25° years on board.....66& the carving of the beast

[softbootsurfer]

your wrong its foam injected old svhool rossi resin with redwood stringers down the side with no rocker until edge contact tapers off on boards made for the japanese riders training in NZ. BUt for real, i think alot of the tech talk is very informative , no joke. ive been involved with alot of board design over the years and still hear alot of good stuff on here. honestly. no joke. Ive held off on being on this sight since fin started it. i was on his first binding when i started the first snowboard team ever in aspen. iF YOU DONT LIKW ME , GET OVER IT, IM HERE TO STAY

Did you start the AVSC "Snowboard Team" what Year ?

or what team with what racers?

Did not mean to Jack Thread, just curious

Thanks :)

[usprosnow]

hey vlsom i agree, but every time i open my mouth, people already assume im being too aggresive.if we all agreed on everything said,we would still be on lunchtrays at the golf course watchin skiers having fun. thanks

[usprosnow]

Oh softbootsailer, before avsst. team tiehack the first team ever in aspen. big names started their, lisa kosglow. dave basterachea,lale gregory. travis Mclain. sabrina sadagi Adam casanova i coached for seven years, rob coopper. gamble fector with kildy , i think it was 91 or 92. kildy was my partner in crime for part of that year but he was still racing. so many more but im gettin old and the memory is goin.

[softbootsurfer]

Oh softbootsailer, before avsst. team tiehack the first team ever in aspen. big names started their, lisa kosglow. dave basterachea,lale gregory. travis Mclain. sabrina sadagi Adam casanova i coached for seven years, rob coopper. gamble fector with kildy , i think it was 91 or 92. kildy was my partner in crime for part of that year but he was still racing. so many more but im gettin old and the memory is goin.

Wonderful, It has always bothered me how the SL/GS race thing died here...

So much talent, but all including our son Rob headed a different direction...

Thanks for the response and all the best... :)

[usprosnow]

ok man, take care.

[Neil Gendzwill]

I like it! When it looks fast on youtube, you know those guys are screaming.

[photodad2001]

I guess I just don't get the fascination with it, but to me the body dragging EC style is just sloppy semi-controlled crashing.

I'd have to disagree. I see EC as pushing the limits how deep you can carve while staying in control. I disagree with those who say it's a "controlled fall", perhaps some put there arm down to help them balance, I've seen some video where the riders arm is throwing up tons of snow and heard others talk about arm and shoulder injuries doing this. I've been wearing the same pair of gloves for 15 years so I'm not putting any pressure on the snow with my hand, it just skims the surface with mearly a couple ounces of pressure if that, usually I keep it just off the surface. The "race" style carving I was doing years before I started pushing myself into the EC or as I've known it "Alpine" carving. If I'm missing some hidden technique about race carving let me know because between the 2 I find EC to be more chanllenging.

[Corey]

If you watch beginners in 'EC' style they don't look graceful. If you watch beginners in 'Race' style they don't look graceful either. The experts at either technique do it with power and grace, and likely could switch to the other style on command.

I quite enjoy trying to learn to do both.

[Buell]

The "race" style carving I was doing years before I started pushing myself into the EC or as I've known it "Alpine" carving. If I'm missing some hidden technique about race carving let me know because between the 2 I find EC to be more chanllenging.

On your softboots? Are you truly implying that we are discussing the same thing here?

[photodad2001]

On your softboots? Are you truly implying that we are discussing the same thing here?

If the elbow is dragging, do you concider that a racing carve or an EC carve? (or are you one of the intolerant types that is in denial that you can't carve in softboots?)

[Jack M]

66?? My hat is off to you sir. Great video. I agree with Rob though, have you tried a wider stance?

[KingCrimson]

If the elbow is dragging, do you concider that a racing carve or an EC carve? (or are you one of the intolerant types that is in denial that you can't carve in softboots?)

Buell talks about carving softies all the time. His wife has a softboot Coiler.

You're one of those types who pisses and moans about the price of hardboots, buys some old garbage, complains about that too, and then dismisses plates, but still sticks around to talk about how unnecessary plates are.

Yes, softboots WORK. My 180 alpine board WORKS in the pipe. Stop your vendetta too.

I see EC as pushing the limits how deep you can carve while staying in control

I don't know what "deep" means. Angulation will get you just as high an edge angle as EC.

It will be more stable, and in my opinion, much more aesthetically pleasing.

[Neil Gendzwill]

Look, his elbow is almost on the snow. But he's holding that edge at serious speed on an icy and likely rutted race course. EC is fun to watch and do, but this is what I aspire to.

[Istvan]

Great pic and great aspiration.

I think it's not really a question of one style being superior to an other (certainly there are clear "to do"-s and "don't do"-s if you want to race, no doubt about that, but most of us don't race, right?).

In my opinion it is a great thing if someone has more styles / techniques under his belt, may it be EC, short slalom turns with rubber-band legs, powerful GS style like on the pic, funky switch / fakie tricks like Caspercarver, etc. Learning a new technique or style will not do you any harm, right?

When I discovered EC and people practicing it I thought, WOW, I want to do this. It took me a few seasons to get comfy with it, and now it is one of things I can do on a slope. Do I do it all the time? No way. Do I always ride wide EC boards? Absolutely not. Actually that is the board I use the least. But it is still fun to do, and I always find new challenges in it and opportunities to improve my riding. And trust me, EC is very very aesthetic visually if done correctly. I've seen quite a lot of ECers in the last 6 years in Zinal, Switzerland on the ECS events and there are some amazing riders, great fun to watch. Who ever says it's an uncontrolled fall is just wrong. Actually EC IS about full control of speed and body movement.

