*** Official Snow Surfing Thread ***

Chocki

Phil Edwards status
Feb 18, 2007
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Can't wait for the snow to fly, although I need to figure out the boot situation. New ones I had last year with that BOA system left a giant ulceration on my ankle. Worst boots I ever had; maybe they can do some orthotics on it or something. Don't like the idea of shelling out for another $200 for new ones.
How/where on the ankle/how many days did you ride in them?

My freeride boots were brutal during the break in period then tolerable then magic when I finally sprung for insoles.

I also think I was cranking down on the liner lace thing too much and the shell not enough.

That and pimping out my bindings with some fresh straps and ladders made a big difference in comfort and hold down/responsiveness

For the lovers
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And the haters
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Kento

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How/where on the ankle/how many days did you ride in them?

My freeride boots were brutal during the break in period then tolerable then magic when I finally sprung for insoles.

I also think I was cranking down on the liner lace thing too much and the shell not enough.

That and pimping out my bindings with some fresh straps and ladders made a big difference in comfort and hold down/responsiveness
Inside of both ankles but being regularfoot, there was more pressure on the inside right ankle than on the inside left ankle.

They fit outstanding in the store where it's perfectly climate-controlled. But on the mountain, my heel kept lifting so I had to crank down that BOA system to keep them in place. I guess that wire got tight because it created a ridge in the boot and every time I unweighted, ankle would slide over that ridge. Bandaged things up for rest of the trip and muscled through the pain but damage was done on first day and had a 2" x 1" ulcer that drydocked me for over 3 weeks.

Had bought them early season so too late to return them. Alas. K2 Maysis boots.

Admittedly may have to swap out the 30 year old wool socks. :roflmao:
 

Chocki

Phil Edwards status
Feb 18, 2007
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Inside of both ankles but being regularfoot, there was more pressure on the inside right ankle than on the inside left ankle.

They fit outstanding in the store where it's perfectly climate-controlled. But on the mountain, my heel kept lifting so I had to crank down that BOA system to keep them in place. I guess that wire got tight because it created a ridge in the boot and every time I unweighted, ankle would slide over that ridge. Bandaged things up for rest of the trip and muscled through the pain but damage was done on first day and had a 2" x 1" ulcer that drydocked me for over 3 weeks.

Had bought them early season so too late to return them. Alas. K2 Maysis boots.

Admittedly may have to swap out the 30 year old wool socks. :roflmao:

Angry Snowboarder’s Bootfitting 101



 

Kento

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Oh man that is way too high maintenance for me right there. :roflmao:

Gone through a lot of snowboard boots over the last 35 years. These ones just happen to suck.
 

Chocki

Phil Edwards status
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Oh man that is way too high maintenance for me right there. :roflmao:

Gone through a lot of snowboard boots over the last 35 years. These ones just happen to suck.
Never tried Boa boots myself. I’m old school/in the one more thing to break camp.

The Tommy Bennett vid helped eliminate the last little bit of heel lift I suffered from.
 

Kento

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Never tried Boa boots myself. I’m old school/in the one more thing to break camp.

The Tommy Bennett vid helped eliminate the last little bit of heel lift I suffered from.
Luckily I still have my old boots (I think) if all else fails. They are beaten though. Getting my feet out of them is like trying to get two amorous dogs separated; break out the hose.

Will see what the local shop here can do. At any rate, will armor that ankle with some moleskin and copious tape.

No question occasionally get sloppy after hiatus but yeah, I can ride and turn just fine. Funny thing is because of that ulcer, had to be extra conscious about that lift and I did not let it stop me from moguls and such where you need to weight and unweight quickly, be mentally quick, and be on your sh!t. Even more so because anything abrupt was quite painful; luckily it was spring and semi-slush is my 2nd favorite type of snow.
 

Chocki

Phil Edwards status
Feb 18, 2007
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Luckily I still have my old boots (I think) if all else fails. They are beaten though. Getting my feet out of them is like trying to get two amorous dogs separated; break out the hose.

Will see what the local shop here can do. At any rate, will armor that ankle with some moleskin and copious tape.

No question occasionally get sloppy after hiatus but yeah, I can ride and turn just fine. Funny thing is because of that ulcer, had to be extra conscious about that lift and I did not let it stop me from moguls and such where you need to weight and unweight quickly, be mentally quick, and be on your sh!t. Even more so because anything abrupt was quite painful; luckily it was spring and semi-slush is my 2nd favorite type of snow.
Good luck with getting those boots sorted out.

And nothing will get you better faster at freeriding than moguls. I was thinking about riding with one of the crusty bros who works at the grow store until moguls came up and he said he hates them. Wrong answer. Do you hate them or just suck at them? Being able to rip down a mogul field makes you the fucking guv’nor IMO and I “ride fast and don’t stop”.

Just be careful of soft moguls. They almost cost me my front knee/season last year. Twisting fall, nose of board impales mogul so it’s immobilized. I keep twisting to the point if it went much further my knee was toast. Thankfully my prayers were answered and I didn’t and unwound myself very very carefully and immediately limped home and was on the DL for a while. I’m pretty sure the gnarly mtb knee pads I wear helped save my knee. I’m debating upgrading to lightweight motocross knee braces

 

Kento

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Advertising needs to end, period. All of it. And that industry should be the source of national reparations as we've all been visually assaulted for way too long. Bleed that industry dry.

