TT Ski/Snowboard/Sledding Club!

[BlueB]

Originally Posted by LeeD

Back in the mid '90's, lots of guys rode powder, skiing moguls, and thru trees on plate bindings, raceboards, and hard boots. A good rider can ride with almost anything.
At SierraTahoe, the best mogul riders were using hard boots and shorter slalom boards, for the quickness and turn initiation.
I seriously DON'T believe the new stuff is sooo much better. A hair better, yes. Because I went thru the evolution of surfing, motocross, waterskiing, kitesurfing, windsurfing, skiing, snowboarding (both race boards and freeride sticks) for at least 12 years on most, and some sports, over 29 years.
I ride my mid '90's sticks as well as anyone not pro/expert or living up there for 4 season's, in most terrain, except I don't do jump parks anymores. Halfpipes, I still get 4' above the sides on a pro pipe, and that was maybe a hair better than in '99.
I guess I'm not enamored by all the new hype and marketing of the new gear....whether it's tennis or windsurfing, or any other sport. If you can do the sport back 20 years ago on that old gear, you're still amongst the best out there with that old gear today. I prove it day after day in windsurfing and surfing.
And of course, if you sucked at it back then, but practiced lots and got better NOW, the old gear seems flawed compared to the new gear.

Lee, trust me on this one. Developments in race snowboard tech over last 10 years are not marketing hype. Just look at the absolute dominance that Schoch brothers had in World Cup, while they still had exclusivity with Kessler and other manufacturers hadn't figured it out yet... Then Apex came up with (then) secret sub-plate system and Canadian team did a clear sweep in the season leading up to the Vancouver Olympics. The field has leveled a bit since, as everyone is on the new tech now.
I have over 50 boards (mostly hard boots specific), dating from late 80', to latest stuff. New gear is definitely easier and better to ride. I often go back and forth with boards, just for fun and always make the same conclusion.
If you are ever in Vancouver BC, I invite you to try several boards back to back and judge for yourself.

Otherwise, to make a tennis analogy , yes, good player can play good with an old wooden racquet, but he would loose to a player of equivalent skill with modern gear. For a sucky amateur (like me), it is just plain easier to play with a modern one.

Merry Christmas!

[GRANITECHIEF]

Well Santa Clause really busted out with a nice dump in Tahoe for Christmas. 6 ft in a week really buffs the place out.

I have gotten 3 days in. Wednesday was sick after the late night white knuckle drive over Donner Pass. Gotta love driving in a total night whiteout. Woke up after the red eye with just short of a foot to clear off the car.

First run off Far East through the Christmas trees was face shots every turn, crowds were light and the KT laps started flowing. Ahhhh, burn these old legs. I would probably be in medal contention for mens 40's snowboarding moguls, hahaha! Today i did a sub 10 minute lap, for those of you that know KT, time yourself sometime. Its a complete full on burner.

I've had so much fun in the last couple days teaching my little ones more snowboarding. My 5 year old is linking turns, as he should since i started teaching him when he was 2, and wants to do park jumps (little ones).

One of the best riders I've personally known was a hard booter. He was a freak, sometimes known as trenchman, cuz of the crater carves he left all over the mountain. While we were instructors at Squaw he placed 2nd at Big Mountain and quallied for worlds in Alaska. Awesome rider.

I got 2 free tix at WhistleBlack with my SV gold pass, so hopefully i'll get up to slide there this season.

Happy New Year to all and no better way to spend it than sliding down a mountain.

[spaceman_spiff]

Well, St Anton was a mixed bag.

Arrival day: Rain at base level, snow at the top.

Day 1: Powder up top in the morning, crust lower down. Good skiing up high for the first few hours, but the sun wreaked havoc with the snow as the day progressed.

Days 2-4: Too much sun and warm temperatures. Crust all around. Had to climb and traverse quite a bit to find decent snow.

Day 5: New snow on crust; temps back below freezing. Interesting skiing, some powder turns, some crusty turns. Still a bit of climbing involved.

Day 6: Powder! Whiteout conditions up top (1.5-chair visibility on the ride up), nice stuff lower down. Set off a few mini avalanches throughout the day, got a few face shots, smiled a lot. Good times.

Departure day: Had to catch the train back to Zurich before the downhill race, so no Lindsay/Julia watching unfortunately. Just saw the highlights yesterday.

[tennis_balla]

Should be going skiing on Wednesday and then hopefully next week if everything works out to Kitz for the Hahnekamm. Fingers crossed, will post photos if I go.

[v-verb]

Wish I could. Daughter is a Synchro Swimmer and practices every weekend. No snowboarding for me again this year dammit...

[tennis_balla]

Not a bad day out, but fairly foggy and mixed conditions on the runs. Some parts icy as hell, and other parts with good snow. Its been warm here recently so lots of snow melting, then freezing to ice etc. Finally got below freezing the past few days and snowed quite a bit.

