Holly Posted March 5, 2005 Report Share Posted March 5, 2005 The boots and board arrived last week... the bindings arrived promptly Thursday afternoon. I spent Thursday afternoon assembling things and last night, I hit the slopes for the first time on my new carving gear. I had pretty much followed Scott's lead... riding pretty steep angles on my soft gear (45º front and 39º rear). To avoid boot-out on my carving gear, I sent the front to 60º and rear to 58º. I was a little worried at how I would react to the steeper angles, but it actually felt pretty good. I managed not to fall on my a** getting off the lift and did three runs down the bunny slope @ Whitetail. Those runs went pretty well, so Scott immediately encouraged me to go to Snowpark with him. Snowpark was great! I had a few "oh sh*ts" as the board sometime started to take me for a ride and I had to do evasive manuevers to avoid other people or to avoid going into the tree line. (I had become pretty used to riding my freeride board right up to the edge before turning back to the center of the slope. I quickly learned that I needed to start my turns a little sooner on the new board:) ) Though the extra speed took a little getting used to, once I started to relax and focus on technique, things went pretty well. My carves weren't exactly pretty, but every once in a while I experience a few glimmers of things yet to come. The board holds it edge MUCH better than my freeride board (a Ride Vista 152). Once, I thought I was going down for sure, but I just leaned into the turn a bit more, the board turned more quickly and BAM... I was back up carving away (vice sliding to a stop on my butt:) ). Scott and I are gettin' read to head back out for another evening of snowboarding. Though I was a little uneasy about going to Okemo next week and riding my new gear, last night bolstered my confidence. I still have a TON to learn, but boy... is the learning going to be a blast! Holly Pic of new board Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SWriverstone Posted March 5, 2005 Report Share Posted March 5, 2005 I'm biased, of course-- :) --but Holly did great in her first outing in hardboots! (At least as well as I did---uh-oh, the pressure's on! <grin>) I'm lucky to have a "significant other" who carves. :) Scott Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mellowjonny Posted March 5, 2005 Report Share Posted March 5, 2005 Holly thats alot of board to be starting on--my wife has been riding the Rossi Vas 159 for the past five years (very stiff for her 5'8" 130#) she just got a new Donek 158 jalee --alot softer flex pattern. I have three of the 166 Vas that i have ridden over the past 5 years. I'm 6'2" 190# i can bend it inside out. I would never put my wife on that board--she is a very strong and a aggresive rider. Be careful--unless your a big girl, you will not be able to bend it--(GS board) You will need something with a softer flex. Jeff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Holly Posted March 6, 2005 Author Report Share Posted March 6, 2005 Jeff, Thank you for the feedback. I'm 5'9" and 160#. The guy I bought it from is 5'8" and 170#. It sounded like he rides both a stiffer and softer board (he had a quiver of 3 before selling the 166 to me), so I figured that this one might be okay for me. Perhaps there will be other boards @ Okemo that I can demo to see how softer and/or shorter boards might ride. Holly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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