The Gallery is online!

[nils]

http://www.swoard.com/gallery/

It will be merged with the extremecarving.com pages soon, but we wanted you to see the ECS04 Zinal pics, as well as the SES in Aspen!

We will allow a possibility of uploading for everyone in the future!

Hope you enjoy it (needs quite some time to see all pics there, so take your time!)

Nils and the Swoard team!

[yomama]

Beside the obvious mountain differences, I notice that the Euros tend to carve without a helmet.

Hmm....is that the secret to great carving?

Thanks for taking the time to process all those carving sessions !!

Peter Vu

[jeanma]

You're absolutely right Peter. I'll buy one before my damned luck vanishes.

[fluke]

This gets an off-topic spin, but I'd like to share this one.

Been to Kaltenbach/Zillertal (Austria) yesterday (03/17/2004). The slope was wide, uncrowded, excellent viz. Checked the piste -- noone around. After leaning into a front side carve and getting nicely low, all of a sudden I was knocked off by a skier, hittin' my head with his knee. If I didn't wear a helmet, he would have knocked me out for sure.

Moral: Do yourself a favor, get a helmet.
(Sorry for playing the killjoy with my first post on this forum.)

Ride on!

fluke

[Rietzschel]

Hello Fluke,

Your suggestion may be off topic, but I think it's very good to mention .
This year I also started wearing a helmet, because you can see speed increasing with the new techniques, sometimes the slopes are pretty crowded with lunatics and you just need one luni to much to take out all the fun.
Besides, it looks superb!

Greetz Guido

[pokkis]

Yep, it is better to wear a helmet cause one never knows what can happen,
if you dont believe, check this out

http://koti.mbnet.fi/carving/oops.wmv

[yomama]

Pokkis,
Wow, it scared the hell out of me watching your movie. It should be R-rated for the "close call" violence

I think that 99% of the time, I don't need a helmet. As a safe and conservative wimp, I wear a helmet for the 1% of the time where I *actually* need a helmet.

Cheers !

Peter Vu

[Dave]

Yes, I know the problem!
The problem is that skiers don't know how a snowboarder makes his turns!
A snowboarders start his turn different than a skiers!

Most of the people have there first experience with the snow on skies, and then they turn to snowboarding,
so that makes that a snowboarder mostly knows how a skier moves!
Most of the skiers has never stand on a board!And sure don't know carving!!!

But try to live in harmony with everybody, we are all in the mountains because we love the white gold,
so enjoy your stay so you can return home in one piece!!!

Dave

[GrimReaper]

It's not that they didn't have time to see what you where doing (in the movie). That sure was close..............

[time]

The film should be refuse over 40 age! Too scary to watch.

Anyway, I was carving last Friday in a very short slope but wide enough to make close turns.

End of the slope has a little steeper spot and when you are arriving to that spot you should be very careful cause you can´t see if there is someone.

The slope was empty when I started my run. I was in that steeper spot and suddenly I saw a black shadow beside me and I was hit by a skiier. His legs hit my head but lucky me I was wearing a helmet. (no injuries yet...?)

His ski stucked in my bindings, it went true the "hole" which we (hardbooters) have between toes and heels I couldn´t do anything. I was gliding downhill couldn´t stop my speed cause of that stucked ski and suddenly I was hit by another skiier! He had much more speed than the first one and I hurt my lower back (not seriously) but couldn´t ride that day anymore.

I was lucky this time but would I be as lucky next time, hope that next time never comes.

Time

[jeanma]

I went last wednesday in "Le Grand Bornand" near Annecy in the french Alps. Wednesday is the school skiing day. Helmet wearing teens all over the wide slopes, practicing slalom or boardercross (alpine skiing and snowboarding). I was very impressed by the number and the level of these kids but I felt that unconsciousness was also all over the place. Having the total Dainese "Mad max equipment" they were just not paying attention to us.

I got really angry against one of them that almost shoot a very dear 50 year old friend of mine that was skiing for the first time this year. He just didn't care. He said "that's my place and if your friend doesn't know how to ski he shouldn't keep on trying"...

[Matt]

It is clear we all have had at least a problem like the ones described here over...

That's why I wear a helmet this year .

But we have to keep in mind that EC or "normal" carving is a bit different then skiing or even snowboarding as we make almost perpendicular turns and people are not used to that for the moment.

And I know some people that find our discipline very dangerous. On my side, I try to carve where there is enough room around.

But in the other hand, there is more and more very fast skiers, some of them are controlling what the do.
But there is other ones, almost beginners or young people using the "Big Foot" skies for example, they go so fast that they can only go straight ahead due to the lack of control with these small skies. They are dangerous also.

What I'm saying is there is some unconscious people on the slopes, but it is the same EVERYWHERE! On the road for example...!

You will never be able to avoid the accident if you are at the wrong place at the wrong moment, so that's why we wear helmet! Don't we??