Jack M Posted April 5, 2014 Author Report Share Posted April 5, 2014 Alright break it up. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Stevens Posted April 5, 2014 Report Share Posted April 5, 2014 So it's a "cop-out" for hinting that it was an April fools post AND for discussing this fact openly AND for replying seriously to a serious post amongst the fray. ... Exactly. Apparently, you can make a serious observation, but I get a shot when I make mine, because I didn't get the "joke", not really meant as a joke, but rather to display real feelings on a sensitive subject in this group. I think it's because I didn't come down on the "right" side of the discussion. So, now I'm a "fool"... You're right Jack... I am taking a beating here. You cats are proving to be as bad as any group of hater kids, bagging on alpine. I need to reduce the amount of energy I seem to have for these "open discussions"... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowmatic Posted April 5, 2014 Report Share Posted April 5, 2014 (edited) European Alps are out of reach of most Americans Yes, I agree. I was thinking about riders from Europe. April Fool's Day? Yes for sure! But the tragedy remains to be not limited to one single day. Thanks a lot to the thread opener for this pin-up story. Yes, I had my April Fool's Day! But it was some days before April 1st. I was out on powder, it was an exciting day on the European Alps. And what I had to read then after on an blog-entry of a Worldcup Pro rider? He wrote things like from barbecue and road-cycling that day! What a f***, we are March with tons of snow on the mountains and not July. What the hell goes on with FIS riders! They do trainings on poor snow - muddy glaciers and artifical snow in autumn, they race on artifical snow slush then, near 100% on a way-to-low resort/slope and they stop season mid-of-winter. It's realy not a choice to race all the venues at 3000ft artifical slush, it's better to go to 7000ft altitude for powder-snow, like more than a decade before! And at least they miss best winters snow-conditions and go cycling! (one of the guys (SG) doing such things too, has ended career this season) Tell me what is more stimulating people for carving a board. Muddy artifical slush or all-white spray of powder-snow. Who calls one's hero for young rowdys? Why they like to choose hardbooting? Because of FIS Worldcup Pro riders showing themself on roadbikes yet, or things like that: demographics - immigration - declining participation Yes demographics matters. Studies says the next decade the agers of 60 Years old women will become the main groupe of wintersport enthusiasts on slope! They have time, they have money and as You can see they are enjoing good days: Sunny weather, a great view (like here 8000ft from high to low altitude), some nice&easy and soft turns to do, time to drink coffee and endless chater makes them very lucky, thats it! What about declining participation? Canadian Ski magazine states average income of ski family in excess of $100,000 It's good to know snowsports was mainstream once and very popular for the mass in Europe. There is a change in progress. Just see cars value to and back of the mountains on changeover days. It's a significant indication. We have now close to 100% quad, 6-seats and 8-seats highspeed chairlifts, or 8-seats/10-seats up to 20ft/second speed-gondolas on resorts. We like to have 100% coverage by artifical snow on any slope on demand. We like to have wide and non shaking runway type slopes (like Rob Stevens wrote: green slopes and no more banks and drawn outs). And for sure there are now well known resorts offering 100% full W-LAN coverage on any slopes off resort (e.g. over 150 miles!). So You can share videos, photos and what else to the world, where ever You are and when ever You want. All that goodies are not a gift. Lift ticket become more and more expensive. There is one nation very well known for skiing - Austria. Skiing is an national affair, it's like the base of their proudness. What is now hipp and cheap for the elite of upcomming nations like Russia, Czech Republic and so on, for many Austrian family is running out of budget, because skiing and snowboarding is more and more too expensive for them. So we can see all that new goodies, like much more comfort on ropeways and slopes helping riders of upcomming nations to be able to manage downhill a slope on skis, or snowboards. While domestics which can manage easy some rough and tricky T-bar lifts and narrow, shaking slopes, will decline. And this matters a lot to the type and the amount of ski's and snowboards You can buy. Even more for racing, in our case on alpine-snowboards was/will declined/disapear also. a hell of an investment just to try something and impractical equipment on top of that! Why the hell a 11 Year young carver on a Kid's Kessler has to be on a way to stiff and much to heavy for the kids F2 Titanium size S binding. He never will be able to set the angles of his bindings himself, because he didn't have the power to force out the center-disk of the gasket. All that kids plate-bindings giving light weight and a flex appropriate to the board flex, have been disappeared from market. Where are the kids- and woman-hardboots which offers more flex, lower cuff and lighter weight? Can it be the goal for a 13 Year girl to have a Deeluxe Track 325 boot with RAB's and ultra stiff 5mm golden springs in? What I want say: it's realy strange what happens the last Years to hardbooting, but wintersports too! Edited April 5, 2014 by snowmatic Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
softbootsurfer Posted April 5, 2014 Report Share Posted April 5, 2014 Somewhere back in time somebody in HB decided that They represent "Alpine" Snowboarding and then some other HB folks decided that was the way it was going to be...actually watching Terje, Jones or Basich drop some AK line seems pretty "Alpine" but then they don't wear HB, so Sorry. April Fools Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carvingchef Posted April 5, 2014 Report Share Posted April 5, 2014 Originally Posted by Keyser Soze That's a very interesting point. While we can make the argument that used equipment is readily available at a reasonable in the classifieds section of this forum, do any board makers offer an entry level Alpine board? Something under $300? Boots/bindings available at $100 a piece? A price competitive with the lower end softie set-ups you can pick up at most sports stores. $700+ for a board alone is a hell of an investment just to try something. That might be part of the reason only high-end shops continue to stock the stuff. Originally Posted by patmoore I remember one from about six years ago. It was a brand our shop carried for a while. It had slick orange graphics and was really cheap. We never ordered any and I don't recall ever hearing about anyone riding one. I have the attention span of a goldfish (measured at 13 seconds). Does anyone else remember that board? here it is http://wintersportdeals.mybisi.com/product/snowboard-racing-164cm-riot-snowboard-snowjam-2008 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.