GremUSA Posted January 31, 2006 Report Share Posted January 31, 2006 I just returned from my short stint at Copper and thought I'd share. I arrived late Friday 20th, had some nasty food & worse Margaritas at a Mexi restaurant in the village and went back to the Cirque with my 5 other buds and got caught up on old times, red wine and cold brewz. Saturday was gorgeous and cold (-12° at night and around 2° light). As long as you were in the sun it was great and there was no wind. I had my new Axis, TD2's set at 20° (:o ) and 123 boots with new liners. Since I only get to board once or twice a year it took a bit to acclimate but I soon was skidding again like always :rolleyes: . I spent most of that wonderful day on greens served over by the lumberjack, trying to get an edge on freestyle angles. The evening at the Cirque was highlighted by our Chicken white bean chili, a variety of micro's and two reprimands from security - one at the hot-tub and one in the room (really it was very harmless - just a buncha middle aged doods getting a bit loud on a sing-along and a hippie playing Pink Floyd on an acoustic :sleep: ). Day next I decided I was pro enough to change to my race board, F2 RS so I put on the TDs again at 20° and found that day I could skid just as well on the RS as any other setup I've used :) - I'm a 10 year skid vet so this is all I know except to say that with this message board I've become familiar with an elusive groove called carving. I did find that I was getting a bit more freestyle edge on the RS than the Donek. I never really worried about my boots hanging over the edge of the board because I knew I wasn't getting any kind of real carve to speak of and I can tell the difference by the sound the board makes. Monday started with four of my friends leaving in the AM (all skiers) and left just my and my freestyle board bud to tear up those greens :D and a bit of the Maz (blue run) which I really liked. And that's pretty much how Monday went, enjoying the now warming and completely cloudless day and tearing it up best as I knew how. I'm getting a bit wiser in my age and we never pushed any day too hard,,,,out by 10 or so and back in usually by 2-2:30. That made it great from a fatigue standpoint and this is the first year I had very mild spills 'cuz I was fresh & pretty on top of my skid game :p . Ok, so Tuesday, my last chance before I head back to the Indiana plains we drive to Silverthorne and pay Bomber a visit where I met Fin, Kim and,,,Jef,,'er Brian,,,crap!,,I can't remember - cool surfer/carver type - sorry I spaced the name my friend :o . So in their busy-ness (Michelle was at a trade show in Vegas) Fin took time to mold my liners and then I asked him about angles. He asks what I'm riding and how I have it set now. I said F2 speedster, 20° front & back! He says,,,'Huh?',,did you say 20? :D . He says how can you do that without booting out and I say, uh, cuz I suck and I'm still skidding. He then very nicely educated me on angles, bias and other issues. So I went back to Copper and set the angles at 50/45 and we headed for the Lumberjack again. I gotta tell you it was an absolute fright getting off the lift and feeling like I was starting anew and I couldn't turn - skidding was laborious and I had difficulty doing much of anything. I did eventually get down fine and as we rode the slow lift back up we got to talking and my soft boot bud says something to the effect of, 'well that's a race board; try going faster - that thing needs to run!' Without drawing things and discoveries out further let's just say that was the ticket more than anything I tried through the week. I don't know what motions I did but I felt a different turning process and inclination that I have never done before. I had no clue the different binding angles would produce such a different world but it forced me to figure things out. With an uncrowded green run that's what we did for most of the day; later graduating to the Maz and Andy's Encore (blues). After awhile my friend says, 'I can't keep up with you anymore'. ;) I still really have very little grasp other than this feeling I was getting when I locked onto something that felt right - I know that's not the criteria for good technique but I'm a big believer in just go do it and the body figures it out in time. Months previous back home I had done some dryland excercises, read some tech articles (not enough) and had phone numbers and communiques from carvers in the area happy to go out with me on some runs. A couple weeks before I headed out my computer took a poop so all those contacts were lost & I resorted to trial & error. As everyone in Copper says, 'no worries' - it was a fabulous experience and I learned a bit and enjoyed a lot. I found the lift line looks and comments on my equipment amusing. Of course the most common - are those ski boots? to 'look at that board' to a kid about 10 years old; "Wow!! - Cool bindings dude!" (way to go Fin!) I was surpised that I never saw any hard boots - I know y'all don't hang out much at the Lumberjack or Soliloquy but even in lines, on board racks - no hards, no plates. Then I figured the hard booter is that elusive ilk - kind of like a pack of wolves; solitary, frolicking and free from the confines of the ordinary. Now I have to try to figure out how to get to Aspen in March (my dad has a place there) but February SES won't happen for me this year....next year; different story Thanks to all the kind words from fellow carvers, thank you Fin & co - hope to see you all next year, meanwhile I'll go back and read all the tech articles and prepare for the next run. Cheers you all lots, Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strider Posted January 31, 2006 Report Share Posted January 31, 2006 HEy Greg, Glad you figured it out. I was at Copper From the 22nd to thwe 29th, too bad we missed each other. I also stopped at Bomber and met Kim and Fin, who gave us the tour and set me up with a great demo. They are defin itley a class act over there and will have my business for as long as they are in the business. Spent most of my time chasing my skiing buddies around the back side of the mountain, but the Moz was mone of the best cruiser runs at the end of the day when the legs are tired. If you gte out there again and want to try soimething steeper, Formidable is almost always groomed and no one seems to know its there so you can carve the whole width of the run. Cheers, Brett Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat Donnelly Posted January 31, 2006 Report Share Posted January 31, 2006 IMO - best snow / least people on the montain. That's where I took my first runs about 6 seasons ago and started out using ski poles! My initial turns were cheated by using pole plants, kind of like dropping an anchor to make a turn. Day 2, we headed over to Buttermilk and was forunate to spend a few hours under the guidance of Cliff Ahumada. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GremUSA Posted January 31, 2006 Author Report Share Posted January 31, 2006 Formidable is almost always groomed and no one seems to know its there so you can carve the whole width of the run.Cheers, Brett Thanks Brett,,,yeah I think I remember Formidable from last year,,,black if I'm not mistaken and I was able to skid it pretty well,,,,and I believe Rosie's was also mentioned as a good one. Sorry I missed you as well,,,there'll be other times! Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GremUSA Posted January 31, 2006 Author Report Share Posted January 31, 2006 IMO - best snow / least people on the montain. That's where I took my first runs about 6 seasons ago and started out using ski poles! Yeah Pat - definitely the least crowded runs and plenty of room for all the ski school kiddies and the guy on the skinny board. Ski poles?,,,really, I didn't know you could do that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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