thoughts after a season on the Extreme Carver

[iceaxe]

Here are some thoughts of mine after a season on the Swoard Extreme Carver Gen 4. My setup:

Extreme Carver Gen 4 168M
Burton Step in race, Non-intec, (steel bails on both end of binding)
Raichlee SB323 with ACSS, Palau Liner

Right out of the box, the finish of the board is excellent. My compliments to the designers and craftsmen. My next board will certainly be a Dual.

Extreme Carving is nowhere as easy as you people make it look. I have been snowboarding for 20 years and I have never spent so much time sliding on my a$$ as I have this season. Mastering the push-pull technique is very difficult, partly because I don't have any live examples to watch from the lift and partly because it is very different from the technique i use surfing.

I initially found myself putting too much weight on the nose of the board causing the tail to washout, especially on heel side turns. Is this common amongst beginners? I moved my bindings back a touch which has helped. Am I bending at the waist too much? I am curious because it seems most of you are centered on your boards.

I am also wondering about my bindings: The burton step in race plates I have have bails on both the toe and heel and provide a fair bit of lateral motion. The plates however are aluminum and have only a thin piece of rubber between the board and binding. Could this be hurting the performance of my board? Is it worth while to get a set of F2's, snowpros, or TD3 SW's?

You guys have already been a big help. Any advice/ suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Amadeo

[rcrobar]

Hello

I initially found myself putting too much weight on the nose of the board causing the tail to washout, especially on heel side turns. Is this common amongst beginners? I moved my bindings back a touch which has helped. Am I bending at the waist too much? I am curious because it seems most of you are centered on your boards

Hard to say with no pictures or video, but I'll start the ball rolling with a suggestion that may help.

My question to you is are you able to move and do you feel you have the freedom to move? Does the combined range of motion of your boot and binding interface restrict you or let you move?

Before moving the bindings forward or backward I would 'mess around' with your boots and their possible settings: boot cants, springs, forward lean of the springs, etc. Next I would experiment with the stance width of you bindings and the actually placement of your toe and heel blocks on you bindings. For example if your stance is a bit narrow/wide and the toe blocks have your boots so that they toe/heel is a bit far from the edge, etc. Finally, maybe re-evaluate your stance angles.

My feeling is that if you have the freedom to move the way you want with your boots and bindings, you should be able to put more weight on either the front of back foot whenever you want or need to do so.

Quick Story - During my early seasons riding the ECer, my front quad would burn with pain when riding in a straight line on a narrow Grooming Machine type track. For the longest time I couldn't figure out why! What eventually fix this issue was widening my stance by maybe 1 or 2 cm and moving my FRONT foot heel and toe blocks 1 cm closer to the toe side edge. It was AMAZING to me the difference in the improvement in the comfort I felt in my riding. No more leg burn.

I am also wondering about my bindings: The burton step in race plates I have have bails on both the toe and heel and provide a fair bit of lateral motion. The plates however are aluminum and have only a thin piece of rubber between the board and binding. Could this be hurting the performance of my board? Is it worth while to get a set of F2's, snowpros, or TD3 SW's?

I was lucky enough to find a pair of NorthWaves and use the F2's with them. Years ago I had Raichle 325's and Burton Physics with the toe bail (not the hooks, I felt that the hooks are too stiff laterally). I personally didn't feel like I have a large enough range of motion, with the 325 and Burton Step Ins, until I cut up my boots to allow more lateral movement. That said, I have seen a few videos, in the past, of a few guys ECing very well with Burton Step Ins ... but I don't know what boots they were using? I am pretty sure your 323's have more movement than my old 325's, which is probably better.

Extreme Carver Gen 4 168M
Burton Step in race, Non-intec, (steel bails on both end of binding)
Raichlee SB323 with ACSS, Palau Liner

It seems to me that your gear is very good and that you should keep your bindings centered as this is how the Swoard EC was designed to be used. My advice is to continue experimenting by changing one boot or one binding setting at a time, and slowly sneak up on your ideal setting as your technique grows as well. Some may suggest that you move to a toe bail type binding as well.

Hope these few ideas help.
Rob

Burton Step in race, Non-intec, (steel bails on both end of binding)

Edit: I think I may have wrongly assumed you have the Burton Physics Step Ins, a quick re-read now makes me think you have the old (really old) Burton Step Ins with the spring mechanism actually build into the heel block. If this is the case I really think upgrading your bindings to a toe bail type binding would really help your ability to control and adjust your lateral movement via the bindings.