That being said, starting out in skiing when I was a kid, loved moguls and saw no reason to stop when I converted to snowboarding. Not having the independent leg motion makes it more challenging, not to mention the trench warfare involved and quick planning needing to take place. Fun stuff. Reidar's at Snowmass is probably the toughest mogul run I've done; huge, abrupt, random, and now it goes under the High Alpine life. You could preen on Showcase as those were easy but Reidar's is a tough one to have an audience.

Looking forward to this season!
 

92122

Michael Peterson status
Jul 29, 2015
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Never tried Boa boots myself.
Laces... Always... in fact, over the last 14 seasons it's been all ThirtyTwo TM Two's. You should only have to re-tighten once a day at most, and at the afternoon / lunch break this is often welcome. If you're constantly fiddling with them, something's wrong.

Newest ones are the XLT with the Vibram Outsole, but I wouldn't pay extra for that again, not that it's bad, just that the regular TM Two's with the slimmer sole are great and almost offer better board feel.

I also find that laces stretch / weaken and it's good to replace them once around the middle of the boots life.



 

Chocki

Phil Edwards status
Feb 18, 2007
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Laces... Always... in fact, over the last 14 seasons it's been all ThirtyTwo TM Two's. You should only have to re-tighten once a day at most, and at the afternoon / lunch break this is often welcome. If you're constantly fiddling with them, something's wrong.

Newest ones are the XLT with the Vibram Outsole, but I wouldn't pay extra for that again, not that it's bad, just that the regular TM Two's with the slimmer sole are great and almost offer better board feel.

I also find that laces stretch / weaken and it's good to replace them once around the middle of the boots life.



32 makes dank boots. I went with the previous years Joneses because I rock lace up ski boots. Then after walking around the house in them decided break in was going to be murder (it was) and scored some on sale Lashed Diggers. I figured it would be a good idea to have another pair to give my feets a break (it was) and riding in a “surfy” pair of boots would be a fun change on pow days (it wasn’t). The Diggers soft flex imo impacted performance negatively by increasing the boards reaction time and my ankles got really tired maching through chunder fields.

That said they’re very well made, warm, insanely comfortable and up for grabs so any erBBer who presents a convincing argument… Otherwise I’m asking around town some more to see if anyone’s kid needs some and then they get dropped off at the Humane Society thrift shop. Size 10

With winter knocking its always good to take stock of one’s driving skills

Im looking forward to working on my scandi flick some more




Shouldn’t be long now.
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Bob

Michael Peterson status
Apr 23, 2001
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When I lived SLCish there were huge Labor day Ski/Snowboard sales where it was easy to try on many different boots out on tables to sit and try on. Laces for me too.
 

Chocki

Phil Edwards status
Feb 18, 2007
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Opening day at Mammoth tomorrow! 11-16" of fresh powder from this latest storm.
http://instagr.am/p/Cki-X5lp9t0/

:jamon:
Wolf Creek opens this weekend. Should be there Sunday. With the extra snow the front side should be open top to bottom and early season is all about drills because skills pay the bills, getting stronger and this year I need to learn how to jump again. There’s so many natural features to launch off here it’s insane.



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The trick is finding them again, the mtn is a labyrinth of miniature chutes/ridges, gullies, cliffs and trees. I couldn’t understand how so much diverse and dank terrain got packed into such a small area until I thought about it. The continental divide formed first so it made sense it would so gnarled.

So this winter Ima have to fuck with FATMAP finally. I used it for recon last but now it’s time to finally get a new phone and take advantage of it‘s navigation and mapping capabilities.

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Chocki

Phil Edwards status
Feb 18, 2007
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I had two runs down the #d Chutes that were so fun I thought my head was going to explode.

The first was when I was playing tour guide for some middle aged butch lesbo snowboarders from NM. I hadn’t ridden the chutes yet but I done my homework and there was a few inches of fresh pow and good base/coverage by then. Somehow I managed to link the main upper and lower chutes no falls and stopping once to see where the ladies were? No sign of them so I proceeded carefully through this gunsight notch in the rocks ahead and into the second chute. Think ultimate natural half pipes.

The second was even sicker because it was at a point in the season when my riding was on point in the pow and in general. Prob 18” this go and all I remember is trying to go fast as possible and make my turns higher on the walls than the tracks ahead. At one point I found myself riding up a feature/giant boulder?that was taller than me and thinking of you keep going you’re gonna take flight big time and might not be ready for it so I did the sickest backside layback? cutback to turn around a head back down whatever I was about to launch off.

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Just checked the mtn report and with even more snow it’s a full on opening weekend at 90% avail terrain open. But rn a lot of that terrain would be a good place to break a leg etc
 
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Chocki

Phil Edwards status
Feb 18, 2007
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Here is my hill. It's all bunnyslopes, but I like to practice nosebutters more than going at the steepers :)

View attachment 141373
That looks like fun/a nice place to ride because snowboarding should be fun anywhere in almost any conditions if you’re doing it right. The Japanese are experts at having fun snowboarding especially on mellow terrain and it’s deceptively extremely hard to ride as smooth and as fast as they do. If you want to know why they call him “KTM” watch all the way to the end. Very hard to do.
 
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Northern_Shores

Miki Dora status
Mar 30, 2009
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That looks like fun/a nice place to ride because snowboarding should be fun anywhere in almost any conditions if you’re doing it right. The Japanese are experts at having fun snowboarding especially on mellow terrain and it’s deceptively extremely hard to ride as smooth and as fast as they do. If you want to know why they call him “KTM” watch all the way to the end. Very hard to do.
Snowboarding is ded. At my hill there are even more telemarkers than snowboards.