A sport for loners

[Aracan]

Quote

No need. He has Coilers. 

Since the OP states he is having trouble bleeding off speed without drifting, he might still benefit from a PB clinic, on a Coiler as well as any other board.

And to come back on topic: easy fix. Be like me. Marry a hardbooter

[philw]

On 12/15/2017 at 11:55 PM, 1xsculler said:

... I don't see any way a hardbooter, a softbooter and a skiier can very well ride and enjoy the same runs together and meet at the bottom of the lift.  Skiers and softbooters, yes, as both enjoy the steep and the deep but hardbooting seems to be totally terrain and condition specific.  I would never expect my ski buddies, with whom I have decades of skiing with, to have any interest in the slopes I am trying to become a decent carver on and I won't improve my carving if I try to do the steep and the deep with them.  ...

You need to practice. I kind of feel the way you do about surf, in that I'm just learning to do it, but I know that a few hundred days of practice will sort it out. That's a serious commitment, but to me that's why it's worth doing - I don't want to do stuff like "bungie jumping" because anyone can just rock up and do that; there's no challenge. Hard booting is a challenge... you just have to practice. 

It may feel like it, but hard boot snowboarding really isn't limited to terrain or conditions. I regularly ride steep and deep with some of the best and no one cares what anyone's riding. Boards can be very terrain specific, mind, so you may want to think about that. I could tell you how many days it took me to get beyond the "just keeping up" level, but I'm sure it's person-specific. Not as many as it's going to take me with surf.

[lonbordin]

On 12/15/2017 at 6:55 PM, 1xsculler said:

It seems to me hardbooting is hardbooting and while it is just another way to get down the mountain I don't see any way a hardbooter, a softbooter and a skiier can very well ride and enjoy the same runs together and meet at the bottom of the lift.  Skiers and softbooters, yes, as both enjoy the steep and the deep but hardbooting seems to be totally terrain and condition specific. 

I ride with two skiers quite often, it's not an issue. We, of course, follow the @Jack Michaud rule!  (Perhaps the "Jack Rule" has a better ring to it?)  That said not all snow sliders, no matter the choice of their equipment, can ride together.  If one monoskier wants to bomb the entirety of the hill and the other wants to stop and take photos they aren't compatible.

Your statement about terrain and condition specific is completely wrong.  You can ride hardboots anywhere.  Is it the best tool all the time? No but then nothing is the best tool all of the time.  That said, I spend 98% of my winter hardbooting and 2% softbooting/skiing, I ride in crappy conditions all the time and  it does not hold me back at all.

[Neil Gendzwill]

6 hours ago, Aracan said:

And to come back on topic: easy fix. Be like me. Marry a hardbooter

I married a skier, we ski/ride together all the time.   We both stop from time to time to let the other catch up.  She tends to bomb the groomers, I take more time on them but cover more ground so she is waiting for me usually.  Through the bumps or steeps she's cautious, I'm charging so I'm waiting for her.   Sometimes there's a run I want to take that she's not comfortable on, we just meet at the lift.  It's just like marriage in general:  a series of compromises that is worth it for the overall benefit.

Edited December 18, 2017 by Neil Gendzwill

[lowrider]

You are dead wrong on the issue of being a loner. The correct definition you are looking for is solitude (being alone without being lonely ) I wouldn't know how that feels because i'm a loner !

[darko714]

On 12/15/2017 at 6:55 PM, 1xsculler said:

It seems to me hardbooting is hardbooting and while it is just another way to get down the mountain I don't see any way a hardbooter, a softbooter and a skiier can very well ride and enjoy the same runs together and meet at the bottom of the lift. 

I ride the lift with my skiing wife all the time and we usually decide which way we're going on the chair.  She's an expert skier so she can follow me down, no problem, although she seldom takes the same line.  If I wipe out she'll pass me.   On big mountain runs we stop a few times for a 'quad break', with whoever's in front initiating the stop.  

[Deckard]

My Family consists of 2 softbooters, 1 hardbooter (moi) and 2 skiers...  The 2 softbooters and 1 skier have spent some time riding hardboots but only when they were younger and only for a couple seasons. Thus, everyone has a good conceptual framework of how to make it all work together nicely.  All are very skilled which helps too...

