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Jumps on plates?


RDY_2_Carve

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Hiya folks! I did jumps for the first time in my softboots this past weekend. It was in the terrain park at Angel Fire and they have four big jumps in a row. You get about 4-5 feet of air and fly about 10-15 feet or so (I'm guessing) and that's without actually springing off the jumps (just using the speed of the downslope). That's if you hit it with enough speed to fly past the flat top part and hit the downslope...

I was pretty pround of myself as I did 20+ jumps and didn't wipe out at all. Started hitting the downslope almost every time towards the end of the day as my confidence was going up so I was hitting them with more speed.

Anyways I was thinking hard about hitting these on plates but was wondering if it would tear up my equipment or not? I'd either hit them on a Axis with TD1 Intecs or I could use my Burton Speed with Burton Race plates.

Your thoughts?

P.S. I'm only doing straight airs-no rotation or anything. I might start throwing a grab in there but probablly not until I'm a little more experienced.

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I find an Axis or similar + hardboots is my preferred gear for hitting the park. Like you, I don't to anything fancy, and don't hot the big 'uns. I find that when I land imperfectly, hardboots distribute the shock better, in my soft boots, it all goes straight to my shins :rolleyes:

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it aint gonna hurt your gear, man

although...a super bad/hard landing MIGHT since the boot/binding/board interface is a little more powerful

solution?

land smooth and clean every time.

I used to do pretty big airs on my PJ

now I avoid the park...but I'll hit jumps "freeriding" if they're there.

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I'll do table top's in the park that's it. The one thing you have to be very careful of is that you will get launched a lot higher on a carving board than a free ride board. Because the board is so much stiffer it will launch you higher and farther. I've exerienced this first hand and landed in the flats, you don't want to do that :smashfrea. I wouldn't recommend it in Burton bindings though, to much plastic to break. :D

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You alpine board equipment should easily withstand the rigors of basic jumps. I would go with the Axis and the TD1s. Try it out and see if you like it. There are loads of posts on softboot vs hardboot for freestyle... ignore them. Now that your tried softboots, try it with hardboots and decide which you like better yourself... whichever you are more comfortable with it the one you are going to have more fun on.

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ive probably had almost a dozen or so kids ask me if i ever tried it out in the park. I said no but its defintly possible. I remeber the pictures bob had of him grinding. Personally, i'd avoid the rail, but i cant wait to get some big air.

and yeah, your sig is awesome.

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There are quite a few people here who ride everything. I have been riding park and pipe on my SL and GS boards since we've had park and pipe. I have never had a problem. I have also had some bad diggers without hurting the equip. I remember having a kinked pipe years ago and landing switch on my SL board - the tail went right into the kink and the board stopped but this big dope kept going. I am still riding those bindings, but the board has long since broke (w/over 300 days on it).I am still on TD1's all around. They should be fine. I would agree that depending on your size, the burtons may not be the best choice. I have killed a few of them and know many others who have as well.

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I broke one of the plastic "ears" off one of my intec heels after coming up short on a table top and landing on the knuckle. Scared the crap out of me to see part of my setup skittering across the run.

The intec pins held me in the bindings just fine as I gingerly rode back to the car and called it a day.

These days I avoid the park even though I'm sooooo tempted by her beautiful siren song. It was a crash resulting in a shoulder surgery that turned me on to carving in the first place. If figured that if I wasn't in the air, I couldn't hurt myself....

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Thanks for the replies all.

I guess my main concern was having such a stiff boot/binding/board setup doing those bigger jumps. The landings can get pretty hard if you come up short and miss the downslope...

I assumed it would be ok to do it in plates but I was thinking perhaps I should use a softer binding. I'd rather use my TD1's anyhow so I'm glad to hear I should be good to go.

Hopefully I'll get some video within the next couple of weeks. Probablly won't be anything great to the vets but I'm pretty darn stoked about doing something new and exciting. Makes me wish I would of tried it two seasons ago when I started snowboarding! :)

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I am still on TD1's all around. They should be fine. I would agree that depending on your size, the burtons may not be the best choice. I have killed a few of them and know many others who have as well.

Just wanted to add that I'm a measily 5'6" and 160lbs on a good day (naked). I probablly could get away with the race plates if needed but they have been collecting dust since I got the TD1's anyways. No reason to change now!

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Iuse my axis on jumps pretty often woth no problems. The best is coming off little ones that send you 4-10' out and landing into a carve. I'm sure there are poeple out there who are much better but its a goal to get it out farther.

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thats the best avatar ever

anyway, yeah just make sure you land clean

best avatar ever ??!!

Goes to show ya if yer gonna romp around the park in plates ya gotta hit those booters with a full commitment. Landing flat sucks. I got bounced last night off the SIDE of a kicker and slammed HARD.Just got flipped sideways and did the butt bongo bounce a rolla......on plates and a twintip. :freak3:

post-123-141842212431_thumb.gif

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what pnut said. thats one of the best things about airs on a precision setup is being able to land in a carve!

I used to do that in steamboat...this small section had about 4 cats spaced evenly, and I would fly off toeside and land in a toeside carve...I always felt like I was tempting fate but the gear held up and the edges held.

really fun to air toeside, but then transfer in the air and land in a heelside too!

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Guest Ghostrider

I love hitting rails on my alpine set up just to get peoples reactions when the smart little kid on the lift dares you to do it... just be extra careful if you have sharp edges for carving ice. They like to grab the rail and put you face first into the ground.

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I saw two guys in plates at Waterville last Friday. As I was going up the lift, one of them hit the biggest hit in the park, got huge amplitude, landed cleanly then 50/50d a down-rail immediately following - very impressive indeed! I didn't see them again for the rest of the day.

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I always plan my runs based on where the jumps are. Some of the best carving seems to be in the terrain parks between the jumps, since everybody else heads straight from feature to feature it's usually uncrowded and well groomed most of the time. :)

Virtually every binding breakage or (when I rode with toe levers) premature release has happened when undershooting or overshooting landings, so I figure that's the worst punishment for a boot or binding. I no longer trust anything but Intecs with Bombers or Cateks. If you land 'in the zone' that's no problem but mistakes happen.

FWIW, my boots are Raichle 324s, locked in position 3. I might try the BTS but am really happy with this setup, the stiffness feels about right to me.

I think soft boots are highly overrated.... Far as I'm concerned, the only drawback to riding hard boots is that it's a lot harder to grab the nose. Which means approximately nothing to me. And besides, tail grabs are correspondingly easier!

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I saw two guys in plates at Waterville last Friday. As I was going up the lift, one of them hit the biggest hit in the park, got huge amplitude, landed cleanly then 50/50d a down-rail immediately following - very impressive indeed! I didn't see them again for the rest of the day.

I didnt realize anyone but ESPN announcers called big air "amplitude"

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