slopetool Posted December 19, 2017 Report Share Posted December 19, 2017 Carving is making a comeback! I've seen and you have too the videos of soft booters carving on groomers and park features. It's not a trend but it's great to see. We all have heard it for years, "I can carve like that too!". Finally it's coming mainstream again? Circular motion of what is cool. Carving will never die! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jburk Posted December 19, 2017 Report Share Posted December 19, 2017 I'm completely in awe of these guys, they're so solid I had to look twice to see the softboots: 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
b0ardski Posted December 19, 2017 Report Share Posted December 19, 2017 it's about time!!!! hopefully the new crop of toe draggers will stimulate some boot and binding developement 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lowrider Posted December 19, 2017 Report Share Posted December 19, 2017 Stiff boots are here for toe draggers upward of $700 . Not very quick to get into with multiple laces pulleys and cables to winch tight. One feature that i'm sure will catch on is the use of velcro to secure the heel pocket of the liner to the actual outer boot. Not easy to remove but very firmly holds the heel from sliding up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slopestar Posted December 19, 2017 Report Share Posted December 19, 2017 (edited) Most of those vids are racers on softies. Carving can be done by any decent rider. I love the aggressive ones that don’t do the racer hop into their heel side turns. Doing that is a dead giveaway. Just like park riding is a young mans game/there are very few that excel at it. Thankfully, the same goes for soft boot carvers. The myth that alpine boots and boards are necessary is just that. A myth. They do make speed and stability much easier though and the flow and power is absolutely wicked. Very few riders become good carvers. The bent over at the waist with head down is seen everywhere. Most of these guys couldn’t buy a decent heel side. Good riders are good riders. Aggressive ones are even better. Add smooth, well it’s a recipe for power with a touch of grace. I love that people are into it... now if only Gapers and Straightlining boarders and skiers could figure out that we turn a lot and hard and to back the fuck off, it would be a far better place. Rant over. Thank you Edited December 19, 2017 by slopestar 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack M Posted December 19, 2017 Report Share Posted December 19, 2017 I'm loving it. If some of them make the leap to hardboots, great. As for the ones that don't, at least we will have a mutual understanding and respect, which is a big improvement. 18 minutes ago, slopestar said: The myth that alpine boots and boards are necessary is just that. A myth. They're necessary to carve at high levels of speed, slope, and surface hardness. This is why nobody uses softboots to race GS or SL at high levels of competition. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jburk Posted December 19, 2017 Report Share Posted December 19, 2017 There are a few hardbooting carvers in that series as well; this guy is so fluid he makes it look easy. His riding reminds me of some of the vids I’ve seen of Sigi Grabner, really smooth transitions from edge to edge. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SnowFerret Posted December 19, 2017 Report Share Posted December 19, 2017 2 hours ago, b0ardski said: it's about time!!!! hopefully the new crop of toe draggers will stimulate some boot and binding developement Would love some stiff bindings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poloturbo Posted December 19, 2017 Report Share Posted December 19, 2017 I think it' great. Maybe will have some descent conditions from now on. Thoses big scrappers are messing up the slopes. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
utahcarver Posted December 19, 2017 Report Share Posted December 19, 2017 The vids don't showcase an American return to carving. I think it's Korean riders who are amping their soft boot skills. I wonder if this "return to the turn" is as widespread as is being represented. If it is, I would hope for a return to better (read: stiffer) soft equipment and boards. Hasn't Sean Martin over at Donek been making softboot boards to do this? Have a good winter everyone! Mark 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat Donnelly Posted December 19, 2017 Report Share Posted December 19, 2017 Coiler BXFR - soft or hard boots, fun!! Soft snow, groomers to hard pack . . . Handles it all well. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corey Posted December 19, 2017 Report Share Posted December 19, 2017 Did you guys miss Mr. Knapton? Granted, he has more of a freestyle influence - a bridge between the pure carving and pure freestyle worlds. I say the more the merrier. It's all fun! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aracan Posted December 19, 2017 Report Share Posted December 19, 2017 (edited) I like those vids, but I think it will fail to catch on. Reason: Most softboot carvers in the vids (Ryan Knapton excepted) ride forward stance, which is shunned by the overwhelming majority of softboot riders, because it is so, so not cool and so, so limiting if one wants to ride fakie and do tricks and whatnot. Which may lead them to try and emulate Mr Knapton, which will fail in most cases, because it takes an extremely accomplished rider to do what he does in duck stance. (And even RK is quite explicit about how he works hard to overcome the limitations of his stance, and his softboot videos usually show twenty serious frontsides to one backside.) Edited December 19, 2017 by Aracan Replacing Brian with Ryan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack M Posted December 19, 2017 Report Share Posted December 19, 2017 2 hours ago, Aracan said: I like those vids, but I think it will fail to catch on. Reason: Most softboot carvers in the vids (Brian Knapton excepted) ride forward stance, which is shunned by the overwhelming majority of softboot riders, because it is so, so not cool and so, so limiting if one wants to ride fake and do tricks and whatnot. Which may lead them to try and emulate Mr Knapton, which will fail in most cases, because it takes an extremely accomplished rider to do what he does in duck stance. (And even BK is quite explicit about how he works hard to overcome the limitations of his stance, and his softboot videos usually show twenty serious frontsides to one backside.) Ryan Knapton has a brother named Brian? Who names their kids Ryan and Brian? That's just weird. I bet they had a lot of matching outfits back in the day. ;-) Anyway, I agree that the video in the OP, while great, probably won't be received by most softbooters as well as a Knapton video for the reasons you state. Specialized equipment, uncool stance, long directional board, no freestyle mixed in. Ryan overcomes the typical duck stance by using a very, very wide board. Eliminate boot-out and anyone can carve. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