[Say Chi Sin Lo]

Green
- Agree with all
- I try to avoid the green parts as much as possible. Idiots can really ruin your day if one of them is directly in front of you, and just decides to plop onto the snow without warning.

Blue
- Agree with the skiers "intentionally" trying to block you. It's the skiers' "Z" turns that annoy me. I'm a snowboarder. Aside from intermediate carving to control my speed, I tend to beam down the slopes. Then you have skiers doing the "Z" from side to side, and some of them don't look when they make those diagonal turns across the width of the trail. I'm not hating on skiers, but come on man, look where you're turning. You can see a line of snowboarders putting on the brakes because one skier decides to Z turns all the way down the entire trail.
- Snowboarders trying to make mini-moguls and jump off of them, stop it. There are dedicated mogul trails, go on those and do your nonsense. I have been launched by those self-made moguls, and that wasn't fun. NO jumps are fun if you aren't planning on it.

Black
- Skier's Z turns.
- First day/newbie snowboarder leafing down the slope, as long as you don't tailgate one, it's not an issue for me. But when there's a wall of newbies leafing down... Come on man, know your limit.
- Kids/adults doing the Peter Griffin at the landing spot of a jump, GTFO.
- Kids/adults doing the Peter Griffin at the tip of a drop, GTFO of the way because people can't see you unless they too are at the tip of the drop, and about to crash into you!



Double Black
- Agree with all and pretty much the same as Black.
- Don't really spend that much time on Double Blacks.

[tennis_balla]

Kitzbuhel. View of the Mausefalle during training runs and looking out, enjoying the view.

[Govnor]

At this point in my life. Skiing and Tennis are the activities I love doing the most. Unfortunately I get to ski about once every 2 years. But I love it! Taking the kids next time we go, which will be different, but I'm sure a lot of fun too. Almost certainly going back to Utah, where we've been the last 2 times.

[spaceman_spiff]

Photo of the day, from last week's trip to Les Diablerets

[r2473]

Originally Posted by Govnor

At this point in my life. Skiing and Tennis are the activities I love doing the most. Unfortunately I get to ski about once every 2 years. But I love it! Taking the kids next time we go, which will be different, but I'm sure a lot of fun too. Almost certainly going back to Utah, where we've been the last 2 times.

Where do you like to ski in Utah?

We've had about 2 feet of nice snow in the past 48 hours and it is supposed to continue to snow all day today. I live about 2 miles from the mouth of canyon (Snowbird, Alta, Solitude, Brighton).

[BlueB]

Originally Posted by Say Chi Sin Lo

Green
- Agree with all
- I try to avoid the green parts as much as possible. Idiots can really ruin your day if one of them is directly in front of you, and just decides to plop onto the snow without warning.

Blue
- Agree with the skiers "intentionally" trying to block you. It's the skiers' "Z" turns that annoy me. I'm a snowboarder. Aside from intermediate carving to control my speed, I tend to beam down the slopes. Then you have skiers doing the "Z" from side to side, and some of them don't look when they make those diagonal turns across the width of the trail. I'm not hating on skiers, but come on man, look where you're turning. You can see a line of snowboarders putting on the brakes because one skier decides to Z turns all the way down the entire trail.
- Snowboarders trying to make mini-moguls and jump off of them, stop it. There are dedicated mogul trails, go on those and do your nonsense. I have been launched by those self-made moguls, and that wasn't fun. NO jumps are fun if you aren't planning on it.

Black
- Skier's Z turns.
- First day/newbie snowboarder leafing down the slope, as long as you don't tailgate one, it's not an issue for me. But when there's a wall of newbies leafing down... Come on man, know your limit.
- Kids/adults doing the Peter Griffin at the landing spot of a jump, GTFO.
- Kids/adults doing the Peter Griffin at the tip of a drop, GTFO of the way because people can't see you unless they too are at the tip of the drop, and about to crash into you!

Double Black
- Agree with all and pretty much the same as Black.
- Don't really spend that much time on Double Blacks.

Ahem, ahem...
Person ahead of you can not be blocking you - it is your responsibillity to take care of them, not other way around. They do not have eyes on the back of their head, neither they are obliged to look behind (although common sense would say so), unless thay are starting from stand still or merging the trail.



In other words, you shold be able to stop or avoid, no mather what happens ahead of you. If you are mostly "beaming" the slope and are bothered by slower users, that simply means that you are riding above your abilities or conditions of slope or traffic.

Also what are you actually doing when "carving to control the speed"? Just curious...

[GRANITECHIEF]

Need to get up to tahoe soon! So gorgeous up there!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNWr0...FXMUqSmSiG307w

Cruzin behind my bud, holding my ipod to vid.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJj3G...FXMUqSmSiG307w

Want more of this!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBgBN...FXMUqSmSiG307w

[Say Chi Sin Lo]

Originally Posted by BlueB

Ahem, ahem...
Person ahead of you can not be blocking you - it is your responsibillity to take care of them, not other way around. They do not have eyes on the back of their head, neither they are obliged to look behind (although common sense would say so), unless thay are starting from stand still or merging the trail.



