Alpine dying out, personally?

[LeeW]

I have not touch my Madd 158 in a very long time. I believe the last time I rode was with a couple of locals via this forum out in keystone back in maybe 2008. Since then (8 years!), I haven't touch it at all. Yes I use my UPZ boots all the time when I go skiing on my Lib Tech NAS skis. 

 

I wonder what do I need to do to return to my roots? motivation, that's for sure. Unfortunately, landing a job at the big ass city (Denver) isn't ideal for daily riding/skiing. :(

 

What about you ?

[west carven]

howdy leew

if you ever consider giving up riding, keep me in mind, would like to try your madd 158.

i have been riding smaller boards and riding as much as i can... make time!!!

[buster]

Motivation? I don't need no stinking motivation. I love to carve.

If you have to force yourself, I would give it up and sell my board to West.

You do have to make your daily bread.

[andiss]

Isnt and hasnt alpine snowboarding always been dead? But then isn't that the charm of the sport - its small with hardcore enthusiast and all stuff is "by riders for riders" -  mainstream snowboard def took the wrong turn there in the mid 90's

 

 

[pmorita]

No complaints please if you live in Denver.  Must be nice to have so many choices close to home.  Getting a day or weekend trip for some carving involves quite a bit more effort for us.  Even then, you are bumping lunch trays with entitled families from NYC and Boston.  I would appreciate each turn and try to convert some skiers along the way.  Dying or not, make the most of it. 

[jng]

Get yourself off the couch and ride.  If you love it, you will know and motivation will be the easy part.

 

I had stopped mountain biking for over ten years.  After taking my son to a MTB park on a lark, my interest was spurred.  I took my 19 year old hardtail out on the trails and rediscovered my love for riding.  I was inspired to buy a modern bike, riding got even more fun and I was even more motivated.

 

It's a feedback loop.  A similar thing happened with snowboarding over the years, but in a less dramatic way.  In both cases, it's the same formula.  Ride --> Fun --> Ride.  Rinse and repeat.  Maybe throw in some gear in that cycle if that works for you.

[Corey]

You know when you're done. Don't do something recreational that you don't love - there's not enough time in life for that!

I get to snowboard about one day every two weeks for our 4-month season, and drive 3 hours each way for a 400' vertical hill at that. Or 5 hours each way for a ~600' hill. I get to ride a plane twice a year for more vertical. Still love it and am not stopping yet! I'm trying to get my daughter into skiing, but it's not working yet.

I used to bike (mostly MTB) all the time, read forums about bikes, biked everywhere, worked in a bike shop. I did my engineering thesis on bikes. I got burned out on it, and my bikes mostly collect dust now. It's still fun to ride, but I'd rather do other things. It was time to move on...

[BlueB]

Hey Lee, if you like skiing, then ski! It's all good.

Next time on the hill bring the skis and the board, then see what can carve more wicked turn ;)

Sent from my SM-G900W8 using Tapatalk

[jacopodotti]

Find somebody to ride with is the best thing.

[yooperluke]

Or, you just decide that you love it, no matter how much you crash and beat the tar out of yourself! I started out looking like an idiot, and I'm still an idiot. Hands down I crash more than any 5 yr. old..... but I'm having the most fun!.....Oh yeeeah!

[stokely]

as a taxi driver I am just low on cash gear is completely through only suitable for decoration so dishing out 1000 for a decent fresh setup is a hurdle and that's before any trips to the mountains since I have moved to an otherwise quite nice city.

at least I got some cool content gathered over some years on my weblog with the occasional addition and I like to come up with affordable fun stuff like stickers from time to time.

[tex1230]

My relocation to Texas put a real strain on my riding. I went back to softboots because the gear is cheaper. My feet are so screwed up it generally took 300-400 of boot fitting on top or the price of hard boots to get comfortable. I get about 5 days a year now and don't want to screw with my gear all the time. I still carve pretty well in the softies, but I won't be going back to hard boots and $800+ boards until I move back to a place where I can hit the 30+ day mark.

[MUD]

I have not ridden my carving boards (or any snowboards) for 3 years. Since my girls have started skiing, I just tele.....

 

I have them though, and they are going to be there when I am ready.

 

Gear is getting REALLY exensive, I just paid $700 for boots and bindings for a tele set-up. YIKES!