st_lupo Posted December 19, 2017 Report Share Posted December 19, 2017 5 hours ago, utahcarver said: The vids don't showcase an American return to carving. I think it's Korean riders who are amping their soft boot skills. I wonder if this "return to the turn" is as widespread as is being represented. If it is, I would hope for a return to better (read: stiffer) soft equipment and boards. Hasn't Sean Martin over at Donek been making softboot boards to do this? Have a good winter everyone! Mark I guess there is going to be some relativism, but at our local ski hill in Norway there are definitely some of the park rats that are figuring out what those steel edges are for. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil Gendzwill Posted December 19, 2017 Report Share Posted December 19, 2017 Ryan was at one time a nationally competitive half-pipe rider. Using his carving skills to throw spins out of seemingly nowhere and smoothly transitioning from edge to butter and back at speed are a huge part of his appeal to the wider audience. They do like the turns but if his videos were just carving Ryan would be largely unknown. Ryan is like the gateway drug to carving: he is generating a lot of questions about gear and technique. Not many of his fans will be drawn to hard gear though. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slopestar Posted December 19, 2017 Report Share Posted December 19, 2017 My point is that solid carving can be done with any boot. Mountains are still dedicating sizable acreage and resources to parks that entertain a very small percentage of their clientele. I’d rather those dollars went to educating the public in regard to being responsible skiers and riders. I love snowboarding but the majority of boarders are not young and spend little time hitting rails and super kickers. They want to be carving but no one is showing them how to do it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slopestar Posted December 19, 2017 Report Share Posted December 19, 2017 Most people(skiers and straightliners) have no idea that at 35+mph, we can turn very hard. With the possibility of more boarders finding the fine line, will result in more collisions Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charliechocolate Posted December 19, 2017 Report Share Posted December 19, 2017 I don't think I care if carving catches on with the masses or not. I'm up there having a good time and as long as others are too, we're all good. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aracan Posted December 19, 2017 Report Share Posted December 19, 2017 Solid carving can be done with any boot. Duckstance makes backsides a lot harder, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jburk Posted December 19, 2017 Report Share Posted December 19, 2017 I'm really in favour of softbooters trying to learn how a board can turn by virtue of its shape rather than trying to swing or pivot the board around with their back foot. I think only a very small percentage who try to carve a softboot setup will progress to full carves with linked turns from edge to edge over an entire run, but if it cuts down on the number of riders acting as heelside/toeside snow squeegees on the blues and blacks then I'm all for it. I rode up the lift a couple of weeks ago with a particularly open-minded softbooter who was curious how I managed to get the board to turn with such relatively (to him) steep angles. When I explained about how sidecut radius could turn the board by itself if the board was weighed/decambered (used the analogy of a ghost-riding bicycle), etc, he wondered if his board could do the same. So with many caveats and CYA statements ("I'm not an instructor", etc), in about 5 minutes he was doing a modified version of the "norm" turn on both heel and toe. The biggest thing was getting him to trust that the board would come back across the fall line just by use of continued pressure on the edge, and breaking the tail free to slide it wasn't necessary. "Holy shit, it's so much less effort..." Spotted him from the lift later and he was still at it, with noticeable improvement, linked turns and all. Some people are all about skills acquisition, getting a snowboard to carve a turn is yet another skill in the set. Who knows, if his buddies see him carve the odd turn instead of sliding the tail around, they might try it themselves. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slopestar Posted December 19, 2017 Report Share Posted December 19, 2017 ^preach! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corey Posted December 19, 2017 Report Share Posted December 19, 2017 Nice work! Sharing knowledge helps everyone get better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhiteHorse Posted December 19, 2017 Report Share Posted December 19, 2017 It seems like the big board manufacturers are all offering full or mostly camber boards now. I just bought a Ride Berserker "All Mountain" board and it carves awesomely. (is that a word?) I'm hard bootin' it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beckmann AG Posted December 20, 2017 Report Share Posted December 20, 2017 21 hours ago, jburk said: There are a few hardbooting carvers in that series as well; this guy is so fluid he makes it look easy. His riding reminds me of some of the vids I’ve seen of Sigi Grabner, really smooth transitions from edge to edge. Ooh, Visine. thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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