In other words, you shold be able to stop or avoid, no mather what happens ahead of you. If you are mostly "beaming" the slope and are bothered by slower users, that simply means that you are riding above your abilities or conditions of slope or traffic.

Also what are you actually doing when "carving to control the speed"? Just curious...

Basically braking so I don't go too fast and kill myself.

I get that I should be responsible for people in front of me, and that I should avoid them too. But at the same time, I'm just speaking out to people who don't ride according to their limit.

If you can't handle a certain slope, then don't be on that slope.

[LeeD]

If you can't handle a certain slope, apply good judgement, be safe, be safe to other's, and take your time.
All of us have jumped into runs we couldn't handle at the time. That's how you learn to handle them. Most of us survived the experience, and hopefully didn't endanger or injure anyone else.
My 10th day skiing EVER, rode Chute75, the Face, OlympicLady, RedDog, Cornice, Slot, and Headwall.
My 8th day, the best I could do was sideslip down Siberia's bowl, taking maybe 20 minutes to finish. Still had trouble at Shirley the day after.
We all have to jump in with both feet sometime.

[BlueB]

Originally Posted by Say Chi Sin Lo

Basically braking so I don't go too fast and kill myself.

So you are not carving, but skidding/sliding...

"A carved turn is distinguishable by its subsequent "pencil line" mark left in the snow. This indicates that only the edge of the board made contact with the snow, and no skidding took taking place during the turn. The rider is using pressure, twist and tilt to get only the side of the board into the snow. Then engaging the sidecut edge which determines the carved turn shape. This type of turn causes the board to bend and store a large amount of potential energy during the turn. Allowing this potential energy to be released and then used to propel the boarder into the next turn. The act requires the snowboarding skills of twist, tilt, and pressure to engage the edge into the snow and start the turn. No pivoting should be involved while the edge of the board is engaged with the snow as it will cause skidding, or the edge to release from the snow."

"A carve turn is a skiing term, used to refer to a turning technique in which the ski shifts to one side or the other on its edges. In this case, the ski turns itself and is driven by the sidecut geometry while losing no speed, unlike a normal parallel turn."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carve_turn


From CASI's official website

I get that I should be responsible for people in front of me, and that I should avoid them too. But at the same time, I'm just speaking out to people who don't ride according to their limit.
If you can't handle a certain slope, then don't be on that slope.

I agree that one should pick the terrain according to skill. However, there is absolutely nothing that can prevent people from chellenging themselves on harder runs - deal with it.
I guess you would be also really irritated having to pass a carver (real carver), linking the pencil thin, full C turns down an advanced run, while you are trying to staraightline the fall line...

[tennis_balla]

Share the slopes, just like you share the road or highway. There will be faster and slower moving traffic. If everyone just stayed on easy runs, they won't improve. You need to challenge yourself to get better. Besides, everyone sucked at one time as well and people got out of your way and were courteous so do the same for others.

[LeeD]

Carving is for the runs you can easily handle, have no moguls, is groomed corduroy, sorta wide and not too crowded. Around Tahoe, Heavenly, Northstar, and Sierra are spots with some of the best carving conditions.
Skidding, sideslipping, and checking your speed with rebounding turns off the upperface of a mogul is what you do in advanced terrain which is usually pockmarked with "volkswagon" sized steep moguls.
I like both, can handle carving for maybe 2 hours, then bored and deteriorating conditions, go to the soft boot short board combo for some goofing around fun and cruising....and as many halfpipe runs as my riding partners would allow, always hiking the way back up.
NOBODY, not the best pro, can CARVE Chute75 at Squaw. Just too steep and narrow, although often smooth as silk from recent snowfalls and it's steepness. Your ride there by jump turning and linking turns as close as possible.
Carving on crowded runs is just irresponsible and waiting to get your ticket pulled by ski patrol.
I like the linked 3/4" wide carve channel followed by 12' of air between the turns as much as the next hardboot guy, but also know it's something that is reserved for the right conditions at the right time.

[Say Chi Sin Lo]

Originally Posted by BlueB

So you are not carving, but skidding/sliding...

You're out to get me aren't you? Fine, you do realize carving effectively slow down your speed and lengthen your path of travel?

Carving as in making S turns, sharp turns left and right? Yeah I do those, but it also slows you down and that's what I meant by braking/slowing me down.

Clearly someone doesn't have a sense of humor, because that was the point of my original post.

[Say Chi Sin Lo]

Originally Posted by LeeD

Carving is for the runs you can easily handle, have no moguls, is groomed corduroy, sorta wide and not too crowded. Around Tahoe, Heavenly, Northstar, and Sierra are spots with some of the best carving conditions.

I'm torn between which is my least favorite mountain.

Heavenly: Moguls and flat patches everywhere.
Northstar: Everybody goes there so it's packed.