What made you start hardbooting?

[RJ-PS]

I wanted to resurrect this thread (http://www.bomberonline.com/VBulletin/showthread.php?t=5141&highlight=hardbooting) with a slightly different goal. Seeing the years that people have been on hardboots (http://www.bomberonline.com/VBulletin/showthread.php?t=7283) made me realize there was something special happening somewhere around the 1999-2002 years that helped a lot of people make the transition. Perhaps it was different, perhaps the same for people that started 10+ years ago. I don't believe there were any more opportunities (companies/shops/eBay) to buy carving gear than there are now, so I am trying to get it down to a main reason or a few top reasons. How can we increase the hardboot population and get our skidding brothers and sisters into the trench? I mean those of us that carve know why we do it, so why not let the others in on our fun?

So .....what year did you start and more importantly WHY?

*Remember looking for the reason(s) that we might be able to emulate to build the population.

[RJ-PS]

When I was just a junior high kid (88-89) my friends older brother had just gotten back from a few years in France and said that everyone over there was riding plates. That allowed them to switch quite easily from skis to snowboards whenever they wanted without switching boots. Sounded good to my friend so he got plates. Thing is he was never really good at snowboarding so I ended up riding his stuff more than he did. However being a junior high kid I wanted to keep up with my friends and go where they went so I ended up buying a Burton w/softies and hitting the moguls, jumps, halfpipe (Ski Roundtop was great to snowboarders) etc. When the need to keep up with my friends on the freestyle stuff went away I got back into hardbooting.

88-89 Season - because of a friend having them.

[Tommy D]

I took up alpine snowboarding because I was looking for a new challenge; something to re-invigorate my passion for skiing and sliding on snow. Carving a snowboard seemed like a logical choice. And it worked. I was getting a little 'bored' with skiing in New England (although a lot of that had to do with my gear, none of which work well all-mountain, but excel in their niche.)

Interestingly enough, carving a snowboard helped me to become a better, more efficient skier. From that angle, it might be possible to draw skiers into the snowboard carving community. My girlfriend switched to hard boots when she realized how much more control she had over the board vs the softboots on the same board.

I'm always getting positive comments about carving a snowboard from skiers, never softboot snowboarders, so I think it might actually be easier to get skiers excited about the sport.

Edit: I started hardbooting during the 2000-2001 season.

[Jon Dahl]

soft boots have always hurt my feet, so I found some plates on sale at a local sporting goods store, found some comfy ski boots and got started. Feet felt great, but my boarding suffered for a bit. Found some Raichle SB224's from The House and got better. Found Bomberonline and then it all came together. Found out about the dreaded quiver disease and the wallet got worse, and has never recovered!

[Guest pvhsracegirl]

I've been on a race team for 4 years now, and last year i decided i really wanted to try something bigger and better and move up on the ladder on my team. so i went down to hughes ski hut, grabbed up a sweet deal, board, boots, bindings for 280.00, went out, and taught myself how to carve properly. Last year i moved up on the team from #487 to #482 and #481. I dont think i would ever go back to softies again....hardboots are definetley my style.

[Slow Eddie]

I started snowboarding because it was different from the skiing I had been doing for a few years. I picked up skiing pretty quickly and my family had always used to ski at smaller hills (Butternut Basin and the like - Noah, you know what I mean :) ) Snowboarding "made the mountain hard again", a theme that echoes through a lot of crossover snowboarders' histories. But I was also into racing at the time (on skis and, when possible, on snowboards). This being the mid-80's, good racing form in one discipline did not necessarily carry over into the other discipline. Plus, no matter how much duct tape I used on my boots, I couldn't go as fast, in as much comfort, or with as much control on a snowboard compared to my skis - in or out of the race course. So I decided (and was told) that if I wanted to improve my ski racing technique, I should quit snowboarding - after all, that sport's going nowhere fast...

