Hardboots in powder

[Christoph]

I'm used to ride everything with my hardboots. Powder, backcountry and icy slopes.
Right now I'got two boards which I use all winter long.
The #one for everything and a Palmer Classic for bad conditions with a lot of stones ....... I don't want to destroy my #one.
I ride the same setup (angle, stance) on both boards and this works perfect ..

[Marc Andre Panet-Raymond]

I haven't heard anyone mention the O-sin 4807. Listen up boys,... This board will blow you away at how well it plows and floats through the biggest dumps. Mine is 178 and with the swallow tail it gives the rider a feeling very similar to riding a wave, if you have had the experience you know what I mean, only difference being the mountain doesn't move. I ride with a soft setup with catek pros but I might give it a shot with hardboots this year to feel the difference but I'm sure I 'll miss the freedom that the soft boot gives us.

Marc

[pokkis]

I'm in phase that i plan to test these soft boards i have with my old 323 Raichles but i believe that F2 Hurricanes are even better with HBX bindings. At least on softies slopes them and Tanker is great combo
But i will give a try for 323 later during season.

[gdboytyler]

I've switched from the Burton Fish with soft boots to the O-Sin 4807 with hard boots.

Riding the Fish on hardpack and on traverses was just too painful with soft boots. The comfort of hardboots was more important than the possible gain (if any) in performance in powder from soft boots.

See my extended post regarding the Fish vs the 4807 here on Bomber

http://www.bomberonline.com/VBulletin/s ... eadid=4498

[Rob Stevens]

Brett Tippie (if you mountainbike, you might have heard of him) is the only person I know who rode HB's everywhere. From watching him and trying pow myself in this setup, I found that without the ankle mobility it was hard to avoid overedging the soft snow and falling inside the turn. As the boot would not flex at the ankle without a hard surface to push against, I was left with only my knees (toeside) and my hips (heelside) to create edge angle. When I was moving fast, this was ok. At slower speeds it was lame. Softboots allowed me to tip the board over by using my ankles. I could stay centered and not dive the board.
Hardboots on freeride boards? Set up with freeride angles, it hammers through a snowboardcross course. Power for the turns and low angle stability for the jumps.
Otherwise, we exclusively freeride "off-piste" on SB's.
If you kids want to try something that requires real skill try "Noboarding", or snowboarding without bindings. I use a pre-production Forum Streetdweller with no edges and no inserts for binding screws. The only means I have to stay on is the noboard stomp pad and a leg rope to keep the board from f#*king off when I fall. My longest run to date has been a 2000 footer off a snowmobile shuttle in 40cm's of fresh (powder only, of course). When you're in the right conditions, an observer would not be able to tell you were unattached until you jumped off your board before it even stopped.
Come visit the site at www.noboard.ca. You'll see it primarily used with a rope to hold the board to your feet. The late, great Greg Todds could go ANYWHERE on this setup (including places that would give grown man- shreds a hard time). When Greg first showed me his invention back in '99 (drinking in his Revelstoke B.C. kitchen) I thought his hand rope was a leg rope. I went home and rode for a few seasons no-handed like a surfboard. When I went back to visit him we realized we were not doing the same thing. So last year I got a rope so I could keep it together on the hard snow and Greg started to drop the rope alot more and do it surf-style.
He passed away a few months ago in an avalanche and I miss him greatly, but everytime I noboard, he's there.
"Bindings, schmindings" as Greg would say...

[skywalker]

If you kids want to try something that requires real skill try "Noboarding"

Hey dude, do you know, who we are?

When Greg first showed me his invention back in '99

*LOL* You ever heard about the early days of snowboarding???

You are fun to read, my friend!

[Rob Stevens]

Hi Skywalker;
I haven't seen anything in snowboarding that didn't have a device for holding your feet to the board. Even the earliest snowboards had a rope from the nose to help with control. What we're doing here is like surfing with only a leg rope to keep the board from running away after a fall.
The only means you have to keep the board with you is powder, to support the board on edge and your ability to use pressure control and steering to create turns.
Try this out: Take an old board (maybe a rental with no life left in it) and put stomp pads where your bindings would be. Find a low-angle powder field and get it done. Even if it's just to help you with your stance and balance, your overall riding will benefit.
You're right. I don't know who you guys are and you don't know me. It is interesting to see a group so dedicated to lying down. Here in wetern Canada I can safely say I was the first guy to go to high stance angles and the the first to get on an alpine board and it wasn't easy. I took alot of grief from my softboot friends for "handcuffing" myself. However, I was having fun, so it was all good.
Thanks for reading;
Rob S
Senior Course Conductor, Vice-President
Canadian Association of Snowboard Instructors

[nils]

Funny to hear about no binding riding !
Would love to see small vids !
I guess its possible in deep pow, but as soon as it gets hard below, it has to be a bit tricky!

Nils

[Rob Stevens]

Nils;
We're going snowmobiling this weekend and we'll get some video.
You'll be stoked.
Rob

[tigger]

i guess without bindings youll get a smooth surfstyle in powder. and it would be a good way to improve your riding because you have to ride with your board and not fight against it. but you wont have too many days with good conditions to try it over here
i saw the jackass guys using a shortboard with broken fins in powder and it looked like fun too(guess a deep double concave helps)
whats the best to use as a stomppad? wax griptape nails?

[raphael]

I don't know what it's worth, but through my 'second board research' i found some F2 Lancelot. It looks like a swallowtail to surf in hardboots.

Some can be found quite cheap:
http://www.westside-sport.com/F2_Lancel ... 202.0.html
Or on Ebay.

I think Nils said once it is not a real swallow but for that price it maybe a good all mountain board.

Can you comment on that Nils ?

[nils]

but most friends that tried it said the flex is too soft, and the nose's flex is fucked up aka not performing as it should...
This board is a marketing board more than a real powder tool!
Grrr!

N.

[Rob Stevens]

Tigger;
You can use anything that will add traction.
Spare stomp pads, surf wax, or those things you stick on the bottom of your bathtub so you don't break your neck in the shower.
I bought proper foam adhesive surf decking. It's waterproof and looks tech.
The real deal can be had from www.noboard.ca . Go have a look.
Rob
P.S. Nils: The snow was brutal for noboarding when we went out last Saturday to snowmobile, so no noboarding vids.
It is snowing now though so when it comes together, I'll post it.

[JonDahl]

Had a pow day at my local resort beginning of last month, and rode my SWALLOWTAIL! Yep, I bought a Nitro pow 178 from a guy in California for $150.00! What an incredible feeling! Once I got my bindings set up properly it was amazing to float past everyone who was struggling, with no leg burn or gymnastics. It was funny to drop down a short steep face and bury the board and have it pop back up to the surface and cruise on down. Wanna turn? Small movements. Slow down a little? Lean back a little. It took a few runs to get used to it, and it sure isn't like riding a race board! And it did get my plates and hardboots, and after riding it this way, I've got zero thoughts about using softies.

[Silber]

Funny thing reading now this thread... Last year I bought a F2 Lancelot (one of those that Rafael found on the web..). Listening to the comments of how it's supposed to be too soft I get confused a little..this year I went to La Grave and saw and flexed various SWPK. They did not seem harder than the F2 at all... With the lancelot you can actually almost EC (I had it in Zinal and did some nice turns on the icy slope close to the base - actually might be in some movie to come). Considering is pretty much the same board of the eliminator but longer with a SW tail and nose it's easy to understand how it can perform. Too bad my knee was fk up in La Grave.. I'll have to wait next year for proper comparison!! Well..have fun with your nitro and Osin. On the F2 I use my Blax Frank with ACSS by the way....