[SnowCat]

Last time I went with my friends they took me down black diamond moguls...Not the best run for a hardboot board but it was challenging and actually ended up being great fun and good practice for balance.

[Neil Gendzwill]

1 hour ago, SnowCat said:

Last time I went with my friends they took me down black diamond moguls...Not the best run for a hardboot board but it was challenging and actually ended up being great fun and good practice for balance.

If you have an all-mountain board that's a little shorter and wide enough to run lower angles (say 50-ish), then moguls can be great fun with hardboots.  I think if your setup is stiff, long and narrow then moguls are not where you want to be.

[BlueB]

Our core crew consists of 3 hardbooters riding different styles, a skier that snowboards (hardboot) occasionally, a softbooter that harboots occasionally and a softbooter jibber/carver... We all have different strengths and preferences, ride at different speeds in different cinditions, but still make it work. 

[Beckmann AG]

On December 20, 2017 at 5:16 PM, matthew said:

I’m not a careful reader. I clicked on this topic and I was prepared to agree when I thought you were saying that it was a sport for louvers. 

I suppose louvers might work on a stomp pad? 

Send over a drawing and I'll run off a test piece on the Lenox.

 

[Rob Stevens]

On 12/22/2017 at 7:41 PM, Beckmann AG said:

I suppose louvers might work on a stomp pad? 

Send over a drawing and I'll run off a test piece on the Lenox.

 

Can you make me some chromed traction? 

If it bolts up to 4x4, all the better. 

[Beckmann AG]

^

Rob, 

Not sure how louvers would fit with your preferred mode, given they are not divergent, but run parallel to each other? 

You'd probably be better off with a few lemon zesters screwed to the topsheet.

Better yet, get yourself a set of sneakers from Icebug. 

Also, chrome doesn't take well to cold forming. There's a respectable powder coat emporium in the neighboring hamlet if you choose to go that route.

[Rob Stevens]

1 hour ago, Beckmann AG said:

^

Rob, 

Not sure how louvers would fit with your preferred mode, given they are not divergent, but run parallel to each other? 

You'd probably be better off with a few lemon zesters screwed to the topsheet.

Better yet, get yourself a set of sneakers from Icebug. 

Also, chrome doesn't take well to cold forming. There's a respectable powder coat emporium in the neighboring hamlet if you choose to go that route.

Lemon zesters... that's not a terrible idea. 

[lordmetroland]

12 minutes ago, Rob Stevens said:

Lemon zesters... that's not a terrible idea. 

Indeed, handy things. Fashioned a codpiece out of a lemon zester. After a few wearings, found I no longer had need for the codpiece.

[Beckmann AG]

9 hours ago, lordmetroland said:

Indeed, handy things. Fashioned a codpiece out of a lemon zester. After a few wearings, found I no longer had need for the codpiece.

A 'herring piece' maybe.

Typically the sharp things go to the outside; were you trying to annoy the mites?

Edited December 27, 2017 by Beckmann AG

[pow4ever]

I am a "loner" in general not just snowboarding.  I do enjoyed riding with everyone regardless of what gear they got on.  
When I do ride with skier/softbooter; depends on the trail/condition they pick:  I can "survive" most thing.
one Board, all condition is a pipe dream but it's something i strive for.

For me:  riding in group; it's very easy to mask "inadequacy"/lack of skill by slarving.  As the goal is to get to the bottom first?
It was fun but the older I get; I tend to want to work on my own things.

Now get off my lawn lol.

Bottom line:  we know how to have fun alone or not :-) 

[AcousticBoarder]

I enjoy riding with others in general. I find that I tend to take longer breaks and overthink things when I ride alone. It becomes difficult at times though riding with others as I am still in the stages of my riding that I only want to do mild to medium pitch groomers, anything more than that and my confidence level drops significantly, but being with others also helps that, especially if they are fellow carvers. I also got a new board last season (NFCB) which has overall helped me to improve my riding and confidence since it arrived.