Fast forward to the mid-90's. Whatever ski racing aspirations I had in high school had long since evaporated, and lo and behold, snowboarding didn't skate off into the sunset. In fact, it had evolved in the competitive Petri dish of Europe, where racers had discovered the advantages of stiff plastic boots and (gasp!) asymmetric geometry for maximum efficiency and control on the course. Now, I could carve my skis as well as anybody I knew, and this was before words like fat and parabolic entered the ski shape lexicon - but what I witnessed the first time I saw hardbooters laying it down was jaw-dropping. 360's around "SLOW" signs, recovering from laydown, arm-dragging turns, edge changes so rapid the board would "pop" off the snow during the transition - you couldn't do any of that on skis. And the trenches - oh, the trenches! Long, sinuous lines snaking down the hill with impunity, daring you to try not to follow them with your eyes while riding up the lift, and daring you to try and follow them with your boards on the way down. For the first time since I had started snowboarding ten years earlier, I felt a stirring in my soul. This is what snowboarding was supposed to be.

I scrounged up a set of closeout gear and never looked back. When the shaped ski "revolution" happened a few seasons later, I wasn't fazed - I had already tasted the sweetness of the carve, and trying to replicate it on skis was just a poor substitution for the real thing.

Sure, I have a pair of shaped skis in the garage. I even started telemarking a few seasons ago with eventual backcountry aspirations. But nothing has replaced hardbooting as my primary winter fix, and nothing probably ever will.

[Linus]

I saw a footage of Hardbooters freeriding from OLN and I couldn't believe my eyes. And I did some search and found some gears from a local shop(now I think of it, they didn't have a clue how to set it up ) and started riding. I'm still in love~ :D :D

[Jim]

Did a daytrip to Tahoe for a session with my neighbor. I was amused to see him pull out an alien looking HB setup. All it took was one laidout turn to convert me. Unfortunalely, he shattered his front tibula/fibula before I could get any lessons.

[tex1230]

I was a fashion victim...

(been trying to find a pic of Damian in the Koflachs, but you all know what he looked like)

[GeoffV]

My attraction to carving came after watching the first movie of Peter Bauer and Jean Nevara (sp?) back in 1989 and meeting them as they toured around Europe showing the film. I was in awe after the movie and wanted PJ6 so bad, but as I was only 15 and with limited funds had to settle for a used Crazy Banana. Back then I don't remember ever seeing folks on soft setups until about 1990, I remember meeting a Swiss kid and asking him what kind of bindings those were.

In Europe all they had for rentals where plates anyways, I actually didn't try softies until we moved back to the US 3 years later.

[kjl]

I needed more lateral stiffness in my boots so I could put my angles higher and make my heelside better, and I made a really nerdy post over on snowboarderreview.com asking for help. Somebody from bomberonline (whose name I forget!) saw my post and pointed me over here. And that was that ;)

[Guest Randy S.]

Hah. I started so long ago (89) because riding in Sorels sucked! Hardboots meant I could get much more leverage and control. My bike shop had a pair of Dynafit Tourlite AT boots on sale for $25 at the end of the season so I bought them and then went to the board shop in Lincoln near Loon and got an asym board with screw-down bindings. I've never looked back. I bought a pair of softies two seasons ago. Stiffest ones I could find. They sucked, I sold them and don't intend to try again any time soon. Hard boots are so much more comfortable.

[Jack M]

In 1987 I saw two guys on Cruisers playing follow the leader, and they both banked sweet toeside turns on the side of the trail and I thought it was the coolest thing I'd ever seen on snow. I knew then that I had to learn how to snowboard to get that feeling.

A couple years later, I'd saved up all summer and bought a Safari Comp II. I took it out for the first day of the season - so excited to ride my new ride - and I realized I forgot my boots at home, 4 hours away. I was determined to ride my new board, so I stuck my ski boots in the Burton Darth Vader strap bindings, and forced myself down the hill. It was a disaster, and on that day I vowed never to ride hardboots again.

