method9455

Really? I know a lot of people that love them. Agreed they are stiff for the park, but a lot of people say they are a good balance between park/all mountain. Although they could suck and just not realize how to actually ski, almost everyone who comes into a shop tells you they are an expert and that they go 'really fast', when in reality almost all of them suck but, thats a whole different discussion.

Well when I wakeboard our boat has a speedo and we find the best wakeboarding is at 23 mph - which compared to snowboarding feels really damn slow, even slower than just cruising forget bombing a run. I would estimate my cruising to be like 25, fast is like 40ish, and I could see bombing into something at 50, 55. I don't think I've gone 60 or more on a snowboard yet, but I've bombed some really steep runs just straight down to see what happens and your going really fucking fast.

Only if you have the serial number to file a police report and then you have to pay the deductible - which means really not worth it. We've had stuff stolen from our shop but the boards are far from the door so 9 out of 10 times its small stuff. Actually the only major theft we have had was employees. Usually it was a guy who had been there a while, and when the owner sent him to the storage unit to get more stock, he would swipe a couple pairs of boots or skis and we wouldn't realize it until we inventoried later in the year long after who ever stole it had quit and sold the stuff on Ebay.

I know what your saying, I moved up from a Kink for the same reason - the jib boards just don't cut it on anything but jibs or for small guys. They don't hold an edge for shit on anything steep, and they are super unstable at speed. I'd say the GNU is a really good choice, they make great boards. My brother is on a Riders Choice and he doesn't do rails but he does jumps and steeps and loves it for that. Hes a big guy (6' 3" and 200 pounds) but hes on the 162, so if you get it in the appropriate size it will be fine. I've got a GNU Altered Genetics and I love it - but it is pricey. I'd say Arbor Mystic, GNU Riders Choice, LIB Tech TRS, Rome Anthemn, Ride DH, Burton Jeremy Jones 156 would be my favorite boards for what you are saying, in that order. The Arbor Mystic is just glorious, I'm getting one for next year although I've ridden it and it is one of the best boards ever.

The Volkl Kharmas are really good but a little pricey. The Line Chronic is a good choice, it is a park/all mountain ski but since you are lighter it will be stiff for the rest of the mountain too. Another choice would be the Line Prophet. That is a more all mountain ski that is twin tipped so obviously can be taken into the park. The guy who runs our ski department at my shop has been skiing on Prophets for 3 seasons and he loves them. They come in two widths based on more east coast or more west coast skiing. I'd say go for the wider one if you ever think about going out west. The extra width won't hurt you on groomers, although it makes the skis heavier for park so if you plan on doing more park the narrow ones would be better. Also the wider ones need a wide brake, sometimes that delays mounting if they have to order it for your binding (unless you are buying new bindings that will solve that problem), so that is another thing to consider.

If your on a budget the Line Invaders are DEFINETELY the way to go. You can pick them up for a hell of a lot less than the K2's. Just avoid last years Invaders - Line had mad problems last year with delaminations - although so far this year nothing coming back to the shop. Don't forget you have to add bindings in there two so that is going to raise the price. Ask the shop you go to for a binding recommendation, there are so many different ones and the prices fluxuate a lot depending on what the shop has or doesn't have in stock.

80% of the theft come from 20% of the people. Last year at Mountain Creek the local cops pulled over a Jeep Wrangler for speeding. The car had 2 guys in it, and the entire backseat was full of snowboards, almost a dozen. They got arrested but I'm not sure if people got their boards back. If you look on your board - there is a serial number. It is usually between the bindings near one of the edges, about a centimeter tall. Take a picture of that number and keep it on file somewhere so you would be able to file a police report if it does get stolen.

Yea I would go with super human strength, you don't need to fly if you can survive crashing on any jump - just build a bigger jump. Sidenote I've always thought it would be funny if got into the olympics for the ski long jump event, and just went off the jump and did a 720 or something. How pissed off would all the stuffy olympic people be?

Ha I would love to know how fast I'm going at points, that would be pretty sick.

I read the Accuweather Blogs a lot - but their zip code based forecast is just a plug into one of their models, and even the experts are saying the models are shit this year. Noaa.gov is my go-to for sailing weather whenever I have a race because it is so accurate and they have actual wind directions per hour so you can see general shifts and what not - but I haven't really used them for winter weather since they are mainly an oceanography institute.

