New swoarder.....

[Graeme_B]

Hi guys and girls

I am looking to get into extremecarving, and currently looking at investing in a setup.

I have been snowboarding for around 14 years, and skiing for around 20. I teach at the indoor snow slope in Glasgow, Scotland. Been watching a few videos and really can't wait to give a board a go. I love nothing more than carving down a piste at full tilt.

Currently have 3 boards - Amplid Paradigma 161, Never Summer SL 158 and a Technine Jib 157.

Tried an old race board years ago with ski boots though only for two runs on a dry slope.

Is there anyone elso from Scotland on here?

Now my questions re kit:

Boots - I have quite wide feet, can anyone reccommend wider fitting boots (I will have to buy from Blue Tomato.at as I cannot find in the UK!)
Bindings - Is there anything I should avoid? have been looking at F2

Thanks

Graeme

[kieran]

i'm there from time to time on saturday nights. there is one other user from here who just started hardbooting who also goes to glasgow.

get your first pair of boots, secondhand, from ebay.de. mondo sizes are generally accurate.
if you have ski boots i've a 168 i can loan/sell you with suitable bindings to get you started.

[Transistor Rhythm]

HEAD (or the older Blax) boots are wide boots. I've bought a new pair from Blue Tomato and they're super tight yet I can walk around in them all day closed down. But they definitely need some work before they really work well for EC! Either modify them or buy something else! This season is probably the last chance you'll get to buy a "new" pair (they're really just the left over stock from five years ago or so).

Don't have any experience with UPZ, but those are generally regarded as the best boots at the moment. Didn't ever fit them though. They'll probably will be my next boots after my HEADs have given up. The Deeluxe T700's are really good boots but don't have a good fit for me. I don't have extremely wide feet. So they would just kill you probably. The 325's are not really interesting boots in my book.

Verdict:
Try to get the HEADs if you can and dare to cut up brand new boots, otherwise get UPZ
Second hand is a good idea too, but usually the liners are pretty bad

[joemzl]

Hi Graeme,

if you need some help for german eBay, just let me know,
denn ich spreche sehr gut deutsch.

[Graeme_B]

Thanks for all the posts.

Transistor Rhythm - what do you mean by modify boots? Are the stock race boots no good? And are they now longer making race boots (your comment about being the last chance to buy new)?

Kieran - if I see you about I will introduce myself, shouldn't be hard to spot you in there!

joemzl - I may take you up on that. I covered basic German in school, though struggle with anything beyond simple, technical talk will be hard!

[Transistor Rhythm]

Transistor Rhythm - what do you mean by modify boots? Are the stock race boots no good? And are they now longer making race boots (your comment about being the last chance to buy new)?

HEAD stopped making these boots a few years ago. If you leave them as-is they are really stiff boots, and aren't usable for EC because you need to able to flex the ankles, only for racing.
If you are interested look here

[keepTheSport]

Hi, welcome graeme

I'm very new to this too. Been on hardboot set up 3 times now. I have met with kieran at braehead and t'other day at cairgorm(i had a nightmare on poma there ). Kieran is really good carver and really helpful. I bought my first carving board and bindings from him.