A magazine talks about "alpine rebirth"!

[fivat]

The magazine mentioned in the subject here (and on the page Press and TV) talks about "alpine rebirth" in its article "TEST snowboards 2006-2007"... The authors say they had not seen such a proportion of new products in the alpine category since 1995, and that "alpine boards seem to be popping up…".

It's interesting to see how our alpine discipline is perceived by the snowboard journalists, who are focused mainly on freestyle and freeride for a few years (it's where the market has drifted). It seems apparently that the image of our discipline is changing, slowly, with the idea of an alpine snowboarding revival. Extremecarving.com and Swoard put their energy in this.

Whatever happens, it's already a good sign to see tests and pictures of alpine snowboards in the magazines... What is the situation in the rest of the world?

Patrice Fivat

[Hans]

Today we had the Nokia Snowboard FIS World Cup in our snowhall in Landgraaf. The brothers Schoch and all other WorldCupriders are here now. We had about 4 guys and 4 women from our own country who participated. So I hope alpine snowboarding will grow in the Netherlands too.

Greets, Hans.

[Vladimir]

... in its article "TEST snowboards 2006-2007"...

May be anybody have some ideas what is
the true “Test card” for alpine boards.
I’m the owner of Testcenter and now use the same for skis.
We test the boards on our sessions too(mostly of each other)
and of course it’s interesting to fix the real results
(not only impressions) and preserve them.
DV

[Vladimir]

It seems to me, I kill the ‘alpine rebirth’ chat
with my question
Of course, it up to testers for thear choice of boards.
My be more easy question :
YOU tested and think, that "Swoard EC2" is No1 and
“F2 speedster SL” is only No3
for FREECARVE too, why
1. ...
2. ...
...
P.S.
1). Pity, I don’t ever ride swoard
(in Siberia now more popular/accessible F2, donek )
2). Alpine freecarve isn’t only extremcarving
DV

[nils]

actually the test is biased because he tested 4 very different boards intended for four different type or riding.... What can be output from the result, and the various comments he makes on our board, but also on the others, is that there is a tendency for more easy boards, with fun in mind, not racing only as it was in the last decade.
He says we started the movement, and that our board is very much in the range for fun riding and freecarving. I assume this is why we made it on the first place. If you tested those boards in a slalom oriented test, of course Prior and F2 would have made it higher etc....

Basically what we see, from the visits on the site and from the overall vibes here in france/swiss etc, is that everyone wants to freecarve, with easier and versatile boards than race boards... its what we claim since day 1, and ideas take long to develop!
N

[Vladimir]

OK,
But my idea is only to have universal Test card for all alpine board testers
For example
It’s easy for you to have
“100 opinions about 1 board” on EC sessions (photo)

And most of them is something like “good for extremcarving”

It’s more difficult for us to have
“50 opinions about each of 50 different boards” on our sessions (photo)

and all 2500 are different
DV

[nils]

i totally agree with the point:
ask 100 swoard riders and they will tell you the swoard is the best for EC

Ask 100 riders of different boards what board is best for EC, and hopefully they will say the same... ( this is basically what the article says but with only one or two test riders!)

I agree that for testing boards in various techniques, disciplines etc it is necessary to output big tests with test cards that are anonymous and filled by many riders. Problem is it is very difficult to collect the dataand time consuming.
In the early 90's, french snowboard magazines use to test snowboard this way> it took them 3 weeks almost each time.. Each board was tested in all snow conditions, with at least 3-4 riders, and the test card filled many aspects ( turn easyness slow - medium - high speed) ( comfort etc etc..)
and the results were far more objectiv: problem was > cost, and also the fact that companies did not like objectiveness

Anyway, i think the test card idea is very good and a good way to do it!

N

[yyzcanuck]

i totally agree with the point:
ask 100 swoard riders and they will tell you the swoard is the best for EC

Along that same thought... I consider myself lucky to know the 3 North American custom board builders and be able to speak with them 1 on 1. Each of them has told me the same thing about their boards and I'll paraphrase this:
"When I design a board, it inherits the things that I like about snowboarding. There's a little bit of me in every design."
"Someone that rides my board design and truly finds it better than the other manufacturer's, must like what I like about the design."
So, do Swoard riders like their boards? Of course they do!

[nils]

[sorro]

This is very interesting discussion... with my english I will try to give my point of view.

As a swoard rider, for sure I like swoard board, BUT for what it is made for: EC.

If you like to carve (I'm not speaking of EC here) very fast with fast edge change, then the speedster (my old board) is best there... in powder then for sure swoard is not the best board.

In alpine board world there is not so many boards and comparing speedster with swoard is at my opinion not good: the board are not made for the same thing.
And maybe there is as many board as riding style, so depending on what YOU like there is ONE board for you. For freeride and freestyle, it is different, there are so many boards on the market.

Then, in harboot world it is difficult to have relevant tests, difficult to be objective (as you said)...

The tests articles are good to show what is existing on the market (if all boards are tested).
To know what is the good board for YOU is another story, you have the test it yourself with the length, waist, flex that suits you best...

What is good here is that alpine boards tests exists (alpine boards are not dead!!!), and that swoard come first shows that EC makes its way, and we can hope it will make alpine boards more accessible because for sure on groomed slopes they the best choice.

[The Blitz]

I think the best benchmark to see real quality of Swoard is to compare with Snowboard TWO.

Large Width & similar result for EC.



Patrice, Nils, Jacques (ohhh sorry Jacques to wake-up you ) what's your opinion ?

[canmanski]

Hey there

I just want to get back to the original topic - Alpine Rebirth...

I think that alpine rebirth is also quite visible on the slopes. Here in Poland, about 2 years back I and Patrix were usually the only 2 riders in hard boots on the slope... Last year, we now and then did notice someone else on an alpine board. This year it was regular. Basically every time we went snowboarding, there was someone in hard boots...

Also 2nd hand equipment has gone up in price... 2-3 years ago, we could pick up an used board in decent quality without a problem... now, if they show up on ebay (or allegro.pl which is more popular here than ebay.pl) , they quickly find a buyer.

No wonder that the manufacturers have noticed that... I mean they have to watch the markets closely. It's their buisness.

Cheers
Bart

[Vladimir]

I think the best benchmark to see real quality of Swoard is to compare with Snowboard TWO...

I think it will be better with
G-force
Donek vs Virus
"Battle of Giants"

[Felix]

Well here in Austria last season we had quite a lot of people on our local race series. Actually at the lower Austrian Championships we had more than 120 participants from all over Eastern Austria. This was the most for the last 5 years. It's nice that now on local race series ex-worldcuppers mix with amateurs. The level is getting so high that people like Gerry Ring who were winning ISF races just 5-6 years ago are now loosing to younger amateur racers.

Alpine Boarders get rare. Nowadays all that rest seem to be hardcore carvers or racers. Recreational snowboarding with race boards is dying out but those that spend 30-50 days on their boards are becoming more.

I wouldn't speak of an alpine rebirth, but of a carving/racing rebirth. Rec alpine boarding is dying out. It's experts only now.

[Silver]

I wouldn't speak of an alpine rebirth, but of a carving/racing rebirth.

not sure to understandyour point : alpine snowboard has always included both race and freecarve, leading to a wide variety of boards in the 90's. Boards just became narrower in the late 90's...

Thus, the Swoard, the Blade, the Two, or the Nidecker Proto are just evolutions of alpine discipline, which is fortunate as manufacturers spend less time and money to ensure such evolution (except few ones). Hope personally it will promote alpine again...

Silver