Edited December 30, 2017 by AcousticBoarder

[TVR]

This past week, here in NE, it was well below -5 F every single day, and this was before wind. Yesterday, it was -20 at the base when I started....

 

With temps like this, would you even notice who was with you? All I saw was some mass of coats and helmet riding an Coiler who I expected was my kid while feeling the gear I was wearing stiffen up as it froze into a block as I plummeted down my turns.... On the bright side, it was like we had rented the whole mountain to ourselves as < 30 people showed up all day...

[Corey]

I hear you!  The lifts didn't open for 2 of the 5 days I planned to ride over the Xmas break.  It was -50C with the windchill.  Luckily it warmed up to -38C with the windchill so the lifts ran the other 3 days.  I don't have a good wax for -30C ambient temps...  :(  Boot Gloves are helpful, though they need to wrap around the heels too.   Cold heels were my limiting factor.  

Rode by myself for 3 days.  Shared only two chair lift rides with someone else across the three days.   Didn't die from the lack of socialization.  ;)  

[TVR]

Bretton on Saturday was -22F before wind factor.... and that was at the base.... (-30C for the conversion) two runs, in for 10 min.. but the kid was all out for 12 runs in a row after it warmed to -10F...

[b0ardski]

3 hours ago, Corey said:

  Didn't die from the lack of socialization.  ;)  

we're not in china. solitude is still legal

gear-wise I'm always alone, skiing on a snowboard means both sides of the coin (skiers and boarders) look at me funny, even hardbooters,  I never stop at the top when alone, stepin on the fly, pole past the clickity clickity wetbutts before the skiers can even decide which way to go

proficient riders/skiers have little issue keeping up with each other, if run choice is prohibitive, split the group, or meet them later

negative(F) temps are doable (w/handwarmers, boot heaters and my new heated jacket) but conditions need to be great to bother, guess I'm a bit jaded after 30+yrs.

I've skied in -50 windchill(young and dumb but sealed off till the facemask is a block of ice) and -20 ambient (fairy meadows hut trip, no choice) but we skip the single digits these days

besides, I'll always have you guys for company

Edited January 2, 2018 by b0ardski

[Jack M]

2 hours ago, b0ardski said:

gear-wise I'm always alone, skiing on a snowboard means both sides of the coin (skiers and boarders) look at me funny, even hardbooters,  I never stop at the top when alone, stepin on the fly, pole past the clickity clickity wetbutts before the skiers can even decide which way to go

In addition to ski poles, here are a half dozen other things that are probably way more practical than what I'm using, that I will never be caught dead using:

1. Ruroc full face helmet

2. One-piece outer garment

3. Recumbent bicycle

4. Crocs

5. a Prius

6. a minivan

;-)

[Corey]

Suddenly I'm picturing Jack rolling up to his Prius on his recumbent bike while wearing a fogged-up Ruroc, a fartbag suit, and Crocs.  

I came back to a flat tire on my van a few days ago.  That was a crummy end to a fun day of riding.  

[1xsculler]

Love your post, Jack.

Ruroc:  I was getting ready to order one to save my face on cold, blizzardy days when my wife intervened, "Neither I, your grandkids nor anyone else will share a chair ride with you if you wear that thing!"

After way too many years of excellent service I finally ditched my beloved Heli Hansen, one-piece suit numerous years ago after I saw a homeless guy begging at a stop sign, talking on his smartphone, and wearing my exact same suit.

Recumbent bicycles I know are good devices but I can't go there either.

I wore Crocs for years until it became apparent they were deforming my second toe, a problem that plagued me, especially in my RC8s prior to liner surgery.

At my age safety is much more important than fuel efficiency.  I want every new safety innovation plus lots of steel in my ride.

Minivan; not enough steel in the front end either.

Poles:  I noticed that eighty-six year old Dick (can't remember his last name) used them to his advantage.  When trying to get back up after tettering over on a flat, for no good reason, poles would be very handy but I'm not there yet either.

Remaining a happy loner as I still never see any other hardbooters carving at Crystal Mt.  It's ok as I am busy working on my own with each and every turn and with each board in my quiver.