Freestyle Carving

[jtslalom]

I rode the past two nights on my Volkl Renn Tiger. Conditions were firm and I rode pretty good. Tonight I took my k2 162 FatBob with soft Ride bindings. What a night? I was turning as well as I ever had? I haven't ridden this board but for two other days this year when conditions were really soft. Tonight they were nice and firm. I can't believe the difference in riding. Whenever this happens, I tend to stay on my soft board and neglect my race decks for a couple of days. It feels so nice to jump on a freestyle deck every now and then and rip some turns. Ofcourse its not like ripping turns on the steeps with the Renn Tiger but on those blues and easy blacks, its alot of fun. Every hard rider should get back on a soft deck and ride it. You'll quickly remember how fun it is.

[Derf]

Not everyone feels the same when going back to their freestyle board. Last time I got back on mine, I remembered why I stopped riding it and why I went to hardboot and am sticking with them, whatever the terrain or conditions. Here's what I wrote after that time and I still stand by it. http://www.bomberonline.com/VBulletin/showthread.php?s=&threadid=5013

[astrokel]

Well... say you stopped enjoying riding motorcycles in the 1960's because the bikes weren't dependable, they made your clothes dirty and they were uncomfortable so you sold that Triumph and bought a Mustang. It's 1980 and you get that old itch for the open road and have fond memories of the Triumph so you get a vintage one and find out it's still rather undependable, messy and even more uncomfortable (you're older now) so you say sell it and stick to cars.

Technology changes, things get refined and lo and behold we have things like Catek Freeride bindings and rather stiff freeride boots (malalmutes, drivers, Deeluxe SparkEvo [if you can find'em that is]) that might even compare to your 224's except for that bit of extra movement that just gives you that bit of extra freedom that a hard boot can't give (nor want out of one for that matter).

I've been exclusively on my Incline with the Catek/Malamute combo this season and have been riding the mountain every weekend (gotta work :( ...) from 9 to 4 with minimal stops and enjoying every minute.

I'm just saying there's another world out there that can be just as satisfying as a morning on the groomed with HB's and a carve stick but different. Just trying to keep the mind open. Peace. Kel

P.S. The Incline is great with my 224's as well.

[gdboytyler]

Most of the days that I snowboard, I ride my carving board/hard boots in morning and ride my freestyle board/soft boots in the afternoon at the snowboard park/pipe.

When I'm on the freestyle board, I'll be carving turns from the park back to the chair, otherwise I'm skidding turns from hit to hit. If it wasn't for the snowboard park, I wouldn't even have a freestyle board or soft boots.

My feet just hurt too much if I spend an extended amount of time carving in softboots.

[Baka Dasai]

Last week I had a rare powder day, so I mounted my plates to an old Burton Supermodel 173, and had a total blast, even on the piste. It was real fun to ride a board where the tail could just swish back and forth behind me, instead of only being comfortable when locked into a carve.

With angles of 40f/20r, boots in powder mode, and with the top buckle very loose/undone, this setup seemed to have all the advantages of soft boots, but with more control, and without having to strap in.

[jtslalom]

When I started riding 1988/89 season, nobody had hard setups. Every one of my friends learned how to CARVE on a freestyle board. I can carve my soft deck much different but as good as any of my hard decks under certain conditions. I ride a K2 Fatbob. Its a wide board so my toes don't stick over the edges and I get no heel or toe drag. The length is a 162 so I get good edge running length. The board is a stiffer freestyle board and my SnowJam boots are pretty stiff freestyle boots. Its almost like riding hard. Sorry you feel that way Derf but I'm an old Schooler, I ride bumps, parks and cordoury on my freestyle deck and still love it the way I did in 1988.

[CarvCanada]

I agree with astrokel

A bad soft boot set-up is even worse than a bad plate set-up. Your ankles have no support, it's impossible to bend your knees to get the right technique, and there's no flow or power to your riding.

But with a good soft boot set-up, carving can be great. I recently had a chance take an Incline '68 for a ride... oh man! It was so snappy and there was so much energy in it! The only weakness I found was that the edge hold wasn't there for the steeps, but everywhere else I could get as low as I wanted, and the pop off the transitions was beautiful! It carved almost as hard as my Freecarve 171, but it also felt great and allowed me to get into a powerful flow with "skarved" turns in chopped up powder on steeps and glades. I want one :)

[Hiroshi]

Instead of "Freestyle Carving", belately I just had an opportunity to try "Hardboot Freestyling".

For the past 10 seasons I've been snowboarding, I briefly had 1~2 seasons of a freestyle/softboot setup, which was then quickly sold & switched to an alpine/hardboot setup, and I've only had carving gear since then.

However, just the other week, I bought an used Burton Coil 165cm/9.3M, and put my plates on it (at 51/f & 48/r, compared to 58/58 on my Proton 172cm/14M). And I drove out on a snowy day (which I haven't done in years!) this weekend to check it out.

To my pleasant surprise, I had a lot of fun in fluffy-pow soft condition, off-piste, lips & (mini) jumps, in the trees/gulley, and skiier-tracked bumps (although I'm quite terrible at it all). Gracefullness or stylishness isn't there for me at all, with my arms/hands flappin' around in a hard attempt to balance to stay up, but it was fun - I must admit. I was also surprised at how difficult it is to try to slide around the tail down the hill, which is something new for me. (I'm only used to ride on the edges = lack of versatility on my part.) With my bad ankles, I can't wear softboots, but walk-mode SB224s seem to do a good job for me on this setup. I also tried to do some other fun stuff (as seen in PureBoarding videos, etc), but I also found out how difficult it is (for me) to do all that tricky fun stuff. Hopefully I can also start hanging out with some of my skiier/freestyler friends on those non-carving condition days.

Anyway, all this 'freedom' is rather new & refreshing to me, and I had fun. So, I'd like to start adding some more versatility to my snowboarding experience.