But still, I do like you aspiration. I wish I could ride like that guy on the pic and then I could easily become the Hungarian PGS champ.

My $.02

[matiu68]

66?? My hat is off to you sir. Great video. I agree with Rob though, have you tried a wider stance?

Hi Jack, thanks, and sorry about the mess on the site.......yes I tried wider stance, i'm allready wider (42cm) then 20 years ago (36 cm). I get use to it, my dalbello ski boots are really stiff, so wider then that I dont feel so good. cheers

[Jack M]

Hi Jack, thanks, and sorry about the mess on the site.......yes I tried wider stance, i'm allready wider (42cm) then 20 years ago (36 cm). I get use to it, my dalbello ski boots are really stiff, so wider then that I dont feel so good. cheers

Ignore the mess. Have you tried using some toe lift on the front foot and heel lift on the back foot? This will allow you to comfortably use a wider stance. You'll have better balance and greater stability that way. Not that your riding is lacking, but I think you'll enjoy it more.

[jacopodotti]

Hi Matiu

Which kind of Dal Bello do you ride?

How much do they are stiff,ok not a Raichle 125 but as an UPZ?

[heroshmero]

In my opinion it is a great thing if someone has more styles / techniques under his belt, may it be EC, short slalom turns with rubber-band legs, powerful GS style like on the pic, funky switch / fakie tricks like Caspercarver, etc. Learning a new technique or style will not do you any harm, right?

Well said. Each of us benefits from having more tools in our toolkit.

[Neil Gendzwill]

Ignore the mess. Have you tried using some toe lift on the front foot and heel lift on the back foot? This will allow you to comfortably use a wider stance. You'll have better balance and greater stability that way. Not that your riding is lacking, but I think you'll enjoy it more.

Did you want to give Russ any tips, too? I guess world cup credentials don't cut it...

[matiu68]

Ignore the mess. Have you tried using some toe lift on the front foot and heel lift on the back foot? This will allow you to comfortably use a wider stance. You'll have better balance and greater stability that way. Not that your riding is lacking, but I think you'll enjoy it more.

yap, I use heel lift with canting on the back foot, and flat the front foot, I try to lift the toe of the front but....bad feeling, I prefere to modifie the angle of the ankle inside the boot. I have the best feeling with the boots when I overstanding the legs and can lift the toes around 3 cm from the floor. that angle is really important for me. Sometimes on snowboard boots it' easy to lift the toe.

the Dalbello boots is the Kripton 110/140

cheers

[photodad2001]

Buell talks about carving softies all the time. His wife has a softboot Coiler.

You're one of those types who pisses and moans about the price of hardboots, buys some old garbage, complains about that too, and then dismisses plates, but still sticks around to talk about how unnecessary plates are.

Yes, softboots WORK. My 180 alpine board WORKS in the pipe. Stop your vendetta too.

I don't know what "deep" means. Angulation will get you just as high an edge angle as EC.

It will be more stable, and in my opinion, much more aesthetically pleasing.

My first comment was how the lighting created the illusion of moguls (yes there is a bit of chop from it being tracked up a bit but it would look much smoother if it was shot mid day), my second comment was that EC is not sloppy, out of control, or controlled "fall", and finally my coment to Buell was a response to his statement and the underlying bitterness stems back to a thread that I started about my daughter and I getting hit by dive bombers and our disagreement on how frequently you should have to look up hill. (there's been more since of course, like the sb thread by Fin) I've cleaned up my act. I'll "tow the company line", but I'm not going to be a whipping post either. I don't get into the "race" side of the sport (I've been in 3 competitions my whole life and placed 1st in each but they were in Ohio against maybe 15 other competitors so take it for what it's worth) and I enjoy what to me looks good and that is EC. I think Casper is the best carver I've ever seen because of his style (even more impressive than the Swoard guys). Not sure how he'd do on a race course but really don't care, I still haven't seen another snowboarder do what he can do. Casper also has videos of riding older gear which tells me that what I'm striving for, the style and type of riding I crave (and a style and type this forum supports and is about) doesn't require thousand dollar metal boards to be able to participate (in keeping with the BOL company line let me insert it would be better to have better gear). I've also enjoyed the videos of softbootcarver and others ripping in softboots. Now I know softboot conversations need to stay in Off Topic so I'll end there.

[philw]

... I've mentioned recently on an other forum that this March I happened to have a GPS device ... - Top speed I measured: 126 km/h

You need to be a bit careful with most of those devices. Obviously I don't know you guys so you could know what you're talking about, but the last time I saw someone riding at 126km/h he was FIS timed on a speed ski course, and it was stupidly fast. If you can run at this speed on a standard piste, well that would be pretty rare I'd say. I'd just be careful with those devices: they certainly don't under-read.

Otherwise... our troll can't differentiate between "your" and "you're". With that level of education his opinion on snowboarding is not really his biggest problem. With practice he'll likely work up to using the shift key.

[JakeW.]

...My 180 alpine board WORKS in the pipe...

+1

Now you're speaking my language!!!

[photodad2001]

+1

Now you're speaking my language!!!

180 is an allaround freeride board. Learned my first 360's back in 88 on a 171 Sims Blade. All about the big boards. Also did my first flat spins on a 171 and that was when boards where heavy.

[KingCrimson]

180 is an allaround freeride board.

Damn. I shoulda known Ohio would host the best freeride tastes.