Skwaller meets EC Board

Post by **Sammyboy** » Friday 20 December 2002, 16:16

Hello Snowboarders,
Since a three seasons I'm a skwaller (I'm dutch, so thit means 3 weeks). I was lucky to buy a secondhand Lacroix skwal for very little money. Good for the start, but it's getting softer.

A new skwal is way to expensive (700-800 Euro), so I'm thinking about buying a EC snowboard.

To my questions:

- What is the advantage of a EC board compared to the skwal?
- What is the advantage of a skwal compared to an EC board?
- What is a good alternitive to my skwal (brand/model)?
- Is there a big technique difference between EC-boarding and skwalling?

Thanx in advance,

Sam

Post by **A carver from Holland** » Monday 23 December 2002, 15:49

Hi S,

A good alternative is the Skwal by Thias. I own a 173 Carve skwal.

Arjan

Post by **rilliet** » Monday 23 December 2002, 17:21

Hi Sammyboy,

Our EC boards look like alpine boards, but they are much wider (22-23 cm waist width) and their special construction provides a much stronger edge grip than any standard construction board.

Their width allows lower feet angulation that gives the rider much more mobility to master the EC technique.

I have never been on a skwal, so I don't know how it works.
But I've been on narrrow boards (18 cm) with high angulation. I felt totally limited. I could not move enough to ride in the way I'm used to. EC was impossible to me, I was unable to do the back side laid turn and the front side one was totally unstable.

Jacques

Post by **pete** » Saturday 28 December 2002, 7:03

I'll answer about the technique...
In my opinion, The Ec tech and the skwal tech are pretty close: Push and pull as well as rotation. On the other hand, i really think skwaling is much easier. I am an alpine snowboarder (not EC unfortunately) and skwaler (only 2 times, but i love it) I think you'll have to work quite a bit to be able to carve as well in skwal and EC.

hope that helps...

Post by **Sammyboy** » Tuesday 7 January 2003, 15:55

Hi,
Thanx for the replies!

I just got back from my skiholiday in Les Portes du Soleil. Unfortunately, we got a lot of rain and bad weather conditions.

I tried a new skwal, which was a little bit wider(14cm) than my skwal (11 cm) and I it costs me more effort to chance from one side to the other.

My Question (1):

What is the advantage of the wide EC board (and the different Feetangle), compared to a smaller Alpine board, or even skwal?

Question (2):

Which brand has an EC-board and where can I rent one to try it?
A new EC is probably to expensive for me (I'm not living in the snow..)

Thanks again in advance and a big complement to the site!!

cheers,
Sam

Post by **Sammyboy** » Tuesday 7 January 2003, 16:31

Hello,
I'm sorry about the second question. I kept on reading the forum and found my answer; I'll probably have to kill my bankaccount and buy an EC Board.

Sam

Post by **pete** » Wednesday 8 January 2003, 8:20

i just want to ad something about the difference bet skwal and alpine snowboard...
Last year, my last day was a skwal day.
This year, i'm riding snowboard again (burton Apl156). I of course had in mind the skwal feelings...
What really surprised me is the HUGE stance width we have in snowboard... i felt kinda uncomfy. I reduced the width and i'll see how i feel next time (even if you recommend a quite wide stance...

)

Sam: you've tried the Panther (168 or 178). As u said in your 1st post, skwals are expensive, and i actually know a guy that is selling his Panther 178 for 200Euros... he says: good shape, i don't have a picture. You might find that on the nu website we're putting on : skwalzone.org. It's actually mainly french speaking forum, but a bunch of us speak english too. I can keep you up about other deals if you want.