[LeeW]

Well, for a start, I have ridden over 200 days in one single year ages ago. My average riding/skiing days per year is roughly 7 months a year since 1994.  Few years later, I was offered to be on the alpine racing team after I have proven myself to be real fast with softies and Burton PJ7. Got into racing a bit too much. Had a beast, Rossignol 184... it was though a tough training with that beast and hard boot. Broke my leg and have titanium rod. 2005, give or take, I had to pick up skiing because of the job. It was easier to get the job done on skis, even tho I have almost zero experience with skiing. Fortunately, my UPZ boots gave me that opportunity. That's how I fell in love with skiing - it was a new experience for me. And yes, I have live in the mountains for a very long time. Now, I had to leave because after 2 decades and a half, it's really a hard life being a ski bum. Hence the change in career for stability, etc. 

 

Now as for returning to hard boot, I hope to be able to meet up with a couple of hardbooters, again... like big mario and so forth. So maybe I'll get the juju back. I only inquire to see if I'm the only one who is feeling burnt out. 

 

As for those who knows what I'm struggling with, yes, relocation to Denver from mountains is a hard move and I had to swallow my pride on that and deal with reality. And YES, alpine riding has gotten prohibitively expensive these days and it is one of the primary driving force on me not riding much, via hardbooting. 

Edited August 13, 2015 by LeeW

[big mario]

Lift 1, 8:30, or the Wedge @ 7:00am Sundays,

Lovey passes go on sale labor day weekend.  Welcome back and see you there!

mario

[lordmetroland]

Lovey passes go on sale labor day weekend.

Got mine already, G!

[st_lupo]

As for those who knows what I'm struggling with, yes, relocation to Denver from mountains is a hard move and I had to swallow my pride on that and deal with reality. And YES, alpine riding has gotten prohibitively expensive these days and it is one of the primary driving force on me not riding much, via hardbooting. 

Been there done that, but you gotta try to bury that relocation resentment ASAP or eats at you and you miss out on lots of cool stuff.  

 

When I moved to Norway from Denver I was moaning all the time because the mountains were so small and the snow was crap, and beer was so expensive that you had to have a credit check before entering a bar.  I pretty much convinced myself that I hated snowboarding and mountain biking and would just conveniently neglect to think about how I was now kayaking and wakeboarding, etc.   After my wife and I had kids I put a lot of things on hold, but now that they are getting a bit older I've really started itching to get out.  I've been riding the old mountain bike again and am loving it.  The trails aren't nearly as good as CO, but it beats sitting on my butt.  I still think the snow here is pretty poor (compared to CO), but last year I tried alpine snowboarding gear and had a complete blast, and it beats sitting on my butt.  

 

I guess my point is:

*Don't let your move to Denver color the joy to be had from mountain sports just because you are now 20 miles from the foothills of the Rockies. Denver is pretty awesome.

*Don't force the good juju.  If it comes back cool, if not try again later, in the mean-time find other good juju.

*Don't mope!!!  Seriously, that isn't meant to be critical of you having to swallow your pride or anything, that is just based off of lessons I had to learn the hard way.  Find something cool to do in Denver.  Drag-race jalopies at Bandimere, start yet another Colorado microbrewery,  learn to fly sailplanes (not as expensive as you would think, and south of Denver is great for that).  You know lemons-->lemonade.

*Move to Golden instead?  But I've heard that is a pretty hardcore enclave of gangster cowboys there! ;)

 

Best of luck!

Edited August 14, 2015 by st_lupo

[MountainSlope]

Oh, it certainly isn't "dying" per se. I just think the crowd is changing a bit. Many riders have the mentality of "I'm too old" due to the old school media, which has always made snowboarding to be something for the 15-25 year old crowd. I've noticed a lot of people who've quit are coming back though. This last season has had more alpine snowboarders than we've seen in years! 

[Dan]

I plateau'd as an advanced intermediate (aka terminal intermediate) for a good long while, maybe 4-5 years, and gotta admit that I was losing the love. I got some coaching to get over the hump and now I'm all     alpine    again. Lee, you obviously weren't stuck at intermediate, but if you start to feel that you're not learning/doing anything new, I could see how some of the spark could be lost. Gotta start working on backwards EC a la Casper Carver 

[Jack M]

I'd say get yourself a nice 175-185 alpine deck and go surf those big luscious western groomers.  Any 158 has very little purpose out there as far as I can tell.

 

I've been doing this since 1988 and it gets better every year.

[LeeW]

I'd say get yourself a nice 175-185 alpine deck and go surf those big luscious western groomers.  Any 158 has very little purpose out there as far as I can tell.

 

I've been doing this since 1988 and it gets better every year.

 

Agreed. I had so much fun with Madd 170 as well as a couple of Donek custom 168 I test trailed via Team Copper ages ago. As for Rossignol 184, I'm not trying that board again since it broke my leg pretty good. 175 is kinda pushing it. And the 158 I have is a Madd so it's quite stable at high speed but a bit squirrely, I admit. Thanks for chiming in, nevertheless. 

