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Equipment You will find on this page all the information about the equipment we advise to lay down the turns efficiently, with ease, and to link them. Let it be clear! It isn't possible to do extreme carving efficiently with all equipment! Try to forget the freestyle and freeride boards, as well as the soft boots! We don't pretend that it is impossible to lay down a turn with this kind of equipment, but the needed efforts are enormous and the riding speeds are miserable. This neutralizes the feeling that is available with good equipment. Frustration is guaranteed! In addition, the narrow alpine boards are not appropriate either: they are often too rigid, but especially the feet touch snow in the full laid turns. Of course it is possible to lay down a turn totally with any board... but only one turn... while stopping (as we can see it on many pictures of the Web). We propose much more here. The goal is to link the totally laid turns, frontside and backside, with ease, fluidity and style. Board We recommend of course the model from SWOARD snowboards. In 2002-2003, our brand created the first real extremecarving board of the market, especially developed in conjunction with the extremecarving technique, which is explained on this Web site. Now the 4th generation is continuing the success. Some manufacturers have followed the "wide boards" trend that we have (re)launched. and that was however criticized at the beginning. But an extremecarving board is not only a wide board! Nor an assembly of good materials. It must be much more than this! There is a whole technological know-how as well as specific constraints and new things related to this discipline, that only a very experienced shaper-extremecarver can feel. The SWOARD team, specialist and inventor of the extremecarving, unceasingly continues the developments on snow! It is a very long experience which started in the years 1990-1994 when our shaper-guru Jacques Rilliet already developed models of legend for the brand WILD DUCK.
Our extremecarving boards: 1st generation (3 sizes) and 3rd generation (here in size 168) Specifications :
Extremecarving board versus race board Boots Difficult to find really high-performance hardboots today. They are either too soft, either too hard,
because the ankle joint is controlled by a totaly primitive system (usually free or blocked). The own
material of the shell must bend itself (like with freestyle boots) and so, this doesn't allow a rigorous
ankle rotation control. A Brand (Nothwave) had understood it and put on the market in 1997 or 1998, two fabulous models (man and woman). The very stiff shell had an ankle joint controlled with an ingenious springs system with a lot of tuning possibilities. The foot, very well hold in a very comfortable inner shoe, was perfectly controlled thanks to the help of the springs which worked as calf muscle reinforcement. On the piste, the feeling was a bit like in the powder where the calf power is sufficient to vary the ankle canting while feeling totally safe, because the shell is stiff enough to prevent overbending. Northwave boot Unfortunately, the decrease of the alpine market forced this manufacturer to stop its production... Those who follow the ISF Worldcup noticed perhaps that a lot of racers still use them, even the
champions like the Schoch brothers (the yellow boots with black tong). If you know a really high-performance hard-boot, please tell us, sothat we could test and advise it. The brand Deeluxe is not excellent but it has the merit to exist. We recommand rather the ancient HEAD Stratos Pro, or the new UPZ RC10, provided you modifiy and soften them. See the articles about the shoes in the FAQ of the Forum. Bindings Very important! They are the interface between you and your snowboard. They must be strong, light, stiff, have an angle setting of 1 degree of precision, be reactive and able to absorb chocs and vibrations. And of course they must not project beyond the board. Because of their stiffness, step-ins are to be avoided in extremecarving. The board bends tremendously during each turn and needs an articulation under each foot. Without the articulation, the rider's legs must follow the movement, which translate into large movements of the knees- tight together or even crossing each others during turns and spreading out during transitions. That stiffness not only interferes with the natural flex of the board, but also produces very large amount of stress just in front of the bindings which potentially can break the snowboard! Another undesired effect is the transmission of unwanted vibration from the board to the feet because of the stiff boots/board bindings interface. Clothes During a laid turn, the entire body is touching the snow and of course disturbs the gliding. So it is
good to get the clothes in a gliding cloth, but be aware that in case of fall it becomes very difficult
to stop yourself!... Gloves with P-Tex pads (yellow) Protect your head and eyes! In extreme carving, the head may brush the snow and get projectiles continually. So wear a cap or better, a helmet as well as goggles (keep your sun glasses for the skilift and the restaurant!). |
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