CHANGE TO SWOARD?

[SITO]

I have a board NITRO 157 GTX SL

somebody can said me if i this board is apropiated for EC, or I must think to change for an specific board how swoard for to make better?

[nils]

Sorry we've got difficulties in spanish and its hard to understand what you mean in english. maybe say it in spanish and we will ask spanish speaking friends to translate it for us
N.

[SITO]

Hi Nils
I have a board NITRO GTX 157 SL AND MY QUESTION IS:
IS THIS BOARD GOOD FOR EC?
OR I MUST THINK TO CHANGE THIS BOARD FOR AN SPECIFIC BOARD FOR PRACTICE EC. FOR EXAMPLE SWOARD.
CAN YOU HELP ME?

[nils]

We want to make it clear that anyboard can do good carved turns, its a lot a matter of good riding technique. Any board with alpine design and hard boots will be able to perform frontside EC, and good backside. However, and due to the narrowness; flex and high angles that those boards provide, it is not possible to execute the same turns are those done by patrice and Jacques. The swoard is a board that is designed especially for that, and also a board that is easier to ride than an race board because it is wider, has a different flex, and is very stiff torsionally. So to answer you: yes you can do EC, but not really to the same extreme, and it will be very difficult to link turns especially because of the backside that will be allmost impossible to lay totally down.
The Swoard is your answer if your are willing to do what J and P do on the movies. It all depends on what you intend to do.
N.

[NateW]

Do you know the other dimensions of your Nitro? Waist width and sidecut radius are most interesting. With those numbers we can guess a little bit about how the board will ride.

[SITO]

Hi here is the dimension of my nitro:
LENGTH 157

EDGE CONTACT 1380

SIDE CUT 8m

NOSE-WAIST-TAIL-WIDTH 256/195/254

FPW
FRONT/BACK200/201

STANCE WIDTH 34/54

[nils]

The main problem within your nitro is the radius. 8 meters is so small your head will be almost at the center of the turn, which means it will be almost stopped while your feet will turn fast around it... After trying a 9m radius SL HOT blast (158cm) i could do frontside EC, but the recovery was very tricky because the turns were so faast on the feet and slow on the inside of the turn. The backside were impossible my feet were touching the snow and i was already with 58° at the backfoot...

So your main concern is finding a board with a bigger turn radius ! (Swoard?
nils

[NateW]

One of my boards has a 10m sidecut, the other has 13m, and extreme carving is more challenging on the 10m board because the turns are much tighter. It is possible, but more difficult and not as fun because the turns are so abrupt. I feel much smoother on the board with the 13m sidecut. For comparison, the smallest Swoard has 12.1m radius, the larger are 12.7 and 13.3.

It is almost certainly possible to lay down carves on your Nitro, but a larger sidecut will allow each turn to be larger, longer, and more graceful, and I think that makes carving more fun.

[SITO]

Thaks nils and nate because in this moment I understand the problem that I have wthith backside because I think that I make the techique well.
But a boards whith a side cut of 12 meters.
Could be a problem whith an piste full of people?
NEVER,NEVER I can see the piste in my country wth the people that there are in your videos IT'S IMPOSIBLE!!!!!!!!!!!

[pokkis]

SITO, you need to take first lift in the morning to get up, that way you are also first to come down and have space OR you need to be riding during weekdays. This is same way here in many slopes too

[nils]

I have snowboarded at Baqueira-Beret looong time ago in the 80's and i remember there was good slopes that i would be able to use for carving... Also french resorts as Superbagneres or la Montgie offer wide enough slopes... As for beeing alone: be there at the gate before the gates open so you can be the first to carve and be alone: it is the only way besides avoiding school holiday!

N.

[SITO]

Yes Baqueria have a good slopes also Sierra Nevada in one ocassion I saw to austrian girl in Sierra Nevada who carves very good and she made carvig some days here because the time is very sunny but at the first time in the morning the snow is very hard almost ice ,and the sound of the board and you don't have selfconfidence in lay down turns. and more or less at 12h in the morning the snow is perfect but there are most people in this beatiful slopes for EC

[audacium]

Same opinion: the radius is too short. To do a really laid turn the edge will bite into the snow and you will do a possibly quite painful "nose dive" because the board is turning around so fast. At least that is what I experienced with my Virus Dragster which has around 8m radius, too.

[Neuffy]

Yeah, I'm using a far more ridiculous board right now. I'll be buying a Swoard either next season or the one after, depending on if I'm even going to be here next season (may be going to Thailand/Mexico/South America).

I'm using a Ride Serum 157

... 8.3 m sidecut....Freestyle....and here's the big oddness: Softboots, of course...and size 12 feet. So I decided to say screw it to bottoming out (having my heels or toes hit the ground and lift the board off, resulting in a slide-->fall) and now have the angles at front 45, back 43. No more bottoming out....

But ... my god the 8.3 m sidecut is tight! It's funny...we have ski racers here....and I can do the runs faster than most of them....

Tomorrow I'm going to switch back (this is a borrowed board) to my old Salomon Classic 163. Sidecut's just a little nicer: 9.8m.
But I really want a swoard soon! Thing is, if I get one, I'm moving for the winter to Banff. (Mountains, ski resorts, etc).