following a railer in the flesh

[1xsculler]

Now I know why guys on this forum say going to a Trenchin' Convention can be so beneficial.

Yesterday at Crystal I was getting my ten runs in and getting bored and depressed in part because the visibility sucked (super foggy but one could get intermittent glimpses of the terrain) and the snow was too hard and icy at 9:00.  I persevered as I knew things would soften up as the morning wore on and I had nothing better to do. I got off the chair to start my last run and noticed, much to my amazement, another hardbooter...only the third one I had seen in over eighty trips to Crystal during this and last season.  He was with three of his children one of whom was his fourteen year old daughter who was on hardboots and a carving board for her first time.  So, I said to him, "I'll follow you."  The minute I saw him rail his first two turns I knew he had "the look" of a carver, i.e. body angle, knee angle, board up on edge, etc.  This was the first time I had seen this in person (I've watched tons of utube vids) and the first time, in my quest to rail, that I had someone whose track and body position I could attempt to emulate in the flesh. I learned more in that last run than I had all last and this season. While I couldn't get it down and rail like this guy does I could sort of carve right behind him for three or four turns.  I've never felt better about my riding and I'm totally re-stoked for what will be my last four times to the Mt. for the season IF conditions hold out until April 20th.

Maybe if I can ride hard next December and January a TC will be in my future.  So far, there has been no point in trying to ride with you guys as I would be toast within two hours and just have to drink the rest of the day.

After replying to some questions to my text to him it's no surprise that he was an accomplished carver as he was bitten by the carving bug in '93/'93 after watching Peter Bauer and Jean Nerva rip it up.

My next step is to try to coax him into giving me a one hour lesson.

[Corey]

Nice! Now get some tips from an impartial 3rd party observer and watch your progress skyrocket again. I learned more in my first trip to SES than I had in all the time before.