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Can carving survive without racing?


James Ong

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Mt Rose would be like 5 guys maybe out of 500 boards? so 1 in 100. But it is the same 5 guys everyday.

Alpine; I saw 3 other guys in plates; let's assume maybe 1500 boarders, so 1 in 500.

Kirkwood I heard is more.

In New Zealand, might see on Whakapapa (which is a icy north island ski field) maybe 10 guys in plates out of 1000 boarders... that is back to 1 in 100.

Here in Thailand... well there is me and....so that is 1 in 1 ....100%%%!!!

In general I'd say at the moment seems to be as high as 1-5% on a really good day (of snowboarders) and as low as almost nothing. Except for Bprataet Thai....100% - the carving centre of the universe... actually when Skategoat was here it was 2 out of 2..still 100%%%%!!!!!!

I really think the key is to convert reasonable skiers across; once they learn the carve, then going to a snowboard is a nice way to extend their skills... less sure how easy it is to convert the skate rats in da park wid da bAgGY pAnTz.

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I rode a K2 Gyrator that was drilled for Burton Variplates with Salomon SX91 ski boots back in the day. The fun of snowboarding for me was the carve and as Bola said all the riders were expected to compete in all areas of snowboarding. So the guys that got Burton money when Burton was pushing racing always came back from comps with hardboots, asym boards, and variplates. I never picked it up, too busy chasing the bunnies.

Fast forward to today....I'm going to start racing this season (God willing) not just to beat my time, buddies, or the clock, but to become a more well-rounded boarder. As the saying goes "any board any run any conditions any time" that is what makes a snowboarder. I don't think it's really about the equipment as much as it's about the boarder finding ways around the limits of the equipment. Whether today or back in the day, the people that were doing what no one else was doing on their boards were the ones that kept the sport progressing. (Check out the most recent copy of Snowboard Journal with the piece on the 80s.) Where or where is our Damien now!!!

Old school OT - Remember when Glen Plake used to take his 210s through the mogul fields!

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"I rode a K2 Gyrator that was drilled for Burton Variplates with Salomon SX91 ski boots back in the day. The fun of snowboarding for me was the carve and as Bola said all the riders were expected to compete in all areas of snowboarding. So the guys that got Burton money when Burton was pushing racing always came back from comps with hardboots, asym boards, and variplates. I never picked it up, too busy chasing the bunnies."

RJ-PS

When you start racing, I think you should keep racing on your gyrator. THat is the K2 with the long nose right, and a sort of cap construction? Yep, it will be great on the race course...that way if you lose you can say, well it was the board obviously.

And if you can actually win anything, it will be despite the board :-)

Well, actually I have not thought this through complete, but I think you should do it!

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I'm over 450 now, I'm in 16th place overall. That's on the bouble. I need to start making meaningless post like this to help move me up and give me some buff room so I don't get knocked out of the finals.

:confused: I'm trying to figure out how I ended up in 11th place :confused:

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As long as something moves from point A to point B, one human will think he/she can do it faster than another. Whether or not carving NEEDS racing is neither here nor there. Snowboard racing will always exist and one will try to gain an advantage in any way possible within the rules of the sport. These equipment "upgrades" that are implemented by racers are passed down to the common folk in the form of better materials, optimal shapes etc.

I love to watch a race in any sport and believe it accelerates the technology passed on to the mass particpants in the same sport, in all racing sports that have any kind of manufactured technology.

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In ski-racing my favorite of all the races is Super G. I like the concept of no practice runs only walking the course and the speed. DH is cool but snowboards don't really lend themselves to the coasting that DH involves. I know that most of the GS racers would excel at it I just wonder why it's never taken off as a snowboard dicipline? The spills alone put it on par with SBX.

on a related note picture the boards that would be used for such a race :biggthump

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Super-G used to be a great event, but unfortunatly was the first event to be phased out in the late '90s when the switch to duels started. There is a conspircy theroy out there that Super-G was the first to go because North America had many more great Super-G riders and the Euro's were always a step behind. Who knows the truth behind this, but Super-G was very very cool to do, scared the hell out of a lot of people too.

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I think it could make a come back if there were some good Austrians :eek: I still think that North American's could rule it since the unruly nature of it lends itself to our way of thinking ;) Maybe talking the Xgames into doing it would show everyone that plates are cool like SBX did that racing can be cool

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  • 4 months later...

Alpine without racing is like freestyle without a halfpipe. It needs the publicity, or else it will slowly be forgotten. My opinion only, free to agree or disagree as you like. But if nobody ever saw a snowboard, who would buy one? and boardercross is really getting people curious around here. I've seen less and less freestyle guys and more people asking about hardboots. if you really wanna convert them, though, hit the bunny slope and get em while theyre young! i had three girls and four guys about 13 years old who saw my board while i was teaching a friend how to ride tell me that they want a board like mine after seeing it in action. A few old skiiers wanted more information too. Hit the bunny slope every so often and drum up some support!

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