Carving In A Soft Setup?

[eastcoasticerider]

O.K. it look slike i will be giving lessons next season butim still confused on the board selection.A lot of the boards Im hearing about are classified as pipeboards..Should i be looking at ALL MOUNTAIN boards..or boardercross? I heard about a new board from Lib Technologies called the Dark MAGNETRACTION?.......I BOUGHT A K2 Instinct on impulse and it turns like a brontosaurus who wandered into the marijuana patch by accident..has anyone demoed the Donek INcline?For now Im using a Solomon Malamute boot in an anscient Burton Torque (3strap) binding. probably switching to a Flow Pro-c- cfx their highest stiffest freeriding cuff/tongue....Its actually making our snopark a fresh new experience . we got over a foot of wet cakey spring snow overnite with at least another 4-6 during hte day..the last hurrah!!!! :confused:

[Guest itodd]

i have an incline wide. it carves pretty well (see avatar). i haven't had the opportunity to ride in hardboots so i can't compare it to an alpine board.

[lonerider]

Originally posted by eastcoasticerider

has anyone demoed the Donek INcline?For now Im using a Solomon Malamute boot in an anscient Burton Torque (3strap) binding. probably switching to a Flow Pro-c- cfx their highest stiffest freeriding cuff/tongue

I have a Donek Incline 155 is it an excellent freeriding/freecarving setup. A 5'8" 145 lbs I find it has amazing edgehold on the groomers, but it is a little bit of work to ride in the trees and bumps. (not impossible, just a bit tougher because it is so stiff). If you have greater than size 8 feet and/or ride agnles below 22/15, I would suggest that you get the Wide, which is virtually identical to the Indline except 26cm waist instead of 24cm. I thought with my size 7.5ish feet I should be find, but if I ride 15/0 I get a decent amont of boot drag when I do deep carves in soft snow... If I crank it up to 36/30, then I'm ok...

[mnovak]

Went through a similar search for a softboot carving board. Others to consider in addition to Donek:

F2 Eliminator Ltd. (you might find regular Eliminator a bit too soft in the nose)

Nitro DarkHorse or Nitro Shogun

The DarkHorse is the best of this bunch, but the most expensive too.

I never tried the Magnetraction, but hear from guys who ride it that it is amazing.

[alpinegirl]

dude, regardless of what you get, its performance characteristics are going to differ a great deal from your alpine gear. stop looking for a softie setup that performs like that and accept that it'll be a totally different ride.

some torsional flex is desirable. some width is desirable.

if you really work your feet and fine motor movements, your riding overall will actually improve. don't set yourself up to get a softie setup that performs like hardboots, and accept the challenge of refining your "craft."

a wise board guru this past week confessed that he had started riding much softer boards (he got me into alpine and is one of those people who whoops and hollers on down the hill). his freestyle setup became much softer because it forced him to really work on his riding techniques.

it's a different beast. spend some more time getting to know it. i received a women's board this past year (yay warranties) which would have been perfect for a considerably lighter, smaller footed woman. i was still able to engage in moderate carving on that thing (no superhigh board angles due to drag, although i could lay my stomach on the snow on a good day). it took some time to get used to.

[wavechaser]

I'm a racer/carver but I teach on an Atomic Radon 164 - unless I have an alpine lesson (almost never happens). I've found the Radon to be carveable (wide but SL sidecut), good in the bumps (just soft enough), good in the pipe (not too stiff) and a way sweet powder stick. It's got a two year warranty to boot - which is good because my stdents seem to always find a way to take me out! :D