A couple years later, I'd learned to carve pretty well on my PJ7 and 3-strap bindings. I was still convinced I didn't need hardboots because the 3-strappers carved so well. Or so I thought. Then the bindings start to fall apart - the rear binding developed a crack in the baseplate at one of the screw holes, and it never performed the same again, despite attempts to weld it. One day I was lamenting this situation, when Rossignol was holding a demo. They had a VAS173 with Emory plates and a pair of Alpinas my size. I said what the hell and tried it.

What happened to me next dropped my jaw. And my friend's jaw. Every little thing about softboots that had been secretly restricting my carving without me realizing it was suddenly gone, and I carved better on that first run with the demo than I had ever carved before. I was like a bird let out of a cage. My friend couldn't believe the turns I was making. He slid up to me at the bottom of the run, eyes wide, and said "you gotta get hardboots!"

It was a revelation. Like the first time I blasted my favorite CD from the first nice stereo system I bought in college, after listening to a boom-box all my life. Like the first time I plugged into my Fender Twin Reverb after playing through a POS 15 watt 1x8 amp for years. Like the first time I tasted Filet Mignon, not knowing there was anything better than sirloin. Like the first time I... well, I'll leave that analogy to Randy.

I believe the lack of 3 strap bindings today is the reason many carving newbies have such a hard time converting to hardboots. They've never felt what it's like to tip a board up on toeside with their legs instead of their feet. They've never felt their bindings <i>respond</i>. If I had never ridden 3 strap bindings, I probably would have had the same reaction to hardboots as that day I stuck my ski boots in my softboot bindings.

[Guest dzz]

western ny doesnt really have much soft stuff and didnt have any terrain parks at the time, what we did have is lots of hard pack.

leaving clean lines, feelign smooth transitions, and trying to squeeze up the G's on harder and harder turns was the natural progression. When the AMP first came out and i saw the advertisements just knew that is where i wanted

to go.

[Skully]

I, like Geof, was probably turned on to hardbooting by Peter Bauer and Jean Nerva. In the late 80's / early 90's.

I also hated how bad my feet hurt in softies. My riding style just didn't lend its'self to soft boots, and I needed more support. Hardboots offered the ablity to tranfer more power to the edge. Plus, I wanted to "carve, carve carve," with "no slide."

Contrary to your post RJ, during the Bauer / Nerva era, Carving boards and gear WERE more accessible. Mostly because Burton was pushing it at the time. On a demo day, you could usually get boards and boots from Rossi. Checker Pig's were usually easy to get at demo's too. Burton usually would have a few PJ's and "M's" to demo, at least with the three-strap bindings.

Alpine boards were pretty readily available in shops in UT during the whole Asym period. I remember seeing Look, Aggression, F2, Burton and Rossi alpine boards in shops back then. In fact - I bought my first M6 on a close out from a Gart Brothers type store in Utah called Pedersens.

[RJ-PS]

Good point Skully,

Come to think of it you're right most of the shops that carried Burton had a set of their MGX boots and some carvers. So the typical snowboard shopper was able to see alpine gear face to face.

I was thinking that even though the major brands aren't in shops anymore or have discontinued those lines, that it is actually easier to get gear because it is so readily available to anyone on the Internet.

However I did unfortunately discount the visible experience of seeing carving gear in a shop. And the amount of people that might have tried it just because it was available.

Basically the posts so far indicate a visible experience with hardbooting:

a friend

a TV Show

a video

Other posts are indicating a performance progression:

a demo

Racing

Next level

Still another is transfer possibilities from skiing.

Keep 'em coming!

[Ray]

Hmm, I started because of Windsurfing… Back in ‘86-‘88 I lived in Spain before moving back to Germany. Spain is a great spot for windsurfer… So after I moved back to Germany I was looking for a new sport providing enough adrenaline thrill, speed and fun with people who share the same passion… A good friend of ours was a snowboard instructor. I am so thankful that he was teaching in hard boots!!! The big days of Peter Bauer!

Those days, you couldn’t even find someone in soft boots on the mountain in Austria/Switzerland… Probably the same ratio between softies and hard boots as today. Just the other way around.