[LeeW]

I plateau'd as an advanced intermediate (aka terminal intermediate) for a good long while, maybe 4-5 years, and gotta admit that I was losing the love. I got some coaching to get over the hump and now I'm all     alpine    again. Lee, you obviously weren't stuck at intermediate, but if you start to feel that you're not learning/doing anything new, I could see how some of the spark could be lost. Gotta start working on backwards EC a la Casper Carver 

 

Now you're getting me tempted to try carving backwards. 

[LeeW]

Been there done that, but you gotta try to bury that relocation resentment ASAP or eats at you and you miss out on lots of cool stuff.  

 

When I moved to Norway from Denver I was moaning all the time because the mountains were so small and the snow was crap, and beer was so expensive that you had to have a credit check before entering a bar.  I pretty much convinced myself that I hated snowboarding and mountain biking and would just conveniently neglect to think about how I was now kayaking and wakeboarding, etc.   After my wife and I had kids I put a lot of things on hold, but now that they are getting a bit older I've really started itching to get out.  I've been riding the old mountain bike again and am loving it.  The trails aren't nearly as good as CO, but it beats sitting on my butt.  I still think the snow here is pretty poor (compared to CO), but last year I tried alpine snowboarding gear and had a complete blast, and it beats sitting on my butt.  

 

I guess my point is:

*Don't let your move to Denver color the joy to be had from mountain sports just because you are now 20 miles from the foothills of the Rockies. Denver is pretty awesome.

*Don't force the good juju.  If it comes back cool, if not try again later, in the mean-time find other good juju.

*Don't mope!!!  Seriously, that isn't meant to be critical of you having to swallow your pride or anything, that is just based off of lessons I had to learn the hard way.  Find something cool to do in Denver.  Drag-race jalopies at Bandimere, start yet another Colorado microbrewery,  learn to fly sailplanes (not as expensive as you would think, and south of Denver is great for that).  You know lemons-->lemonade.

*Move to Golden instead?  But I've heard that is a pretty hardcore enclave of gangster cowboys there! ;)

 

Best of luck!

 

Well, Denver beats the mountain life on many aspects. The only three things I miss the most from the mountains (not in order) are A) Fresh Air B) skiing daily and C) single trail for off-road motorcycling. I had to swallow my pride on this mantra doesn't jive anymore for me: "Do what you love and the money will follow." A long career in ski industry still brought me peanuts to the table and being with family... I need to bring food to the table to feed the family. That takes precedence over ski bum career. And yes, I do lots of fun stuff out here in Denver minus the ski life. And yes, I work in Golden. :) Thanks for chiming in, nevertheless. 

Edited August 26, 2015 by LeeW

[b0ardski]

Now you're getting me tempted to try carving backwards. 

a 25yr old echo in my head..."yeah, but you can't go fakie in hardboots!" I call bullsh!t

I went from mostly skiing + tele to 99% snowboard thru the '90s learning to ride alpine boards switch made learning to ski switch come pretty easy.

The excitement for me comes from conquering the learning curve.

 

Master the mountain on skis; free the heels for a new and exciting challenge, master 2 sticks; let's try one; (tried mono, the stance sucks); when forward becomes second nature, master fakie; switch on one stick at speed, time to try two. Got one boot that'll do it all   = no excuse for boredom

these days I swap gear and switch back again on a whim, depending on snow condition or mood

 

 

More than 30yrs as a life long ski bum ,it is not a lucrative career , But If turns were dollars I'd be a 1%er.

 

 

I always figured I'd get a real job later and learn to ski while the body was still in good shape;

still good enough to ski&board so I'll keep scratching between snows too feed the addiction.

Edited August 27, 2015 by b0ardski

[Mike T]

Agreed. I had so much fun with Madd 170 as well as a couple of Donek custom 168 I test trailed via Team Copper ages ago. As for Rossignol 184, I'm not trying that board again since it broke my leg pretty good. 175 is kinda pushing it. And the 158 I have is a Madd so it's quite stable at high speed but a bit squirrely, I admit. Thanks for chiming in, nevertheless. 

 

Just find the "right" longer board.   Maybe something titanal, intended for free carving, which will be more forgiving and compliant yet respond really well under an expert rider's feet?   Example- Coiler Monster II 184.   It would be night and day different from your Madd but still very much an alpine board, and yet not at all a race board.   I'm sure someone will be foolish enough to sell one used at some point... not me :D