I'm not sure if you guys have clearer webcams or if they are just closer, but the one in the park is great, its one of the only webcams that actually shows you an idea of what the snow is like.

Well that basically sucks, glad to have the more frequent reports. Do you think there will ever be a link from camelback's site to here? I know the history and I know there is a lot of negativity the mountain may not want to be tied to but opinions can swing quickly here (look at how JFBB turned into a poster child this year)

sometimes they close the east side due to wind, but i never remember them being closed for man power issues

I could see the confusion. I don't know their situation but I work for a ski shop at home for several months out of the year, and I have a job separate in the summer. They could be working two jobs - one for creek and one for the shop. THere is also a guy at our shop who works at our shop when hes at school and a different shop at home. The event wasn't just open to people who work 40 hours a week at one shop.

No word yet, was up at the mountain for a Burton 07-08 show early this morning and they weren't blowing but the snowmaking crew was out in force on snowmobiles, and now they are blowing. I would expect there to be at least something, but who knows what or where. I don't really care, all I want is to ride again I haven't gotten out since I got back from Vermont last Sunday and a week is too long.

I'm just looking forward to going to some new mountains, and I refuse to buy a lift ticket to Blue or Camelback until they open more up. Not to mention my pass at Mountain Creek has gotten me exactly 0 days so far. I'm going to see how much I spend on lift tickets this year, but right now I'm thinking about getting a pass to JFBB next year because they survived the worst weather in the last few years much better than anyone else.

That actually is a really good thought, a REALLY good thought. Just throw a convex mirror up there and you only need to be able to see it about 20 feet before you hit the jump, that is about the last moment you can decide to bail or not, but luckily you are close but it is blind. If they just put a mirror on a tree above the jump, maybe 3 feet in diameter, you could tell. From a liability stand point - if they got that worked out it would absolve a lot of the issues the mountain has. Right now if you follow my train of thought where the rider coming downhill is not responsible, and the downhill person is not responsible - it leaves the mountain responsible for either creating that situation or for not providing rangers - which is a place I don't want the mountains to be in.

I wish I could do the 3 hour days, after like 4 I can still ride hard all day but I'm slightly sloppier and that equals falling in the terrain park, but the drive is like an hour and 15 to JFBB each way so I have to make it worth it.

Is it just me or is this the slowest god damn cold front ever? It is taking a week to get here.

Exactly and when your sidecut = huge turns, you are in control but you don't slow down. Control and speed are two separate issues. You can go plenty fast on a green trail and stay 20 feet away from everyone, I don't see an issue with going fast on a green trail without buzzing people, and sliding near crowds, but there is no point for me to ride if I have to slide down the whole open trail because I can't ride my board the way it is meant to be ridden. (I'm serious about the can't slow it down part, when I ride with slower friends I need a different board. I had a guy come in yesterday to rent a different board so he could teach his girlfriend - you can't go slow on racing snowboards, they aren't nearly as flexible as skis) We might need to go the route of Colorado - you can't sue the ski hill for injuries resulting from an accident on the hill in most circumstances. You can sue the person who hit you (i'm fine with that, I don't hit people), or if they run you over with a groomer or something you can sue them. But if you fall and die - the mountain won't give you anything. That makes sense to me. Skiing is dangerous, no matter how safe you think it is at these little mountains it isn't safe. One student from my town died in 1992 at Mountain Creek - ending the ski team at both high schools. Another student also died at Mountain Creek from the ski team crossing the street in front of the Great Gorge lodge. The coach for the team was my architecture teacher and he was telling me about it last year. More recently Eddie Jackson, class of 2002 at my high school - died during Ski Club at Shawnee mountain on a green trail, and he was an expert skier. The sport is not safe, and if people can't accept that - don't do it.

