself up a route, I don't trust the randonnee skis/boots quite as much as my heavy Volkl P10s/Langes for steep crusty descents.

So here is my question: My randonnee boots are a really decent pair of Scarpa Denali plastic shell mountaineering boots...they sorta look like Raichle Flexions but with vibram soles. I use these with my randonnee skis and they work well with my sherpa snowshoes. I would love to try those 45 degree steeps with a carving board, so am wondering if my randonnee/mountaineering boots would work well as a hard-boot set up on a carving board....that way, I could put the board on my back and climb and snowshoe (Sherpa snowshoes have built-in crampons) my way up the route and board down on the carving board (with the Sherpas on my back). My only qualm with it would be that the Scarpa Denalis don't come up the shin nearly as high as my Lange racing boots...but maybe with the different angle of carving board versus skiing, this isn't quite as important. Any ideas???

[NateW]

I walked away from agony when I switched full-time to hardboots...

Same here. With soft boots I was always having to tighten up the bindings to get a good connection to the board, and my feet would be sore by the end of the day. With hard boots, a little grinding on the shell, molded liners, and footbeds, I'm connected and comfortable.

[Jon Dahl]

I do most of my riding in Dynafit TLT4 boots on a 192 Tanker. My go to setup. Backcountry on a splitboard with the same boots, for the reasons you mention. Scarpa Denali's will go into plate bindings just fine, give it a try.

[tahoetrencher]

We're enjoying your literary musings but you've got to zip that parka up man.

It only flaps when its loose and speed begs tightness.

Get tight, get hard.

You don't need to ditch the fatbob. Search the forum to see how to make a really neat overhead lamp out of it!

[Neil Gendzwill]

Lots of people have used that style of boot and still do. I suggest you get yourself a set of plates and try them out on your FatBob for grins.

[OhD]

Welcome!

If you plan to go hardboot carving on a 45-degree crust face out in the boonies with no patrollers to pick you up (or slow you down), consider carrying a real ice axe in your conveniently free hands. Practice self-arresting with it on hard snow at low speeds first. No point in just saving your arms...

I have a friend who's been paralyzed from the waist down since (at 18) sliding 1500' down a frozen snowfield early one beautiful morning and finding the only rock for many yards. She started from a standstill and still broke the strap on her axe. Took off about 10% of her skin on the way down, too, then had to wait 18 hours for a partner to run out and back with rescuers in tow. Stay sane out there..

On a lighter note - I almost bought a Fatbob years ago, but got a Ride Mountain instead. The boards were virtually identical (like within 1mm in every dimension) except for the graphics, and the Ride was on sale. I thought it was a damn good board and it still hangs in my garage, beat pretty well to death. On an even lighter note, a run-up in Ride stock prior to the K2 buyout has pretty much covered my snowboarding expenses ever since, so bless 'em both. OK - bless Ride. I haven't quite forgiven K2 for turning their Clicker boot line to squishy, Boa-laced junk. Anybody want some Clicker bindings cheap? A pair of size 12 Transformers?

Softie carving is great fun. I only wish someone would build a 30cm wide board so I could rail a little lower. My Venture Zephyr at 28.5 is a great carver until I boot out. The only other downside to softboot carving I've found is that the low angles make your calves vulnerable to muscle tears. Be very cautious about trying to recover from a toeside sketch-out. Especially if you have to hike home...

[Neil Gendzwill]

Sean at Donek has built Inclines as wide as 29.5. You can go custom on one for only $550.

[SteveInOregon]

Velcumin to za bomski on lineski heir softridar , lol.:p

Today's hard boots with heat modlable liners and custom foot bed's will take all the pain away and leave you with a solid connection to the board and no softy can equal, hell mine without expensive liners are good for all day while my Burton drive x just sit on the shelf.

Soft since 88, now hard for 3 months ( without Viagra )

[Dr D]

Welcome!

Softie carving is great fun. I only wish someone would build a 30cm wide board so I could rail a little lower. ...

Coiler X3 is the answer to your prayers:biggthump

I ride the lunchtray with catek Fr2's and saloman malamute softies at 60/63 and love every minute of it. I only miss my hardboots on really fast bulletproof days and I am not convinced that a longer coiler wouldn't solve that issue! Welcome to the board wanderer

[www.oldsnowboards.com]

I am probably one of the few on this board who LOVE carving in softboots.

I grew up ski-racing slalom and giant slalom...always using extremely stiiff racing boots...and after a day of practicing on the slopes and in the gates, those boots had ALWAYS begun to feel like medival torture devices rather than ski-boots.

To me it was pure and utter heaven when I finally switched from two boards to one board...not just heaven in the fact that I can gloriously SURF down the mountain, but also because the equipment needed was so utterly simple and I must admit, FAR more comfortable than my racing kit.

No more clunky, hard-plastic racing boot-torture devices...no more silly ski-poles...no more complicated Marker bindings. Just me, my board and my boots! And those boots....wow! For the FIRST time I was able ride all day long without adjusting and re-adjusting those vice-like racing boots. With my soft-boots, I was able to walk right off my board and walk ANYWHERE in comfort...even drive my old land-rover with them on. No blisters...no more counting the minutes to finally be able to take my boots off (but I DO miss the pure and undeniable ecstacy when I DID let my feet out of those racing foot bear-traps!!). So if those hard-boots were my anathema, then that softbooter's kit was my salvation...and the mountains opened themselves up to be both my cathedral and my heaven.

I was fine with the jibbing and the park-stuff at first...even if the groms at the various parks and pipes irritated the bajeezus out of me. But by and by, I started to miss the SPEED. It was like an old-friend that I never saw much of anymore and I was sad for it. Indeed I missed that delicous dance with gravity that can only be begotten from going down a mountain AT SPEED. I've never TRULY felt at home on a mountain unless my parke was absolutely flapping in the wind of my fast passage...that was always my guage.

So I guess it was absolutely normal for me to rediscover the ecstacy of the carve. But to this day, I will never again put my feet in hard-boots...they've endured enough of that agony. I have grown to totally love my softboot set-up...and I will trade it for none. I have always been in love with speed...in fact, I have always had a problem with going slow...just can't wrap my mind around "slow". "Slow" is some forlorn stranger that I do not care to meet. So I carve...and I flatboard...and I rip, because that is who am and what I am. But I do it in softboots, with my feet at 15 and 5...and most of all, I do it on my big old (16 years old, to be exact) K2 FatBob...because gravity is non-partisan. And as my flapping parka can attest, my softboots and my FatBob don't slow me down.

.

Still "HATIN" hardboots?