I am not sure 100% but I think my very first board I actually bought back than was a Burton PJ7 and right after the M6. Still have M6 and rode it last season for a couple runs, that was strange.

[Neil Gendzwill]

Like many of you, I came from a skiing background. I was young and liked to go fast. One of our favourite things was straightlining the shallower mogul runs on GS skiis, skipping off the tops. You know: young, fast, stupid.

Anyways, after repeatedly yanking the bindings out of an Elite 150, I got a Sims 1710 Blade. It had much better bindings, but the straps were hard and hurt my feet through the sorel/ski boot bladder combo. I couldn't crank them hard enough for the control I wanted at speed. Worse yet, when I cranked 'er up, I could positively feel my ankles creaking with the stress. I got myself a pair of those hot pink Damian boots and some Elfgens on a Gnu Race Room and never looked back. That was 1990.

My wife still thinks I go way too fast.

[LeeW]

Ahh. Been a softie for a very long time, and loved making pencil carve lines on my Emma Peel. During the deaf olympics try-out, I got 2nd place in giant slalom on my PJ7 with Gnu softboot bindings and Gnu Softboot. Will Garrow, the coach at the time, insisted I do hardboots tho I try pleading with him for me to go the old fashioned way -- softies on race board, esp three straps burton bindings. It was a no-go. So I went to hardboots. Well, it's not too bad. I enjoy it. Just shin bangs sucks. And I like the floating of it far more on hard boots and carving a pencil carve line, too. Just a bit more scary because I have broken my Tibula with hardboots and Rossi WCR 184. Easier for me to manage it with softboots, I guess. Now, I just hardboots in the early morning, during terrain park maintenance (because we the crew are to be up there to get the terrain park ready to go before its open so I get to ride the courdaries of Vail's Golden Peak). As the morning go, I usually switch to either softboots or skiing. Sometimes I'd stick to hardboot all day long. Depends on how the snow feels.

[Allee]

My friends all skied and took me on a ski trip in New Zealand 1994. I looked at the skis and poles, looked at a snowboard and said "I wanna do that ... it looks easier". (They all refused to talk to me for the rest of the trip...)

On about the third day out I was on the lift and there was a carver (a Japanese guy) running lines down the big blue groomer that goes under Captain's lift. Big, wide, lazy lines all the way down the hill. I was just entranced, and right then I decided that was what I wanted to do.

For the ski trip the next year I bought a carving board at the local ski shop and some ski boots (couldn't find proper hard boots to fit). And that's been it ever since.

Actually that sounds like a long time ... 1994 ... pretty sad when you've been boarding for 11 years and have just ticked over 50 days ... :(

[jdgang]

Tried apline in 95 after seeing a video of PB/JN. Gave up because I couldnt get the carve and there was no BOL at the time. Torn ACL in 99 and came back two years later. Realize I would hurt myself trying to jump/jib and rails scare me so all I could do is carve. If I only had softboots I would have given up snowboarding by now. And my first time on hard boots was at a burton demo day at Mountain Creek. A FP159Aysm. Took it out and folded the nose. The guy at the demo laugh at me since he knew I was going to fold the nose but didnt want to tell me. Went back out with a girl who worked the demo van. I remember her telling me that I looked good

[Mark Brown]

2002 - Needed more ankle support

Relative newb - Started in softies in 2000 and then broke my ankle in 2001 and soft boots just didn't cut it anymore...

[Bob L.]

I picked up my first snowboard (a beat, burton supermodel) in a neighborhood yard sale for $50. Had some old ski boots (ridiculously stiff Lange Tii model ) and discovered that I could use them if I found some plates. Not a particularly good setup to learn snowboarding on but it worked.

[Skully]

Just curious.

Did the 2002 winter olympics and Klug / Bronze have anything with any of the north-americans here getting into hardboots?

Sorry, this should have been in my other post...

[Gecko]

1) feet...I've never been comfortable in softies at the speeds that I like to travel down the mountain

2) control...softies weren't allowing any

of course the change to plates allowed me to run a longer faster boards :D