What do I do, ask someone I don't know to go down and check if a landing is clear. But we need a signal, and do they know what jump I'm talking about? And what are they doing in the park anyway if they aren't hitting stuff? I'd rather they're not in the park than just cruising around. Ski you just don't get it. If you "hike back up" from the first hit on Indian at Mountain Creek, - you still wouldn't be able to see the landing. Not to mention it is a 500 vertical foot hike, a thousand people would pass you and void your 'it was clear' assessment anyway. Jumps require a lot of speed, you can drop from the top of the mountain, go down half its vertical, and still have to jump really hard to clear a jump. This isn't like a rail where you start 50 feet before it. Someone spots it great, what happens on the next jump? Or the one after that? At Mountain Creek you have 3 hits with blind landings in one run, but none are visible from the others. So now its a 3:1 spotter to rider ratio? This is the problem - if ski patrol doesn't understand the park AT ALL, how are they supposed to patrol it? Here we have a ski patroller applying the skiers responsibility code (which I agree needs to be followed) in a situation outside the realm of its creation. It is no longer about overtaking skier versus the skier being passed. We can't let newbies just get a get out of jail free card for endangering everyone. When I tell a father that his son is in a place where he could killed, and he tells me I need to watch out when I do have a spotter (who told the dad he and his son had to move and the dad laughed), and when I'm out there trying to educate the public, and that father tells me to fuck off. What do I do? If there is a gun range with signs all over it saying danger, get out, and a Dad walks through with his kid and they tell him to leave because it is dangerous, and then a bullet comes through the trees and kills him - is that the shooters fault? He couldn't see the guy, but should he have not shot the bullet because it is possible someone may be in the area that is supposed to be closed? When do the people in the way become responsible? I know ski patrol/park rats don't always get along, but that isn't a reason to look away from a very grave problem and just blame it on the people riding park. If the mountain is putting this park up, they need to do something about the crowds. Mountain Creek, Camelback do the park pass. I've noted before JFBB seems to have a lot of Rangers around. Blue is doing the Staircase idea, we'll see. And if a patroller just can't get along with the times - maybe they shouldn't be allowed to patrol anymore. Terrain parks are the way of the future, if you can't wrap your head around reality and protect the people in them, don't be a patroller. You are only making the mountain more dangerous by ignoring the issues, and I don't like the idea of dieing for your (and a lot of other patrollers) inability to rethink the skiers responsibility code in relationship to the new paradigm of terrain park riding.

I tried to find it, but I couldn't. I think I saw it as a clip in a snowboarding video. When I searched things like snow grooming accident on google I just came up with a bunch of lawsuits which didn't really fill the bill.

Oh come on Doug don't pull that crap, your 'days' are like 4 hours long tops. If I go to Jack Frost for more hours than you go to Blue, take my boots off, go to Big Boulder and spend more hours than you do there, then drive home, I count that as one day, but it is clearly equal to two of your days since I booted up twice and equaled your hours (but only bought one lift ticket, but my lift tickets are usually free so that doesn't help with the counting). So should I get two days? Or are we putting vert minimums for a day? How many runs do I do if I hike the pipe for 6 hours? It might be a tiny bit of vert but I did a hell of a lot of snowboarding and hiking, that has to count for something. If count a few hours at the end of the day as a day, don't give him crap for doing it, or we're going to have to go by hours. But we ski at differrent speeds, so we'll have to go by vert. But a lot of green trail vert is easier than some glade vert, so lets rate the trails by difficulty and multiple it by number of runs and go by that. But wait, sometimes snow conditions differ so we'll add that rating in there somewhere - if you make it too specific, it will never end. The stats will never be perfect, and will never be a fair comparison between people. It is just a record for you individually. I think the only clear delineation is the date. Thus if you went for the day, the night, and then the next day, I would call that 2. I did 28 6 hour plus days last year, and I hope to beat that this year. The weather isn't helping but I'm up to 9 full days (6 hours was the shortest, 9 the longest) already. I wouldn't compare my days to anyone elses, but thats my number and I'll compare it to myself.

Killy definately over advertises their vert. The gondola is only 1785 feet, thats the height of stratton and mount snow. Stowe is 2600. Tremblant is 2100. Killy also goes by their trail count and miles of trails because they count like we do down here, a billion little trails instead of long ones. I like how Stowe counts one trail with like 3 branches - as one trail. In reality there are more trails at Stowe than they advertise. Can't wait to go

Besides I'm sure they didn't plow out the whales on the un-opened trails. A 5 foot thick pile of snow will survive this weekend to be a 3 foot thick one, so they're not starting from scratch. Just be happy you got those days - Mountain Creek didn't open at all and our weather is colder up here. Not to mention about the dumptruck thing, have you seen the video of a mountain in the early 90s trying to use a backhoe to groom the terrain park? it ended up slipping and tumbling down the hill, it was pretty nasty.