While I wholeheartedly agree with extremecarving.com's assesment of the unfortunate dying of hardbooting, I do not think that the answer is so limited. Yes, the carving I have seen here is awesome. Next year, I will be turning my cants flat and trying to dedicate some days to replicating the turns I have seen here. They were inspiring.
That being said, I do have a problem with the freeride section. This is one of the things I think has contributed to the demise of hardboots. The arguments that usually support freeriding in softboots would not hold up with skiers, yes we do different things, but snowboarding is more like skiing than it is skating or surfing.
(had to try it out). I have ridden with people skiing mountaineering setups in leather boots. Incredible ability, but never can they do the things that a guy can with a pair of Technica TNT's. Why is this? Well, even if the skill is there, with soft boots, even though you "feel" the snow, you lack the ability to apply edge pressure with the force and precision that you can with hardboots. If it were otherwise, you could take your softboots and point them forward and carve the same turns. But you can't.I ain't the best rider, but I can take HB's and point them forward on a freeride board and match every turn that a softbooter does in powder. Most SBer's in powder do big wide turns and J-slides. On top of that, I can hop bounce turns behind a skier, doing a figure 8 as well. On top of that, in iced out bumps, one can make twice the amount of cleaner turns than a SBer with HBs. It is about edge pressure. I know you guys realize this, because without edge pressure we would have no extreme carve. It is undeniable that one can develop greater and more focused edge pressure with hardboots. Problem is, it is better done at steeper angles and on a different board than the usual or extreme carving.
You guys talk about "feeling the snow" in softies in the powder. Man, I have ridden both and feel the snow even better in HB's - with softies, you feel the board, not the snow. It is a better tool (HB's that is) for directing edge pressure.
I am not trying to cause problems here, because you guys are the first to share my view that this sport is dying and needing change. Manufacturers have died out, shops have stopped carrying our gear, and we are left to the internet to discuss such things - transatlantic I might add. It is a sad state of hardbooting when guys on different continents, seperated by a huge ocean, have to discuss the decline, but we are doing it, and I am thankful that you speak my language better than I speak yours, for we share the same goal. The goal of getting hardbooting back to the growth it needs!
(had to try it again).I guess my point is this. You guys are doing some incredible things. I am thankful for your honest assesment of this sport that you will find nowhere else. From your posts and pictures and movies, you have convinced to change my riding style while carving, because you guys rock!
(had to try it one more time). No matter what people say on other sites, I have yet to see people doing what you guys are doing. But, the salvation of our sport does not lie ONLY in carving. We will never succeed if this is our only goal.You guys have it right. Let us take carving to the extreme, but than let us take 5 minutes, switch our stance and switch our boards, and show what HB's can do all mountain (off-piste). This complete picture is what is to save us gentlemen, not the HB's on the groom and SB's off-piste.
So, I'd like to see you guys tell me why softboots are better than Hardboots off-piste. I'll disagree and try to promote this sport as much as you.
Great site guys.
Peace.
!) want to make us believe that the use of soft boots is the only way to snowboard (and to be cool)...
and probably the best one of the nineties (using hard boots) 
